IV THE SERAI AT LITTLE KHARBU 47 



After breakfast we went on again, quite pleased to 

 find firm ground underneath us once more, instead of the 

 yielding snow, though, in many places, we were walking 

 simply through slush. It was a bright, clear afternoon, 

 and after a pleasant tramp of six miles — the first enjoyable 

 one for days — we walked with soaked feet into Kharbu, 

 — ^little Kharbu as it is called, to distinguish it from 

 another place of similar name further on. Here we 

 were delighted to find that the ground was so free from 

 snow that our tents could be pitched. Abdulla had only 

 put up a sowar's pal for me, but this I found enough, as 

 my bed was able to get into it on one side, and my three 

 mule-trunks on the other, leaving a passage between. 

 We were camped right over the Dras river, whose course 

 we had been following since we saw it first — a tiny stream 

 — just below the highest point of the Zogi La. 



After changing, I went over to look at the Serai, where 

 our servants had gone, and where our dinner was being 

 cooked. It was very similar to the one at Tashgam, but 

 somewhat smaller. A large heap of manure about 4 feet 

 high stood in one corner of the courtyard, and the melting 

 snow had carried much of it in liquid form over the 

 ground around, transforming the earth into a swamp, 

 which a few ponies helped to churn up still further. The 

 stench was awful. A couple of logs across this formed 

 pathways to the little rooms around, from one of which I 

 could hear the sound of Ramzana's voice. I considered 

 it better to avoid too close an inquiry as to the circum- 

 stances under which dinner was being cooked, and beat 

 a hasty retreat to my clean little tent. 



The next morning, the 3rd, we were up as usual at 



