merely a camping-ground, to Misgah, the first village, we passed through gorges with rocky precipices of stupendous height on either side. The mountains seemed to almost rise perfectly sheer from the bed of the river for thousands of feet,. till they culminated in snowy peaks, to view whose summit we had to throw our heads right back in looking upwards.
As we descended the valley the air became warmer and warmer, the marrow-freezing blasts of wind were left behind, and the atmosphere became less and less rarefied as we left the high altitudes of the Pamirs and came down again to parts where cereals could be cultivated. As we breathed the fuller air, with more life-giving properties in it, fresh strength seemed to come into us, and the feeling of languor which the cold and the rarefaction of the air together had produced, slowly disappeared.
Near Misgah we were met by the Arbap, or governor, of the upper district of Hunza, who professed himself very friendly, and evidently intended to be so ; but on the next morning, when it came to producing men to carry our loads,. as the chief had said he would arrange to do, difficulties. immediately arose. The independent Kanjutis did not at all like having to carry the loads, and I could quite sympathize with them. Having to carry sixty or seventy pounds for a dozen miles over any sort of country must be unpleasant enough, but to have to do it over Hunza mountain-tracks
affords a very intelligible cause of complaint, and I can well understand how galling these wild people of the Hindu Kush
must find our calls upon them to act as beasts of burden. However, the call had to be made, whether I or they liked it or not, and after a delay of half a day the necessary number of men were produced.
Then arose another difficulty. The arbap, on the previous. evening, had sent me over a present of a sheep and some eggs, and now he asked payment for them, saying he could not.
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