MOUNTAINEERING.

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17786, 10 August 1929, Page 15 (Supplement)

MOUNTAINEERING.

HAMILTONIAN’S EXPERIENCES. INTERVIEW WITH MISS MATHEW. V A most interesting half hour was spent by a Waikato Times representative with Miss D. Mathew, who is home on furlough from Kharar (in the Eastern Punjab) where she has charge of a mission school for girls. Asked for a “story” for the Times, Miss Mathew smiled and said “Suppose, inslead of speaking about my work I tell of a trip to the Himalayas, made during holiday time. That might possibly he more interesting to some. The whole of the hot season and half of the rainy season are spent on the plains. Then for the last half of the rainy season, which is most unhealthy, we go to a hill station. Deciding to go for a tramp at this time, two friends and I took a train to Pathankat, and motored to Raijnoth. We had planned to motor as far as Mandi. We were to spend the week-end only in Baijnolh, hut during the week-end there were torrents of rain and so we could not get away for several days, because (he roads were found to have been washed away. So we made arrangements to walk. We procured four mules and two mule men. The journey was not very interesting until we reached the first pass—Bhabbu Pass 9480 ft. high. Here the climbing w r as fairjv cteep. The scenery was

wonderful. Close to the winding track were raging torrents, lovely trees and beautiful undergrowth. Higher up was range upon range. After crossing Bhabbu we reached the Kulu Valley. Here, 4000 ft above sea level —was to be found most of the fruit that grows here in New Zealand. This is the only place throughout India where such fruits grow. •‘Needless to say you had a good feed,” interrupted the reporter. “Yes, we enjoyed ourselves,” replied Miss Mathew. “You sec we get very little fruit on the plains.

Banks of Flowers. “Having passed the Kuiu Valley we came to Rotang Pass—l3,2ooll.. where tiie previous pass was wooded j this was absolutely hare of trees. But ! there were hanks and hanks of j flowers.. There were about thirty different varieties—ail of them gaily coloured. There were patintillas, pincushions trefoil, blue poppies (which are very rare and sought after by scientists), balsams, everlasting (lowers, daisies of all kinds and colours, l'orget-mc-nots and others. We left tiie main track and walked along tiie goat track just fo" the experience of having so many liowers around us. People whom we met told us that we were just too late to -see the pale blue irises which bad been blooming in great profusion. “Having crossed Rotang Pass we came to Laliaul, which is under Buddhist influence. Tiie first thing we noticed was a Buddhist monastery which, looked much like a fort. We also saw walls built of stones. These walls—about A feet high—were covered wiiii prayers in Tibetan. There seemed to he very little meaning in the petitions, which began, ‘Oh, jewel in the heart of tiie lotus llower.’ But if one passed on tiie right of the prayers the prayers were offered up, and if one passed on the left the prayers became curses. The houses had Hags Hying from the roofs. On | the Hags were prayers. When the wind blew these prayers were sup- , posed to he flapped out for the whole t household's benefit. We met Tibetans turning small prayer wheels as they walked along. At Kyelang, 0000 feet high, there are (Moravian missionaries. Being used to mountainous country, the Moravians always go to the high altitudes. The two we met were a young man with his wife, who' was especially charming. In spite of the fact that they were two weeks’ journey from the railway, they had their home artistically furnished and seemed quite up to date. They were very good to us, making us very welcome and taking us to see the sights. One of (Continued in next column.} .

these was a huge wheel turning out prayers for the whole village. “That was prayer on a large scale, indeed,” remarked the reporter wth a laugh. “Yes, and in a monastry which we visited there were long corridors around the room where there were little prayer walls. If you ran your hand along from right to left the prayers would be offered up—in the other direction they would become curses. Inside one room was a great wheel for the benefit of any rich man who thought lie had done something that needed prayers, or who had any J oilier reason for prayer. He would • employ a man to turn I his for the re- • quisitc number of days, weeks, or ; months as the case might be. Upstairs j was the library where books written j on parchment were to be seen. They i wore about two and a-half feet long ! •and eight inches wide. The leaves j were loose and the covers were made J of boards. The books were arranged | on shelves round the walls. On the i floor was a priest stamping out prayer flags, evidently for sale.

“We left Kycland and went to Jispa. , Here we procured stores. We found Palislo a great trading place. Here were wild looking Tibetans, who had ; come with their wool and salt. People ; from the plains also come to this town ; once a year in the semmer time for ■ trading. From this place we took j ponies. We decided to do this as j people arc sometimes made very giddy j by the height. The journey was not j very comfortable, for the tracks were j so narrow and were right on the edge I of steep precipices. To make matters worse the ponies j would persist in getting right on to ! the edge of the track. I might say I walked most of the way,” admitted j Miss Mathew. “Next we climbed the | great Baralacha pass of 16,200 feet. ; This was our destination. The pass was absolutely bare and barren and there were rocks everywhere. But the high snow-clad mountain penf-s and snow-fields were an unforgefable sight. We had lunch on these heights and then packed up for the , return trip. I "Altogether we covered 300 miles I (150 miles each way) and the jour-j ney took six weeks.” i