happens that these encounters are very bloody, as, in the event of one
party shewing a determined front, the other generally retreats. The
unfortunate Huzareh tribe are constantly the sufferers, and the
traveller will recognize more slaves of that than of any other "clan."

We were now in the vicinity of the Koh-i-baba, a mountain whose
granite peaks still towered six thousand feet above us, though our
own camp was at least nine thousand above the level of the sea. We
determined upon ascending it the following morning, but at first
experienced considerable difficulty in procuring guides, not from the
natives being either unqualified or unwilling to undertake the task,
for they were chiefly hunters, and familiar with the paths they had
themselves formed in pursuit of game, but they could not conceive why
_we_ should be anxious to climb the difficult height, and therefore
were obstinately stupid in refusing to understand the purpose for
which we required their services. At length we obtained a guide, and
started next morning at half-past five: with considerable fatigue and
some little risk we reached the summit after three hours walking, but
the magnificent view amply rewarded us for our trouble. The peaks
about us were capped with eternal snow; those below were rugged and
black. The comparison of the view from the top of a lofty mountain in
a hilly country with that of the sea in a storm is old perhaps, but
only the truer for that very reason. It was, indeed, as if the hand
of God had suddenly arrested and turned to stone varied and fantastic
forms of the dark tumultuous waves.

The solemn stillness of these lofty regions was a striking contrast
with the busy plains below. The mountains abound in wild sheep, which
the hardy hunter pursues for days together, taking with him a slender
stock of food, and wrapping his blanket about him at night, when he