234 STAG AND BEAR SHOOTING IN KASHMIR 



road, and did only twenty miles ; a most trying day's 

 march. 



Khali'k, the servant I had brought from Leh, an Arghiin 

 or half-caste, beguiled the tedium of the journey by relating 

 the story of Zorawar Singh, the famous general of Mahari'ijah 

 Gulab Singh of Kashmir. He was the conqueror of Ladakh, 

 and subsequently lost his life in Tibet during a great 

 battle, while he was on his march to Lahsa itself. The 

 half-caste's story was shortly this : The name of the 

 place where the general was killed was Parang ; he was 

 on horseback during the battle, and was hit by a bullet in 

 the thigh ; he dismounted and sat on the ground, where 

 he was shot again in the chest, and died as he sat. The 

 Bhots (Tibetans) were so afraid even of the dead hero that 

 they would not approach his body for two days. Then 

 they cut off his head and sent it to Lahsa, and ate the 

 rest of the body, that they might assimilate the courage 

 of the gallant old Sikh ! The head is still preserved in 

 the biggest monastery of the city, and is worshipped with 

 great ceremony as the head of a famous conqueror. 

 The Bhots won the battle hjjddu (magic); it snowed very 

 hard all the time, and the bullets would not come out of 

 the Sikhs' guns. 



To Suri'i was the next march, seventeen miles up the 

 left bank of that river ; the valley is very fertile, and the 

 road, for the greater part, good. I remained here for a 

 day, collected ten days' supplies, and started for my next 

 point, the village of Si'iknis at the head of the "VVardwan 

 valley ; it was a rough journey, and took four days' hard 

 marching. The first stage was about twelve miles up the 

 Chilliing stream. Several ancient moraines and landslips 

 had to be crossed, and the stream was considerable even 

 at this season. Marmots were numerous ; they are bigger 

 than the Tibetan variety, are of dark chestnut colour, and 



