Across the Roof of the World. 



feet, causes one to sink into it knee-deep, and often to the waist, 

 a mode of progression most exhausting to even tlie hardy hill- 

 men, and rendering abortive any attempt at rapid marching. 



At Doyen I again secured another change of ponies to take 

 the baggage on to Bunji, some 19 miles away. The road over 

 the Hattu Pir is severe and trying, especially in the summer. 

 It crosses the watershed of the Indus and Astor Rivers at an 

 altitude of 10,000 feet, from the summit of which there is an 

 almost sheer drop of nigh on 7,000 feet to Ramghat, the 

 confluence of the above-mentioned rivers. For several miles 

 it is a constant succession of steep zigzags cut out of the black 

 rock and gravel, with never a sign of tree or bush, nor a drop 

 of water to temper the toils of this realistic Hades. 



In former days the ascent of the Hattu Pir was attended 

 ^vith a heavy mortality in men and baggage animals, for no 

 proper road existed, only the merest track, up which the wretched 

 coolies had to struggle, over shale and loose rocks, along ledges 

 and by yawning precipices. Years ago, when the Kashmir State 

 authorities were at perpetual warfare with the turbulent tribes, 

 large numbers of coolies were impressed for service with the 

 Kashmir forces, and the lack of organisation, together with the 

 treatment to which they were subjected, told heavily, few 

 surviving the horrors of the Gilgit road. 



At the foot of the Hattu Pir lies Ramghat, on the banks of 

 the Astor River, the latter spanned by a substantial bridge. 

 Beyond Ramghat a two-hour march over a sandy and other- 

 wise desolate plain took me into Bunji, where there is a good dak 

 bungalow. 



Since Gilgit and the district have come under our control, 

 British officers are attached to the Imperial Service troops 

 garrisoning Gilgit to act as Inspecting Officers and supervise the 

 training on progressive lines. In the Agency there are two such 

 officers, one of whom resides at Bunji, and the other at Gilgit, 

 and they have at their command some of the best shooting 

 obtainable within the limits of trans-India. In the nullahs 



34 



