th contents in some respects different, since this contains the
traveller and not the shreds of his exploded journal, is fastened upon
the back of a bearer by a strap across his forehead and two others over
his shoulders; the occupant sits with his legs over the rim of the
basket, and his back almost resting against the head of his bearer, who,
bending forward under the weight of his load, and grasping a long stick,
looks like some decrepit old man--a delusion which vanishes the instant
you commence the ascent of a mountain by his side, when his endurance and
vigour astonish you, if they do not knock you up.

Before we had toiled half way up the precipitous ascent, the view, that
great alleviator of fatigue to the mountain traveller, was suddenly
hidden from us by a thick mist in which we became enveloped, and which,
rolling slowly over the hills, hid from our gaze a magnificent panorama
of the lovely valley along which our morning's march had led us, and
which lay stretched at our feet. With its broad stream winding down its
centre, it reminded me of many similar valleys in Switzerland and the
Tyrol, more particularly the Engadine, as seen from the hill above
Nauders; while the hills, richly clad with masses of dark foliage, and
rising to a height of two or three thousand feet, more nearly resembled
those of the Cinnamon Isle. There is a fort near the summit of the pass
with a few hundred soldiers, and a sort of custom-house, at which two
sentries are placed for the purpose of levying a tax amounting to about
sixpence upon every bundle passing either in or out of the Nepaul
dominions; whether it be a bundle of grass or a bale of the valuable
fabric manufactured from the shawl-goat of Thibet, the same charge is
made, rendering it a grievously heavy tax upon the poor man with his load
of wood, while it is a matter of no importance to the rich merchant whose
coolies are freighted with rare and valuable merchandise.

Having accomplished nearly half the descent of the opposite side, we
emerged from the mist, and a view of a wilder valley opened up, in which
the streams were more rapid and furious, and the mountains which enclosed
it more rugged and precipitous. A few trees, principally firs, were here
and there scattered over the bare face of the mountain wherever they
could find a sufficiently-sheltered nook. Enterprising settlers had
perched themselves upon the naked shoulders of the hills, or were more
snugly ensconc