XXII END OF SHOOTING IN LADAK 407 



We had had a terrible day, as almost the whole of 

 the going had been over slate shale. It was noticeable 

 how the uryal seemed to leave any bit of ground where 

 the going was fairly firm, in order to get on to this shale. 

 Again and again that day I was struck by this. It did 

 not seem to matter whether the shale was above or 

 below the path he was following. If the latter became 

 firm, and he was often on the beaten track, he would 

 wander off, somewhere, till he got on to shale, when he 

 would again resume the general direction towards Zaskar, 

 and go fairly level. According to the map we had 

 only come 12 miles from Farka, but the actual distance 

 travelled, owing to the irregular track the animal pur- 

 sued, must have been much longer. 



On the morning of the 4th I paid off Rupsang, with 

 much regret at having to part with him. He had been 

 with me for close on three months, and proved himself a 

 first-class shikari all round, and one of the best-tempered, 

 most cheerful servants I had ever had. 



This was the end of my shooting in Ladak, and very 

 near, though I did not then know it, to the end of my 

 holiday. Little of any importance occurred on the way 

 back to Srinagar. Rejoining my wife we marched down 

 by the ordinary stages to the valley. 



At Bazgo we noticed a prayer-wheel turned by an 

 irrigation channel, the second of the kind I saw in 

 Ladak, the first having been a somewhat similar prayer- 

 wheel in the Himis Monastery. It is curious how little, 

 considering the ease of its application and the merit 

 obtainable thereby, water-power is used in Ladak for 

 turning these wheels. 



