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0100	Innermost Asia : vol.1
極奥アジア : vol.1

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Innermost Asia : vol.1

極奥アジア : vol.1

certain that the bridge across the river So-i, i. e. the Gilgit river, the timely destruction of which
played so decisive a part in Kao Hsien-chih's successful operations against the Tibetans, must
have stood in the close vicinity of the present Gūpis. The modern wire suspension bridge giving
access to Yāsīn crosses the bed of the united Gilgit river almost opposite to Gūpis Fort. But
in view of the considerable width of this bed,¹ of the big volume of water carried by the river
during the greater part of the year, and of the materials available in this region, it is unlikely
that any bridge other than a mere rope-bridge could have been constructed here before the days
of modern engineering.

Rope-bridge A rope-bridge of the old type such as is usual between Kashmīr and the Hindukush, con-
across
Gilgit river. structed with ropes of twisted twigs, actually existed at Gūpis before 1895, and it is probably to
a bridge of this kind that the Chinese record contained in Kao Hsien-chih's biography refers
where it speaks of a ' pont de rotin '.² It is true that a rope-bridge would not have been practicable
for the horses, or rather ponies, of a mounted force such as the Chinese account mentions as
forming part of the Tibetan troops. But animals might be swum across the river, as they are else-
where at the present time. Nor should the possibility be excluded of a bridge of a somewhat more
substantial kind having been available at a point above the junction of the rivers of Yāsīn and
Ghizar (Fig. 37). There only the latter would have to be crossed in order to gain access to the
Yāsīn valley. In such a position, about four miles above Gūpis Fort, a rickety bridge constructed
of poplars was maintained until recent years across the Ghizar branch of the river, though liable
to be carried away by summer floods.³

March to An easy march of some thirteen miles on August 25th brought me from Gūpis to Yāsīn, the
Yāsīn
village. chief place of the valley. The openness of the ground at the bottom of the valley was the more
impressive for the extreme steepness and height of the bare rock walls which confine it on either
side. Much abandoned cultivation below the hamlet of Gindal bore witness to the vicissitudes

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