156 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA 



impossible to tell. We shouted in reply, and soon heard 

 voices of men talking ; the words were almost distin- 

 guishable, but, strange to say, the sound came sometimes 

 from one side and sometimes from the other, like the 

 voice of a ventriloquist, and the echoes, repeating the 

 sound, gave a musical effect like the notes of an organ. 

 The voices came nearer and nearer, and at last our men 

 appeared with torches, coming down a side ravine, where 

 we least expected, in search of us, and we got to camp 

 about 10 p.m. Dinner ready and a good fire made up 

 for everything. Smyth, however, had not turned up. I 

 fired shots and sent the men out again in different direc- 

 tions, and they found him some miles down the stream, 

 which only broke out of the ground in small trickles here 

 and there. He had got two burrhel, but had given up 

 all hopes of finding camp, and had gone to sleep in a shel- 

 tered nook. His shikari had heard the shots and answered. 

 The walls of the ravines were here 300 or 400 feet high. 

 Their width was only about 300 yards at the top and 50 at 

 the bottom, which was fiat and easily traversed. A more 

 extraordinary and puzzling country I have never come 

 across. There was a sharp frost at night, but the sides 

 of the ravines retained so much of the sun's heat that it 

 did not get really cold till near morning. 



Next day we had much climbing to find our way out 

 of the ravines ; but the Bhotias recovered the lost route, 

 which led southward and upwards into the heart of the 

 snowy range which lay across our path. 



There are two routes from here and three ranges to 

 cross. One route of three days, at very trying eleva- 

 tions ; the other way is a longer route, but the passes 

 can be done in separate marches. This was the route 

 we selected, and we marched for the Balch Dhura 

 ghat, a high pass, 17,600 feet, which we ascended, and 



