A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



of that fine bird the Ram Chukore, or snow-cock 

 (Tetraogallus Himalayensis], whose weird whistle 

 sounded in every direction, whilst now and again 

 they might be seen in small companies, flying along 

 the hillside with wings set and long necks out- 

 stretched. Though we saw some female shapoo 

 and ibex here, there was nothing worth going after. 

 The following day we started early, upwards along 

 the slopes, and eventually reached the highest 

 point, where the only other white man who had 

 ever been here (so I was told) had raised a cairn, 

 and had stuck a pole in it, and this latter he must 

 have brought up from below for the purpose. I 

 could not conceive why anyone should have taken 

 the trouble to do this, until they told me that he 

 was " making maps," i.e. surveying, and that it was 

 many years ago, probably an officer of the Govern- 

 ment Survey. 



Certainly this hilltop is a good point from which 

 to take observations, and when I sat down to look 

 at the prospect, I had no hesitation in saying to 

 myself that I was looking upon a mountain 

 panorama which is probably unequalled anywhere. 

 This mountain-top, some 15,000 feet or more high, 

 commands, from its position, a marvellously ex- 

 tensive prospect, as it stands isolated between 

 the Shyok and Indus valleys. The whole of the 

 Mustagh and Karakoram range, from Nagyr to 

 Thibet, stretch before one in an unbroken line from 

 north-west round to the east, prominent amongst 



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