- 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.
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