PUT UP A BRIDGE 149 



carried back in the same way. Ponies come from Zanskar 

 and parts of Tibet, and nice little animals can be picked 

 up by anyone who chooses to stay and await his chance. 

 The grain and other goods are brought by Lahoulis from 

 below on their tattoos ; so, in the season, the surrounding 

 hills swarm with ponies, sheep, and goats. The pasturage 

 is splendid and sufficient, and the animals are soon in 

 condition after their enforced starvation during the winter 

 months. There are some huts here, but they were filthy 

 in the extreme, and the surrounding areas of level ground 

 were in the same condition. The whole place reeked with 

 sheep's dung, which lay several inches deep, wherever there 

 was a level spot. The turf was still very wet from the 

 melting snow ; no good camping ground could be found 

 anywhere, and my tent, perforce, had to be pitched next 

 the huts, in the midst of the dirt. As the usual Lahouli 

 gale of wind was blowing, everything was smothered in 

 the malodorous dust, which I breathed from the moment 

 I arrived, and of which I certainly ate a fair quantity with 

 my dinner. I amused myself in the evening by putting 

 up the bridge over the Bhaga at this place ; we found the 

 boards lying under the rocks close by, and the coolies 

 helped very willingly. The bridge has to be dismantled 

 every year, to prevent the snow from smashing it and the 

 river from carrying away the materials. In the afternoon 

 clouds came up, and the wind reached a furious gale before 

 evening. Ugly rocky hills surround this place, and patches 

 of snow lie in the clefts. There are flats along the river as 

 far as one could see, and a flush of rich grass was visible 

 just above the surface, making these little plains very 

 refreshing to the eyes tired of rugged mountains. Sheets 

 of flowers relieve the sameness of the tender green ; but as 

 yet they hardly showed above the surface. 



Our engineering of the bridge was not of the best, for 



