416 NITI VILLAGE. 



was very steep and difficult, composed of crumbling slate. 

 The burrell rolled some 300 feet down a kind of water- 

 course, and we followed, and after a good deal of clamber- 

 ing, we reached the place where the burrell lay. My two 

 men were beginning to gralloch him, and I had placed my 

 two guns on the ground close to me and was standing by 

 admiring the beast, when I heard a deafening noise up above, 

 and looking up I saw the ravine we had just descended full 

 of stones and rocks which were thundering down towards us. 

 There was no time to avoid them ; in an instant they were 

 whizzing past us in every direction. I just remember that I 

 was looking at one huge rock coming towards us, which I 

 thought perhaps I might be able to avoid, when I heard a 

 deafening noise close to me ; another rock which I had not 

 seen had fallen upon the stocks of my two guns, smashing 

 them to pieces. The guns flew up into the air six or seven 

 feet with the force of the blow, and one of the barrels 

 exploded. I did not distinguish the noise of the explosion, 

 and only knew it afterwards by finding the end of the gun- 

 cover (which I had put on, as it was snowing at the time) 

 all burnt. The force of the blow was such that the barrels 

 of both guns were quite bent. The rock had only struck the 

 stocks, so that the barrels were not flattened, or even dented. 

 All four nipples were broken off flush with the barrel. The 

 stocks were in splinters : one hammer of one of the guns was 

 broken into three pieces. I picked up most of the pieces 

 afterwards, until my men hurried me away, as another land- 

 slip was so likely to follow. Most providentially none of us 

 were struck." 



Beyond the gorge above Gumsali the valley widens into an 

 open space, where on a sloping spur lies the village of Mti, 

 the highest in the valley, at an elevation of nearly 12,000 

 feet. A mile or so before reaching the village, a track 

 branches off to the right, leading over the Chor Hoti pass. 

 Although a shorter route into Hundes, it is considerably 



