922 Journal of a trip through Kunawur. j^Nov. 



dangerous at first, becomes nothing when one is accustomed to it. 

 Thus it may happen that others shall follow in my path and laugh at 

 that which I have called bad or dangerous. 



The scenery from Meeroo to Chini is beautifully grand and im- 

 posing, the snowy range on the left bank being spread along the whole 

 way like a fair white sheet, and raising its ragged outline far above all 

 vegetation, till it attains, as in the bold giant peaks of the Ruldung 

 group overhanging Chini, an elevation of twenty-two thousand feet 

 above the sea. 



The right bank of the river presents a marked contrast to this bold 

 and awful grandeur, the hills receding more gradually and with a less 

 shattered look, being thickly clothed to their very summits with 

 noble forests of pines of many species, as the Kayloo, Neoza, Spun, 

 and Cheel. 



Chini, though a tolerable sized village for the hills, has a poor and 

 ruinous appearance about it ; it is situated in the midst of cultivation 

 which is plentifully irrigated by streams from the snows above, which 

 come dashing down in a sheet of foam as white as the snow beds from 

 which they issue. Chini is rather the name applied to several small 

 villages or hamlets scattered among the cultivation and resting on the 

 slope of the right bank, than that of any one in particular. This is 

 not uncommon in Kunawur, and occurs also at the next stage, where 

 several are again comprehended under the one name of Punggee. 



On the opposite side of the Sutledge, a few miles higher up its 

 course than Chini, is situated the village of Pooaree, famous for pro- 

 ducing the best kismish raisins in Kunawur. It is also the residence 

 of one of the vuzeers, and has a joola of yak's hair ropes over the 

 river from which a road leads up to the Burrenda pass. 



On the 1st June I proceeded to Punggee, where a number of my 

 coolies whom I had brought from Simla became alarmed at the ac- 

 counts they heard people give of. the scarcity and dearness of provi- 

 sions in Spiti, arid refused to accompany me farther. Remonstrance 

 and advice were alike thrown away upon them, and finding that 

 neither promises nor threats had any effect, I gave the order to the 

 Churriah to furnish me with the necessary number. On his an- 

 nouncing my order to them in the Kunawur language, a most amusing 

 scene took place ; men and women, old and young, threw themselves 

 at once with such hearty good will upon my baggage, each scrambling 

 for a load, that I fully expected to see half the things torn to pieces 

 in the scuffle. After much noise and laughter each succeeded in ob- 

 taining something, and off they all trudged right merrily towards 



