MARKHOR AND SHARPU SHOOTING 179 



suddenly vanish away/' giving place, if necessary, 

 to pate de foie gras, wedding-cake and Welsh rab- 

 bit. The many happy hours Perry and I have spent, 

 on our long, thirsty marches, carefully planning 

 out the menus for prospective feasts on our return 

 to civilization, come back to me with extraordinary 

 distinctness. 



The 1 3th I spent in camp on account of a severe 

 rain, but started on in the afternoon and accom- 

 plished some six miles up toward the pass. On the 

 1 4th we crossed the pass itself, up a long snow- 

 field, and then down into the Ditchil Nullah, all in a 

 snowstorm, which later turned to rain ; and a very 

 unpleasant two hours I spent on reaching my camp- 

 ground, waiting for the coolies to arrive with the 

 tent and dry clothes. The I5th we marched some 

 eight miles down the Ditchil Nullah, which leads to 

 the Astore Valley, where I was greatly impressed 

 with the many different kinds of wild flowers which 

 dotted the fields with all the colors of the rainbow. 

 The scenery had changed suddenly from wild bare 

 mountains and snow to a beautiful valley, with 

 woods, fields and a mountain-stream, a most 

 pleasant relief from our previous surroundings. The 

 1 6th was an especially hard day, for besides a long, 

 difficult, and fatiguing march over the mountain 

 from Ditchil down to the Astore River, I went on 



