36o SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR chap, xx 



situated on some steep rocks. Between the village and 

 the river was a chocolate-coloured slate mountain, and on 

 this, in letters apparently many yards long, made of white 

 stones, was the mystic sentence, " Om mani padmi om." 

 The sentence must have been over a hundred yards 

 long, judging from its appearance from our camp, from 

 which it seemed to be over a mile away. 



The morning of the i6th saw us marching down the 

 Indus with fresh ponies. The colour of the river was 

 now a greenish blue, and the quantity of water was 

 greatly reduced. Very pretty the stream looked, usually 

 some distance below the path, and flecked with white 

 here and there where it foamed past a rock. We 

 reached Mya about eleven, and the mouth of the Puga 

 nala, down which we had come on the 8th of August, an 

 hour after. Just beyond we found a fair-sized stream 

 coming down from the hill above, and as there was 

 nice grass and a lot of tamarisk, rose, and willow trees, 

 we stopped for breakfast. The rose bushes were now 

 in seed, the hips being a most brilliant scarlet, and 

 wonderfully abundant, so that each tree shone out a 

 regular blaze of colour, almost as it had done when in 

 flower. 



After this we marched on to Chumathang, a fine 

 large village with extensive cultivation, on which all the 

 corn had been cut. Here we arrived about 4.30 p.jni. 

 This was the place to change the Nimu ponies, but 

 as only two fresh animals were available, we had to 

 take on four of the old nags with us. The lambardar, 

 however, gave us fresh men, and we went on. 



Immediately after leaving Chumathang we passed 



