Karl Linden, a young German student, who had taken part in the
revolutionary struggles of 1848, had by the act of banishment sought an
asylum in London. Like most refugees, he was without means; but,
instead of giving himself up to idle habits, he had sought and obtained
employment in one of those magnificent "nurseries" which are to be met
with in the suburbs of the world's metropolis. His botanical knowledge
soon attracted the attention of his employer, the proprietor of the
nursery--one of those enterprising and spirited men who, instead of
contenting themselves with merely cultivating the trees and
flowering-plants already introduced into our gardens and greenhouses,
expend large sums of money in sending emissaries to all parts of the
earth, to discover and bring home other rare and beautiful kinds.
These emissaries--botanical collectors, or "plant-hunters," as they may
be called--in the pursuit of their calling, have explored, and are still
engaged in exploring, the wildest and most remote countries of the
globe--such as the deep, dark forests upon the Amazon, the Orinoco, and
the Oregon in America; the hot equatorial regions of Africa; the
tropical jungles of India; the rich woods of the Oriental islands; and,
in short, wherever there is a prospect of discovering and obtaining new
floral or sylvan beauties.
The exploration of the Sikhim Himalaya by the accomplished botanist,
Hooker--recorded in a book of travels not inferior to that of the great
Humboldt--had drawn attention to the rich and varied _flora_ of these
mountains; and in consequence of this, the enterprising "seedsman" who
had given Karl Linden temporary employment in his garden, promoted him
to a higher and more agreeable field of labour, by sending him as a
"plant-hunter" to the Thibetan Himalayas.
Accompanied by his brother, Caspar, the young botanist proceeded to
Calcutta; and, after a short residence there, he set out for the
Himalayas--taking a direction almost due north from the city of the
Ganges.
He had provided himself with a guide, in the person of a celebrated
Hindoo hunter or "shikaree," called Ossaroo; and this individual was the
sole attendant and companion of the two brothers--with the exception of
a large dog, of the boar-hound species, which had been brought with them
from Europe, and that answered to the name of Fritz.
The young botanist had come to India furnished with a letter of
introduction to the manager of the Botanical Garden of Calcutta--an
establishment of world-wide renown. There he had been hospitably
received on his arrival in the Oriental city; and during his sojourn he
had spent much of his time within its boundaries. Moreover, the
authorities of the place, interested in his expedition, had given him
all the information in their power as to the route he intended
pursuing--though that was not much: for the portion of the Himalayas he
was about to explore was at that time a _terra incognita_ to
Englishmen--even in the city of Calcutta!
It is not necessary here to detail the many adventures that befel our
plant-hunter and his party, during the progress of their journey towards
the Himalayas, and after they had entered within the grand gorges of
these mountains. Suffice it to say, that in pursuit of a beautiful
little animal--a "musk-deer"--they had gone up a gully filled by one of
those grand glaciers so common in the higher Himalayas; that the pursuit
had led them far up the ravine, and afterwards conducted them into a
singular crater-like valley--the one already described; that once in
this valley, they could find no way out of it, but by the ravine through
which they had entered; and that on returning to make their exit, they
discovered to their great consternation that a crevasse in the glacier,
over which they had passed, had opened during their absence, and to such
an extent as to render their exit impossible!
They had endeavoured to span this crevasse; and had spent much time in
making a bridge of pine-trees for the purpose. They had succeeded at
length in getting across the chasm--but only to find others in the
glacier below, which no ingenuity could enable them to get over.
They were compelled to abandon the idea, and return again to the valley;
which, though lovely to the eye, had now become hateful to their
thoughts: since they knew it to be their _prison_.
During their residence in the place, many adventures befel them with
wild animals of various kinds. There chanced to be a small herd of
"yaks," or grunting oxen, in the valley; and these formed for a time the
staple article of their food. Caspar, who, though younger than Karl,
was the more skilled hunter of the two, had a very narrow escape from
the old yak bull; though he succeeded at length in killing the dangerous
animal. Ossaroo was very near being eaten up by a pack of wild dogs--
every one of which he afterwards succeeded in killing; and Ossaroo was
also in danger of being swallowed up by an enemy of a very different
kind--that is by a _quicksand_, into which he had got his legs while
engaged in taking fish out of a net!
Karl was not without _his_ hair-breadth "'scape"--having been chased by
a bear along a ledge of the cliff, from which he was compelled to make a
most perilous descent. The bear itself took refuge in a cave, where it
was afterwards pursued and killed, by all three acting in concert,
materially assisted by the dog Fritz. They had incurred great risk in
this chase of the bear: for although they had succeeded in destroying
the formidable animal they lost themselves in the great labyrinthine
cavern, and were only able to find their way out by making a fire with
the stocks of their guns, and rendering the bear's-grease available for
candles--which fortunately enabled them to extricate themselves.
During the pursuit of the bear, and their subsequent endeavours to find
their way out, our adventurers had been struck by the enormous
dimensions of the cavern in which the animal had taken refuge; and in
the hope that some of its great galleries might lead out through the
mountain, and offer them a way of escape from the valley, they had made
torches, and explored it from end to end. It was all to no purpose; and
becoming satisfied that there was no exit by way of the cavern, they had
at length desisted from the search.
From this point shall we continue, in more circumstantial detail, the
history of their attempts to escape from their mountain prison; which
they were now convinced could only be done by _climbing the cliff_ that
encircled it.