| John Tulloch Nash

“ And so prominent and stupendous is this wonderful monarch of mountains, that the indigenous mountaineers actually believe its geographical position to be — as expressed in their own words — the centre of the terrestrial worid, and its summit, towering up to heaven, they say is half-way to the celestial realm above, whereon rests the hallowed footstool of the Great God of Heaven! ”

“ The malarial climate of the Terai, however, is so deadly to Europeans that they are prevented from tarrying in its fever-breeding jungles. Were it otherwise, sportsmen in search of big game would astonish, with their “bags,” the most ardent hunters in any part of the world. ”

“ Then again, conspicuous among the indigenous fruit trees, are the cherry, walnut, fig, medlar, etc. — not to exclude such modest dainties as raspberries, strawberries, nuts, etc. — all growing literally wild. As to the infinite varieties of the fern and flora, my feeble pen would droop in attempting to portray their rare and surpassing beauty— unfading beauty, ever lovable, yet never admired; ever blooming, yet never seen, except by the wild beasts and birds that hold sway over the neglected tracts of which I have here drawn a brief and rough sketch. ”

“ Among the venomous reptiles there are many varieties of huge lizards, and alligators of enormous size swarm in the streams and marshes. The feathered tribe, from the magnificent golden eagle to birds unknown in ornithology, are also numerous; while insects, infinite in variety, infest these regions in endless myriads. ”

“ Apart, however, from the open confession that, in upholding the opinion of these Hindus, I would as soon eat raw beef as drink raw milk, it may be appropriate to mention here that in all my experience of neariy thirty years in India I never knew, or heard of, a single case of diphtheria in man, woman, or child who used boiled milk ”

“ Beyond, stretching like a huge irregular barrier, rise the noble Himalaya, and the lofty and fantastic peaks of the mountains enveloped in everlasting winter. To associate tropical India with the North Pole would seem ridiculously fictitious ”