A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



(fourteen miles). Here, while I was resting in my 

 tent about sunset, my shikaris came to tell me that 

 there were two black bears on the opposite side of 

 the river. I rushed out with my rifle just as I was, 

 in dressing-gown and slippers, but the bears were 

 disappearing into the jungle. I could not in any 

 case have crossed the river, and was not particularly 

 sorry that they had escaped, as I had shot many 

 before, and at this time of year their coats are not 

 at their best. 



However, hearing from B. that he was coming 

 up to join me and was encamped some eight miles 

 lower down, and knowing that he had never had 

 any hill shooting, I wrote to him advising him to 

 try the opposite side of the river on the following 

 morning, on the chance of seeing the bears, and 

 telling him to meet me at the next stage, 

 Gugangair. This he did, but though he found their 

 tracks he could not find the bears, as the jungle 

 was thick. Together B. and I marched from 

 Gugangair up the magnificent ravine through which 

 the road leads to Sonamarg. Here the Sindh river 

 forces its way between tremendous precipices over a 

 rocky bed. The couloirs were still full of snow, 

 and in one place Salia carried me on his back for 

 some distance, up to his knees in the stream and 

 stooping low under the cornice formed by the end 

 of a snow-slope. From beautiful Sonamarg, a 

 broad Alp bright with yellow crocus (from which it 

 is said to take its name " Golden Meadow") we 



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