The first edition of this book is dated 1864. The edition used is dated 1888. The publisher was George Routledge and Sons, Limited, London, Glasgow, etc. The number of pages is 408.

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General information

The book begins with two young brothers and an Indian guide, in a valley in the Himalayas, into which they had ascended with some difficulty in the preceding book—“The Plant Hunters”.

Unfortunately they find they cannot get out at the top of the valley, and they cannot go back the way they came. So they are stuck.

They try various ingenious ideas for getting out, each of which appears as though it would work, but in the end does not, usually in a quite entertaining way. Eventually they do think of a way, which I will not divulge here, and they get out, but it had been a long nerve-racking period before their final release.

The copy of the book I worked from looked at first sight as though it had been beautifully printed. But this turned out to be a delusion, for the type-setting had been truly awful. It does seem sad that an author, a well-known one at the time, could take the trouble to write a good book, that he should use a good publisher, and a good illustrator, a good book-binder, only to have the whole thing let down by very poor type-setting. And that goes on down to proof-reading, too, for the publisher should have checked all this as well.

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Contents

Chapter I.
The Himalayas.

Chapter II.
A view from Chumulari.

Chapter III.
The Plant-Hunter and his companions.

The Cliff Climbers — by Captain Mayne Reid

Chapter V.
A midnight intruder.

Chapter VI.
A talk about elephants.

Chapter VII.
Re-stocking the guns.

Chapter VIII.
Inspecting the cliffs.

Chapter IX.
A reconnoissance interrupted.

Chapter X.
Ossaroo on the obelisk.

Chapter XI.
A wholesale tumble.

Chapter XII.
A ring performance.

Chapter XIII.
An odd appearance.

Chapter XIV.
A curious nest.

Chapter XV.
The hornbill.

Chapter XVI.
A four-footed burglar.

Chapter XVII.
Fritz interferes.

Chapter XVIII.
“Death to the rogue.“

Chapter XIX.
A home in ruins.

Chapter XX.
Up a tree again!

Chapter XXI.
An implacable besieger.

Chapter XXII.
Drawing their drink.

Chapter XXIII.
A gigantic syringe.

Chapter XXIV.
Swallowed wholesale.

Chapter XXV.
The deodar.

Chapter XXVI.
The scaling ladders.

Chapter XXVII.
An empty larder.

Chapter XXVIII.
Going abroad for breakfast.

Chapter XXIX.
Caspar on a stalk.

Chapter XXX.
The double decoy.

Chapter XXXI.
The signal of the Shikaree.

Chapter XXXII.
The ibex.

Chapter XXXIII.
Goats and sheep.

Chapter XXXIV.
A battle of bucks.

Chapter XXXV.
The Bearcoots.

Chapter XXXVI.
A hope built upon the bearcoot.

Chapter XXXVII.
The log on the leg.

Chapter XXXVIII.
Further experiments.

Chapter XXXIX.
The eagle’s escape.

Chapter XL.
Fritz and the falcons.

Chapter XLI.
Fritz offended.

Chapter XLII.
A Kite!

Chapter XLIII.
The paper-tree.

Chapter XLIV.
Flying the kite.

Chapter XLV.
The rope-ladder.

Chapter XLVI.
Ossaroo makes a quick descent.

Chapter XLVII.
The escape of the kite.

Chapter XLVIII.
No more paper-trees!

Chapter XLIX.
Aerostatics.

Chapter L.
The skin balloon.

Chapter LI.
Making ready for the ascent.

Chapter LII.
Inflation and failure.

Chapter LIII.
Another spell of despair.

Chapter LIV.
The bean of Pythagoras.

Chapter LV.
An aquatic harvest.

Chapter LVI.
The adjutants.

Chapter LVII.
The standing sleepers.

Chapter LVIII.
Fritz among the feathers.

Chapter LIX.
Capturing the storks.

Chapter LX.
A labelled leg.

Chapter LXI.
Mail-carriers on wings.

Chapter LXII.
Conclusion.

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