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| 0054 |
Innermost Asia : vol.1 |
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morning of August 9th by a steep track, mostly over slopes of shale and precipitous snow-beds,
north-westwards to the Fasat pass, close on 15,000 feet. The head of the Fasat valley beyond
showed large beds of apparently perennial snow and still more considerable remains of former
glaciation, marked by extensive moraine ridges and a big cirque still holding a lakelet. After
a descent of some three miles from the pass, the first scanty grass was reached. Continuing over
small grassy plateaux watered by side streams and separated by rocky ridges, we passed the few
mud hovels of goatherds known by the name of Fasat, at an elevation of about 11,000 feet. A
short distance lower down the first firs and other conifers were met with. They clothed the slopes
of the now very narrow valley in steadily increasing numbers until, near the junction of the streams
of Fasat and Biāh, some two miles below the point last mentioned, we passed into luxuriant forest
such as nothing in accounts of Chilās previously read or heard had led me to expect. Not far
below this junction, known as Devong, we came upon the first patch of cultivation, unmistakably
new. Grand trees, almost all Deodars or Pinus excelsa, continued to clothe the steep rocky sides
of the valley right down to the small village of Niat. It is situated at an elevation of over 7,000
feet amidst well-cultivated fields of wheat, oats and maize. Information received from the local
headmen, confirmed by the abundance of fruit trees, made it clear that, though cultivation was
not here of recent date, yet the permanent occupation of this and the villages lower down had
commenced only since the Pax Britannica had ensured the safety of scattered settlements in the
mountains. There could be no doubt that this boon was greatly appreciated ; for all Chilāsis
dread the summer heat of the Indus valley, and, as I soon realized by experience, for very good
reason.
Old cultiva- In the early morning of the following day we resumed our march down the Niat valley. Close
tion terraces below Niat the path led for about a mile and a half past continuous fields and hamlets collectively
at Daloin. known as Gusher. This village was said to count about a hundred households and is probably
one of the largest individual settlements to be found above Chilās proper. It owes its existence to
the slightly more open ground at the valley bottom and the abundant facilities for irrigation
afforded both by the Niat stream and that of the Shatoche Nullah which descends from a pass
towards Būnar. Below their junction the valley contracts again, and there is only room for small
patches of cultivation below the steep pine-clad slopes. Towards Thē, a small picturesque village
within view of the point of junction with the main valley of Thak which descends from the Bābusar
pass and the Kāghān watershed, the sides of the valley rapidly become bare of all trees or other
vegetation (Fig. 3). It was on approaching that junction that I noticed at Daloin to the north,
above the deep-cut bed of the Niat stream, a succession of old cultivation terraces, which had
evidently been abandoned for ages, filling a rocky amphitheatre known as Nakhui. There seemed
to exist no tradition about them, beyond a vague notion that their abandonment was due to the
drying up of some spring once used for their irrigation. It is far more probable, however, in
view of the position, that there formerly existed an irrigation channel, cut along or through the
cliffs, from the right bank of the Niat stream higher up. But poor feud-torn Chilās had evidently
long since lost the skill needed for the construction of such a ' kul ' and even the recollection of it.¹³
March to From near the hamlet of Bāsha, situated near the confluence at an elevation of some 5,500
mouth of feet, the scenery underwent a complete and striking change. Proceeding down the well-made
Buto-gāh
valley. Kāghān mule road which we struck here, there was nothing to be seen but absolutely barren
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684
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