August 10.—From Nûrila we travelled along the Indus bank to Suspûl, a distance of seven kos or thereabouts, stopping for breakfast at a village whose entire population consisted of one woman! The river being shut in by high and rocky mountains, our path took several most abrupt turns and startling ascents and descents in its meanderings, and proved altogether the worst for coolies to travel that we had as yet encountered. The greater part of our march, too, was under a burning sun, whose rays the rocks on either side of us reflected in anything but an agreeable way, giving thereby a considerable addition of colour to our already well-bronzed countenances. Near Suspûl we had to take to the water, as a mass of overhanging rock jutted into the river and completely obstructed the path; and here one of our coolies, stumbling, dropped his load into the torrent. It was a [[175]]particularly precious part of our expeditionary stores, containing, among other things, the small stock of brandy which was to last us back to Sirinugger. However, on inspecting the contents of the basket, the precious liquid was safe and sound, and the only damage was the conversion, pro tem. of our stock of best lump sugar into moist. Suspûl we found situated in a half-moon shaped break of fertility among the barren mountains. The snow was within half an hour’s climb, while at the same time the sun shone with such power as to blister our faces, and even to affect the black part of the expedition, rendered somewhat tender, no doubt, by the unusual mixture of heat and cold to which they had already been exposed. We encamped here under a grove of apricot and apple-trees, which resulted in the production of an apple-dumpling for dinner.
August 11.—Leaving Suspûl, we ascended considerably to the village of Buzgo, another of the cloud-built little settlements so dear to the Lamas. The tenements were most picturesquely pitched upon the extreme tips of almost perpendicular rocks, and to many of them access seemed apparently impossible. Leaving this, we entered upon a desert of shifting sand and stones, in the midst of which there was an unusually [[176]]long wall of the inscribed stones, one of which, although containing the same inscription, was of a different pattern from any I had hitherto discovered.[7]
The next oasis was Egnemo, formed, like all the others, by the existence of numerous little springs of crystal water, which enabled the waving corn to raise its golden head, and the apricot and the apple-tree to flourish in refreshing contrast to the general barrenness and sterility which reigned around.
Thibetian Monuments and Wall of Inscribed Stones.
Road to Egnemo.
After a grilling march, we enjoyed the delights [[177]]of a bathe under a waterfall of clear cold water, and got our breakfast by eleven o’clock.
To-day, some of our brigade of coolies begin to complain of sickness, which sounds alarming, not only to themselves, but to us, for none others are now procurable. This results from their making too free with unripe apricots, and drinking too many gallons of cold water on the road; also, however, from the fact of my having doctored the first patient who had presented himself, with a couple of pills and some tea—a piece of generosity which drove all the others nearly mad with jealousy and envy, and set them thinking how they also might be participators in similar luxuries. The pills, although in this instance selected promiscuously from a varied stock, were the great objects of desire, and such was their confidence in the virtuous properties of the remedy, that the character of the particular bolus that fell to their share was to them a matter of no consequence whatever. So great a rage is there for medicine among people who have never known the luxury of paying for it, that even the blind and deformed continually applied to us for it on the road.
August 12.—Halted to-day, and gave all hands a day of rest, which was rather required after our [[178]]incessant marching. In the afternoon we explored the village, and enjoyed a magnificent sunset behind the ranges of distant snowy mountains. The crops here were more backward than those met hitherto, although the power of the sun was rather on the increase than otherwise, as we advanced. Some of the fields were occupied by beans, peas, and wheat, all growing like a happy family together.
August 13.—Made an unusually early start, this morning, for our final march into Ladak. The first part of the journey was up a precipitous ascent, and over shifting gravel, which was very trying to our already well-worn boots; and it was a relief when, on arriving at the summit, we found a long and gradual descent before us, with an entirely new panorama of snow-clad mountains extending away towards Ladak.