The Snow Was Wedged Into
The Ravines Like Sheets Of Ice, And Being Most Precipitous, And
Continuing To The Very
Foot of the mountains, terminating in the
numerous torrents which they fed, a single false step in crossing
would have
Sent one rolling down, without a chance of stopping, to be
dashed to pieces at the bottom. In this way, a couple of years before,
two coolies and a shikaree had been killed, while shooting with an
officer. F. and I generally crossed these places in the footsteps
of the guides, or in holes cut by them for our feet with a hatchet;
but the men themselves passed them with a dash, which only long
practice and complete confidence could have imitated. During our halt
we suffered a good deal from the sun, although the snow was only six
inches off. In spite of the shade which our guides constructed for
us out of mysterious portions of their dress, both our wrists and
ankles were completely swollen and blistered before evening, while
our faces and noses in particular began to assume the appearance so
generally suggestive of Port wine and good living.
Our descent to the camp was a good march in itself, and we arrived
there about five P.M. hot and tired, 'but quite ready for our mountain
fare. On our road, we luckily discovered a quantity of young rhubarb,
growing in nature's kitchen-garden, and pouncing on it, we devoted it
to the celebration of our Sunday dinner.[4] We also saw a number of
minaur, or jungle-fowl, something of the pheasant tribe; but they were
so wild that nothing but slugs would secure them, and they entirely
declined the honour of an invitation to our Sunday entertainment.
JUNE 24. - We were not at all sorry to remember this morning,
as the sun rose, that it was a day of rest, for after our last
few days of work we were fully able to enjoy it. Amused ourselves
exploring all about us, and picking wild flowers in memory of our
camp. The commonest were wild pansy and forget-me-not, and the
rhododendron grew in quantities. In the afternoon we made a muster
of our standing provisions, having only brought four days' supply,
and seeing little chance of getting back for ten. The result was.,
that tea was reported low, potatoes on their last legs, and brandy
in a declining state. Under these melancholy circumstances, we
agreed to stop another day for shooting, and then march over the
snows for Aliabad and Heerpore, to join our main body at the latter
place. A road by Cheta Panee was declared impracticable for coolies,
in consequence of the hardness of the snow; so we gave it up.
JUNE 25. - All over the mountains again this morning before daybreak,
and up to breakfast-time without seeing game. However, one of our
sharp-sighted guides then detected markore, grazing at a long distance
up the mountains; even through the glasses they were mere specks,
and, to our unpractised eyes, very like the tufts and stones around
them; but in all faith that our guides were right, off we started in
pursuit. The first step was to lose all our morning's toil by plunging
for a mile or so down a steep descent. After that being accomplished,
up we went again, up and up an apparently interminable bank of snow, at
an angle of about sixty degrees, and slippery as glass. At the summit,
exhausted and completely out of breath, we did at last arrive, and from
this our friends of the morning were expected to be within shot. Not a
sign of a living creature appeared, however, to enliven the solitude
around us, and we began to think that our guides were a little TOO
clear-sighted this time, when what should suddenly come upon us but
a solitary old markore, slowly and leisurely rounding a rugged point
of rock below. We were all squatted in a bunch upon a space about as
large as a good-sized towel; but, hidden as we thought ourselves,
I could discern that our friend had evidently caught a glimpse of
something which displeased him in his morning cogitations. Still,
on he came, and just as he crossed a small field of snow, F. opened
fire at him across the ravine: the ball struck just below his body,
and, as he plunged forward, I followed with both barrels. On he went,
however, and before another shot could be fired he was coolly looking
down upon us from a terrace of inaccessible rocks, completely out of
range. Nothing remained but to descend again, and this we accomplished
very much more speedily, though perhaps not quite in such a graceful
style as we had ascended. The shikarees merely sat down on the inclined
plane, and with a hatchet or a stick firmly pressed under the arm as
a lever to regulate the pace, or a rudder to steer clear of rocks as
occasion might require, down they went at a tremendous pace, until
the slope was not sufficient to propel them further.
Our own wardrobe being limited in dimensions we declined adopting this
mode of locomotion, and slipping and sliding along, soon accomplished
the descent, in a less business-like but equally satisfactory
manner. While taking the direction of our camp, we espied seven more
animals, perched apparently upon a smooth face of rock; and after a
short council of war off we started on a fresh stalk, down another
descent, over more fields of snow, and up a place where a cat would
have found walking difficult.
While accomplishing this latter movement, our guides detected two
huge red bears, an enormous distance off, enjoying themselves in
the evening air, and feeding and scratching themselves alternately,
as they sauntered about in the breeze. Abandoning our present stalk,
which was not promising, down we went again, and crossing about a
mile and a half of broken ground, snow, rocks, &c., we reached a wood
close to the whereabouts of our new game.
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