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INTRODUCTION.

tenacity of purpose, these notes were collected, enlarged, and thrown into literary form, and during the month of June, 1895, they were published under the title of "My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus." The hours spent in collating and arranging the materials for this book were altogether happy ones; the retrospect of these past climbs awoke in him more keenly than ever an overwhelming desire for further travel and adventure; his old passionate love for mountaineering took fresh life as he felt once more the intense fascination of the high peaks.

"My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus" was primarily designed by the author for the amusement and information of his personal friends and a limited number of climbers only; but in a very short time the volume found its way into the hands of a much larger circle of general readers: as a natural consequence, the first edition was soon exhausted, and on, a second being issued, kindly messages of congratulation flowed in from all sides, but the knowledge that the book was well received was destined never to reach him.

About a week after the publication of the book, my husband, accompanied by Mr. Hastings and Dr. Norman Collie, started on a journey to India, with the idea of climbing in the Himalayas, the ultimate aim of the party being to attempt the ascent of Nanga Parbat. Several times previously he had organised and planned an expedition to the Himalaya, but on each occasion unforeseen circum-