A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



kindly undertook to look after it till my return, and 

 to put it with the State treasure under the charge 

 of a guard (this was a hardly necessary precaution, 

 as it mainly consisted of old clothes, books that I 

 had read, and other such like valuable articles). 

 During the evening the Wazir returned my visit 

 with a ceremony that is truly regal, and still obtains 

 in the East, and we sat discussing the weather and 

 other interesting topics for the orthodox period, 

 after which he mounted his piebald pony (his house 

 was quite two hundred yards away), and rode off 

 amidst the salaams of the natives. I did not start 

 until rather late on the following morning (July 23rd), 

 as there was still a good deal to be done, and the 

 first march is a short one. By the Wazir's orders 

 I had been supplied with an excellent pony, and it 

 did not take long to reach Golab-Bagh, our camping- 

 ground (twelve miles). 



Our way led at first along the eastern edge of the 

 Leh plateau, down to the Indus, which we crossed 

 to the left bank. Here the valley of the river is 

 very different to what it is lower down ; in fact, we 

 seemed to have entered a new world. Instead of 

 narrow gorges and frowning precipices we were 

 now traversing a broad valley, the mountain boun- 

 daries of which are many miles apart. The stone 

 " fans " that run down from these latter descend at 

 a very gradual slope to the river, which is here 

 half a mile across in places, and these slopes are 



well cultivated and occupied by many thriving 



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