276 SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMH^. chap. 



The Yar La was crossed next morning, and we 

 finished the march of i6 miles to the Zara camping 

 ground about 5 p.m. Here our tents were pitched on a 

 grassy island in the Zara stream. There is no village 

 anywhere near Zara, but we had sent word to Debring 

 the day before from Kharnak, and fresh yaks, goats, and 

 one pony were brought by the headman of that encamp- 

 ment, and the Kharnak animals sent back. 



There was a difficulty next morning (the 3rd) with the 

 Kharnak men. As we required two ponies, and only one 

 had been brought from Debring, I wanted to take on one 

 of the Kharnak ponies to Pachatak. But the owners 

 would not agree, and even Rupsang was unable to per- 

 suade them. So I refused to pay them for the animals 

 we had used, and said that if I could not get the pony 

 and were obliged to walk, a man would have to come 

 with me to the next camp for payment. Strange as it 

 may seem, they preferred this alternative, and two men 

 accordingly came along with us to Pachatak. 



The march to Pachatak was a tedious journey 

 of some I 7 miles. We stopped for breakfast about noon 

 at Pongo Nagu, where there is a good spring and nice 

 grass. The place is about 2 miles north of the Tsokr 

 Chumo salt lake. It was the latter part of that day's 

 journey that was so tedious, and the cause probably was 

 that Pachatak was visible from where we had our break- 

 fast, and looked about 4 miles distant, but proved to be 

 actually about 10. The clear air of Ladak causes places 

 to look quite close that are really a long way off, and it 

 is particularly exasperating to see a place apparently not 

 more than 5 miles or so away, and then to find when the 



