178 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



leads over into the Astore district, camping the sec- 

 ond night in a deep ravine with rose-bushes in full 

 blossom around the tent, a mountain-stream rush- 

 ing past, and the great cliffs towering straight above, 

 thousands of feet in height, from the top of which a 

 waterfall shot into the gorge below with a stupen- 

 dous roar. My larder, alas ! was by this time in a 

 sadly depleted state, the supply of coffee, oatmeal, 

 vegetables, baking-powder, jam, and sugar having 

 become exhausted. There were no chickens in these 

 villages, and consequently no eggs; no yaks, and 

 therefore no milk except goat's milk, which I abom- 

 inated. My only hope of deliverance from compara- 

 tive starvation lay in the fact that I had foreseen 

 this unfortunate dearth of supplies and sent a coolie- 

 runner to Srinagar for more. Sheep, however, were 

 always procurable, and at the modest price of two 

 rupees (sixty-seven cents) per head. Consequently 

 my daily menu was approximately as follows : 



Breakfast: Flour porridge, potatoes, mutton. 



Tiffin: Potatoes, mutton. 



Dinner: Mutton broth, potatoes, mutton. 



This diet, as can be imagined, though healthful, 

 was hardly satisfactory ; and though its monotony 

 was occasionally relieved by my shooting a pigeon, 

 I often felt that I should like to see potatoes and 

 mutton, like the Hunter of the Snark, "softly and 



