Across the Roof of the World. 



depression in the hillside, whilst I and Giyani were just fortunate 

 enough to get beyond it in time to avoid being carried away. 



No power on earth can resist the onslaught of an avalanche as it 

 crashes downward, gathering bulk as it goes, and sweeping onward 

 with an ever-increasing impetus. Such perils as these are daily 

 encountered by the hardy post runners who maintain communi- 

 cation with the distant frontier post of Gilgit during the hard 

 and inexorable winter. Theirs, indeed, is a hazardous task, 

 carrying His Majesty's mail through the snow^s of the Himalayas, 

 risking life hourly in the tremendous ravines and narrow^ neks of 

 this wild and rugged land. There is no honour and glory attached 

 to this onerous calling, only an ever-present danger from the 

 swift and awe-inspiring avalanche, which knows no obstacle and 

 spares no man. Should the post runner be engulfed he passes 

 from mortal ken, unknown, unhonoured and unsung. 



A few hours before I passed through these dreaded ravines two 

 of the post runners had been overwhelmed by an avalanche and 

 buried alive. As I stood by the spot I could not help pondering 

 on their dreadful death, swallowed upas they were in the merciless 

 avalanche wdth no warning of the fate that was to overtake them. 

 Beneath the snowy pall the bodies would rest until spring, when 

 the warming influence of the sun would melt the snow and 

 disclose the victims thus entombed. 



Apart from the avalanches there are other and equally perilous 

 risks to run on this road in winter. In places one crosses from 

 bank to bank by means of snow bridges, which are simply masses 

 of snow and drift ice that have fallen into the river and, becoming 

 jammed, have frozen solid, forming a natural bridge beneath which 

 the water rushes and roars wdth terrific force. One such bridge 

 we had to pass on the afternoon of our narrow escape from 

 being carried away in the avalanche. It was a thin arch of 

 frozen snow, and the only way by which the opposite bank could 

 be reached. Just as we gained the middle it collapsed and 

 threw us into the water, a foaming torrent, dashing and splashing 

 over the rocks and boulders which formed the riverbed. Giyani, 



26 



