- Leaving Suspul, we ascended considerably to the village
of Buzgo, another of the cloud-built little settlements so dear to
the Lamas. The tenements were most picturesquely pitched upon the
extreme tips of almost perpendicular rocks, and to many of them
access seemed apparently impossible. Leaving this, we entered upon
a desert of shifting sand and stones, in the midst of which there
was an unusually long wall of the inscribed stones, one of which,
although containing the same inscription, was of a different pattern
from any I had hitherto discovered.[23]
The next oasis was Egnemo, formed, like all the others, by the
existence of numerous little springs of crystal water, which enabled
the waving corn to raise its golden head, and the apricot and the
apple-tree to flourish in refreshing contrast to the general barrenness
and sterility which reigned around.
After a grilling march, we enjoyed the delights of a bathe under a
waterfall of clear cold water, and got our breakfast by eleven o'clock.
To-day, some of our brigade of coolies begin to complain of sickness,
which sounds alarming, not only to themselves, but to us, for none
others are now procurable. This results from their making too free
with unripe apricots, and drinking too many gallons of cold water on
the road; also, however, from the fact of my having doctored the first
patient who had presented himself, with a couple of pills and some
tea - a piece of generosity which drove all the others nearly mad
with jealousy and envy, and set them thinking how they also might be
participators in similar luxuries. The pills, although in this instance
selected promiscuously from a varied stock, were the great objects of
desire, and such was their confidence in the virtuous properties of
the remedy, that the character of the particular bolus that fell to
their share was to them a matter of no consequence whatever. So great
a rage is there for medicine among people who have never known the
luxury of paying for it, that even the blind and deformed continually
applied to us for it on the road.
AUGUST 12. - Halted to-day, and gave all hands a day of rest, which
was rather required after our incessant marching. In the afternoon
we explored the village, and enjoyed a magnificent sunset behind the
ranges of distant snowy mountains. The crops here were more backward
than those met hitherto, although the power of the sun was rather
on the increase than otherwise, as we advanced. Some of the fields
were occupied by beans, peas, and wheat, all growing like a happy
family together.
AUGUST 13. - Made an unusually early start, this morning, for
our final march into Ladak. The first part of the journey was up a
precipitous ascent, and over shifting gravel, which was very trying
to our already well-worn boots; and it was a relief when, on arriving
at the summit, we found a long and gradual descent before us, with
an entirely new panorama of snow-clad mountains extending away
towards Ladak.
