NITI VILLAGE. 309 



gaily attired in coloured skirts and bodices, with a brown 

 blanket tastefully and ingeniously wrapped about their 

 upper persons so as to leave the arms free. A white 

 cotton cloth was thrown over the head, drawn tight above 

 the brows, fastened back behind the ears, and allowed to 

 hang loosely down the back. Most of them sported jewel- 

 lery in the shape of ear-rings, nose-rings, and necklaces. 

 The men were stout and sturdy, and some of the young 

 girls, with their olive complexions and ruddy cheeks, were 

 pleasing and bright-looking, if not actually pretty. 



After passing the Bhotia hamlets of Bumpa and Gumsali, 

 the path enters a narrow gorge, where the scenery for about 

 a mile is magnificently wild. The raging river is flanked 

 on each side by bare black cliffs and crags rising from the 

 water to a stupendous height. 



Beyond the gorge the valley widens into an open space, 

 where on a sloping spur lies the village of Niti, the highest 

 in the valley, at an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet. A 

 mile or so before reaching the village, a track branches off 

 to the right, leading over the Chor Hoti pass. Although a 

 shorter route into Hundes, it is considerably higher than 

 that over the Niti pass, and therefore not practicable as 

 early in summer. The heights above the village, where 

 not too steep for anything to grow on, are thickly clad with 

 a kind of gorse, which, when covered with its pale-golden 

 bloom, gives them quite a gorgeous appearance. A curious 

 thing that attracted my attention here was an extraordinary 

 collection of old cast-off shoes that were strewn over a flat 

 space immediately below the village. There must have 

 been several hundred, all looking black and shrivelled up 

 from having probably lain buried there under the snows of 

 many a winter. 



Here I learnt that the pass had been declared open by 

 the Tibetan vakeel (envoy), who, with his small retinue, had 

 arrived at Niti village after crossing it. The Niti pass, 

 which is only 16,600 feet, is often practicable earlier than 



