KASHMIR VALLEYS 81 



remote and solitary, an ideal resting-place for some 

 Hindu ascetic seeking knowledge apart from the world, 

 but desiring a cell where " beauty did abound." 



The night was almost as light as the day, so 

 brilliant was the moon, and foaming stream and wooded 

 glade were flooded with a soft, illuminating radiance 

 that touched all things with fairy wand and added a 

 new charm to what had even, in the more prosaic day- 

 light, seemed all too fascinating. The start in the early 

 dawn while on this expedition was a daily fresh delight, 

 the dew sparkled in the light of the rising sun, a fresh 

 breeze acted like a tonic, bracing one up for the 

 walk, and all nature's colours bore an added brilliance. 

 The march out from Kangan was especially delightful. 

 Gently rising and falling, the path was sometimes on 

 a level with the stream, sometimes high above it, 

 crossing from bank to bank as the mountains closed 

 in on one side or the other, leaving no space for even 

 a goat track; everywhere the sweetness of newly- 

 opened flowers, everywhere the brilliance of early spring 

 foliage. In places the Sind, swollen by recent rains, 

 became a mighty mountain torrent, carrying great trees 

 with it in its strong current. At one point it had 

 completely carried away both bank and path, leaving 

 no choice, for the rocks rose precipitously from the 

 waters, to passing through the tide, but retracing one's 

 steps for several miles. That is always an undesirable 

 proceeding when the day's route is already sufficiently 

 long, and I was gazing rather sadly at the waste of 

 waters with but small desire to repeat my wading 

 experiments, when by came an old man with a laden 

 pony, strange knight errant, but his lack of appropriate 

 exterior was no bar to his efficiency. 



