138 H. C. Marsh— Description of a trip to the Gilgit Valley. [N . 2, 



exclusively. It is of a very weak description, about four times our English 

 charges being put into the gun, viz., 10 drams of theirs to 2i of mine. The 

 proportions used are as followed : Nitre, 5 parts ; sulphur | part ; charcoal 

 1 part — 6i parts. 



During summer all the ponies and cattle are sent up to the grazing 

 grounds in the Hills, but in winter, which is long and severe, all animals are 

 housed, fodder being collected during the autumn for their use, grass and 

 the leaves of most trees. 



Donkeys have lately been introduced in Gilgit and Panyal. The Dogra 

 Force, which attacked and massacred the people of Yassin in 1863, brought 

 down several with them. They are small, quite black, without the usual 

 stripe down the back and shoulders, but have a white nose ; they are used in 

 the gardens for carrying loads of earth, manure, or in harvesting crops, but 

 are not ridden. 



All the cloth, iron, drugs, &c, which find their way into the Gilgit valley 

 are brought up by the Koli and Palas men from the unknown banks of the 

 Indus, which river runs through Yagistan, or Independent territory, from 

 Eawal Pindi in the Panjab via Koli through Chilas. The loads are of 60 

 lbs. each, carried throughout by men, who are paid 30 Kashmir chilkis, of 8 

 annas each, for the trip up to Gilgit. Little or no merchandise reaches these 

 parts through Kashmir, owing to the excessive taxation and bad roads. 



I returned to Srinagar by the main road through Gurais and the 

 Kumri Pir Pass, having had very little sport, though the country is full 

 of it, owing to the season being too late for shooting. 



I can recommend Gilgit as a field for sportsmen, especially if they 

 take no Kashmiri shikaris, as the latter spoil the whole country and are 

 quite unnecessary, the Gilgitis being keen shikaris themselves. 



