DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3909#0005
( 2 )
After passing Kargyil, where there still lived the unfortunate Prince whom the
Maharaja of Kashmir had confined in a cage in which he could neither stand ,sit, nor lie down,
we came to the Dras river, over which planks without railings, and cemented with mud and
loosely embedded stones, formed the usual bridge. In spite of warning my companion insisted
on crossing it on his pony, which fell into the river with its rider. I was not so fortunate as on
a previous occasion; and, although at one time within a yard of me, Mr. II. Oowie was
swept away into the middle of the torrent, whence he was hurled into a waterfall and
disappeared. After a careful but useless search for his body, I despatched men to the points
of confluence of the Dras and other rivers with the Indus, and resumed our march, which now
lay along the icecrust, over the Sind river, in the lower part of the Zoji La. This pass,
which is only 11,634 feet high, is more dangerous to cross than many higher mountains.
Depressed by the death of Cowie, we were less careful than usual, and, in consequence, lost
both men and property; a number of the Purik goats, which when full grown stand little more
than a foot and a quarter in their silken hair from the ground, were found by the side of their
frozen guide, who held in his hands the warm stockings which I had given him. Two mules
with their loads and leaders fell through the icecrust, which the approaching summer and the
swollen waters underneath were thawing. In this debacle we reached Srinagar, the capital
of Kashmir, where I met M. Lejean, the distinguished Prench traveller, in Mr. Cooper,
the Resident's house, who, on seeing our plight, gave up his contemplated tour to Ladak.
I then returned to Murree, leaving my Munshi, or native Secretary, to continue my search
for Kashmiri MSS. and inscriptions, of which the most important, in the Sharde form of the
Dewanagiri character, I had discovered as forming part of a fisherman's hut in 1865, and
which seemingly records the victory of Dharmang, son of Madhnang, over an alien creed,
and which may relate to the re-assertion of Brahminism over Buddhism.
At Murree I was received in a highly flattering manner by Sir Donald M'Leod, and
exhibited the spoils of my journey at a soiree, to which Dr. Thornton, the Secretary to
Government, was good enough to invite the station. Most of the articles then shown still
remain in my ethnological collection, though the Tibetan songs then sung may have become
obliterated by lapse of time and exposure, and their melodies, some of which are antiphonal, no
longer linger in my memory, beyond a general impression, in some instances, of their sweet-
ness, quaintness, or similarity to our own choral singing. Scarcely back to Lahore, I was taken
from a study of the material which I had collected, by the invitation of the Panjab Government,
to return at once to Srinagar, and there ascertain particulars regarding Chilas and its language.
The subject had been mooted by Mr. (now Sir) George Campbell at the Bengal Asiatic Society,
wbich designated me to my Government for the mission. An identification was sought to be
established between Chilas and Kailas, the seat of the Hindu Olympus, hundreds of miles
away, overlooking the Manoserawera Lake. Although very grateful to Mr. Campbell for
the highly flattering manner in which he had mentioned my name, I was unwilling to go, for
official reasons which I need not detail, but at last I started, on the assurance of the deep interest
felt by the Government and the Asiatic Society in the matter. I was again at Srinagar on the
17th August, 1866, when my Munshi informed me that one of the men whom I had sent in
search of Mr. Cowie's body had returned with the news that it had been recovered four
marches above Skardo, in Little Tibet. Shortly afterwards this man was spirited away. As
regards the Maharaja of Kashmir, to whom I had been strongly recommended by the Govern-
ment of the Panjab, he was kind enough to order a number of Chilasi prisoners to come into
his presence, in order that I might examine them. When they gave me " ab" for " water," and
After passing Kargyil, where there still lived the unfortunate Prince whom the
Maharaja of Kashmir had confined in a cage in which he could neither stand ,sit, nor lie down,
we came to the Dras river, over which planks without railings, and cemented with mud and
loosely embedded stones, formed the usual bridge. In spite of warning my companion insisted
on crossing it on his pony, which fell into the river with its rider. I was not so fortunate as on
a previous occasion; and, although at one time within a yard of me, Mr. II. Oowie was
swept away into the middle of the torrent, whence he was hurled into a waterfall and
disappeared. After a careful but useless search for his body, I despatched men to the points
of confluence of the Dras and other rivers with the Indus, and resumed our march, which now
lay along the icecrust, over the Sind river, in the lower part of the Zoji La. This pass,
which is only 11,634 feet high, is more dangerous to cross than many higher mountains.
Depressed by the death of Cowie, we were less careful than usual, and, in consequence, lost
both men and property; a number of the Purik goats, which when full grown stand little more
than a foot and a quarter in their silken hair from the ground, were found by the side of their
frozen guide, who held in his hands the warm stockings which I had given him. Two mules
with their loads and leaders fell through the icecrust, which the approaching summer and the
swollen waters underneath were thawing. In this debacle we reached Srinagar, the capital
of Kashmir, where I met M. Lejean, the distinguished Prench traveller, in Mr. Cooper,
the Resident's house, who, on seeing our plight, gave up his contemplated tour to Ladak.
I then returned to Murree, leaving my Munshi, or native Secretary, to continue my search
for Kashmiri MSS. and inscriptions, of which the most important, in the Sharde form of the
Dewanagiri character, I had discovered as forming part of a fisherman's hut in 1865, and
which seemingly records the victory of Dharmang, son of Madhnang, over an alien creed,
and which may relate to the re-assertion of Brahminism over Buddhism.
At Murree I was received in a highly flattering manner by Sir Donald M'Leod, and
exhibited the spoils of my journey at a soiree, to which Dr. Thornton, the Secretary to
Government, was good enough to invite the station. Most of the articles then shown still
remain in my ethnological collection, though the Tibetan songs then sung may have become
obliterated by lapse of time and exposure, and their melodies, some of which are antiphonal, no
longer linger in my memory, beyond a general impression, in some instances, of their sweet-
ness, quaintness, or similarity to our own choral singing. Scarcely back to Lahore, I was taken
from a study of the material which I had collected, by the invitation of the Panjab Government,
to return at once to Srinagar, and there ascertain particulars regarding Chilas and its language.
The subject had been mooted by Mr. (now Sir) George Campbell at the Bengal Asiatic Society,
wbich designated me to my Government for the mission. An identification was sought to be
established between Chilas and Kailas, the seat of the Hindu Olympus, hundreds of miles
away, overlooking the Manoserawera Lake. Although very grateful to Mr. Campbell for
the highly flattering manner in which he had mentioned my name, I was unwilling to go, for
official reasons which I need not detail, but at last I started, on the assurance of the deep interest
felt by the Government and the Asiatic Society in the matter. I was again at Srinagar on the
17th August, 1866, when my Munshi informed me that one of the men whom I had sent in
search of Mr. Cowie's body had returned with the news that it had been recovered four
marches above Skardo, in Little Tibet. Shortly afterwards this man was spirited away. As
regards the Maharaja of Kashmir, to whom I had been strongly recommended by the Govern-
ment of the Panjab, he was kind enough to order a number of Chilasi prisoners to come into
his presence, in order that I might examine them. When they gave me " ab" for " water," and