712 
THROUGH ASIA 
The enormous volumes of water which pour off the 
mountains towards that quarter have cleft their way irre- 
sistibly through the massive mountain-chains, and present 
views of signal grandeur both up and down the defile by 
which they break their way through. From the marks 
on the cliff-side I observed that the river was at that time 
1 1|- feet lower than its highest level during the summer. 
All the same, a hollow roar echoed against the mountain- 
walls as the flood, still of considerable volume, rolled its 
greenish muddy waters along its deeply eroded channel. 
The river stopped our way. We must get across it 
somehow. On the river bank we found half-a-dozen 
suchis (water men) waiting for us, in wide swimming- 
drawers, each man having a tuhim (inflated goat-skin) 
tied round his chest. They had lashed together a sal 
(ferry-boat), which looked anything but trustworthy, seeing 
that it consisted of an ordinary stretcher supported by a 
dozen tuhims. The horses were unloaded. Some of the 
provision-boxes were placed on the “ferry-boat.” One of 
our horses was yoked to it. Then one of the suchis led 
him carefully down the polished rounded stones imme- 
diately under the bank, whilst his comrades balanced the 
boat. The horse soon lost his foothold, and disappeared, 
all except his head. The suchi then threw his right arm 
round the animal’s neck, whilst with his left arm he swam 
and steered. The whole party were speedily caught in 
the current, and went swirling down at a giddy pace, the 
suchis swimming with all their might. The right bank 
immediately opposite to us presented a face of vertical 
cliffs. Towards these the swimmers pressed with des- 
perate energy, striving to make a little sheltered bay 
immediately below them, in which an eddy circled over 
a shallow sandy bottom. At that spot the ferrymen 
cautiously landed their charges. Half a mile below the 
ferry the river made a bend, and the current swept over 
towards the left bank, forming a series of boiling rapids. 
Hence the anxiety of the suchis to get across the river 
before they were caught in and drawn down by the 
suction of the cascade ; for once in the rapids, it would 
