Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/264

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
244
ADVICE TO OFFICERS

agreeable, two or more good English blankets on one's bed, and personal clothing as warm as one would wear at home.

7.SCENERY OF THEHIMALAYAH.—The scenery of these hills is,I believe, the most stupendous, the most sublime in the world;—valley scooped out of valley, hill raised upon hill, crag hung upon crag, and mountain piled upon mountain, far above the limit of man's existence; far beyond the reach of the wild ass or the ibex; far above the existence of all vegetation; the glacier and the perpetual snow the only occupants; the avalanche, the thunderbolt,and the sunbeam the only visitants. In one summer's day one may taste of the climate of every region of the globe. One may start at early dawn with the heat oppressive, the thermometer at 100, and ascend before dark to the freezing point; through a succession of zones from the palm tree, the mango and the banana; through forests of the pine tree, the cherry, and the walnut; the oak, the rhododendron,and the yew; the chesnut, the cedar, and the cypress;the box, the holly, the mountain-ash, the alder, and the birch; and enjoy his evening dinner on a carpet embroidered with mosses and lichens, on the border of the vegetable world, with a glacier for his table, and a handful of snow to cool his wine.

The tiger, the leopard and the bear; the bison, the elephant and the rhinoceros; the ibex, ante-