122 BEAR SHOOTING 



females, and they were still numerous. He shot two stags 

 last October. Since the Mahanijali stopped his yearly 

 demand of stags' heads, the slaughter has decreased, and 

 only a few are now shot here and there for sale to the skin- 

 cleaners in Srinagar at five rupees a-head. Musk pods are 

 sold to traders at two and five rupees each, according to 

 size. From the crest I had a good view of the Hant 

 valley ; it is very beautiful, wide and open, and the left 

 side very level, with a gentle ascent to the ridge that 

 divides it from the Machhal valley — my old shooting 

 ground ten years ago. The right side of the valley has 

 less gentle slopes, and is more densely clothed with forest : 

 it must be a good place for bears and stags at the proper 

 season. 



From the ridge I had a fine side view of Nanga Parbat 

 straight in front of me. The proper name of this glorious 

 peak is Daia Mar — the name of a village, I was told, at its 

 base on the Chilas side. People say Daia Mar is inhabited 

 by D4os and Paris (genii and fairies), and the mountain 

 has a sacred character even among the Mahomedan popu- 

 lation. Every Friday the Chilasis wash themselves, put 

 on clean blue clothes, and go out to the mountain to watch 

 the fairies and genii disporting themselves on the crags 

 and precipices above. This tradition and custom must be 

 survivals of the old heathen time, before the sword of 

 Islam gathered these people under its flag. " Nanga 

 Parbat " cannot be an ancient name : probably it was 

 named by a Hindustani Hindu, camp follower with the 

 survey party that first took the bearings of the peak. 

 Kinchinjanga is a fine name for the highest mountain in 

 the world ; but " Nanga Parbat " for the third highest is 

 certainly bathos. The second highest, too, was badly 

 treated ; it blushed every morning at the indignity put 

 upon it by the G. T. Survey, who labelled it " K^ " fi^ |^i-)gjr 



