Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/282

 End by 7 to breakfast. Ben Oge, the hill adjoining, is the highest point at Mussoorī. The day was bright and clear. Captain S asked us to ride to the summit; he accompanied us on foot. The view from the top of Ben Oge was beautiful: the Snowy Ranges were so clear and distinct, you could see every peak. I thought of Captain Skinner's journal as I looked at the peaks of Jumnotrī, the source of the Jumna, and traced the river as it wound below through the khuds at the foot of the mountains, its course doubling like a hare. Beyond was the Peak of Gangotrí, from which the Ganges rises. I longed to march into the interior, to behold the grandeur of the scenery of the Himalaya. Ben Oge is quite treeless at the summit, but the ground was covered with wild lavender, thyme, and various mountain flowers of great beauty, while numberless butterflies flitted over them. My relative found the breeze very chilly, but the sun was so hot it made my head spin; we returned to his house: he was seized with cholera, from the heat of his body being suddenly checked by the cold air, and the sun pouring on his head; he was very ill, and in great pain for two hours. We returned home, determined not to ascend another hill during the heat of the day.

26th.—My little widow and I were out riding at seven in the morning; on our return we were surprised to find a very severe earthquake had been experienced at Landowr and Mussoorī, which had frightened all the people; there were three distinct shocks. We on our gūnths did not feel the shocks; there are but few hours in the day in which an earthquake could catch us off our ponies.

I have never put on a bonnet since I came to the Hills; like the steeds in the "Lay of the Last Minstrel," which "stood saddled in stable day and night," so am I saddled in my hat and riding-habit, always on my pony; my visits are made on horseback. I have a jampan, (a sort of chair, with poles, carried by Hill-men,) but this is a disagreeable kind of conveyance; and I like the independence of my pony much better. The earthquake was charming; we seem to have all the eccentricities of nature around us. A Landowr Ætna or Vesuvius would figure well