XIII CROSSING THE BORZIL PASS 213 



certain they made the most of the difficulty. My own 

 men, too, who, as already stated, were almost all from that 

 neighbourhood, were in reality as much against me as 

 the pony owners, for they concluded that if I failed to 

 get across the Deosai, I should be obliged to go through 

 Bandipur, and they would have a day at their homes. 

 They, however, showed no sign of this, and pretended to 

 assist me in inducing the pony-men to march to the plateau. 

 In the end, as may be supposed, I had to give way to this 

 opposition, and settled to go via Bandipur, and so by the 

 Zogi La.^ But I resolved that if I had to go thus out of 

 my direct route I would travel fast, which I certainly did, 

 for, from this on, we generally kept going from daybreak 

 till within an hour or so of dark. 



We were all up half an hour after midnight on the 

 morning of the 25 th. As a matter of fact the shikari, 

 not guessing the hour correctly, had called me at 11.30, 

 and I had not gone to sleep again. 



We started in the starlight for the Borzil Pass by 

 half-past one, going thus early in hopes of finding the 

 snow hard before the sun rose. But we were doomed to 

 disappointment. A little before daybreak, about four 

 o'clock, the ponies got into deep snow, and began sinking 

 up to their stomachs, and floundering helplessly about. 

 We tried to urge them forward at first, but it was 

 quickly apparent that, with their loads, they could not 

 get on. So all the baggage was taken off, and the pony- 

 men and servants proceeded to carry it to the top of 

 the Pass. In this work all assisted, even Abdulla and 



^ The circumstances of the case rendered it impossible for me to apply for 

 permission to use the Gilgit road between the Borzil Pass and Gurais. 



