AFOOT THROUGH THE 



above and an uncomfortably mangled death below in 

 the tide; at the further end another double S curve 

 took one on to the main road again, and we had 

 reached Kashmir territory. I felt grateful to the 

 gallant Sikh ; still more so to the stout pair of reins ! 



The road widened and twisted, giant cliffs were 

 piled up on our right hand, a steep slope on our left 

 ended in the Jhelum brown, tormented, tossed the 

 rain slackened, wind came in less scathing blasts, and 

 as twilight set in I began to realise that at last I had 

 reached the flowery land of my dreams, clumps of 

 ruscotonus, most feathery of shrubs, filled up the under- 

 growth, the starry St. John's wort brightened the 

 rain-drenched banks, tiny pink tulips and various other 

 bright flowers cheered me with promise of future 

 treasure trove. 



Darkness had long set in when we reached our 

 halting-place for the night, having come over one 

 hundred miles since our early start that morning. 

 Alas, and alas, Garhi as a " rest "-house proved a snare 

 and a delusion; two large parties had taken entire 

 possession. Not a room was to be had; only the fire 

 in the common dining-room was available for drying 

 purposes. Imagine the misery of a poor, shivering, rain- 

 drenched human, aching from fatigue, speechless from 

 cold, and dependent for warmth on the damp bedding 

 that- had for eighteen hours been dripped upon. 

 Luckily, a hot dinner put some life into me ; a fatherly 

 Khansamah of huge proportions and ruddy-tinted 

 beard offered to dry garments before the kitchen fire, 

 and found it possible to arrange some kind of sleeping 

 arrangement in a half-finished addition to the bunga- 

 low; and so to bed, in a room windowless and with 



