Why Himalayan peoples should be as ready as they are to undergo hardships, and run risks of the most serious nature, in the service of any stray traveller who appears among them is not easy to understand. The payment they receive is small. They have to work for much more than an eight hours' day. And they have no insurance against accidents. Yet they readily work through long and arduous days, and willingly risk their lives. And, most wonderful of all, they are full of gratitude to their employer when they leave his service. In this book we get an answer to the puzzle. It is written by one of themselves—by a Mohamedan of Ladak, who had worked for many years in the service of English and American travellers in the Himalaya, Central Asia and Tibet. The secret is that these men, the best of them, love adventure just as much as their employers. Written in faulty English, but with the instinct of a true artist, we see on every page the spirit which animated Rassul.
