Show f I i r nb r q i ir yA r tj yr F. F V. V i a 9 Qc r a e 3 r r yr y a y yZ Z r. r r r rS S x n. n t x F a 1 k Darjeeling ng With Peaks of the Himalayas In the Background 1 Prepared by the National Geographic t I f f Society Society Washington D D. C. C t Kamet and Kinchin- Kinchin MOUNTS l l un 5 a In ln the Himalayas as have taken the place of ot Mount It eS Everest this summer In the Interest of the worlds world's mountain climb cUmb- t ers em Mount Kamet 15 feet high was successfully scaled by a British party on June 21 27 27 feet high Is now being attacked attached by a party of Germans Heretofore Mount Kamet has seldom seldom seldom sel sel- dom been heard of when the earths earth's highest pinnacles are being discussed f but nevertheless it Is one of ot the select little group of Asiatic peaks that pushup pushup push pushup up farther above sea level than mountains mountains moun moun- In any other part of the earth 1 Although It ranks thirtieth among the amazing group of mountain giants that extend along the Himalaya chain and Into China It Is not greatly surpassed In height by any of its fellows except j i J Everest 2 feet high Goodwin A Austen and Gosal Gosai Than v All of ot these super-giants super among mountains are In Nepal except Goodwin Austen which Is In northern Kashmir The peak of ot Mount Is situated Just a stones stone's throw 1 I south of ot the Tibetan border In Inthe f w the United Provinces of ot India Nearby Nearby Nearby Near- Near by Is Nanda Devi which tops It by less Jess than feet These comparisons boil bon down to the fact that Kamet is the third highest mountain in the Britt Brit Brit- 4 t Ish empire and by virtue of ot this fact It was considered well worth a serious seri serl- ous Otis attack by mountain climbers While Mounts Everest and Kinchin- Kinchin I jun junga janga a are near Darjeeling hill capital of Bengal Mount Kamet Is COO miles 1 to the northwest near Simla hill hm capItal capital cap cap- ital of ot India It lies In the f district of the United Provinces miles due east of ot Simla near the eightieth meridian of ot longitude This area came Into British possession in 1814 as ns a result of the Gurka war with Ith Nepal This region consists of ot ofa ofa a maze of high peaks with extremely deep valleys winding amon among them The valleys and lower slopes are heavily heavily ily lly wooded How Mount Kamet Is Reached The railhead used in expeditions to Mount Kamet Is at In Inthe the United Provinces at nt the southern edge of the Himalayan foothills From there travel Is overland o through valleys valleys val val- 1 leys and up steep slopes to a hill village e comparable In location to Simla From the way leads over rough country and across a number of deep rl river r gorges to the v v-flage v e of 01 Nit Niti at feet altitude From this point both yaks aks and coolie bearers are used Although numerous attempts to scale Mount Kamet have been made since 1855 no one succeeded in reachIng reaching reach reach- Ing the summit until this summer The latest expedition prior to the one that has Just scaled the peak was led ledIn ledIn ledIn In 1020 by Dr A. A M. M Kellas He lIe reached an altitude of ot feet but had bad to turn back because his native nathe assistants were suffering from mountain mountaIn mountain moun moun- tain sickness On the slopes of ot Mount Kamet Is Isone Isone isone one of ot the chief water head-water glaciers of the Ganges river Is bigger game for the mountain climber ez than Kamet both I 1 because of Its extreme height and the steepness of Its slopes It Is the third highest mountain In the world reaching upward five and o third one miles above sea level Of the three highest peaks peaks Everest Everest Goodwin Austen and the latter Is most Inaccessible It lies ties I. I 45 miles north of Darjeeling In an al air airline r tine line but the road that one must travel across can canyons ons over ridges and around Intervening peaks Is much longer loner Darjeeling has been headquarters for tor the several Gc expeditions that have ha tried unsuccessfully to scale Kinchin- Kinchin Junga In past years Like Simla miles farther west anc and In n Kashmir Darjeeling Is a godsend t to o perspiring Europeans who must spend the hot period In India But It t Is Ismore Ismore s more than a cool retreat It Is a n matchless observation post when the e clouds permit for the mightiest mountain mountain moun moun- tain twin scenery that the world 1 affords And the outstanding Bight sight to the northward northward northward north north- ward across deep chasms and beyond tier after tier of Is th the e mighty buttressed b by y half a dozen peaks from t to o feet in altitude Darjeeling stands on a sort of ot stage before and above which sweep the amphitheater slopes of ot Himalayan foothills that rises about feet from the Belgian plains On the side toward the mountains the ridge drops away for approximately feet teet forming what might In American terminology terminology ter ter- terminology be called the Grand Grand' Canyon Canyon Canyon Can Can- yon of the Ranjit but whose heavily forested slopes and tropically luxuriant luxuriant u- u t floor earns In India the more poetic name of Vale Yale of Ranjit It Is across this titanic valley vaney and anti beyond over ranges of ot foothills lower than that on which Darjeeling sits that one looks to t mighty Kinchin- Kinchin junga The eye therefore sees a rise of approximately feet a range of ot altitude to be seen In few If any other places In the world since most of at the highest mountains rise from lofty plateaus Darjeeling on the Foothills Darjeeling has characteristics unlike unlike unlike un un- like those of ot most towns It can cnn hardly hardly hard hard- l ly be said to have streets Most of ot the buildings face on paths or walks which run along the main ridge and out onto Its minor spurs or work their way by serpentine routes to other paths that cling dIng to the steep sides of the slopes Steps too serve in place of roads connecting terraces that rise one above e the other One of ot the few carriage roads Is a driveway that skirts the lower end of ot the main mainridge mainridge mainridge ridge and leads below to the suburb and Its barracks for British soldiers o 0 The villas bungalows shops government gov gov- government buildings hospitals churches schools barracks and native huts that make up Darjeeling and its suburb form pendant communities like giant giant saddle-bags saddle thrown over o the ridge Dwellings are scattered down the slopes for a thousand feet the ground round floors of one tier on a level leyel with the roofs of ot the next neat tier below If It one must cover much space In Darjeeling he rides on pony back or Is carried ina In Ina Ina a litter by four servants The center of Darjeeling Is Observatory Observatory Observatory tory hill a knoll on the crest of the ridge Topping the knoll is a Buddhist monument and surrounding It Is a small forest of staffs stafI's from which b prayer flags flutter their supplications From the benches near the monument one may sit when mist and clouds do donot donot donot not Interfere and take advantage antage of Darjeeling's best view of mighty Kin Kin- and Its fellows But often the vigil Is fruitless It Is only for tor relatively brief periods during spring and early winter that one may be sure of long uninterrupted views of ot the towering towering- granite and Ice walls and snowy slopes to the north Looking Across to the Peaks Standing on the Darjeeling ridge when the air is free of ot mists the observer observer observer ob ob- server first looks down deep down feet Into a river gorge choked with tropical Jungle Then his e eyes es rise to the rice fields reflecting the blue sky and the tea plantations Up and up to the the Ue Temperate zone trees then to the pine forests crowning lower mountains The observer peeps over oyer half halt a dozen Intervening ridges Into the dark mysterious depths of valleys Then he sees the bare up lands above the tree line tine and finally the beginning of ot the snows Long white glaciers drape the mountain mass whose two two pronged pronged peak half fills the sky The world seems to be walled on the north There Is no such thing as a horizon a closes the view like an exquisite screen The Tl vertical height Is to the len length h at this point of ot vantage as one Is to eight that is Is as a tree CO GO feet high appears when viewed at nt the distance of one average city block In terms of familiar American views seen from Darjeeling Is like th the Washington monument as It appears from the west veranda veranda of ot the Capitol or the Woolworth building as seen from the Jersey shore Darjeeling well welt earns Its Us popularity as a summer resort While on the steamy plains plains' of 01 Bengal a few miles away the mercury climbs In summer above degrees Fahrenheit It seldom seldom sel set dom tops 7 75 degrees nt tit Darjeeling and In winter 35 degrees marks marls the low point of 01 the temperature range The rhe unpleasant feature of ot the weather Is furnished by the heavy rains Ten feet of ot water fall each year and some I of ot the storms are arc violent |