CHAP. III.] BATUR GLACIER 49
completely overcome, that one realises the great natural defences of the Hunza Valley route against invasion from the North.
Above the Batur glacier the valley contracts and continues between bare walls of rock and shingle to Khaibs,r, the next inhabited place above Pasu. The river, no longer fed by the glacier streams from the high ranges, is now far smaller in
BATUR GLACIER, SEEN FROM SOUTH-EAST.
volume, yet still quite unfordable in summer. The mountains on either side culminate in serrated rock pinnacles of fantastic forms, but views of mighty masses of ice and snow no longer meet the eye.
The hamlet of Khaibar, which I reached after a tiring march of six hours, lies on an alluvial fan at the mouth of a narrow side valley. Scanty indeed are the fields of the place, 5
IIIF Color HighRes
