Saturday 7th September. Made an early start and reached Domok, where we found the fires of the wazir’s party smouldering, so Neve sent two shikaris after him to let him know we were coming back.
He got such an unfriendly reception at Arundo that he did not wait there but went on. The people were angry with him for taking their men to go over the pass.
(Neve writes: “he said...all the village folk came out to abuse him, the women tearing their hair and their clothes and throwing dust in the air, exclaiming that he had sent their men folk to destruction. He says the pass was well-known in former days, and that the time to go is when the mulberries ripen, late in June, when all the crevasses are covered in.”)
We got back to our old camping place at Arundo. The mountain slopes had a still more autumnal look than when we went up. As we came to the village, men, women and children came from the fields and embraced the shikaris in their fashion, putting their heads near one another, first on one side and then on the other, touching the tips of fingers with the right hand and salaaming with the left. Then more of the women (and an awfully ugly lot they were) came out of the village to give a like welcome. And I suppose the same performance was gone through when the coolies arrived.
Neve and I sat on a bank at our camping place and a crowd of men came and round discussing the situation. It is certainly a good job for the people that we were turned back, for any how they would not know what had become of their friends for a week longer, and as a matter of fact, though we had a perfect day on the pass and the day after, the weather has been so thick (this written four days later) since then, the men would not have been able to get back over the Nuskil La and could not have got home for several weeks, going round by Gilghit and the Indus Valley.
Dák Bungalow, Shigar,
Thurs 12th Sept., 1895, Baltistan.
My Dear Arthur (his youngest brother).
This being likely to be a short letter, more of a length to suit your taste, I will address it to you. I must assume you have read my letter to Albert (another brother), which probably you may not have done, though you may get it on from Stafford (the eldest brother) later...
Having arrived back at Arundo on Saturday 7th, we rested there on Sunday after our labours of the week.
One of the shikaris, who had made himself very useful to us on our way up to the Nuskil La and back, still remained faithful and came on with us in the capacity of khitmutgar. He had put off his garments, in which he looked like a brigand, combed his long hair and appeared as a respectable coolie.
The 5 shikaris who came up with us to the pass were splendid fellows, very different from the coolies who cried when they thought they were in difficulties.
Neve had a few patients on Sunday, but Arundo seems to be a more healthy place than some. The people have to be hardy to stand the winters they get here. They get 12 feet of snow in the winter, and the shikaris have to go out shooting to get food. So they have to learn a lot of mountain craft.
On Monday morning early we started off down the valley and a 4 hours march brought us to Doko, where we camped on the way up. Here we found our friend the Wazir of Shigar seated under a big walnut tree, surrounded by a concourse of lambadarss and people and his servant with the cherry-coloured breeches, who is as like Wood (our old butler) like two peas..
It had been raining most of the morning, so we were glad of a fire to dry ourselves. We had breakfast, and when the coolies arrived, paid them off and got a fresh lot, and went on to Chu Trun, where the hot springs are. However, the natives were making great use of them this time, so I could not get a bathe.
The next morning Neve did some doctoring, and did some 20 operations for trichinosis, a complaint of the eyes, the eye lashes growing inward (due to smoke, and rubbing the eyes. After a few years, the eyes become blind). Neve had an average of about 10 such cases in every village; 25 per cent of the people have complaints of the eyes of some sort.
We left at midday and came on about 6 miles to below the junction of our river, the Brasha, with the Braldo, which together form the Shigar River, where we found a goatskin raft prepared for us, on which we were to go the rest of the way down the Shigar.
It was a small raft, with 2 men to work it. Neve and I and our cook, and the Wazir took our seats on board, then shoved off and away we went.
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