234 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



and grandeur of Kashmir scenery; and when I passed 

 through its appearance was greatly enhanced by the 

 snow, which not only covered the mountain-tops, but 

 also came down into the forests Avhich clothed the 

 mountain-sides. The path through it, being part of 

 the great road from Kashmir to Central Asia, is kept 

 in tolerable repair, and it is very rarely that the 

 rider requires to dismount. Anything beyond a 

 walking pace, however, is for the most part out of 

 the question. Montgomerie divides the journey from 

 Srinagar to Baltal (where I camped below the Zoji 

 La) into six marches, making in all sixty-seven miles ; 

 and though two of these marches may be done in one 

 day, yet if you are to travel easily and enjoy the 

 scenery, one a-day is sufficient. The easiest double 

 march is from Sonamarg to Gond, and I did it in a 

 day with apparent ease on a very poor pony ; but the 

 consequence is that I beat my brains in vain in order 

 to recall what sort of place Gond was, no distinct 

 recollection of it having been left on my mind, ex- 

 cept of a grove of large trees and a roaring fire in 

 front of my tent at night. Sonamarg struck me as 

 a very pleasant place ; and I had there, in the person 

 of a youthful captain from Abbotabad, the pleasure 

 of meeting the first European I had seen since leav- 

 ing Lahaul. We dined together, and I found he had 

 come up from Srinagar to see Sonamarg, and he 

 spoke with great enthusiasm of a view he had had, 

 from another part of Kashmir, of the 26,000 feet 



