t made us lose two hours, and night had completely set in
when I erected my tent near Tchokodar, which I left at sunrise to gain
Baltal, by following the course of the Sind river. At this place the
ravishing landscape of the "golden prairie" terminates abruptly with a
village of the same name (Sona, gold, and Marg, prairie). The abrupt
acclivity of Zodgi-La, which we next surmounted, attains an elevation of
11,500 feet, on the other side of which the whole country assumes a
severe and inhospitable character. My hunting adventures closed before
reaching Baltal. From there I met on the road only wild goats. In order
to hunt, I would have had to leave the grand route and to penetrate into
the heart of the mountains full of mysteries. I had neither the
inclination nor the time to do so, and, therefore, continued quietly my
journey toward Ladak.

* * * * *

How violent the contrast I felt when passing from the laughing nature
and beautiful population of Kachmyr to the arid and forbidding rocks and
the beardless and ugly inhabitants of Ladak!

The country into which I penetrated is situated at an altitude of 11,000
to 12,000 feet. Only at Karghil the level descends to 8,000 feet.

The acclivity of Zodgi-La is very rough; one must climb up an almost
perpendicular rocky wall. In certain places the road winds along upon
rock ledges of only a metre in width, below which the sight drops into
unfathomable abysses. May the Lord preserve the traveller from a fall!
At one place, the way is upon long beams introduced into holes made in
the rock, like a bridge, and covered up with earth. Brr!--At the thought
that a little stone might get loose and roll down the slope of the
mountain, or that a too strong oscillation of the beams could
precipitate the whole structure into the abyss, and with it him who had
ventured upon the perilous path, one feels like fainting more than once
during this hazardous passage.

After crossing the glaciers we stopped in a valley and prepared to spend
the night near a hut, a dismal place surrounded by eternal ice and snow.

From Baltal the distances are determined by means of daks, _i.e._,
postal stations for mail service. They are low huts, about seven
kilometres distant from each other. A man is permanently established in
each of these huts. The postal service between Kachmyr and Thibet is yet
carried on in a very primitive form. The letters are enclosed in a
leather bag