Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 174 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

0174	Among the Celestials : vol.1

140	AMONG THE CELESTIALS. [CHAP. VI.

leave all the comforts of civilised life and

deliberately place myself amid depressing sur-

roundings, and of my own free will go through

such hardships ? " But 'tis always darkest

before the dawn, and I could just see the first

glimmering of awakening day— the snowy

summits of the " Heavenly Mountains " were

rising above me. The desert journey was

nearly at an end, and before long we should

be among a new people and passing through

towns and villages again.

Impatient to reach the promised land as

soon as our well-nigh worn-out camels would

carry us thither, we made an early start the

next day. For nearly two miles we passed

through a country well covered with trees, and

patches of coarse grass and bushes, growing

on a soil partly clay and partly sand. This

unusual vegetation ended as suddenly as it had

begun, and we passed over the gravel desert

again, where there was no vestige of either

grass or scrub. The hot wind blowing off

this seemed absolutely to scorch one up ; but

yesterday's order of things was now reversed

—we were ascending while the sun was

descending, and it gradually became cooler,

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