Page:The Land of the Veda.djvu/293

Rh Ladies are carried in a little chair-like vehicle by four men, with four to relieve. Gentlemen generally ride one of the hill ponies, which are very sure-footed. The journey occupies three days, ten miles being as much as can be comfortably accomplished in one day.

When our sudden order of departure came I arranged everything for the ladies intrusted to my charge, and sent them on, expecting to follow and overtake them in a short time; but such was the demand, I could not obtain coolies enough to take their luggage (including food and bedding, which travelers must always carry with them) till four o'clock in the afternoon. I then started, but the lateness of the hour entailed on me a great deal of toil and suffering. Indeed, I never had such a journey in all my life as that was. For an hour or two I made my way tolerably well. The sunset was brilliant, and among other objects of interest were immense lizards (some of them full fourteen inches long) which were darting across my path and over the verges. My way lay over and around a succession of mountains—so it was constantly up and down—the valleys between varying from a quarter of a mile to a mile in width. The little torrents had torn the path here and there, and in some places it was so rocky and rough that it was very hard work to pick one's way over it. Going down the hill was, from the precipitous and stony condition of the narrow path, something like going down an irregular flight of stairs a mile or more in length.

The daylight began to decline, and my little pony showed symptoms of unsteadiness. The heavy rains had softened the edge of the path, and rendered it liable to give way under very moderate pressure, so that caution was doubly necessary. At one place that looked doubtful I dismounted, and had not gone many yards when one of the hind feet of the pony sank, which caused him to stagger, and in a moment he went hastily over the precipice. The jerk on the reins caused one of the bit buckles to give way, which was a great mercy, as it gave me an instant in which to turn round and lay some pressure on the reins as they flew through my hand,