LETTER xvin DARING DEPREDATORS 49

to be possible; then darkness comes with a stride and
the day is done.

Among the many people who came to the Hakim was
a man who had received a severe sword cut in the recent
fight. I disliked his expression, and remarked on it to
Mirza. On the next day's march, though there were
twelve men with the caravan, this man seized and made
off with the handsome chestnut horse Karun, which was
being led. The horse had a sore back and soon kicked
off his rider and was recovered. On the same march
Mujid was attacked, and under the threat of being stripped
was obliged to give up all the money he had on his
person. On the same day some women clamorously
demanded bracelets, and when I did not give them
two took hold of my bridle and one of my foot, and
were dragging me off, when on Mirza coming up they
let me go.

Marching among lower hills and broader valleys, irri-
gated and cultivated, with much wood along the streams
and scattered on the lower slopes, we passed the inhabited
villages of Tarsa and Sah Kala, surrounded by patches of
buckwheat, vetches, and melons, and with much provision
of JciziJcs for fuel on their roofs, and camped by the
richly-wooded river Guwa, in a grove of fine trees, crossing
its vigorous torrent the next morning by a wicker bridge,
the Pul-i-Quwa. A long ascent among oaks, where the
views of mountains and ravines were grand, an upland
meadow where I found a white bee orchis, and a steep
ascent among stones, brought us to the top of a pass 9650
feet in altitude. On.its south-west side there is a very
striking view of gorges of immense depth and steepness,
through which the Guwa finds its way. To the north-
east the prospect is of a very feeble country, which we
entered by a tiresome gravelly descent, very open, com-
posed of low hills with outcrops of rock at their sura-

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