Book Review: The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The author goes on an adventure along with a famous naturalist, George Scaller, to study the mating habits of Bharal (Pseudois nayaur) and hopefully sight the elusive Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia). The arduous trek through the inhospitable and treacherous hills through rain, snow and blizzards ends up as a journey of spiritual enlightenment. He has an excellent eye for detail, describing the snow-clad mountains, sunrises and sunsets, the moon and star, the birds and animals in engrossing detail. Here he talks about the grinding poverty of the villages in Nepal

A child dragging bent useless legs is crawling up the hill outside the village. Nose to the stones, goat dung, and muddy trickles, she pulls herself along like a broken cricket. We falter, ashamed of our strong step, and noticing this, she gazes up, clear-eyed, without resentment – it seems much worse that she is pretty.

Here he is at a loss of words to describe the stark beauty and spiritual power of the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau

Frustration at the paltriness of words drives me to write, but there is more of Shey in a single sheep hair, in one withered sprig of everlasting, than in all these notes; to strive for permanence in what I think I have perceived is to miss the point.

The environmental degradation by man – this was back in the Seventies

Especially in India and Pakistan, the hoofed animals are rapidly disappearing, due to destruction of habitat by subsistence agriculture, overcutting of the forests, over-grazing by the scraggy hordes of domestic animals, erosion, flood – the whole dismal cycle of event that accompanies over-crowding by human beings.

There is a strong element of Buddhism and existentialism throughout the book. The maps are very helpful in orienting the reader although I wish there were some photographs too.

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