A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



view was bounded by peaks still covered with snow. 

 But the road ! One does not expect a twenty foot 

 highway in the Indus Valley, but here the path 

 seems always to be either crossing a slope com- 

 posed of boulders of every size or deep sand, or 

 by way of variety crawling round the " parris " by 

 means of the galleries already described, which are 

 here more precipitous and rickety than ever ; in 

 fact, it was no unusual experience to find that, 

 as one placed a foot on the flag- 

 stone which was poised on the 

 precarious wooden scaffolding, it 

 would tip up, affording an excellent 

 view of a sheer drop of some 

 hundreds of feet into the seething 

 torrent below. To add to the 

 comforts of the march, owing to 

 the height of the river, which was 

 now at about its full flood, the 

 road (save the mark !) was in 

 many places submerged or carried 

 away altogether, necessitating a 

 climb of some hundreds of feet over a rocky 

 crest without even an apology for a footpath, 

 a fact which added some miles to the advertised 

 distance of the march. However, though the pro- 

 gress for the next few marches was to be similar 

 in character, this day's work was the worst, and 

 it is always comforting to have the worst behind 



and not before. 



D 



A CORNER ON THE 

 INDUS ROAD. 



33 



