range, which now
blushed and glowed like mountains of opals, flashing and burning in the
glad, glorious sunlight. Dazzling to look upon, it grew yet stronger
every moment, until the mountains and valleys were flooded in an
atmosphere of azure and gold, and every outline was filled in by the
clear, fresh light of the dawn, completing for us an experience never to
be forgotten, the loveliness of which neither tongue nor pen can
adequately express.

It was not without an effort that one could descend from such elevating
and inspiring delights to more material things, but over the coffee
local matters of interest were discussed with our host. It appears that
Darjeeling is becoming the centre of a great tea-producing district, and
that India bids fair to rival China in a product which has seemed, from
time immemorial, to belong to the latter country exclusively. English
capitalists are buying up the land wholesale; and their agents,
employing skilled labor, have already extensive tea plantations in full
process of profitable yielding, and sending tea annually to market. At
first it seemed strange to us to see the tea-plant flourishing at such
altitudes, covering large reaches of the mountain sides; but the fact
came to mind that the latitude of Darjeeling is about that of Florida
and the West Indies, which solved the apparent incongruity. As to the
product of these tea-fields, one could realize no difference in its
flavor from that of the Chinese leaf. We were told that it brought a
higher price in the European markets, being known as Assam tea. Cinchona
was also being raised in the district to a considerable extent, and it
was believed was specially adapted to the locality.

We ascended a high hill overlooking the valley and town of Darjeeling,
and found upon its crest a sacred stone, where Buddhists had lately
sacrificed some object which left the stains of blood, and where incense
had recently been burned. It was in a primitive temple constructed of
stones and stunted trees, surrounded by growing bushes. The neighboring
branches of the trees were decked here and there with bits of red and
blue cloth, which the guide explained as being Buddhist prayers. On some
bits of paper adhering to the stones there were written characters which
we could not understand, but which doubtless were invocations addressed
to a superior power. From this elevation we enjoyed extensive and still
different views of the Himalayas, and their diad