LEH TO YARKAND 21 



A new road has now been made which goes 

 direct from Panamik to Tutyalak, missing" out 

 Changlung. 



In addition to our own caravan we hired twenty 

 ponies to go with us to Yarkand ; these we used 

 to carry grain and as it was exhausted to relieve 

 our own ponies of their loads, for in view of the 

 long journey in front of us we wished to get them 

 to Yarkand as fresh as possible. 



On July 1 4th we sent off the caravan, only keep- 

 ing things for one night, and the next day started 

 ourselves, crossed the Khardong Pass in fine 

 weather, and got into Khardong in the afternoon 

 just as it began to rain ; but as the tents were 

 already pitched, this did not matter. The Pass 

 is an easy one, though both sides of the ridge it 

 crosses are pretty steep ; there was snow only on 

 the north side where there is a small glacier, but 

 not much even there. Looking back from the top, 

 one gets a very fine view of the Leh Valley and 

 mountains beyond, but perhaps it is hardly worth 

 the climb to see it. Next day we had rather a job 

 crossing the Shyok River. The baggage and our- 

 selves went over in a ferry-boat, but the ponies had 

 to swim it, and the difficulty was to persuade them 

 to do so ; they turned back, down, and went any 

 way but forward ; however, after several false starts, 

 they at last made up their minds that it had to be 

 done and did it, though, as the water was high and 



