United States or Comoros ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !


The Rupchu nomads, however, delight in this climate of extremes, and regard Leh as a place only to be visited in winter, and Kulu and Kashmir as if they were the malarial swamps of the Congo! We crossed the Toglang Pass, at a height of 18,150 feet, with less suffering from ladug than on either the Digar or Kharzong Passes. Indeed Gyalpo carried me over it stopping to take breath every few yards.

But Simla is also a gateway to many things to the mighty deodar forests that clothe the foot-hills of the mountains, to Kulu, to the eternal snows, to the old, old bridle way that leads up to the Shipki Pass and the mysteries of Tibet and to the strange things told in this story.

From time to time the lama stretched out his hand, and with a little low-voiced prompting would point out the road to Spiti and north across the Parungla. Turning west a little, he steered for the green hills of Kulu, and sought Kailung under the glaciers. 'For thither came I in the old, old days. From Leh I came, over the Baralachi.

Basohli artists seem to have carried the style to other states to Guler, Jammu, Chamba, Kulu, Nurpur and Bilaspur but it is not until 1770 that the Krishna theme again comes into prominence.

'From far and far in the North he comes, cried Kim. 'From among the hills. 'There is snow among the pine-trees in the North in the hills there is snow. My mother was from Kulu. Get thee a ticket. Ask him for a blessing. 'Ten thousand blessings, shrilled Kim. 'O Holy One, a woman has given us in charity so that I can come with thee a woman with a golden heart. I run for the tikkut.

On a band across his breast were the British crown, and a plate with the words 'Commissioner's chaprassie, Kulu district. I never felt so extinguished. Liberty seemed lost, and the romance of the desert to have died out in one moment! At the camping-ground I found rows of salaaming Lahulis drawn up, and Hassan Khan in a state which was a compound of pomposity and jubilant excitement.

At least the lama had promised that he would stay with the Raiput woman from Kulu, and the rest was of the smallest importance. It pleased him that the two padres were so evidently excited. They talked long in undertones, Father Victor urging some scheme on Mr Bennett, who seemed incredulous. All this was very new and fascinating, but Kim felt sleepy.

Glancing back in the twilight at the huge ridges behind him and the faint, thin line of the road whereby they had come, he would lay out, with a hillman's generous breadth of vision, fresh marches for the morrow; or, halting in the neck of some uplifted pass that gave on Spiti and Kulu, would stretch out his hands yearningly towards the high snows of the horizon.

It was effectual, and here we are detained another day. A curiously cut-out stool is in my hut, made by the Mkwisa, who are south-west of this: it is of one block, but hollowed out, and all the spaces indicated are hollow too: about 2-1/2 feet long by 1-1/2 foot high. 12th October, 1866. We march westerly, with a good deal of southing. Kulu gave us a goat, and cooked liberally for us all.

The charm of the detail tempted one to linger at every turn, and all the more so because I knew that I should see nothing more of the grace and bounteousness of Nature till my projected descent into Kulu in the late autumn. It was too early in the season, however, for more than a few enterprising caravans to be on the road. The last look upon Kashmir was a lingering one.