A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



the form so well known to travellers in these parts, 

 with their pigeon-holes in which the ashes of the 

 departed are placed after having- been mixed with 

 clay. These " potted Lamas" are sometimes most 

 elaborate, the mixture being formed into discs 

 covered with symbolical figures and even coloured, 

 but the ordinary being is simply made into a shape 

 somewhat resembling a mince pie, and stowed away 

 in the " churten." The Indus Valley is here very 

 wild ; the scenery is composed of rocky crags and 

 precipices, with snowy peaks in the distance, and 

 the river itself was, at the time we were there, like 

 a torrent of yellow mud, which tossed its spray high 

 into the air, even in mid-stream, while miniature 

 breakers rolled upon the shore, wherever it was 

 sufficiently level. Our march for that day ended at 

 Acheenathang, a village perched upon a plateau 

 above the river ; here were many " churtens " and a 

 gaudily painted temple ; here, also, for the first time, 

 I saw the Ladakhi women, but, as I subsequently 

 found out, not first-class specimens. The typical 

 lady of Ladakh is clad in a striped skirt of red and 

 blue cloth, faded according to her age (as I believe 

 that, with the Ladakhis, both men and women, a 

 garment once donned is never doffed again, unless 

 by chance it doffs itself by falling to pieces). Over 

 her fair(!) shoulders falls a sheepskin; this latter 

 she does occasionally remove when the weather is 

 hot ; but the most remarkable thing about her is 

 her head. The hair, woven into innumerable small 



101 



