THE DUKE OF ABRUZZI 353 



native vehicles drawn by ponies and called "ekkas." The duke and his com- 

 panions preceded these in European landaus, the local authorities having ad- 

 judged the native "dongas," commonly used for passenger transportation, un- 

 suited to the august member of the house of Savoy. But it would have been 

 almost as well for the duke to have gone to Shrinagar on foot, as the old ve- 

 hicles made the journey very slowly and with such extreme difficulty that they 

 pulled into Shrinagar in a pitiable condition, with some of their wheels held in 

 place by ropes. 



At Shrinagar the Italians waited from April 17 until the 23d, the delay 

 being caused by the ekkas containing the baggage, which took their time on 

 the road from Rawalpindi. 



Finally they embarked in boats on one of the canals which have given Shrin- 

 agar the name of the "Venice of India," and proceeded to a village at the head 

 of navigation of the canal, being escorted to that point by Sir Francis Young- 

 husband, British Resident of Cashmere, famous as the man who entered the 

 sacred Tibetan city of Lhassa at the head of British troops some years ago. In 

 addition to this he had traversed the Himalayas twice and made several jour- 

 neys through lands unknown before to white men, hence his interest in Abruz- 

 zi's contemplated feats was of the keenest. 



AN ARMY OF 250. 



After the farewells on April 24 to Sir Francis and to the wife of Dr. De 

 Filippi, who turned back to await her husband's return at Shrinagar, the dif- 

 ficulties of the expedition began. The Italians were now accompanied by long 

 lines of native porters carrying the baggage. Some of this was loaded on 

 ponies, too, but many of the latter had to be abandoned along the way. In 

 their place additional porters, natives of Cashmere, were collected from the 

 neighboring valleys, until finally their total number of natives was 250. At the 

 head of this small army marched the duke and his companions. 



As they traversed the valley of the Sind they encountered deep snow every- 

 where, which, being fresh, made the danger of avalanches imminent. The ex- 

 pedition could advance with safety only early in the morning, or late at night, 

 by the light of lanterns. After several days of this arduous marching the duke 

 and his comrades reached the junction of the Dras and the Indus, proceeding 

 from there to Skardo, the capital of Baltistan. 



They were already at an altitude of 6,500 feet. Leaving Skardo on May 

 9 and following the valley of Braldon, partly on foot, partly on ponies, they 



