ew of the arts--in order to learn perfectly this
curious tongue. His labors among the people he described as very trying
and discouraging. He had been employed upon the dictionary more than
three years, and it was not nearly completed. We rode slowly up the
hills, and reached the inn late in the evening.

I had waited nearly a week for a clear day on which to view the highest
mountain-peaks in the world, and had almost despaired of success when on
the last morning of my stay, upon looking from my window at daybreak, I
saw that although the valleys and sides of some of the hills were
covered with clouds and fog, still a lofty peak near Darjeeling showed
its face distinctly and for the first time during my visit. Remembering
that this mountain was over two miles in height, perhaps Mount
Kanchinjinga might be in sight, but I hardly dared entertain the
thought. It was my last chance, for I intended to return to the plains
in the afternoon; so, jumping into my clothes, pulling on my hat and
snatching up my field-glass, I walked, or rather ran, to the other side
of the hill for an unobstructed view. Suddenly turning a sharp bend in
the road, I saw through the trees a clearly-defined, substantial-looking
cloud--was it a cloud, though?--and rushing forward a dozen paces, lo
and behold! one of the highest mountain-summits on the globe stood
unveiled before me! I confess never in my travels to have experienced
like sensations of awe and reverence. My eyes involuntarily filled with
tears, and I stood completely lost in wonder and admiration.

It was early morning. The sun had newly risen, though not yet visible,
and threw a flood of rosy light upon the gigantic snow-tipped pinnacles,
causing them to glisten like polished white marble. The valley below,
four or five thousand feet deep, was filled with an ocean of silvery
clouds, which majestically rolled and rose upon the forest-clad sides of
the great mountains as far as the limit of perpetual snow; and from this
fleecy mass as a border towered aloft against an azure-hued sky the
magnificent form of Kanchinjinga. For miles in each direction the
thickly-wooded sub-hills were in sight, but all interest centred in the
never-by-man-trodden peak before and above me. A dread and awful silence
seemed to pervade the air, and the total absence of life or motion lent
an almost supernatural glamour to the scene. For nearly two hours I sat
as one entranced, until the sun gently lifted the clo