Black Bears 229 



Lalla selected a spot under some willows for us to 

 camp ; I should call it a mosquito-stricken swamp. 

 We moved a little way off; but there was no escape 

 we were bitten all the evening and all night. Even 

 mosquito-curtains were useless; their great time was 

 while one was sitting in a bath. Next day we had 

 torrents of rain, which partly accounted for the 

 mosquitos being so unusually troublesome. 



I sat in my tent as long as I could stand it, and was 

 then driven out into the deluge, and we beat through 

 dripping jungle and steaming nullahs ; but no signs of 

 any kind of game were to be seen. We were up early 

 on these mornings, being generally called at 3.45 a.m., 

 almost before the owls had left off hooting, or the 

 tree-beetles finished their nightly droning ; breakfast 

 was served by candle-light and a lantern, on our camp- 

 table, out in the open, under the stars. 



Arrived at Bandipore, we posted our letters. And 

 now the road to Gilgit lay in front of us, winding 

 up into the mountains, a road we meant to follow as 

 far as Gurais. This excellent Government highway has 

 been made by the British, a feat of engineering, to 

 replace the old path ; we are told that before it was 

 made, " dark were the gorges and perilous were the 

 roads. Sometimes the traveller had to pass by light 

 cords, sometimes by loose stretched and plaited twigs. 

 There were ledges hanging in mid-air, there were 

 flying bridges and leaps to be made across abysses, 

 elsewhere paths cut with the chisel, or a rude footing 

 for the toe, in the face of the rock." 



