On the second morning of their stay Frank took a stroll around the premises while waiting for their early breakfast, and came back with a sketch of the cook at work. He had discovered that worthy engaged in toasting bread, and holding the toasting-fork between his toes, while he grasped his hubble-bubble pipe with both hands. Frank had observed that the natives make many uses of their toes that are unknown to the Occident, but this way of holding a toasting-fork was quite a new sensation. The boys observed that they were among a new race of men, as there were many of the inhabitants of Simla that had a stronger resemblance to the Chinese than to the people of the plains of India. Captain Whitney told them that the great majority of the hill natives were of Tartar origin, and farther up in the mountains they were hardly to be distinguished from Chinese. Many of them wear their hair in cues, or pig-tails, and their dress is of the Chinese pattern. There are many different tribes of these mountain people, and some of them are not on friendly terms with the English. Hardly a year passes without a war in some part of the mountains, and for twenty years past the principal occupation of the English army in India has been to keep the hill tribes in order. On the extreme north the Afghans have made themselves heard from in recent days, and they may be regarded as the most powerful of all the dwellers in the region of the Himalayas. A great many people from Thibet and Nepaul come to the mountain towns of India, partly from curiosity, but mainly for the purpose of making money. They bring the products of those countries to exchange for English goods, and in the seasons when the mountain passes are open they may be seen in considerable numbers in Simla, Darjeeling, and the other fashionable resorts. As soon as the weather cleared up an excursion among the mountains was arranged by the Doctor, to the great delight of the youths. Mounted on shaggy ponies, they started at an early hour in the morning, and had an exhilarating ride among the gorges and beneath the shadows of the rugged peaks of the second range of mountains. The forests were dense and luxuriant, and sometimes they were an hour or more where little else could be seen than the trees and climbing-plants attached to them. In one place they narrowly escaped a fall down a rocky slope, where a few months before an Englishman was killed, owing to a misstep of his pony. Accidents of this kind are by no means rare, and hardly a year passes without the death of one or more adventurous tourists. [Illustration: CLIMBING-PLANT IN THE HIMALAYAS.]