52 SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR chap. 



and I took the opportunity to have some tea. About noon 

 we reached Bagicha, the road having been a very hilly 

 one, involving many ascents and descents of hundreds of 

 feet each. The distance measured on the map is no 

 guide to the time any particular journey in these 

 hills may take. For instance, on the map, the dis- 

 tance between Mashung and Tarkutta is only 2^ 

 miles, while it took us over two hours to cover the 

 ground. This was owing mainly to an ascent and 

 descent of perhaps 1000 feet, which had to be negotiated 

 soon after leaving Mashung to avoid a precipitous 

 bluff over the Indus. Similarly on the map, the road 

 to Baaicha from Tarkutta measures but little over 8 

 miles, yet it took us nearly four hours to traverse, 

 the hills were so many, and some so trying. 



This day's march was not a pleasant one. There 

 was too much climbing and descending, and the bits 

 along the sands of the Indus were very hot. Some of 

 the galleries along precipices were particularly perilous, 

 and certainly no fourfooted beast of burden, except a 

 Kashmir hill pony, could have traversed them in safety. 

 Indeed, in no other part of the world that I am acquainted 

 with would such a track as we followed have been called 

 a road. 



But I was soon to see roads, compared to which that 

 which I had traversed that day was in safety and gradient 

 a railway track. Chand, the tiffin coolie, gave me a 

 good idea of a Kashmiri's views on the subject of roads. 

 Speaking of the Leh highway, and extolling its excel- 

 lence, he said it was so good that a man could go along 

 it even at night I 



