14 JOURNEY TO THE SHOOTING GROUND 



on his posteriors till he was tired. After this preliminary- 

 he spoke to him. The matter-of-fact way in which the 

 Kotwal took this punishment was extraordinary ; he was 

 evidently used to it ! With his arms tied, he was sent 

 down to the river bank opposite the next village to shout 

 for coolies. Shortly after appeared the Makadam himself, 

 with two men. Still there were not sufficient porters for 

 the loads ; I was therefore obliged to make the Makadam 

 and Kotwal carry a load each, as the sun was setting, and 

 I was determined to make at least five miles more before 

 halting for the night. These two men had not gone a 

 mile when two others came running up from the next 

 village and relieved them of their burdens ! This was 

 how we travelled in this part of the world ten years ago. 

 The people of Marmai are said to be Shias in religion — 

 Eafizis or heretics ; and the orthodox Kashmiris evidently 

 treat them in the manner I have described, as a matter 

 of religious duty. They are said not to be Dards, but 

 emigrants from Baltistan who have settled in this valley. 



We reached Diril village late in the evening. Our 

 next march was to Chhagdm. Some distance from Diril 

 the road crosses the river and goes along the left bank. 

 After crossing the bridge and going some distance down 

 the left bank, we turned a shoulder and came on 

 to Gabar Maidan (fire-worshippers' plain ? ), a curious 

 undulating plain running down towards Chhagam ; the 

 road passes over it. An open and level valley, the Mir 

 Malik, comes down to the river from the left. It is 

 pretty, and a good find, I am told, for bears and urin 

 (wild sheep). From Chhagam the river takes a sharp 

 turn to the right, going completely round the spur of the 

 range on its right bank. The range ends abruptly in this 

 bend. Just opposite, on the left bank, is the mouth of 

 the Riipil nala running down from Nanga Parbat, of which 



