A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



therefore easier to journey along, than that of the 

 Indus, which it joins about half-way between 

 Parkutta and Gol. I had sent men on the previous 

 day to tell the native boatmen to get the rafts 

 ready for me to cross the Indus at its junction 

 with the Shyok, and Salia and nearly all the 

 baggage coolies started early, as I knew that the 

 crossing would take some time. 



Leaving Parkutta the road was rather pleasanter 

 and in better repair than usual, and only in one 

 place did we have to take a short (?) cut over a 

 mountain-top because the track was submerged 

 by the flooded Indus. About midday we arrived 

 opposite the point where the Shyok River, here 

 a broad and peaceful, but, at this time of year, rapid 

 stream, joins the former river. I found that the 

 zaks, or skin rafts, started from this point, and 

 were whirled down by the swollen flood till they 

 reached the opposite bank about half a mile lower ; 

 here they landed their cargo, and, starting again, 

 reached the hither side some distance lower still. 

 Here they were taken to pieces, brought back over 

 the sand and shingle on the heads of the boatmen, 

 and then put together again and started on their 

 next voyage. Each of these journeys, therefore, 

 took some time ; but when I arrived upon the 

 scene some six crossings had been accomplished 

 under Salia's directions, and I was told that all 

 my belongings would be ferried across in three 



more, so I sat down and watched and lunched, 



42 



