234 SUGHEIT. 



leading to Sugheit. This spot, being soon in shade, was 

 bitterly cold, and it soon froze sharp. These rapid alter- 

 nations of heat and cold are very trying. 



It was long before any of my people arrived. I then 

 learned that four horses were left behind, having strayed 

 away Moosa, AH Bucks, and Mooktoo remaining behind 

 to bring them on. These came in during the night, but 

 several coolies did not arrive. I gave orders not to move 

 till after breakfast, having on enquiry been assured both 

 by Moosa and Abdool that it was but three hours to 

 Sugheit, and I wished to get all the people together. 



22nd August. A bitterly cold morning, and the coolies 

 still absent. I was, notwithstanding, in good spirits from 

 the near prospect of reaching our shooting quarters, the 

 far-famed oasis of Sugheit, rich in grass and timber, and 

 abounding in game, only three hours off ; and I cheered 

 up my shivering followers with visions of unlimited 

 quantities of meat. The coolies came in at seven, looking 

 only a little pinched. We set off at 8.30, and had a 

 steady, even pull for some three miles up a hill, from the 

 top of which we understood we were to gaze upon the 

 verdant charms of Sugheit ; when, to our utter dismay 

 we looked down upon a long valley of complete nakedness, 

 shut in by mountains equally devoid of clothing. Moosa 

 and Abdool endeavoured to explain that ' the happy land ' 

 was not distant, pointing down the valley. But I now 

 thought it prudent to reduce my expectations, although I 

 had received such glowing descriptions, from so many, of 

 the surpassing merits of the fertile Sugheit. 



We went some six dreary miles down this vale of 

 disappointment, in which, however, we saw some traces 

 of yak ; and then we turned easterly over another mile 

 or so of barrenness, with an occasional patch of grass by 

 the stream. Then, coming to very rough, broken, rocky 



