572 REPORT OF EXPEDITION" 



obstruction which I had met with in my journey to Iskardoh. 

 But Ahmud Shah had decided that I was to return by that 

 way, and he assured me that matters had been arranged be- 

 tween him and Jubbar Khan, On the 12th I parted from 

 Ahmud Shah, who at our last interview attacked me on poli- 

 tical matters, which I had studiously avoided on all previous 

 occasions. The purport of his conversation was to engage 

 the friendly services of the British Government in India to 

 protect him from aggression by the Sikhs on the side of 

 Cashmeer and Ladakh. I stated to him that I had come 

 into his country with no political functions, but merely as a 

 naturalist ; and that besides an interest in his welfare very 

 generally entertained by the British community in India, I 

 could assure him of nothing else. We separated, after mu- 

 tual expressions of good wiU, and I ran up the valley of 

 Kuchora to Taukhchund. Thence we proceeded along the 

 western branch of the valley to near Dokus, below the Pass of 

 Ehunnuk, which lay between us and Astore. In the evening 

 it commenced snowing, to the alarm of our Tibetian guides, 

 Ehunnuk being dangerous at all times, and often the scene 

 of dreadful disasters when attempted to be crossed in cloudy 

 weather. It cleared up in the morning, and after a severe 

 and most diflBcult ascent over extensive fields of snow, we 

 reached the summit in the afternoon. I found the elevation 

 to be 15,822 feet, considerably less than I imagined, as many 

 of our party were attacked with the symptoms of the distress 

 about the head which extreme altitude brings on. We des- 

 cended to the forest below, and next day followed down the 

 rich but uncultivated valley of Acherope to the village of that 

 name, in the Astore territory. We were received with sus- 

 picion and distrust ; and matters soon took a turn which 

 gave me considerable anxiety. The few Tibetians sent by 

 Ahmud Shah to escort me were forcibly driven back ; and I 

 was left to the chances of such treatment as the Astore chief 

 might be pleased to offer me. To my remonstrances it was 

 answered that I must go on to Astore ; and that Jubbar 

 Khan would not allow a dog of Ahmud Shah's to come into 

 his country. After a halt at Acherope, we ran down the 

 valley to near the castle ©f Astore, and in the evening I had 

 an interview with the Rajah at Phenee. I tried to conciliate 

 him by means of such presents as I had at my disposal, and 

 by a display of satisfaction and confidence which I was far 

 from feeling. We were kept three days at Phenee, during 

 which time I could get no satisfactory answer as to when and 

 by what route I shou.ld be allowed to proceed. I was treated 

 civilly, but a good deal of stormy discussion went on in the 

 Rajah's durbar, where a party of Gilghit soldiers, as I had 



