DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3909#0007
( 4 )
into a light coffin, after wrapping them in linen, shawl-wool, and certain gums. An attempt
was made to carry the body away, which I defeated, and against the repetition of which I
guarded by keeping it under my camp-bed during the remainder of my travels, except during the
fortnight that I left it, together with my camp, at the Fort of Astor, to which place I now
marched from Skardo, falling back into my original direction. The Government subsequently
approved of my search after Cowie's body, although it was no part of my official mission, which I,
however, was enabled accidentally also to discharge, in consequence of the fortunate discovery in
the neighbourhood of Skardo of a number of Dard villages, indicated in Part III. of this volume,
showing that the race in whose search I was engaged had not only extended its invasion into*
Tibet, but had also founded some permanent settlements in that country. I may mention
that I handsomely rewarded the Muhammadan (Shiah) Chief who had given a decent burial to
one whom he knew to be an European, and that I would not have taken the body away had
this not been necessary for purposes of absolute identification, and in order to get it buried
according to Christian rites, as his family had desired, and as was subsequently done when
the body was brought to Lahore.
On my way to Astor, and thence to Bunji, the men in charge of each halting-place
used to implore me not to proceed. " The people at Ghilghit were cannibals ; they were in
the habit of using the Maharaja's Sepoys, when prisoners, as fireworks for their festive
gatherings; one had lost a brother, whose head was stuck up in front of a Kafir hut in
order to complete the number of heads necessary for the acquisition of tribal dignity," &c.,,
&c. These statements were partly true, though they did not in the least apply to Ghilghit,
as may be seen in subjoined account, and were chiefly inspired by the Maharaja's officials,
who did not wish me to accomplish a linguistic mission, in the course of which the encroach-
ments of that feudatory, then unknown and unauthorised, must necessarily have become
known. My people were frightened, and left me. Even my Munshi and my Chuprassi, who
subsequently did excellent service, wanted me to give them their dismissal, on the transparent
pretext that they had heard that their mother was ill ! I gave them a lesson, and dismissed
them " as faithless to their salt," and went on alone, when, to my great pleasure, they turned
up again a mile or two on, and implored to be taken back into my service. The roads
were strewn with the remains of animals, and, further on, of men, but I fancied that I
had at last reached the sphere of my labours, when, after crossing the rotten rope-bridge
-at the Sheitan Ware, the " Devil's Eord," from which several hundred Sepoys had fallen
into the frightful torrent below, I came to Bunji, and took up my abode in a shed,
several inches deep in mud, whose owner, to my great delight, spoke the dialect of which
I was in search. The Kashmir Governor of the Eort, however, induced me to take up
more respectable quarters in the Mosque, under the pledge that the people should have free
access to me, and that I might learn their language at leisure. The next morning I
found the place surrounded by his soldiers, who clamoured for quinine, and who drove
away the natives. A representation to the Governor merely elicited first the reply that he
was ill with fever, then, that he would pay me a visit, &c, &c, so, after giving him
half-an-hour's grace, I marched to the bank of the Indus, took the only boat, apparently,
that the Kashmir troops had brought up from Srinagar, and crossed the frontier to the
other side.
There the troops received me with almost royal honours. They could not believe
that I had ventured on forbidden ground without authority. I went on through burnt-
down villages, and along paths here and there disfigured by hanging skeletons of people
into a light coffin, after wrapping them in linen, shawl-wool, and certain gums. An attempt
was made to carry the body away, which I defeated, and against the repetition of which I
guarded by keeping it under my camp-bed during the remainder of my travels, except during the
fortnight that I left it, together with my camp, at the Fort of Astor, to which place I now
marched from Skardo, falling back into my original direction. The Government subsequently
approved of my search after Cowie's body, although it was no part of my official mission, which I,
however, was enabled accidentally also to discharge, in consequence of the fortunate discovery in
the neighbourhood of Skardo of a number of Dard villages, indicated in Part III. of this volume,
showing that the race in whose search I was engaged had not only extended its invasion into*
Tibet, but had also founded some permanent settlements in that country. I may mention
that I handsomely rewarded the Muhammadan (Shiah) Chief who had given a decent burial to
one whom he knew to be an European, and that I would not have taken the body away had
this not been necessary for purposes of absolute identification, and in order to get it buried
according to Christian rites, as his family had desired, and as was subsequently done when
the body was brought to Lahore.
On my way to Astor, and thence to Bunji, the men in charge of each halting-place
used to implore me not to proceed. " The people at Ghilghit were cannibals ; they were in
the habit of using the Maharaja's Sepoys, when prisoners, as fireworks for their festive
gatherings; one had lost a brother, whose head was stuck up in front of a Kafir hut in
order to complete the number of heads necessary for the acquisition of tribal dignity," &c.,,
&c. These statements were partly true, though they did not in the least apply to Ghilghit,
as may be seen in subjoined account, and were chiefly inspired by the Maharaja's officials,
who did not wish me to accomplish a linguistic mission, in the course of which the encroach-
ments of that feudatory, then unknown and unauthorised, must necessarily have become
known. My people were frightened, and left me. Even my Munshi and my Chuprassi, who
subsequently did excellent service, wanted me to give them their dismissal, on the transparent
pretext that they had heard that their mother was ill ! I gave them a lesson, and dismissed
them " as faithless to their salt," and went on alone, when, to my great pleasure, they turned
up again a mile or two on, and implored to be taken back into my service. The roads
were strewn with the remains of animals, and, further on, of men, but I fancied that I
had at last reached the sphere of my labours, when, after crossing the rotten rope-bridge
-at the Sheitan Ware, the " Devil's Eord," from which several hundred Sepoys had fallen
into the frightful torrent below, I came to Bunji, and took up my abode in a shed,
several inches deep in mud, whose owner, to my great delight, spoke the dialect of which
I was in search. The Kashmir Governor of the Eort, however, induced me to take up
more respectable quarters in the Mosque, under the pledge that the people should have free
access to me, and that I might learn their language at leisure. The next morning I
found the place surrounded by his soldiers, who clamoured for quinine, and who drove
away the natives. A representation to the Governor merely elicited first the reply that he
was ill with fever, then, that he would pay me a visit, &c, &c, so, after giving him
half-an-hour's grace, I marched to the bank of the Indus, took the only boat, apparently,
that the Kashmir troops had brought up from Srinagar, and crossed the frontier to the
other side.
There the troops received me with almost royal honours. They could not believe
that I had ventured on forbidden ground without authority. I went on through burnt-
down villages, and along paths here and there disfigured by hanging skeletons of people