Page:Picturesque Nepal.djvu/106

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56
THE HIGH ROAD TO KATMANDU

passable owing to the high water and strong current, so a detour has to be made over the mountain-side. This supplementary track rambles over the cliffs in a most reckless fashion, and if the traveller is overtaken by darkness before this long march is finished, he may have some adventures to chronicle before the welcome lights of Marku rest-house come into view.

Shortly after leaving this halting-place the road traverses the smiling vale of Chitlung, or, as it is sometimes called, Little Nepal. Rising from out of this, the traveller then commences on an arduous climb of 2000 feet, leading up to the Chandragiri Pass—the red zigzag scarring the green flank of which has been already observed from Sisagarhi. Near the top a splendid view of the country through which he has passed will lie at his feet, and the road can be traced, winding its way for miles, until it is lost behind the bluffs which hide Marku from sight. Chitlung below, its

"Fair meadows, softly tinged
With orange and with crimson,"