FIRST CLIMB BEYOND SRINAGAR 47 



And now we have to cross the rushing torrent 

 on a suspension bridge ! Involuntarily one wishes, 

 perhaps for the first time in one's life, that one was 

 a tight-rope dancer by trade ! Two blocks of 

 granite are united by a rope ladder 200 yards long. 

 I seize a rope and manage somehow, with tremendous 

 swings, to balance myself from one rung to the 

 other. From a height of about ninety feet we have 

 to climb down the rocks to the water below, and, 

 once there, we have the pleasure of going through 

 the same performance in order to get up on the 

 other side. It is with decided inward quaking that 

 I watch my shikaris tumble across in front of me, 

 for they almost seem to touch the seething water 

 at the lowest point. But at last, with a thankful 

 heart, I find myself standing beside them on the 

 further side ! 



A narrow green valley opens its arms to receive 

 us. Herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats 

 are grazing on its sides, and strips of land are sown 

 with millet, barley, oats, and potatoes. Only here 

 and there are buildings to be seen amongst the 

 green. 



A few men are awaiting our arrival : models of 

 the Farnesian Hercules, dressed in rags and armed 

 to the teeth, primitive creatures of great strength, 

 and faces full of deep, untutored passions, with 

 hooked noses of a Hebrew type. 



Dogs bark out a welcome. The village makes a 



