JULY 29. -- Marched early after enjoying a drier night than I had
anticipated from the look of the evening and the fine-drawn condition
of our tent.
Our road continued up a beautifully wooded and watered valley, and
reaching a gorge in the mountains, about five kos from our start, we
halted at a log hut a little way beyond a wooden settlement dignified
by the name of Gugenigiera.
Here we had a bathe in the rushing snow torrent, a curious combination
of pain and pleasure, but the latter considerably predominating,
particularly when it was all over.
After breakfast we sent the coolies on again, intending to halt three
kos off; however, on reaching the ground, they unanimously requested
to be allowed to go on to the village of Soonamurg, the halting-place
shown on our route. It was altogether considerably over a Sabbath-day's
journey, being nine kos of a bad mountain-path; but as no supplies
whatever were procurable short of it, we held on our course. After
leaving our halt, the path led us close to the torrent's edge, and
the gorge narrowing very much, we were completely towered over in our
march by gigantic peaks of rock, blocks of which had come down from
their high estate at some remote period of their existence, and now
occupied equally prominent though humbler positions in the torrent's
bed below.
Pages:
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161