UNREALISED NATURAL BEAUTIES 13
ness. The whole long range of mountains showed themselves out with admirable clearness, but dis- tinctly rooted in the unromantic brown of the valley.
By seven we were at the summit of the mountain with the sun shining full upon us and the air crisp and frosty. 1t was an ideal young and vigorous day. We marched steadily along the ridge, hoping to see a stag in the hollows, but all we saw was a boar breaking the ice in a pool on the ridge to get a.morning drink, At length we halted for rest and refreshment, still on the summit of the ridge. ‘Three thousand feet below us the Kashmir valley spread out its choicest delights. The heavenly snowy range bounded the horizon from end to end before us. Just faintly the sounds from some village below would be wafted ‘to us through the clear still air, But otherwise we seemed serenely apart from the turmoil of man; and bathed in the noonday sunlight I could drink deep of the loveliness round me.
And there came upon me this thought, which doubtless has occurred to many another besides myself—why the scene should so influence me and yet make small impression on the men about me. Here were men with far keener eyesight than my own, and around me were animals with eyesight
