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



nary nature along the brink of a tremendous precipice, and often upon 

 unsteady scaffolding that has been constructed with very great labour, 

 this continues for several hundred yards together, and is formed of spars 

 driven into the crevices of perpendicular faces of rock, with their other 

 ends resting upon trees or posts and boards across. Now and then you 

 meet with a rude stair of wood and stone, which must have required 

 much trouble to erect; the rocks project above the path, and the tra- 

 veller is frequently obliged to stoop in order to avoid them, whilst 

 at the same time he must pay equal attention to his footing. 



Part of the road was destroyed last rainy season, and had not up- 

 wards of twenty people been early sent off to repair it, we should have 

 been forced to go by the Sutlej, which is nearly a whole march round ; 

 by the time we arrived at the place that had given way, they had made 

 several clumsy wooden ladders, which answered our purpose tolerably 

 well. The mountains latterly on either side of the river are craggy, 

 rent in every direction, almost destitute of soil, and thinly wooded, but in 

 the vicinity of Kushbeer, which we passed half way, the ground slopes 

 gradually to the Sutlej at some distance, and is thickly studded with 

 hamlets and adorned with vineyards. 



There are several orchards belonging to Rogee, which contain apples 

 of an excellent kind, nearly as large as those brought from Kabool, 

 which they far excel in flavour. 



30^ October. — Proceeded to Meero eight and half miles. The road 

 was very uneven upon angular pieces of quartz, gneiss, and granite, 

 often bordering upon a precipice about a mile from the Sutlej, here 

 called Sumudrung. The rocks on our right hand were of the same 

 cracked appearance as yesterday, frequently overhanging the path, and 

 menacing destruction to the left ; towards the river the declivity is more 

 gentle, and generally clothed with pines, unless where they have been 

 buried amongst rocks dislodged from above. 



Meeroo is situate in the district of Rasgramee, and is 8,550 feet high. 

 Besides the subdivisions of Koonawur already noticed, there are three 

 more, Utharabeesht on the southern bank of the Sutlej to the westward 

 of Brooang, Pundrabeesht opposite it on the north side of the river, and 

 Wangpo, containing only seven small villages to the N. W. of Meeroo. 



31st October. — Marched seven and three-quarter miles, and encamped 

 near a cave close on the right bank of the Sutlej. The pathway was 



