120 



Correspondence of the Commissioners 



[Feb. 



26th Oct 



27th 



Maten. 



HI 



Bal-thal 

 " Hill 

 foot." 



151 



Remarks. 



Road for 

 up the left 



other two pillars, familiarly called 

 Choms, or the " Women," are also 

 Brahmanical and not Buddhistical, for 

 the almost obliterated inscriptions are 

 in Kashmirian Nagari, and not in Ti- 

 betan characters. I took copies of these 

 inscriptions also. 



7f miles to the westward 

 bank of the river, to Pan 

 Dras, a Kashmirian corruption of Pu- 

 rana Dras, or old Dras, to distinguish it 

 from the new Dras or Sikh Fort. Pro- 

 fessor Wilson strangely supposes it to 

 be Paien-i-Dras or lower Dras, although 

 it is higher up the stream. Beyond 

 Pan Dras the road continued for 1^ 

 mile to the westward up the stream 

 and then crossed to the right bank by 

 ford, and turning to the S. S. W. after 

 3 miles reached Maten. Snow fell hea- 

 vily all the afternoon, and continued 



the Waga- 

 the 



throughout the night. 



Road for 5 miles through snow up 

 the right bank of the Dras river ; and 

 thence across the stream and up a short 

 steep ascent, and up the stream for 6 

 miles further to its source in 

 Sar ; from which also issues, in 

 opposite direction, one of the sources 

 of the Siudh river, which flows into 

 Kashmir. This is properly speaking 

 the Pass or dividing ridge between La- 

 dak and Kashmir : but as the road 

 afterwards ascends a spur of the hill 

 beyond to a point somewhat higher 

 than the level of the lake, the latter is 

 considered to be the Pass, and is ac- 

 cordingly named so as the Seo-ji-la. 

 From the Pass the road descends very 

 steeply for rather more than 2 miles to 

 a log-hut, at the junction of the Waga 

 rivulet with the Kishen Gunga, which is 

 said to come from Amaranath. This 





