56 JOURNEY TO THE PAMIRS. 



bottom of the ravine, he led us up the side of the 

 mountain to a flat bit of prairie, covered with grass, 

 where there was a lovely view of green hills all 

 round, with woods of pine, juniper, and mountain- 

 ash. It was a wonderful contrast to what we had 

 been accustomed to, and reminded us strongly of 

 Kashmir. Bower and I went up towards this 

 pass in the evening, and enjoyed our walk im- 

 mensely : the smell of the pines and juniper in 

 the woods was a better tonic than any produced 

 by a doctor. 



Early next morning we found Barat trying to 

 do a deal with some Wakhis for a couple of new 

 ponies, and after some haggling he got hold of a 

 nice one, which I determined to annex for my 

 own riding. How he got round the man I can- 

 not imagine, for he gave him a terrible cripple 

 and five rupees in exchange ! To our disappoint- 

 ment Sultan Beg did not turn up. However, 

 another man who had come to the camp said he 

 would guide us as far as Langar. Our way was 

 by the path we had explored in the evening, to 

 the top of the pass Tahta Dawan, 1 5,000 feet, pine- 

 woods and grass-prairies all the way a nice easy 

 ascent. The descent was more abrupt. At first 

 the path led through pine-woods ; but after a little 



