The Omba Pass. 323

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE OMBA PASS.

DIFFICULTY OF DESCENDING ON KASHMfR—KARTSE—SANKU—OMBA
—A BIG HILL—FUGITIVE COOLIES—SNOW-BLINDNESS—HEIGHT
OF THE PASS—A DILEMMA — A DOUBLE PASS — DARKNESS —
ANOTHER PONY—AN AWFUL GORGE.

ALMOST every one longs, and many hope, to see the
beautiful Vale of Kashmir. Probably no region of the
earth is so well known to the eye qf imagination, or so
readily suggests the idea of a terrestrial Paradise. So
far from hgving been disappointed with the reality, or
having experienced any cause for wishing that I had
left Kashmir unvisited, I can most sincerely say that
the* beautiful reality excels the somewhat vague poetic
vision which has been associated with the name. But
Kashmfr is rather a difficult country to get at, especially
when you come down upon it from behind, by way
of Zanskar and Suni. According to tradition, it was
formerly the Garden of Eden; and one is very well dis-
posed to accept that theory when trying to get into it
from the north or north-west. Most people go tip to it
from the plains of India by one of the four authorised
routes; but I have a habit of getting into places by
some quite unusual way, and did so in this instance.

From Surd to Kartse and Sanku, a day's journey,
the road was not bad, except at one place, where I had
to ride high up the mountains in order to find a path