We got up in time to see the most glorious sunset; the colours were more wonderful than anything I had ever seen before, even in India.

My wife urged Baigrie to make a rough sketch, and note the tints, that he might paint a picture of it later.

He made the sketch, saying: 'If I attempted to represent truly what we see before us, the painting would be rejected by the good people at home as absurdly unreal, or as the work of a hopeless lunatic.' There was such a high wind that our small tents had a narrow escape of being blown away.

That night the water was frozen in our jugs, and it was quite impossible to keep warm.
We were up betimes the next morning, and climbed to the highest peak, where we found breakfast awaiting us and a magnificent view of the Himalayan ranges, right down to the plains on one side and up to the perpetual snows on the other.

We descended to the foot of the mountain in the afternoon, and then returned, march by march, to Simla.
Towards the end of the month Lord Napier began his winter tour, visiting the hill stations first.