28S SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR 



sign of the sheep we were after. By evening we found 

 ourselves some miles north of the camp, and I sent back 

 a Champa with a letter to my wife, asking her to march 

 to Shushal next day, as I was already part of the 

 way in that direction, and proposed going there myself 

 on the 15th, 



Having sent off this message we camped on the hill, 

 and the following morning, after a very windy night, 

 hunted over the remainder of the block of hills we had 

 been searching, but without success. We then descended 

 to the plain, and marched across it to Shushal, arriving 

 about 2 P.M. My wife had got in half an hour or so 

 before. 



Shushal is a permanent village, about 14 miles from 

 Dachung, boasting a few stone huts, and a small grove of 

 trees, grown with careful irrigation in a most unpromising 

 soil. There were also a few fields of barley, which gave 

 a prosperous appearance to the place. 



Curiously enough, mosquitoes were very numerous at 

 Shushal. They were a large variety, but not venomous, 

 and particularly easily killed. They swarmed into the 

 tent as soon as it was pitched, and settled in the dark 

 corners, so we sat chiefly outside in the wind. At 

 night they seemed to go away or become quiescent, for 

 they gave no trouble. 



The whole of the Saka La valley on both sides of 

 the Pass, but especially the northern half, is alive with 

 hares of the kind so common at Sangtha. Toto ran 

 himself to a standstill, time after time, chasing these 

 creatures, and finally gave up pursuing them, they were 

 so numerous, and escaped him with such unvarying regu- 



