it, to the detriment and destruction both of vessel and load. After that
I generally went about with my head uncovered, as I only had a small cap
left, which was not comfortable. I wore medium thick shoes without nails,
and never carried a stick, and I think it was due largely to the
simplicity of my personal equipment that I was able, as will be seen
presently, to climb to one of the greatest altitudes ever reached by a
human being.[1]

My provision of medicines cost me only half-a-crown, firm as I am in the
belief that man, living naturally under natural conditions, and giving
himself plenty of exercise, can be helped very little by drugs.

And thus I started.

On the first day I rode from Naini Tal to Almora, thirty miles by the
lower and well-known road _via_ Khairna.

Almora (5510 feet) is the last hill station towards the frontier where I
expected to find a European, or rather an Anglo-Indian, community, and I
made it my headquarters for a few days. It was my intention to obtain
some reliable hill men, possibly Gourkhas, to accompany me. I applied in
vain for this purpose to the Lieut.-Colonel of the 1st 3rd Gourkha
Regiment quartered in the station, duly showing letters, introductions,
and documents from the highest authorities and institutions in England,
plainly demonstrating the scientific object of my journey to Tibet.

The superior authorities seemed open to negotiations had I been able to
afford a wait of several months; but, as this would have involved the
postponement of my journey for a year on account of the passes leading
into Tibet becoming impassable at the end of the summer, I decided to
snap my fingers at all the red tape the job required, and to start on my
journey without the Gourkhas.

As luck would have it, I came across a gentleman at Almora, a Mr. J.
Larkin, who showed me great politeness and gave me much useful
information with regard to the roads, the mode of travelling, etc. on the
British side of the Tibetan frontier. He had himself travelled nearly up
to the boundary the previous year, and knew that part of Kumaon better
than any Anglo-Indian in the province. In fact, with the exception of
Colonel Grigg, Commissioner of Kumaon, Mr. Larkin is the only other
official who has any knowledge at all of the north-east of Kumaon, now so
neglected by the Government of the N.W.P.

[Illustration: MY FAITHFUL COMPANION]

Gourkhas being unobtainable, the question weighed heavily on my mind o