98 NOUBOOG NYE. 



this long narrow " strath," as it would have been called in 

 Scotland, or " nye," as it is here termed, is surpassingly 

 lovely. Flanked on either side by high hills, on which 

 broad tracts of deodar cedars and tall sombre-hued pines 

 alternate with rocky steeps or green sloping glades, it ex- 

 tends up towards the Mergun pass into Wurdwan. Mul- 

 berry-trees, weeping and pollard willows,^ overhang the clear 

 brawling stream that meanders through it, between banks 

 of velvet-like turf. Here and there along the base of the 

 mountains, picturesque groups of log-built houses lie nest- 

 ling among groves of grand old walnut and chenar trees. 

 Early in summer an additional charm is lent to the beauty 

 of this glen by the ground being carpeted with both red and 

 white clover, and by the wild indigo plant, which grows 

 there in great profusion, being in flower, its purple blossom 

 looking, at a distance, like luxuriant blooming heather. 



Shortly after starting next morning, as we neared the 

 head of the Nye our surroundings assumed a much wilder 

 character, and the path became more and more steep. The 

 latter now led close beside the stream, which up here took 

 the form of a rushing torrent as it dashed over rocks and 

 fallen pine-trunks that lay in and across it in the wildest 

 confusion. After pitching our little tents on a small grassy 

 Hat a short distance below the pass, there being still several 

 hours of daylight left, we took our rifles and sallied forth, 

 each in a different direction, with our shikarees, on the 

 chance of getting a shot at a deer or a brown bear, either of 

 which animals Eamzan said might here be met with. 



Judging from the fresh tracks, hangul must have been 

 pretty numerous, although we saw none. And even had 

 we found a stag, he would most probably have been horn- 

 less, as these deer have generally shed their horns by the 

 end of April. As for brown bears, I had ocular proof of 



^ Willow-trees, which grow abundantly in the Cashmere valley, are gener- 

 ally cut down into pollards, the young shoots being stored and used as winter 

 fodder for cattle. 



