The Plains -- kindly and gentle -- had treated the lama as a holy man among holy men . But the Hills worshipped him as one in the confidence of all their devils . Theirs was an almost obliterated Buddhism , overlaid with a nature-worship fantastic as their own landscapes , elaborate as the terracing of their tiny fields ; but they recognized the big hat , the clicking rosary , and the rare Chinese texts for great authority ; and they respected the man beneath the hat . ` We saw thee come down over the black Breasts of Eua , ' said a Betah who gave them cheese , sour milk , and stone-hard bread one evening . ` We do not use that often -- except when calving cows stray in summer . There is a sudden wind among those stones that casts men down on the stillest day . But what should such folk care for the Devil of Eua ! ' Then did Kim , aching in every fibre , dizzy with looking down , footsore with cramping desperate toes into inadequate crannies , take joy in the day 's march -- such joy as a boy of St Xavier 's who had won the quarter-mile on the flat might take in the praises of his friends . The hills sweated the ghi and sugar suet off his bones ; the dry air , taken sobbingly at the head of cruel passes , firmed and built out his upper ribs ; and the tilted levels put new hard muscles into calf and thigh . They meditated often on the Wheel of Life -- the more so since , as the lama said , they were freed from its visible temptations . Except the grey eagle and an occasional far-seen bear grubbing and rooting on the hillside ; a vision of a furious painted leopard met at dawn in a still valley devouring a goat ; and now and again a bright-coloured bird , they were alone with the winds and the grass singing under the wind . The women of the smoky huts over whose roofs the two walked as they descended the mountains , were unlovely and unclean , wives of many husbands , and afflicted with goitre . The men were woodcutters when they were not farmers -- meek , and of an incredible simplicity . But that suitable discourse might not fail , Fate sent them , overtaking and overtaken upon the road , the courteous Dacca physician , who paid for his food in ointments good for goitre and counsels that restore peace between men and women . He seemed to know these hills as well as he knew the hill dialects , and gave the lama the lie of the land towards Ladakh and Tibet . He said they could return to the Plains at any moment . Meantime , for such as loved mountains , yonder road might amuse . This was not all revealed in a breath , but at evening encounters on the stone threshing-floors , when , patients disposed of , the doctor would smoke and the lama snuff , while Kim watched the wee cows grazing on the housetops , or threw his soul after his eyes across the deep blue gulfs between range and range . And there were talks apart in the dark woods , when the doctor would seek herbs , and Kim , as budding physician , must accompany him . ` You see , Mister O'Hara , I do not know what the deuce-an ' all I shall do when I find our sporting friends ; but if you will kindly keep within sight of my umbrella , which is fine fixed point for cadastral survey , I shall feel much better . '
XXXXX looked out across the jungle of peaks .
Betah Hills Kim Ladakh Xavier deuce-an gulfs lama ointments threshing-floors