18

THE LURE OF THE VALLEY

The Himalayas invite the attention not only for their grandeur
-and sublimity but in the words of Holdsworth "All of a sudden,
I realised that I was simply surrounded by primulas. At once,
the day seemed to brighten perceptibility. Forgotten were all
pain and cold and lost prters and what a primulas it was ?"
There is something in the valley of flowers which holds the fasci-
nation, arrests the attention, and contains constant charm to
-come and enjoy the untrampled flowers as they grow in the
nature's garden—Nandan Kanan.
The first Europeen trekker who struck upon the valley was
1 Col. Edmund Smythe who during the course of his extensive
explorations in the Uttarakhand crossed Lakshaman pass over
Bhyundhar ridge in 1862 and descended down only to find a
paradise of infinite beauty which was later further investigated by
Dr. T.G. Longstaff who points out in his famed book This My
.Voyage that "Beyond these glaciers we looked down into a valley
of the richest green balm to the eyes after the stormy desolation
we had left behind we reached it on July 13th to find the most
luxuriant meadows we had met with in this part of the Himalaya.
We waded through flowers upto our waists fern, yellow lilies and
.anemoneas, green frittillaries, purple monks-hood, blue dwarf-