1876.] H. C. Marsh— Description of a trip to the Gilgit Valley. 135 



The hour fixed for the opening is a joyous one, young and old, men and 

 women, assemble to take a little, and amidst a tumult of joyful acclamations 

 and song, they bear away the precious liquid, and store it in their rooms in 

 the fort. Having no pottery, being unacquainted with its manufacture, 

 most of the liquid is drunk as soon as possible, and a little kept in skin bags 

 and wooden bowls. The women never get drunk, the men often. 



I was greatly troubled by sandflies at this place, which are worse in shady 

 damp places, but in a dry spot they only appear at sunrise and sunset. 



On marching from Singul, we first crossed the nala, at the mouth of 

 which it is situated, by a rope bridge. Large quantities, of fish were observed 

 lying quietly at the bottom, no one troubling them by net or line.* A guard 

 remains here on the lookout for armed Dareyl robbers, who come down the 

 nala on marauding expeditions. 



A dam of stones turns off the stream from washing away the fort. 

 The road leads along the flat and high bank on which there is no cultivation, 

 being covered with boulders detached by earthquakes from the granite rocks 

 above ; these are of no rare occurrence, I saw a case of a large fall of rocks 

 and earth close to the Fort at Gilgit during a slight shock we had. A 

 couple of miles brought us to the village of Gulmutti, opposite which is the 

 large Fort and village of Bubbur.f The influence of the Baja of Gaokuch 

 commences here, as they give tithes to him as well as to Sher Kil'a. Chang- 

 ing coolies at the fort of Gulmutti, where they brought me a large present 

 of grapes and melons, we continued along close to the river opposite the 

 small cultivation of Barjur, a hamlet of Bubbur ; the road thence ascends a 

 high spur, called Singdas, which shuts in the river, to a small gorge through 

 which it rushes with great violence. 



As I was toiling up on foot, the path very steep and bad, the sun very 

 powerful, I was met by the Baja of Gaokuch with his ' rikab', or following. 

 Mutually rushing into each other's embrace, and anxiously enquiring 

 after one another's health and welfare, we continued our course, dipping 

 down to the river again, where under the shade of a few tamarisk bushes, he 

 made me eat a fine melon and smoke the Calmet of Peace. 'Afiat Khan is a 

 thick set, dark, middle-sized man of common-place appearance, about forty 

 years of age. He was mounted on a good young pony 13 2 hands high, 

 of his own breeding, carrying him well over the bad slippery rocks ; finally 

 we ascended the side of the plateau on which Gaokuch stands. The fort 

 and village are situated about two miles further on ; no vegetation on this 

 plain till we reached the village. The whole valley is about 1|- miles broad, 

 but as we have been gradually ascending the whole way from Gilgit, 



* Otters also abound. The people catch fish by small conical baskets fixed into the 

 end of a dam across the stream. 



t A small colony of Sayyids make it of some importance. 



