1846.] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 97 



double or treble its actual population. Judging by the produce of the 

 flocks and herds which now partly graze on these pastures, the soil and 

 grass must be faultless ; every traveller is struck with the quality of 

 the milk — as rich as cream — at Rol, Jangleeg, and Jaka, placed at 

 the lower limit of the belt where cultivation now ceases. 



September \3th. — From Doodach over the Shatool Pass to Ateeng 

 Wodar, twelve to fourteen miles, in somewhat under seven hours. An 

 experienced native of Rol had earnestly advised us not to attempt the Pass 

 unless the day were fine, and we were so far fortunate as to have a cloud- 

 less morning, and reached the summit, perhaps four miles, in three hours, 

 mounting at a very easy pace ; the ascent, indeed, is less fatiguing 

 than that of the Choor from Seran ; and on its completion we expe- 

 rienced none of those feelings of headache, giddiness, distress in breath- 

 ing, &c, described by many travellers, and very sensibly felt by myself 

 on a former occasion on the Roopin Pass. The route lies up over the 

 frozen snow bed of the Undretee, and then up one steep continuous 

 tract of broken, angular, masses of gneiss rock, of which there is a steep 

 escarpment to the right, capped by a thick bed of the purest snow. 

 The col, or semicircular summit of the Pass, is in its whole extent fur- 

 nished with numerous piles of stones called Shoogars or Thooas — the 

 44 Ebenezers" of grateful and successful passengers ; in number and 

 height far exceeding those on the Roopin and Boorun Ghatees ; the pil- 

 lars being apparently in a direct ratio to the piety and the fear of the 

 passengers, and the difficulty and danger overcome. Our men had 

 provided themselves with stores of flowers, chiefly the Kounl and Munna- 

 kuswal saussurea, and the musk larkspur, which they tied in long 

 garlands, and with which they decorated, first the pillars, and then, on the 

 Hindoo principle of " Purmeshwur-hai," ourselves. They clearly fancy 

 their gods to be as fond of musk as they are. On so cold a site, a few 

 faggots of wood would be a more rational offering; but as their evil 

 genii and demons are lodged in eternal fire, it is quite logical to locate 

 the gods in eternal cold and snow, and it is remarkable that he who 

 was prophet at Medina, and impostor at Mecca, also patronized this 

 notion, for he affirmed that, when touched by the hand of Allah, the 

 sensation was that of intense cold. On our return by the Roopin Pass, 

 the garland ceremony was dispensed with, each man merely tearing a 

 small portion of his clothes, and suspending it on the pillars, a custom 



