CHAPTER IV. 



WILD COLUMBINE 

 (BALTISTAN). 



I TRAVELLED up the left bank 

 of the Shyok by easy stages, 

 being in no hurry. After 

 leaving Kapalu the valley be- 

 r<^^ comes narrow and turns south- 

 east. The track itself is bad in 

 parts, and in many places is 

 carried round the "parris" by 

 means of galleries similar to 

 those on the Indus road ; the 

 villages seem large and well-to- 

 do, but the interest of the sports- 

 man is centred in the various nalahs that run up 

 towards the Karakoram (or, to be more accurate, 

 that spur of it which separates the Shyok Valley 

 from that of Nubra) from the right bank. There is 

 no road or even goat-track to many of these nalahs, 

 most of which, presumably, have never been visited 

 by human being. The rock " parris" in most places 

 are terrific, presenting a sheer wall, thousands of 

 feet high, descending to the river. The entrances to 

 the gorges are narrow and precipitous, but doubt- 



* G 2 



