496 Journal of a trip through Kunawur> fyc. [No. 101. 



Pokh is a small and shabby looking village, and the houses, like all 

 those of Hungrung and Spiti, are built partly of stone and partly of 

 mud, or unbaked bricks, that is, of stone for the foundation, and bricks 

 above ; the walls are usually daubed over with whitewash, which, is 

 obtained from beds of friable gypsum occurring among the clays at the 

 lower end of the valley ; the windows and doors are small, particularly 

 the former, which are often not above eighteen inches square, and have 

 a red frame or border. As usual there are no trees, except a few 

 poplars and willows on the margin of a stream. There are, however 

 some rose bushes and dwarf cedars in a glen behind the village. 



Opposite Pokh, on the right bank of the river, is a large patch of 

 cultivation, and a few houses, called " Pokh-ma-rung," although the two 

 are usually known under one name. The cultivation indeed belongs 

 to the inhabitants of Pokh, and a communication is kept up by means 

 of a joola, or number of ropes stretched across the river, on which 

 passengers slide over. This joola had unfortunately given way just 

 before my arrival, and two or three people who had gone over, were 

 consequently obliged to remain on the opposite bank, for to swim 

 the river at this season was impossible. The ropes used in the con- 

 struction of this dangerous bridge, if such it can be called, are 

 made of willow twigs twisted strongly together, and about the 

 thickness of a man's wrist ; these are sometimes four or five in 

 number, and are fastened on either bank to an upright post driven 

 into the ground. From these ropes a loop descends, in which the 

 person sits, and pulls himself along. Many fruitless attempts were 

 made to convey a new rope across the river, by fastening a stone to a 

 long string, and endeavouring to throw it over to the other side, but 

 not one man in the village could succeed, for the stone invariably fell 

 into the middle of the stream. The Churriah and Tartars who were 

 with me also tried their best, but with the same want of success. 

 A bow and arrows were then resorted to, but they also failed to reach 

 the bank, and the experiment was abandoned. The Mookiah of the vil- 

 lage then said he would furnish a yak, to whose tail one end of the rope 

 was to be fastened, and the animal driven into the stream ; if he suc- 

 ceeded in reaching the opposite shore, well and good ; but if, as was most 

 probable, the beast failed, and was drowned, he would abide the loss. 

 As the yak had to be brought from the heights where he was at graze 

 with the herd, I did not see the experiment tried, but on my return 



