TO S1R1NUGGUR. 21 



30th April. From Possianah to Dupchin. The road 

 from Possianah descends to the torrent roaring at a con- 

 siderable depth below, from which the ascent recommences, 

 so that you have to descend from a considerable elevation, 

 perhaps a quarter of the height of the Pir, and then again 

 ascend on the other side ; which loss of way is provoking. 

 From Possianah to the foot of the Pir is, I imagine, two 

 miles, the latter part of the road very rough and stony. 



I started on this occasion without any refreshment, such 

 as tea, thinking I should better husband my breath, and 

 work my lungs more easily : and I think the idea a suc- 

 cess, as I ascended with much more ease and comfort 

 than on the former occasion, when I primed myself with 

 tea, hard eggs, &c. It is, undoubtedly, a tremendous 

 pull ; and one meets with a provoking deception as to dis- 

 tance. For when about a quarter of the height has been 

 ascended, the first flight, as it were, up to the snow drift, 

 the traveller looking above him, puffing and panting with 

 his violent efforts, sees above him what appears to be the 

 summit close at hand, which is but the top of the lower 

 ridge, from which runs a somewhat level path on the slope 

 to the snow drift an enormous mass of snow, some half- 

 mile long, and, I suppose, from one to two hundred yards 

 broad, and, I fancy, from fifty to a hundred feet deep, 

 filling a gorge of the mountain which commences quite 

 at the summit. Over this mass we struggled, a violent 

 icy blast in our faces, to a point where the path turns off 

 to the left, and climbs upwards by zigzags to the more 

 gradual slope under the summit. Here I overtook a 

 woman carrying a boy of, perhaps, five years old, who, 

 poor little creature, was crying bitterly from cold, his 

 teeth chattering, and presenting a forlorn appearance. 

 The woman was sitting down disconsolate, unable to pro- 

 ceed. I tried to persuade her to put the lad down, and 



