216 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



the north or north-west. Most people go up to it 

 from the plains of India by one of the four author- 

 ised routes ; but I have a habit of getting into 

 places by some quite unusual way, and did so in 

 this instance. 



From Siiru to Kartse and Sankii, a day's journey, 

 the road was not bad, except at one place, where I 

 had to ride high up the mountains in order to find 

 a path possible for ponies, and at another where the 

 path was so narrow, running athwart precipices and 

 nearly precipitous slopes of shingle, that a man whom 

 I met leading his pony along it, had to take his steed 

 back for more than a mile before the two ponies could 

 pass each other. At Sankii there was a fine grove 

 of trees for a camping -ground, giving promise of a 

 more genial clime, though there was snow lying 

 under the trees ; and the way from Sankii to Omba, 

 up the valley of the Nakpo Chu, was tolerably easy ; 

 but after leaving Omba I did come upon some places 

 which were "a little difficult to get over." Unfor- 

 tunately I had no proper map of that part of the 

 country ; and starting early from Sankii, we reached 

 the mountain village of Omba at half-past ten in the 

 morning. That seemed rather a short day's journey, 

 so I asked one of the coolies, who spoke a little Hin- 

 dusthani, how far it was from Omba to Dras, and he 

 said it was the same distance as we had come from 

 Sankii to Omba, and farther illustrated his meaning 

 by grasping my alpenstock by the middle, and indi- 



