- Left Poshana at five A.M., and made for the Peer
Punjal pass.
A sharp struggle brought us to the summit, where we
found a polygon tower erected, apparently as a landmark and also
a resting-place for travellers to recover themselves after their
exertions.[5] At the Cashmere side of the pass I had expected to see
something of the far-famed valley, but nothing met the eye but a wild
waste of land, bounded on all sides by snow, while a few straggling
coolies toiled up towards us with some itinerant Englishman's baggage
like our own.
This turned out to belong to a party returning to Sealkote, and
we were rather elated by seeing among their possessions several
enormous antlers, which promised well for sport at the other side
of the valley. They turned out, however, to have been bought, and,
as their owners informed us, there was no chance of meeting such game
until October or November. About two miles down the pass we reached
the old serai of Aliabad, and found the only habitable part of it
in possession of a clergyman and a young Bengal artilleryman bound
for the shooting-grounds we had just left. With much difficulty we
obtained a few eggs, and a little milk with which we washed down the
chupatties we had brought with us; but the coolies were so long getting
over the path, that no signs of breakfast made their appearance until
about two o'clock. At mid-day it came on to rain heavily, and we took
up our quarters in a miserable den, with a flooring of damp rubbish
and a finely carved stone window not very much in keeping with the
rest of the establishment. Here we spent the day drearily enough,
the prospect being confined to a green pool of water in the middle
of the serai, around which the Pariah dogs contended with the crows
for the dainties of offal scattered about. As soon as it was dark,
we were glad enough to spread our waterproof sheets on the ground,
and sleep as well as the thousands of tenants already in possession
would allow us.
JUNE 28. - Up at sunrise, and packed off our things down the mountain
for Heerpore, where the main body of our possessions were concentrated.
Shortly after their departure it began to rain an Irish and Scotch
combined mist, and after warming our toes and blinding our eyes over a
wood fire for about three hours, in hopes of its clearing, we donned
grass-shoes and, putting our best legs foremost, accomplished about
thirteen miles of a most slippery path without a halt, except for
the occasional purpose of adjusting our dilapidated shoes.
After the first five or six miles the path entered a beautifully-wooded
valley, and at one spot, where two torrents joined their foaming waters
at the foot of a picturesque old ivy-grown serai, the landscape was
almost perfection. Passing this, we entered a thickly-shaded wood,
studded with roses and jessamine, and peopled with wood-pigeons
and nightingales, who favoured us with a morning concert as we
passed.
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