Just outside
the village we passed the scene of the fall of an avalanche, which
gave one some faint idea of the enormous forces occasionally at work
among these mountains. It had taken a small village in its path, and
over the place where it had stood we now took our way, among a perfect
chaos of masses of rock, and uptorn earth, trees, &c. The whole ground
was torn and rent, as by the eruption of volcanoes or the explosion
of enormous magazines of powder. Passing this, our path continued
to descend the gorge until about two kos from Chungun, when another
torrent came down to join its forces to the one we were accompanying;
and leaving our old companion to roar its way down to join the Indus,
we proceeded up the valley in the society of our new friend. Passing a
series of little villages nestled among the rugged rocks, we crossed
the stream by a tree bridge and causeway, to the Fort of Kurgil,
where, after a long consultation, we breakfasted. The differences
of opinion between the guide and the rest of the natives as to the
distance of a village ahead, where milk and supplies were forthcoming,
were so wide, some saying three kos, others six, &c.
Pages:
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176