lo JOURNEY TO THE SHOOTING GROUND 



When we reached the Eiat encamping ground at five, 

 the snow increased and the wind was more cutting than ever; 

 but we pitched camp somehow on the snow in a young 

 birch forest — a very uncomfortable shelter indeed. It must 

 have snowed for several hours during the night ; its weight 

 so bore down my little tent that the coolies had to come 

 out twice to shake it off. The morning light showed a 

 splendid winter scene : the leafless branches of the birch 

 trees wore a snowy dressing, each branch standing out 

 distinctly from its fellows ; an hour's sun, and this fairy 

 scene vanished. I awoke early and called for my servant ; 

 I had to shout loudly and often, receiving a muffled reply 

 each time, as if the man were smothered under a dozen 

 blankets or two feet of snow. I began to get alarmed, 

 but the rascal had not been snowed up ; he was too com- 

 fortable in his blankets to rise in a hurry. 



Packing was a terrible business. The tent was frozen 

 stiff as a board ; but we had to get out of this snow-bound 

 land, and proceed farther down into more genial regions. 

 At least twelve inches of snow must have fallen during 

 the night ; and travelling was difficult and dreadfully slow. 

 The slope of the valley still trended gently downwards, 

 and we at last reached Loyon-harrar, a pretty plain. A 

 large stream runs through it, which I at first mistook for 

 the Astor river, but it is only a tributary. The main 

 stream is farther north, but the volume of the river I had 

 reached was much greater than that of the former. The 

 main road from Gurais to Astor, which makes a great bend 

 a good distance to the right of the short cut I had taken, 

 crosses the stream here by the bridge, so that I was again 

 on the principal line of communication between the two 

 districts. Marmai is the highest inhabited spot in the valley, 

 and the porters I had brought with me from the last village 

 on the other side of the Gagai Pass had to be relieved here. 



