256 WANDERINGS OF A 



trees of a retired village, or the thatched roofs of an English- 

 looking farm-house would peep out where the forest was 

 the least dense. We travelled forward, threading our way- 

 through a natural plantation of walnut, peach, apricot, mul- 

 berry, plum, apple, pear, and other trees, that rose upon the 

 mountain-side with surpassing beauty ^ and extent." Our 

 third day's march was to the village of Khund, situated at 

 the entrance of one of the great gorges, and near the Scinde, 

 the waters of which are white from the light-coloured clay 

 forming its bed and banks. Patches of snow stiU covered 

 the tops of the highest mountains in the neighbourhood, and 

 seldom a day passed without a shower. I employed a few 

 leisure hours at Khund in exploring the fine wooded valley, 

 having been detained there a day from want of coolies. I 

 was struck with the absence of birds in this dense mountain 

 solitude ; indeed the district seemed almost deserted by 

 living beings of any sort. I wandered over miles of forest 

 and jungle without seeing anything beyond the orange- 

 coloured bullfinch already noticed and the trail of a few 

 bears. A small black scorpion was very common under 

 stones, and upwards of twenty were killed by our servants in 

 clearing a little spot sufficient for the accommodation of our 

 tents. As we journeyed on, the valley of the Scinde became 

 narrower, and the wooded scenery gave place to grassy hill- 

 sides or rocky and precipitous gorges, now and then presenting 

 a patch of forest or jungle. At the little guard-room in the 

 defile of Guggen Ghere we rested at mid-day before ascending 

 the rocky bed of the river, which was half-choked by huge 

 masses of rock and beds of snow ; the latter sloping down 

 from the surrounding mountains at a low angle. Many in 

 the higher regions would have become glaciers but for that 

 reason ; consequently they totally disappear before the end of 



