w on the wayside in
Sikkim, so there was no alternative but to walk up to Gnatong. This
involved a climb of about six thousand feet, and then a drop into
Gnatong of about one thousand. I overtook the Royal Fusiliers during my
walk; they had camped for the night in a puddle called Jaluk which lies
half-way between Sedonchan and Gnatong. It was during this march of
theirs that I believe the following dialogue was overheard:--

'What-ho, Bill!' said Atkins No. 1. 'What do they mean by calling this
something country a something tableland? 'Tain't no something tableland,
this 'ere ain't.'

'Garrn,' answered Atkins No. 2, 'it's a something tableland right
enough, and this 'ere as we are climbing is the something legs of the
something table.'

Fill in the adjectives to taste, or _a la_ Mr. Kipling, and you get the
real flavour of the dialogue.

CHAPTER V

MOUNTAIN SICKNESS: GNATONG: WAYSIDE WITTICISMS

Those ailments which are described by the word sickness, joined to a
prefix, are of two kinds. Either the prefix is the cause of the disease,
as in the case of sea sickness, or the expression is a _lucus a non
lucendo_, as in the case of 'home sickness,' the cause of the sickness
being in the latter case the exact contradictory of the prefix.
Sometimes the two kinds are combined, as in the case of love sickness,
when both love itself and also the lack of love are the simultaneous
cause of the disorder.

Mountain sickness, on the other hand, may be of either kind, though not
of both at once. I have often had bad mountain sickness of the one kind
in the plains of India. Any one who has spent his boyhood scampering
over Scotch hills or in similar pastimes is peculiarly prone to this
form of the disease towards the end of a hot June. Ten days' leave, or
more if possible, is then the only remedy. I had never experienced the
other form till I reached Gnatong. I don't exactly know how doctors
describe it in diagnosis. I believe, though, that they attribute it in
some way to your blood not running up the hill as fast as you do
yourself, which results in blood collecting in your toes, which ought to
be running about your brain and lungs. Hence giddiness, nausea,
headache, loss of appetite, insomnia, difficulty in breathing, and,
saddest of all in some cases, an utter inability to enjoy either your
drink or your tobacco.

I got it badly with all the symptoms, including the last two. I was
supposed to be very busy helpin