38 IBEX SHOOTING 



We camped that night on the banks of the Hasharai 

 stream, below a hirge and gloomy cave, the entrance of 

 which was blocked by dense undergrowth. The small 

 kh;iki tent was pitched under some grand pine-trees, not 

 two yards from the brink of the stream, tlie deafening roar 

 of which, echoing in the cave above, rendered hearing 

 impossible, and required business to be carried on by signs. 

 The coolies made a fire close to the tent against a fallen pine- 

 tree ; naturally, there was a conflagration in ten minutes, 

 and the whole camp in danger of being roasted alive on 

 one hand, or drowned and dashed to pieces in the raging 

 torrent on the other. We had a battle-royal in subduing 

 the fire with green branches and water, and I did without 

 my log-fire. 



We started at 5.15 next morning, and went up the 

 Hasharai. After going a mile and crossing a goat-bridge 

 over the stream, I sent back a coolie with some spare 

 things, tent, bedding, etc., to lighten the loads and save 

 the commissariat ; the more coolies one has, the greater 

 the quantity of flour it is necessary to carry. Carriage and 

 commissariat are the two difficulties in all expeditious, 

 great or small. Following the stream along an easy goat- 

 path from the bridge, I reached the grazing grounds of 

 the Ghor people ; they would be here in ten days or less — 

 so Mirza Khan said. The village of Ghor is on the other 

 side of this range, a short distance from the water-parting 

 above me. The Ghor people are beyond the border, and 

 are rather turbulent, which was the reason why the Wazi'r 

 was so anxious for me to leave this part. The Ghorians 

 had no right to feed their flocks on this side, as the 

 country up to the crest belongs to Damot ; but they are the 

 stronger party, and the people of Damot must keep on good 

 terms with them. Ghor is, moreover, a convenient asylum 

 for refugees from Kashmiri oppression, and a good many 



