lame in the forest.

Another beautiful tree which is found in this lower part is the
_Acacia catechu,_ known in Northern India as the Khair tree, and
found all about the foothills of the Himalaya. Not tall and stately,
but rather contorted and ample like the oak, it has a graceful feathery
foliage and a kindly inviting nature.

* * *

Proceeding over these level plains, which as we approach the
mountains are covered with dense forest, stagnant morasses, and
trim tea-gardens, we one morning awake to find that over the
horizon to the north hangs a long cloud-like strip, white suffused
with pink--level on its lower edge but with the upper edge irregular
in outline. No one who had not seen snow mountains before would
suppose for a moment that that strip could be a line of mountain
summits. For there is not a trace of any connection with the earth.
Between it and the earth is nothing but blue haze. And it is so high
above the horizon that it seems incredible that any such connection
could exist. Yet no one who _had_ seen snow mountains could
doubt for an instant that that rose-flushed strip of white was the
Himalaya. For it possesses two unmistakable characteristics which
distinguish it from any cloud. Firstly, the lower edge is absolutely
straight and horizontal: it is exactly parallel with the horizon.
Secondly, the upper edge is jagged, and the outline of the jaggedness
cuts clean and perfectly defined against the intense blue of the sky.

No one who knows mountains could doubt that this line was the
Himalaya, yet every time we see it afresh we marvel more. We
know for certain that those sharp edges _are_ the summits of
mountains whose base is on this solid earth. Yet, however sure we
may be of that fact, we do not cease to wonder. And as we gaze
upon that line of snowy summits no more--indeed, less--intrinsically
beautiful than many a cloud, yet unspeakably more significant, we
are curiously elated. Something in us leaps to meet the mountains.
And we cannot keep our eyes away. We seem lifted up, and feel
higher possibilities within ourselves and within the world than we
had ever known before. As we travel onward we strain to keep the
mountains continually in sight, for we cannot bear to leave them.
We feel better men for having seen them, and for the remainder of
our days we would keep them in continuing remembrance.

* * *

As we come closer under the mountains the base emerges from the
haze and the line of sno