62 SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR chap. 



vestiofe of a track visible, but travellinq- in the direction 

 indicated, there would occasionally be found here and 

 there a few rocks, the jagged edges of which might be con- 

 sidered slightly worn, indicating that footsteps had perhaps 

 traversed them somewhat habitually. In other places a 

 small pile of stones would be found erected, at varying 

 intervals, to indicate that passing them was the ordinary 

 custom of travellers in that locality. Practically it comes 

 to this, that in Baltistan a "road" means any ground 

 ordinarily used as a thoroughfare, along which an active 

 man can move without breaking his neck. 



On the morning of the 9th we were up before day- 

 break, and I dressed by the light of the camp fire near 

 my bed, watched as before by an interested circle of 

 villagers of both sexes. The road for a time was fair, 

 but we shortly came to some bad parts, where ladders had 

 been placed to render progress possible. It was a new 

 idea to me, to find a ladder forming part of a Government 

 road. Such places generally involved regular climbing 

 with hands and feet, and it was a wonderful sight seeing 

 the coolies, even though lightly laden, getting along. In 

 some places the road had been built out from the edge of 

 the cliff, much after the fashion of the galleries described 

 above. The width varied considerably. Usually it was 

 about a couple of feet, but sometimes much narrower. 

 One gallery I measured was only 9 inches across. 



The narrowest part of the road that I saw was, I 

 considered, worth making a note of. I had climbed to 

 the top of a ladder in one place, and was clawing the 

 smooth rock above, standing on the topmost rung, look- 

 ing for a place to go to next, when I saw a narrow 



