A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



and who always rose to the occasion and cooked a 

 good dinner (indeed, very often the greater the 

 apparent difficulties the better the repast), I think 

 that I have described the chiefs of each department.^ 

 Of course, besides these there were some permanent 

 coolies who were always with me, and who were 

 employed in carrying my food when I was shooting, 

 in fetching water, taking heads down to Kashmir, 

 fetching my mails, and other odd jobs. 



The beauties of the Sindh Valley have been so 

 often described in detail that it would be superfluous 

 to do so here. The main road from India to Leh, 

 and indeed to Central Asia, runs through its lovely 

 scenery. Fertile and well-cultivated fields sur- 

 rounding pleasant villages whose timber-built home- 

 steads, nestling beneath their shady walnut-trees, 

 remind one of Swiss farm-houses (in fact, all the 

 scenery here is like that of some of the more 

 picturesque valleys of Switzerland), alternate with 

 wilder gorges and flowering jungles on either side 

 of the River Sindh. Above them rise steep grassy 

 slopes and pine-clad spurs leading up to the lofty 

 buttresses and precipices of the Sacred Haramook 

 and other mountains, while above these again are 

 the shining snows and the glittering glaciers of 

 the higher hills. After passing Sonamarg the 

 scenery becomes more exclusively Alpine ; the open 

 " Margs " or Alps, bright with wild flowers, rising 

 gradually till Baltal is reached ; a collection of small 

 huts at the foot of the Zogi-La (11,500 feet) by 



7 



