The
Compass Wallah in question we found quite a wild man of the mountains;
his face, from changes of heat and cold and long exposure, was burnt
and blistered into all sorts of colours, and, to make his appearance
more generally striking, he wore as head-dress, a flyaway, puggery,
or turban of blue cotton, of the most voluminous dimensions and
wonderful construction imaginable. He gave us an amusing account
of his operations among the clouds; how he always rode a cow! and
was so much alone that he at times began to doubt the existence of
other white men in creation besides himself; how he was SEA sick at
first, and unable to sleep at night from the great rarification of the
atmosphere, &c. He joined us during dinner, just in time for a triumph
of a plum pudding which our cook had unexpectedly produced, and his
heart was so gladdened and expanded by either the suet, the raisins,
or the brandy, that he chatted away until the dissipated mountain
hour of eleven o'clock, when we sent him off to bed, much pleased
with his entertainment, and again reassured, at least for a time,
of the continued existence, not only of white men in the world, but
of their plum puddings.
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