204 SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR chap. 



have stood up. We camped that night, some distance up 

 the hill, on a deserted bit of a formerly cultivated field. 



The next day's march (that of the 14th) was a short 

 one, as we had to change coolies at Balchu, a trans- 

 action which involved delay. We arrived about 9 a.m., and 

 I had breakfast while the change was being effected, and 

 the accounts of the men leaving us made up. Then I saw 

 them paid off, and climbing a sort of staircase of rocks ^ 

 (a very good road for Baltistan) got on to the pasture 

 lands of the village, and as rain seemed to be coming on, 

 camped there beside a clear stream. It drizzled during 

 the afternoon, and rained heavily at night. 



A long and tedious march next day brought us to 

 Hilbu village, situated far up the Rondu Ditchil nala, 

 and not at all near the place marked with that name on 

 the Atlas of India Sheet No. 27. Here we changed 

 coolies, and that evening camped just below the Ditchil 

 Pass, at the foot of the snow, on a bit of level pasture 

 land covered with flowers. 



It seems that both the nalas which run down from the 

 Ditchil Pass are known by that name. One, that in which 

 I was camped, runs north to the Indus, and is therefore on 

 the same side of the range as Rondu. The other goes south- 

 west, the water flowing into the Astor river. Close to my 

 camp I found Jebb's tent and some of his servants, and 

 learned that their master had gone a few days before into 

 a distant nala of which they did not know the name. 



On the 1 6th I crossed the Pass, which was all under 

 soft snow. A short way down on the Astor side we saw 

 a few ibex, but there was not a decent head amongst them. 



* See illustration on preceding page. 



