The Lowness Of The Side-Ropes, And The
Oscillation Of The Ricketty Structure Rendered The Feat Altogether A
Rather More Amusing Performance To The Looker On Than To The Actual
Performer, And I Was Not To Reach The Opposite Shore.
On the arrival
of the coolies, they all hung back, and regarded the machine with
utter astonishment, and when
One of them did essay the passage,
his coat caught in one of the twigs, about half way across, and not
having the use of his hands, he was completely caught as in a trap,
and unable either to advance or retire. In endeavouring to turn,
his load nearly upset him, and there he remained until extricated
by one of the villagers. A few of the coolies afterwards got across,
and also the servants, with great trepidation, but the greater number,
with the main body of the baggage, including, alas! all the cooking
department, except one load, were afraid to essay the passage, and had
to take to the bad road in despair. The fraction of the commissariat
stores which did reach our side of the water turned out to be plates,
knives, forks, and kettles, so that we had before us no prospect of
breakfast until we arrived at a village some ten kos off, where a
more respectable bridge was to re-unite us with our goods and chattels.
As promised, the path on our side was pretty good, and led us
through several peaceful little villages, overhung by giant rocks,
and dotted with enormous blocks of stone, which had descended to
disturb the harmony of the scene during some convulsion or commotion
in the interior economy of the mountains. Some of these were taken
advantage of by the natives to serve as canvas for their designs,
and were carved with effigies of four-armed divinities, and other
SACRED subjects. With the exception of these, we saw few traces of
Buddhism about us here. Passing through one of the villages, I bought
a medicine-book, or charm, from one of the natives. It was in Arabic,
and was rolled and swathed like a mummy, and worn round his arm. He
told me that he had inherited it from his father, and appeared by no
means happy when it was gone.
Arriving at Sankoo, we found it a well-wooded thinly-inhabited
valley, about a kos and a half in length. Here we had a new specimen
of bridge architecture to pass. It was formed simply enough of
two crooked trunks of trees, and, considering the torrent below,
it required a considerable amount of confidence to enable one to
traverse it successfully. From the scarcity of the population, I had
great difficulty in finding anybody to procure me a drink of milk,
and when I at last discovered a woman and two children, she was so
thunderstruck that, catching up one of her offspring in her arms and
shrieking to another to follow her, like a hen and chickens swooped at
by a hawk, away they went as fast as their legs would carry them.
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