A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



came here. I suggested that the money thus 

 obtained might procure food in plenty from the 

 villages in the neighbouring and fertile Shyok 

 Valley, but this fact did not appear to have struck 

 them in their primitive innocence ! Amongst the 

 villagers was an old, very old, blind beggar, more 

 like an animated (slightly) bundle of rags than 

 anything else, who used to crawl out when the sun 

 got warm, and squat down near my cooking tent. 

 Regarding him as a sort of guardian spirit of the 

 valley, I propitiated him with small copper change, 

 to bring me good luck, and this act, I am certain, 

 produced the wonderful results to be hereafter 

 mentioned. I took with me from the village two 

 natives, who were to act as guides in the 

 neighbouring ravines, and had been employed in a 

 like capacity by W. who had recommended them : 

 wild-looking fellows enough they were, their hawk- 

 like faces with the straggling elf-locks falling on 

 either side, being quite in keeping with the rocky 

 solitudes amongst which they had been bred. 

 After following the valley for some miles, there are 

 three ravines which all look good to hold ibex ; the 

 one straight in front, that leads northwards, being 

 filled with a glacier coming down from Masherbrum. 

 To the west is a long valley very stony and (for 

 Baltistan) fertile, with many birches, cedars, and 

 "bik" trees growing near the torrent; but as this 

 had been shot lately by W., I chose the one leading 



eastwards. The road follows the left bank of the 



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