Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 304 (Color Image)

0304	Among the Celestials : vol.1

256 AMONG THE CELESTIALS. [CHAP. IX.

the gloomy forests of the Ever-White Mountain

and the bounding prairies of Mongolia, over

the level plains of Turkestan, and across the

loftiest range of mountains in the world. I had

experienced every kind of climate drenching

rains and a dryness inconceivable to a dweller

in Europe ; the scorching heat of a desert

summer, and the biting cold of a Himalayan

glacier. I had found shelter in Chinese inns,

in Manchurian farmhouses, in the rude huts of

the forest sable-hunters, in a Cossack colonel's

quarters, the palatial residence of our minister

at Peking, the felt tents of the nomad tribes,

and the mud-houses of Central Asian villagers ;

and lastly, in the severest part of all for weeks,

in crossing the Himalayas, I had slept entirely

in the open without even a tent.

If the knowledge thus hardly acquired can be

of value to others ; if, in the future, experiences

gained while I was but twenty-four can help me

as they have in the past, I shall feel doubly

repaid for whatever hardships I may have

endured. And I can even now feel that those

few full months of toil and stress have brought

to me a life-enduring pleasure.

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