98 
NARRATIVE. 
Five miles below Balakchi we had to cross and 
recross the Karakash, and this was no easy matter. 
A mendicant Fakir, who had followed ns on foot fronci 
the Panjab, was carried off his legs by the stream, 
and although rescued from drowning, he was much 
cut by the sharp rocks. 
We passed the small fort of Shahidulla, situated on the 
left bank of the river. It was originally built by the 
Maharajah of Kashmir, and although situate a long 
way beyond the Kashmir frontier, it was for a short 
time held by Kashmir soldiers ; it is now deserted by 
the Yarkandis, as they have built another fort about 
twenty miles lower down the valley, where the Kilian 
pass Boute joins the one by the Sanju pass, which we 
were to take. To-day we met some traders en route 
to Le, who gave an account of affairs in Yarkand, 
which did not materially differ from that given us by 
MirzaShadi; but we afterwards met aPanjabi trader, 
whose account differed from the others. They all 
agreed that perfect peace existed in Yarkand itself 
but that the King was still at the seat of war on his 
frontier. It appeared that all the traders going to 
India had been stopped until it was known that we 
were near Shahidulla ; and strict orders had been given 
them not to tell us anything that was likely to make 
us give up the expedition. 
In the afternoon we reached the Tograsu river, 
which flows from the west down a narrow gorge, and 
joins the Karakash at right angles. We made 
several ineffectual attempts to cross the Tograsu, 
and went about two miles up in search of a prac- 
ticable ford; but finding that, even should we 
succeed in getting across, the baggage could not 
