The Heart of Nature; or, The Quest for Natural Beauty — John Shaqi
The Heart of Nature; or, The Quest for Natural BeautyYounghusband, Francis Edward, Sir
Philosophy
The Heart of Nature; or, The Quest for Natural Beauty
Younghusband, Francis Edward, Sir
Himalaya Mountains -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Himalaya Mountains; Nature (Aesthetics)
It is for the advent of such Naturalist-Artist that we wait. But we
have to prepare the way for him and do our share in helping to
produce him. And this will now be my endeavour, for it so happens
that I have been blessed with opportunities--some of my own
making, some provided for me--of seeing Nature on a larger scale
and under more varied aspects than falls to the lot of most men. I am
ashamed when I reflect how little use I have made of those
opportunities--how little I was prepared and trained to make the
most of them. But this at least I can do: I can point out to the coming
Artist those parts of the world where he is likely to see the Beauty of
Nature most fully, and in greatest variety.
With this end in view I shall begin with the Sikkim Himalaya, over
which the eagle flew, because it contains within a small area a
veritable compendium of Nature. Rising directly out of the plains of
India, practically within the tropics, these mountains rise far above
the limits of perpetual snow. Their base is covered with luxuriant
vegetation of a truly tropical character, and this vegetation extends
through all the ranges from tropical to temperate and arctic. The
animal, bird, and insect life does the same. And here also are to be
found representative men of every clime. Similarly does the natural
scenery vary from plain to highest mountain. There are roaring
torrents and wide, placid rivers. The Sikkim Himalaya, looking
down on the plains of India on the one side and the steppes of Tibet
on the other, is the most suitable place I know for a study of Natural
Beauty.
But there are beauties in Kashmir and in the great Karakoram
Mountains behind Kashmir which are not found in Sikkim. And
there are beauties in the Desert which are not found in either Sikkim
or Kashmir. So I must take the Artist to these regions also.
And I choose Sikkim and Kashmir because these are easily
accessible regions to which men with a thirst for Beauty can return
again and again, till they are saturated with the atmosphere and have
imbibed the true spirit of the region--till they have realised how
much these natural features express sentiments which they, too, are
wanting to express--their aspirations for the highest and purest, their
longing for repose, their delight in warmth and affection, or
whatever their sentiment might be. Thousands of Englishmen,
cultured Indians, and travellers from all over the world, visit the
Himalaya every year--some for sport, some for health, some for
social enjoyment. Amongst these may be our Naturalist-Artist who
year after year, drawn to Sikkim and Kashmir by his love of Natural
Beauty, would learn to know Nature in the wonderfully varied
aspects under which she is to be seen in those favoured regions, who
would come into ever-deepening communion with her, would yearly
see more Beauty in her, and would communicate to us the
enjoyment he had felt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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