On the I st January 1902 I left Leh, attended by one Cossack, and some Ladakis, and a troop of horses, which we continued to change at each succeeding station. The distance between the two towns Leh and Srinagar amounts to 242 miles, little more than 400 km., and is divided into i 7 stages, all of them at villages
except the stations nearest the pass. At each station there is a »dag bungalow», or guest-house, generally furnished in a practical and comfortable way. The whole organisation of the road is, or was, very similar to the »tschapari» system that obtains in Persia. Every station has a certain number of horses for the use of travellers at certain fixed rates, so that you can travel as rapidly as you please. The native authorities in the villages are responsible for looking after the roads and keeping them in good repair. To one travelling up to Leh from India it must be a tire-
Fig. 285. TSCHORTENS AT LEH.
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