24 PERSONAL NARRATIVE. 



east on the north, at a low angle. About three miles 

 up the ravine its course, which has so far been nearly- 

 due west, turns suddenly to the south, and assumes the 

 direction which, with many local changes, continues 

 to Senaf^ ; and here the foliation of the gneiss rolls 

 over, and dips first north-north-west and then west. 



The road at this time was only very imperfectly made. 

 The process of road-making, by the various regiments 

 employed, consisted in marking out a trace twenty feet 

 broad, felling any trees which might be in the way, 

 cutting down steep banks, and removing the boulders. 

 The road thus formed was, of course, rather heavy, being 

 often over gravel, but still a great improvement on the 

 mere torrent bed. But in January a commencement 

 only had been made, the whole efforts of the Sappers 

 being devoted at first to rendering practicable such diffi- 

 cult parts as the Suru defile; It was not always very 

 easy to teU the road, as lateral valleys of considerable 

 size sometimes entered the main one. The path, how- 

 ever, was pretty well marked in general, and could 

 usually be recognised by the carcases and skeletons of 

 mules and camels scattered along it. We passed several 

 of the Shoho inhabitants of the country — uncouth-looking 

 beings, mostly with bushy masses of hair transfixed by 

 wooden or horn skewers, Httle or no beard, and a small 

 quantity of very dirty cotton clothing. The women had 

 invariably a leathern petticoat, frequently ornamented 

 with cowrie shells. They were, if anything, more ill- 

 favoured than their lords and masters. At a subse- 

 quent period of the expedition, these people became 



