380 Narrative of a Journey from Soobathoo [No. 125. 



21st October. — Marched to Shealkhur, a fort and village belonging 

 to Busehur, under charge of Loktus ; its distance from Chango is three 

 and half miles ; the road was rocky upon the left bank of the Lee, until 

 under the village, where we crossed it by a bad wooden bridge, the bed 

 of the river is here 10,000 feet above the sea, and the breadth of the 

 stream 92 feet ; but it is not nearly so deep or rapid as the Sutlej. 



The fort of Shealkhur is situate in latitude 32°, and longitude 78° 

 38', upon the confines of Ludak and Chinese Tartary ; it is in a most 

 ruinous state, and the village is a poor place. 



The first Ludak village was said to be a day's march to the north- 

 ward, but as a single fall of snow might have shut the passes, we gave 

 up the idea of visiting it. 



From Koonawur to Garoo there are three roads, one from Shipke 

 has already been mentioned, another from Shealkhur not so good as the 

 former, lies through Choomoortee, an elevated country under a Deba, 

 where the people dwell in tents, do not cultivate the ground, but sub- 

 sist by their flocks ; the third road from Nisung crosses part of the Hima- 

 laya range at a pass called Gangtung, which is represented as being ex- 

 tremely difficult. It is worthy of remark, that the Koonawurees esti- 

 mate the height of mountains by the difficulty of breathing they expe- 

 rience in ascending them, which, as before noticed, they ascribe to a 

 poisonous plant, but from all our enquiries, and we made them almost 

 at every village, we could find nobody that had seen the plant, and 

 from our own experience, we are inclined to attribute the effect to the 

 rarefaction of the atmosphere, since we felt the like sensation at 

 heights where there were no vegetable productions. 



The traders who cross Gangtung Pass put on so many clothes to 

 defend themselves from the excessive cold, that they can scarcely walk ; 

 they wear a large garment with sleeves reaching almost to the feet, 

 made of sheepskin with the woolly side inwards, trowsers and stockings 

 of the same material, a kind of rude gloves of very thick woollen stuff, 

 and caps and shoes of blanket ; they likewise occasionally wrap three 

 or four blankets round them, and thus accoutred, set out on their peril- 

 ous journey. No herbage is met with on the way for two days, and 

 travellers are said to have dreadful headaches, and pains in the ears 

 even when at rest ; many goats and sheep die annually, and it is no 

 uncommon thing for the people that attend them, who also some- 



