46 MARKHOR SHOOTING 



point of death ; his companion was sitting close by ahnost 

 as helpless. The former had given out at this point, and 

 could go no farther, so the two had made up their minds 

 to pass the night here. Such a place to spend the night ! 

 The wind was blowing cold, there was a slight drizzle, and 

 the men were clothed in the scantiest rags ; stones and 

 rocks were constantly falling from above, and crossed the 

 path with a whiz like that of a bullet ; but these poor 

 creatures were too apathetic to care. They had some rice, 

 but could not cook it, having neither wood nor water. 

 Sharafa rose to the occasion : pulling some sticks from the 

 floor of the path (which was laid along beams fixed in the 

 rock), he made them a fire, filled their pot with water, and 

 arranged for the cooking of their rice. As it was getting 

 late, we had to leave, advising the two Sappers to move 

 lower down to a safer place after their meal. Both were 

 Baltis (natives of Baltistan or Little Tibet). 



I was informed that the whole corps of " Safar 

 maina " was recruited from that country — that is to 

 say, were forcibly taken from their homes, sent under an 

 escort to some distant part whence they could not desert, 

 and formed into regiments of Sappers for work on the 

 roads, etc. They never saw their country again ! Several 

 times during this journey I met parties of these poor 

 creatures carrying their tools, a long-handled matchlock, 

 cooking-pots and several days' provisions, in the shape of 

 a bag of flour, and toiling along the road to and from 

 Astor. Their dejected air and humble mien were dis- 

 tressing. They were all Shias, and consequently heretics, 

 and treated by the Siinnis (orthodox Musalmans) as the 

 scum of the earth. "We reached Eiimghat at 7.45 p.m., 

 rather fagged ; the descent was rough, but nothing in 

 comparison with the path on the other side. Eamghat is 

 a bridge on the Astor river, with some sepoys' huts about 



