A PILGRIMAGE TO AMERNATH 



right 



bank of the 

 stream for a time 

 wound around an al- 

 most bare hillside, 

 which swept up in 

 long stretches to a 

 massive rock-crowned 

 top. The left bank 

 was dark with firs — 

 tall and symmetrical, 

 like the play-trees of 

 our childhood's 

 Noah's ark — while 

 the river between the 

 hills gleamed far be- 

 low like a silver band. 

 Sometimes the trail 

 1 a y between huge 

 boulders, which also 

 blocked the bed of the 

 river, and the water 

 broke into masses of 

 foam and spray as it 

 dashed madly on its 

 way. 



a horse: escapes 



While we were hav- 

 ing tiffin at Tanin, 

 10,500 feet up, our 

 syces took a siesta 

 and allowed one of 

 the riding ponies to 

 wander off. The 

 Kashmiri syce seems 

 fond of his horse, al- 

 though he is lazy and 

 will take a chance on 

 getting through some- 

 how without unduly 

 exerting himself. Be- 

 cause of failure to 

 hobble the horses at Eishmakam, one of 

 our pack ponies wandered off and we 

 never found him. For a bad half hour 

 we feared the same thing had happened 

 here, which would mean that the men 

 must take turns on foot for five days. 

 Fortunately, the animal was found and 

 we proceeded on our way. 



Just after leaving Tanin the river cuts 

 through what looks like a bridge of mar- 

 ble, and I exclaimed at the wonder of it. 

 Huge symmetrical blocks were lying at 

 one side, as if carefully quarried for 

 some splendid building. It was difficult 

 to believe that it was a snow-bridge. 



Photograph by A. Hodgson 



TIMBER-LINK ON THE AMERNATH TRAIL 



The valuable deodar extends from 5,000 to 9,000 feet above, sea- 

 level. The blue pine occurs at 6,000 feet and reaches to 10,000 feet. 

 Above this height the silver fir is found, but above 11,000 feet only 

 dwarf rhododendrons and junipers are to be seen. 



From here our path wound up, in zig- 

 zag after zigzag, the almost perpendicular 

 side of a mountain which rises 1,500 feet 

 above the river. Progress was slow for 

 the poor pack ponies and scarcely faster 

 for us. 



The men walked much of the way to 

 the top, and every now and then we 

 rested our ponies by changing to theirs. 

 The change was not a particularly com- 

 fortable one, for we ladies had English 

 saddles and the men Kashmiri ones. The 

 latter are made of wood covered with 

 leather, curved very high at the back and 

 front, somewhat after the fashion of 



