90 AFOOT THROUGH THE 



cut off below by the wild waves of the stream. It 

 stretched away above to a vast overhanging crag, the 

 crown of the height I was crossing. Walking on snow in 

 sandals has always its drawbacks, and when that walk- 

 ing means picking your way across a field lying at an 

 angle of forty-five deg. with a drop of fifty feet, only 

 bound by an uncomfortably rock-filled and bustling 

 torrent, the disagreeables are multiplied. However, 

 as there is no standing still in this world, I went 

 on and found myself far too interested in test- 

 ing the security of each foothold to trouble 

 about what was below or behind. Safely landed 

 on the further side after about two hundred 

 yards of this slithering kind of marching, and having 

 more or less dried my sandals, I moved on for further 

 experiments, and realised soon that the morning would 

 not be passed without even keener emotions. At one 

 spot where the stream widened into a kind of pool, or 

 rather " broad " of rocks, washed by a frenzy of foam- 

 crowned, tumultuous waters, a huge snow heap barred 

 the way. It had slipped bodily down the mountain 

 side into the path, leaving no space between itself and 

 the stream. As I approached, three men and two ponies 

 were attempting to force their way through the tumult 

 of waters. One pony, having lost its footing, had tried 

 to mount a large boulder, and when I saw it it was feebly 

 see-sawing backwards and forwards in imminent danger 

 of slipping off into the deep holes on either side. Its 

 owners were strong and active, and succeeded, after 

 relieving it of its load, in leading, or rather half-carrying, 

 it into more secure places. Watching them had neither 

 helped nor encouraged me. The coolies signed to try 

 their ponies, but the fate of their late loads had not 



