n of 6250 feet, arriving
at Shadgora (6350 feet) just in time to witness the blessing of a calf by
a Brahmin. Inside a diminutive shrine--into the door of which I was
curious enough to peep--I discovered two skinny, repulsive old women,
with sunken, discoloured eyes, untidy locks of scanty hair, long
unwashed, bony arms and legs, and finger and toe nails of abnormal
length. They were clad in a few dirty rags, and were busily attending to
the lights burning on several primitive stone candlesticks along the
walls of the shrine. There were also some curiously-shaped stones
standing upright among the candlesticks. The ceiling of this place of
worship was not high enough to allow the women to stand, and they were
compelled to crawl about inside on all fours. When they saw me they
stretched out their angular arms towards me, begging for money. I gave
them a silver coin, which they shoved under one of the peculiar stones,
and then, turning round, immediately made violent gestures suggesting to
me that I was to depart.

[Illustration: CASTLE AT PITHORAGARH]

Farther on I came upon a point where three roads branched off to Deolthal
(six miles) on the left, to Askote (twelve and three-quarter miles) in
the centre, and to Pithoragarh (eleven and a quarter miles), a different
route from the one followed, on the right. I took the middle one, and
travelled on in a storm of hail and wind with a constant deafening roar
of thunder and splendid flashes of lightning, which produced magical
effects on the ever-changing and fantastic clouds and the weird
mountain-sides along which I ploughed my way.

[Illustration: LEPERS SHOWING STUMPS OF LIMBS]

[Illustration: MY ABODE AT ASKOTE]

I arrived late in the evening at Askote, where there is neither Dak
Bungalow nor Daramsalla,[2] and found to my disgust that none of my
carriers had yet arrived. I was offered hospitality by Pundit Jibanand,
who put me up in his schoolroom, a structure consisting of a number of
planks put together regardless of width, height, length, or shape, and
supporting a roof of straw and grass. The ventilation of my abode was all
one could wish for, and as during the night I lay wrapped up in my
blanket under the sheltering roof, I could admire through the
disconnected portions of the walls the brilliancy of the star-studded
heaven above. When the sun arose, bits of scenery appeared between plank
and plank, until by degrees the gaps were all stopped up by figures of