Ladak.
[v]
To
those for whose perusal
the following pages were originally written
they are affectionately
dedicated.[vii]
With the fullest sense of the responsibility incurred by the addition of another volumeto the countless numbers already existing, and daily appearing in the world, the followingDiary has been committed to the press, trusting that, as it was not written with intent to publication, the unpremeditated nature of the offence may be its extenuation,and that as a faithful picture of travel in regions where excursion trains are stillunknown, and Travellers’ Guides unpublished, the book may not be found altogetherdevoid of interest or amusement. Its object is simply to bring before the reader’simagination those scenes and incidents of travel which have already been a sourceof enjoyment to the writer, [viii]and to impart, perhaps, by their description, some portion of the gratification whichhas been derived from their reality. With this view, the original Diary has undergoneas little alteration of form or matter as possible, and is laid before the readeras it was sketched and written during the leisure moments of a wandering life, hopingthat faithfulness of detail may atone in it for faults and failings in a literaryand artistic point of view.
Although the journey it describes was writt