A PILGRIMAGE TO AMERNATH 



517 



sum. Any one may stay 24 hours 

 upon the payment of a rupee 

 (32 cents), which entitles him to 

 a room and bed, usually with 

 mattress and pillow, but no 

 sheets or blankets. 



The bungalow at Tret was 

 most comfortable, and the warm 

 baths, which we had for a few 

 annas extra (at normal exchange 

 an anna is worth about two 

 cents), were very refreshing 

 after our hot, dusty journey. A 

 servant, whom we took along 

 for the sake of economy, cooked 

 our food all during the pilgrim- 

 age, effecting quite a saving with 

 a party of five. On the railways, 

 a servant's fare is about a third 

 of a cent a mile. 



CARAVANS OF CARTS LADEN WITH 

 KASHMIR FRUIT 



The road from Tret to Kohala, 

 38 miles away, lay through beau- 

 tiful pines, and at a turn a mile 

 or two up we had a wonderful 

 view of the hills — those in the 

 foreground bare and brown, 

 those behind fresh and green, 

 with the bungalow we had just 

 left nestling at their feet. 



We passed many caravans of 

 ox-garries, piled high with bas- 

 kets of fruit from Kashmir. 

 Pieces of matting or canvas sup- 

 ported by a pole in the center form a 

 gable roof over such precious cargo, pro- 

 tecting it from sun and rain and helping 

 to insure its delivery in good condition to 

 the markets of India, even after such a 

 long, slow journey. 



The ascent in the next 11 miles to 

 Sunnybank, two miles below Murree, was 

 over 2,000 feet. Progress was slow with 

 our lumbering vehicles and we walked 

 part of the way to stretch our legs. 



Murree, one of the popular hill stations 

 of the Punjab, we did not enter, but as 

 we began the long descent of 2y miles 

 from Sunnybank we saw it straggling 

 along the crest of a pine-covered hill 

 which farther down was cultivated in 

 terrace after terrace of growing grain. 



Our road on the left of the valley 

 wound around high cliffs, out of which it 

 was cut. To the right, the hills, sparsely 



Photograph by A. Hodgson 



A ROCK TUNNET ON THE ROAD TO SRINAGAR 



Until recently, the two routes into the Happy Valley 

 of Kashmir, from Jammu across the Banihal Pass and 

 from Gujerat over the Pir Panjal, rivaled the Murree 

 road ; but the latter has been much improved and now 

 motor cars make the 200-mile trip from Rawalpindi to 

 Srinagar in two days. 



covered with scrub trees, stretched away, 

 seamed and gullied and rolling like the 

 waves of the ocean, to others behind, 

 jagged and peaked, the whole by some 

 mysterious action of the sunlight wrapped 

 in a haze of palest rose. 



At each turn in the road the scene 

 changed in a kaleidoscopic manner, and 

 we admired the same hills from a differ- 

 ent viewpoint. About six miles from 

 Kohala the Jhelum River, a rapid rush- 

 ing stream fed by the snows, came into 

 view, and we scarcely lost sight of it until 

 we left Islamabad, many days later. 



How good the Kohala dak-bungalow 

 seemed that night, with its refreshing- 

 baths, comfortable beds, and excellent 

 dinner of six courses, although we did 

 read afterward in the guest-book un- 

 favorable comments on the dinner writ- 

 ten by two cranks. 



