132 By Mountain, Lake, and Plain 



to the north of Baluch-ab. The debouchment 

 from the hills was by a winding staircase of 

 stone between sheer walls of rock. The steps 

 were smooth, round, and water - worn, some six 

 or eight feet in height, to all appearance an 

 impassable place for any baggage animals, let 

 alone camels that are ludicrously helpless on 

 rock. The passage was accomplished by the 

 moon's light, the plan adopted being to make a 

 sort of ramp of the camels' loads, down which the 

 animals were led. I shortly afterwards visited 

 the place and saw the gorge by moonlight, the 

 white cliffs and black shadows standing out in 

 intense and eerie contrast, while around reigned 

 the utter silence of uninhabited wastes. It struck 

 me what a subject for a painter the passage 

 of those Afghans would have made ! Indeed, I 

 should doubt whether in these prosaic days any 

 more romantic and picturesque circumstances 

 could be found in the wide world than those 

 surrounding this sinister traffic. 



The morning after our arrival at Baluch-ab, 

 Eahmat led the way down a ravine glistening 

 white with soda efflorescence, and we started 

 climbing the yellow hill on the far side, on which 

 he expected to find his big ram. 



Let me here say a word about a most excellent 

 foot-gear in which to climb these dry rocky hills 



