Page:The journal of the Royal Geographic Society of London. Volume 34, 1864. (IA s572id13663720).pdf/257

Rh up the Indus towards Skardo, fine grazing ground lay beneath us, and some hundreds of sheep were seen coming up from the klas below. It was a long and tiring descent to the Indus. We reached the rope-bridge at Mendi by 3, the longest and best specimen of these bridges which I had seen, being swung quite 150 yards above the river, from the face of a sheer cliff on the right bank. Its length was 110 feet, the path down to it was well made of spars and beams overlaid with flat stones, with a few ladders here and there. The bridge, with the river below flowing smoothly along between its precipitous cliffs of rock, and the foot of Mendi beyond, altogether formed a striking subject for the artist. On the opposite side I was met by the Dogra Thanadar, and the Balti Rajah, with whom. I walked into the village of Mendi Khur. It is an odd-looking place, built on the banks of a large stream flowing from the snowy range between Ronyul and Astore. This has cut itself a deep and narrow gorge through the granite rock, which is spanned by a good wooden bridge. The houses are built amongst the rocks on either bank, and aqueducts of hollowed trees are carried in every direction along the face of the cliffs and across the gorge, conveying water to the houses as well as the gardens.

On the 22nd we started early in the direction of Skardo, along the left bank of the Indus—part of the road lying along the slippery faces of the cliffs, and very dangerous. We camped under some overhanging rocks opposite the village of Byicha, which sent a deafening echo back from the river, roaring past close by. About a mile and a half further on, after leaving camp next morning, we reached another bad part of the road. It was of exactly the same kind as that we had passed the day before, consisting of a series of ladders placed against the nearly perpendicular face of the cliffs; but the ladders were more dangerously placed, and some of them very rickety. This route should not be attempted by any one liable to get dizzy on looking down from great heights. The ladders often rested only against pieces of wood driven into cracks in the rocks, and on looking through the rungs as you go up, the view presented is that of a great river rushing along like a foaming torrent, at the base of vertical cliffs, which descend 300 feet sheer beneath one’s feet.

After reaching the top of the last ladder the path enters a deep cleft in the rock, which for several yards is quite dark. Climbing up two or three more ladders in this, we at last emerged into the light, again to descend upon the river. Our path now continued good for three miles, running close to the river: we then reached the foot of a steep face of rock, the river flowing sluggishly at its base. Our guide here informed us that we must strip and wade. The water was dreadfully cold and reached up to my armpits.