THE JOURNEY INTO KASHMIR 131 



tea was poured into the cups, they were carefully 

 wiped out by the selfsame useful cloth. There is 

 nothing like true economy. 



We were up at 4.30, to attack the pass before the 

 sun should soften the snow. A cold drizzle made 

 things very damp and cheerless, but a hot breakfast 

 accomplishes wonders, and we were off at 5.30, in 

 good spirits, on what was to be the hardest stage of 

 the journey. The first part of the way was fairly 

 steep, the trail winding up through a cleft in the 

 mountains, but the snow was still hard and climb- 

 ing not difficult. Strange to say, although we were 

 eleven thousand three hundred feet above the sea, 

 breathing came quite naturally, and we were able to 

 keep up a good pace, which seemed to stagger the 

 shikaris, as they lagged far behind. After two hours 

 of climbing a long snow-slope, we reached what was 

 apparently the top of the pass, and from here the 

 going was level or slightly down-hill. The rain had 

 changed to snow, which was much pleasanter ; and 

 though during the last four hours it came down 

 thick and fast, we were quite warm from the exer- 

 cise. It was well toward dark when the welcome vil- 

 lage of Matayun appeared ahead in the distance. 

 The sun had come out toward the end of the stage, 

 softening the snow, which caused us to sink in knee- 

 deep at every step, and burning our faces fiercely 



