THE BEAUTIFUL SIND VALLEY. 295 



east of Leh, the capital of Ladak, where, strange to say, very 

 few of the scanty nomadic population seem to care much 

 about hunting, the difficulty of obtaining reliable information 

 respecting the haunts and habits of its wild fauna often makes 

 game appear rather scarce there. Moreover, even had my 

 companion on this trip and I found plenty to shoot at, we 

 had no intention of turning sport and pleasure into cruelty 

 and toil by striving to outdo our neighbours in our butcher's 

 bill, regardless of the quality of the meat. The tyro, in his 

 irrepressible excitement, may be forgiven for shooting at any- 

 thing or everything ; but he who persists in deliberately so 

 doing, unless it be when food is absolutely necessary for his 

 camp-followers, is no longer deserving of the name of sports- 

 man. But let that pass as a well-meant, though perhaps 

 rather caustic, digression in the interests of sport. 



Once more I would invite the reader to accompany me to that 

 " valley of bliss " Cashmere. This time, however, we shall 

 merely pass through its quaint old capital, and at once proceed 

 up the beautiful Sind valley, with its coppices of hazel .and 

 hawthorn, its tangled thickets of honeysuckle and wild rose, 

 and its picturesque log-built hamlets nestling snugly at the 

 foot of the mountains amidst groves of walnut, apple, and 

 mulberry trees, and grand old chenars. Much as we may 

 wish to linger in such a romantic locality, we must not do so 

 this time, for it is past the middle of May, and we are bound 

 direct for a very different style of country the remote, deso- 

 late wilds of Changchenmo and a long tramp is before us ere 

 we reach those haunts of the dong (wild yak) and the tsos 

 (Tibetan antelope). 



Passing through the unrivalled scenery of the higher reaches 

 of the Sind river, whose verdant slopes, wooded steeps, and 

 rugged precipices rise on either side of the rushing, roaring 

 water, we find ourselves, after four days out from Srinuggur, 

 at Sonamurg (golden meadow). Here the grassy undulating 

 uplands are encircled with dark forests of pine, woods of silver 



