For our needs I carried money in solid silver and gold. My tinned provisions were prepared for me in London, and were very good. All my most valuable possessions were packed in air-tight cases of my own design, which, as on previous journeys, I found answered very well.
A Tibetan tent, 7 feet high, 10 feet long, and [[9]]8 feet wide, twelve pounds only in weight; a small tente d’abri, and some shelters formed my camp.
Last, but not least, let me give some advice regarding your clothing when you go mountaineering. Do not masquerade for the occasion in fancy tweeds of startling cut, clumsy mufflers and gloves, and patent hobnailed boots. Wear the sort of clothes and footgear you are accustomed to put on every day. You will feel a great deal more comfortable, less ridiculous, and certainly a great deal safer.
Personally, I wear the same sort of clothing—serge suits of the thinnest tropical material—in any country and in any climate, with no underwear; thin socks, shoes of medium weight with no nails under the soles. I am very fortunate in one way, never feeling the slightest inconvenience through intense heat or cold. It is partly due, I think, to one’s constitution and circulation of one’s blood, partly to habit, and a good deal to being hardened through constant roughing.
Perhaps others, with not so rough a training, may not go quite so far; but never forget that the more you feel at your ease in your attire, the less you are hampered with articles of any kind which [[10]]you are not accustomed to use every day, the more successful you will be in your mountaineering expeditions—especially on unknown mountains. [[11]]
CHAPTER II
From Almora to the Tibetan frontier I followed, to a great extent, a different route from the one I had taken on my first journey, as I wanted to visit en route the interesting shrine of Debi Dhura. The character of the country traversed varied little from that already described in a previous work. I will only in this book describe things and places and incidents of the journey that are quite new, leaving out a detailed account of my itinerary.
Passing through forests of walnut trees, fine oak and deodars, kaiphal, rhododendrons, utis, and yew, and travelling at elevations varying from 5510 feet at Almora to 6630 feet at Debi Dhura, I reached in two days’ journey the sacred temple situated on a great granitic plateau, the ridge of which extends for several miles.
It was in the afternoon. During the entire journey rain had come down in torrents; but as I [[12]]arrived at Debi Dhura, the storm, which had been particularly fierce that day, cleared as by magic; the heavy, leaden-black clouds rolled away on every side, leaving behind most exquisite tints, of gold and red and green, of a superb sunset. With the wind rising, the white mist which covered the valleys below us rose slowly like a curtain, and a magnificent panorama shone in radiant beauty in the now crystalline atmosphere. Beyond the lower and nearer ranges of pure cobalt blue and dark warm greens, towered to the north snow-clad mountains of absolutely sublime beauty.