| Show s I x r l I Darjeeling With Peaks Peak of 0 the Himalayas In the Background I. I hr the h N llon l Oen r rHo Ho 80 l tr Oe l I C Ct I nail Kinchin- Kinchin M MOUNTS In III the have hn taken Inken the thc place of ot Mount crest i this summer nummer In the thc Interest of ot the worlds world's mountain NS Mount Kamet I 2 2415 A 15 feet fet high was vas successfully sealed by a II party on June 21 27 81 feet high Is III now being attacked by a party of ot Germans Heretofore Mount has sel seldom dom Born been heard of when hen the till earths earth's highest pinnacles arc being discussed but nevertheless It Is III one ono of or the select little lithe group of ot Asiatic peaks that push pushup up farther nl above o e sea sea Ra level leel then than mountains moun mOlln In III any other part of ot the earth Although It ranks thirtieth among the tho group 0 of or mountain giants that extend along the Himalaya chain and Into Chinn China It Is 18 not greatly y surpassed In height by Ity any of ot its fellows lOW except feet fre high Goodwin AlIst Austen n. n and nud Than All of ot these super glants glants limon among mountains are In Nepal except Goodwin Austen which Is 1 In northern Kashmir The Tho peak of ot of Mount Is f lilt l tun un t ted Id Ju just t n II stones stone's throw south of ot the Tibetan border In Inthe inthe In the tho United I Provinces IrO of nl mute India Nearby Nears Near by Is II Nanda I De I which h h tops It by less than tent feet These comparisons boll down cown to the tact fact that lint Kamet is II the tile third highest mountain In the tho Ish Ph empire and by virtue of or this tact fact It was considered well WIll worth a l seri serl serious OilS ous attack by mountain climbers While Mounts 1 and Kinchin- Kinchin junga art are near Darjeeling huh hill capital c of or ll lIeng Mount Kamet Is 18 COO I tol miles to the northwest lt near nl Simla hill hili capital cap ital of ot India It ties lies In the district of or the United Provinces miles due east of ot Simla near nar the tho eightieth meridian of longitude This This' area came camo Into possession In 1814 as nil a result of or the Gurka war with Nepal This region consists of ot ofa ota a maze of or high peaks with extremely deep valleys winding among them hem The valleys and lower slopes are heavily hen fly ily wooded wOI How Mount Kamet It is Reached The Tile railhead used In expeditions to Mount Kamet Is at In Inthe Inthe the tho United Provinces at nt the southern edge of the Himalayan foothills From rom there travel Is overland o through valleys val viii- leys 13 and up l steep slopes to a hill hili village comparable In location to Simon Simla From the way l lends leads nels over r rough country and anti across a number of or deep river gorges to the village of ot Niti at nt feet fet nit altitude II 1 From this point both loth yaks and coolie I bearers are used Although numerous all attempts to tn scale lIall Mount Kamet Karnet have Bern been II made nde since 18 1855 no one succeeded In reaching reach reach- i In fug ing the he summit until this summer The latest expedition prior to the one I that has tins Just lira sealed scaled 1 11 the HII peak k was led ledIn I In 1 lOM O by lIy Dr A A. A M M. Kelln lie He reached 1 an nn altitude of feet but hilt had hall to turn hack back because ills his native assistants were suffering from mountain moon moun tain sickness On the Ihl slopes of Mount Kamet lamet Is III Isone Isone one of the chief head water glaciers of If the lunges Ganges river I Is bigger lr game for the mountain climber than Kamet both because of ot Its extreme height and the Ihl steepness of ot Its slopes It Is III the third highest mountain In to the world rt reaching upward five fie and third one mills miles above ahoo sea level le Of the throe three highest peaks I Everest K erest Goodwin Austen Auslen and a the latter Is II most Inaccessible Inae It lies II'S 45 41 miles north of or Darjeeling In to an air airline airline line but the road that one must travel tra across canyons a over o ridges a and nd II around round intervening peaks Is much longer Darjeeling has been headquarters hll for the l several erral expeditions that have tried unsuccessfully to scale junga jUlIga unga In past years Like Mke Simla JOO miles farther west and in Kashmir I Darjeeling Is a II god godsend to perspiring I Europeans I who must spend the hot period In to India Hut it Is Ismore Ismore ismore more than a cool retreat It Is la a matchless observation post when the clouds permit for the mightiest mountain mountain moun moun- tain scenery that the world worM affords And the outstanding sight light to the northward north ward across arross deep dp chasms and beyond tier tin after tier of toot 1111 is the mighty buttressed by y half hulf a dozen dOlen peaks from to I 1000 feet fett In altitude stands on a R sort of or stage e before and e p which sweep tow the amphitheater slopes of ot P l ha aim fool foothills hills that rl rises rles es about O 0 feet fel from the plains On 11 the side toward tOl the Jill mountains the ridge drops away for approximately fiOcK NN feet flet forming what night might ht In American ln terminology terminology ter ter- be bc ca called lime tho rand Grand Canyon Canyon Can Can- yon on of the but whose heavily lIy forested slopes and tropically luxuriant luxuriant floor door earns In iii India the more poetic name of or Pule lIle of ot It Is III across this titanic valley nail ami beyond o over ranges of ot fool foothills hills lower lowr than that on which Darjeeling sits lilts that one looks to Kinchin- Kinchin The eye eje 0 therefore sees n a rise of ot approximately feet a range of altitude to be seen III In few If any allY other places In the world since most of ot the highest mountains rise from loft lofty plateaus u on the Foothill Foothills has hall characteristics unlike unlike un un- like ilkI Iho those e of It most tow towns liS It can cnn hardly hard hurd ly Iy bo be said to have hn streets Most ost of ot tho the buildings face on paths or walks which run along the main ridge and nel out onto Its minor spurs ElUrS or work their way WilY by serpentine routes to other paths that cling to ho the steep l sides of the slopes Steps too servo serve In III place of ot roads connecting terraces that rise one ome above the time other One of ot the time few carriage roads Is a driveway that skirts the tho lower end of ot the tho main mainridge mainridge ridge and lends below to 10 the tho suburb Lehong and Its barracks harracks for British soldiers The villas lIIas bungalows shops government government gov gov- buildings hospitals churches schools barracks and native nathe huts that make up Darjeeling and It Its I suburb form pendant communities like giant saddle bags thrown over oer the ridge Dwellings are scattered downs down the tho thol l slopes for a thousand feet flet the ground floors doors of ot one tier tIr on a level with the roofs of ot time the next tier below belo beloIt It If one ono must cover coer much space In to Darjeeling he ilo rides on pony back or Is 18 carried In Ina Ina ina a titter litter by four servants The center of Is Observatory Observatory tory hill hili a knoll on the crest of or the ridge Topping the knoll Is a monument and surrounding It Is a small forest of staffs skiffs from which prayer flags flutter their supplications From the tho benches 8 near the monument one may many sit silt when mist find and clouds donot donot do donot not Interfere and take advantage of Darjeeling's best view of ot mighty ml Kin and Its 1111 fellows Hut Rut often the vigil la Is fruitless It Is only for relatively brief periods during spring and early winter that one may be he sure surl of ot long uninterrupted views of the Ihl towering granite and Ice 10 walls and snowy l slopes lopes to the north Looking Across Acro to the tho Peaks Peak Standing on the Darjeeling ridge 1 when the air lr Is 18 free frIo of mists the observer ob oh- server tr first looks down deep down feet fret Into a II river gorge choked with tropical Jungle jun Then his eyes ejes rise to the Ihl rice rill fields reflecting the blue sky and all the Ihl tea plantations Up lp p and up to the Temperate rove rone trees then to the Ihl pine forests crowning lower lover mountains The o observer peeps over oer half a II dozen Intervening ridge ridges limbo Into the dark m. depths of ot valleys s. Then he hI sees ps the hare bare uplands up up- lands Innels atone the tree line and finally the beginning of the Ihl snows Long white while glaciers drape time the mountain mass whose hose two pronged peak plak half fills the sky The world seems to be bo walled a II Id I'd on the north There Is no n. l such uch thin thing ns as a horizon a closes the view like an nn exquisite s screen r Cli Time The vertical height ht Is to the length at this point of vantage ns as one Is to eight ht that Is iii a ns a tree 00 ro feet tt high appears when viewed at the distance of or one average A city block In terms of ot familiar American merlan views 1 seen sn from frolD rem Darjeeling Is tike like the Wa Washington monument as lIS asIt asIt lISIt It appears from the west veranda of ot the Capitol I or the Ihl Woolworth as seen from the Jersey shore Darjeeling well vell earns Its popularity as a summer resort While on the steamy plains of or i Bengal nl a few miles away the Ihl III mercury climbs In sum summer above E degrees dr Fahrenheit It seldom seldom sel sel- dom tops tOIl 73 d degrees decrees rs r's at Darjeeling and ani in w winter inter im degrees marks the low point of or the temperature range The Tho unpleasant feature of ot the weather Is furnished by the heavy rains Ten fen feet tret of or water fall each ach year tar and some of the storms lorms are violent |
