YAHA-JAHA CAMP 169 



The Iviang I shot was an enormous brute, a very old 

 stallion, sturdy in limb and build, with hoofs as large as 

 those of a horse, beautifully shaped, and as hard as iron. 

 The rest of tlie herd stood about two hundred yards away, 

 looking on, and Yi'ikub was tempted to have a shot with 

 the smooth bore : the bullet fell at least a hundred yards 

 too short, much to his astonishment and dissust. Dis- 

 tances, of course, are very deceptive in this clear atmo- 

 sphere. Ydkiib had a glorious spill off the small (very 

 small) Tibetan tattoo he was riding ; after having his 

 shot, he mounted and galloped off to the dead kiang to 

 get the skin. The carcase was lying in a hollow, and 

 the little pony did not see it till he nearly ran over 

 it : the consequence was a tremendous shy, and when I 

 came up I found a struggling mass of man, tattoo, dead 

 kiang, and my precious gun. It took some time to separate 

 the component parts, and I was anxious about the gun, 

 but no damage was done, luckily. I used only the first sight 

 on the rifle for the long shot I had made. The conclusion 

 I came to was that the range is just doubled at these high 

 elevations : the 100 yards sight will do for 200 yards. 



We left the Indus near the village of Maya, and turned 

 up to the right, commencing at once a dreadfully stiff 

 ascent. I found the heat of the sun intolerable, thourrh I 

 was riding. We made camp at half-past three in a 

 singular-looking valley named Yaha-jaha ; it is circular 

 in shape, and has only one narrow entrance, by which a 

 small stream flows to a lake at the farther end of the 

 valley ; there is no outlet ; bare and steep rocky hills 

 are all round, and the level of the valley is turfy and 

 boggy where not covered by water. The wind during the 

 night was most boisterous, and kept me much awake, in 

 dread of the tent coming down. We started early next 

 morning in a very cold and most disagreeable wind. The 



