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The heart of a continent : vol.1 |
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thought of employing donkeys. These animals are supposed
to be able to pick up a living anywhere, and a handful or two
of grain a day for each would probably be sufficient, but a
very grave objection to using them was their small size. We
should constantly be crossing rivers, and little donkeys would
be swept away at once.
I was planning out a system of depôts and combined
employment of ponies, donkeys, and men, when Musa, the
Kirghiz, relieved my mind by suggesting camels. He said
a certain number could be procured at Shahidula, and that
they could be taken along a great part of the route to Hunza.
This at once solved the difficulty, for camels can pick up
a certain amount of grazing along the mountain-sides, so that
they only need—or, at any rate, are only given—two pounds
of grain a day, while they carry loads of from two hundred and
fifty to three hundred pounds. Their size, too, would be of
great advantage in crossing deep rivers. I had already
employed camels on my way from Yarkand to the Mustagh
Pass in 1887, and had seen then how well these hill camels
can work over really difficult ground, so I at once sent off
a messenger to Shahidula to have as many as possible collected
for me. They would not be able to go the whole way, but
they could work along the valley bottoms and easier passes;
then we would have a few ponies to carry us over the more
difficult passes, and two or three men for the worst of all.
The transport question having been decided, the next
matter which had to be attended to was supplies. Though
I have spoken of Shahidula as a base, it was not a base
in the ordinary acceptance of the term. It lies over twelve
thousand feet above the sea; nothing whatever is grown there;
and there is not a single permanently inhabited house in the
place. There was an old fort there, but Shahidula was really
only the head-quarters of nomadic Kirghiz, and a convenient
halting-place for caravans; and all supplies of grain had to
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