KASHMIR. 2 1 9 



was cut off and forced to come back by one of my 

 servants who had fallen behind and was coming up 

 on horseback. 



However, I ignorantly thought that if we got to 

 the top of this tremendous Omba La, or Omba Pass 

 (which Avas as steep, and must have been as high, as 

 the Ki'mg-ma, which leads from Xamgea over into 

 Chinese Tibet), it would be all right ; and so I en- 

 couraged the bt'/art-i''* to labour upwards. There was 

 deep snow at the summit ; and looking down the 

 northern side, an immense sheet of snow was seen 

 stretching down into a desolate valley, and broken 

 only by the truck of a party of Baltis we met at the 

 summit. One of these Avas crying bitterly, and on 

 inquiring into the cause, I found he had been struck 

 Avitli snoAV-blindness by the reflection of the sun. I 

 had scarcely time to look round, and the dazzling 

 whiteness Avas too much for my eyes, even Avhen pro- 

 tected by blue glass ; but Moorcroft says that Avhen 

 he crossed it, and Avhen there must have been much 

 less snow. " the VICAV from the crest presented a 

 majestic line of snow-covered mountain- tops, very 

 little above the level of the pass, extending round a 

 circle of at least twenty miles in diameter. The uni- 

 formity of the ridges was A'ery remarkable; for al- 

 though broken Avitli peak and gorge, yet there Avere 

 no single mountains or mountain-chains that towered 

 ambitiously above their felloAvs." 



Tt took us a long time to get doAvn that snow-slope, 



