There is a large bungalow at this Ghaut; but all the rooms are apt to be occupied, as it is a terminus for parties from Simla who go out to see the snowy ranges. No one can claim to occupy a room for more than three days, if any one else requires it; but some people, after staying the allotted time at this place, go down to Kotgarh for a night, and so establish a claim for other three days. Narkanda is nearly 9000 feet high, so that it is cold even in the hot season; and from the peak of Hatto beside it, which is more than 2000 feet higher, and has a peak-like surface on the top covered with magnificent trees, there is a splendid view extending up to the Kailas. The road down to Kotgarh, which is only 6700 feet high, passes through a fine forest of deodar and other trees, through the branches of which the snowy mountains of Kúlú are visible. A road takes off it, on the right, which keeps along at a high level, and meets the Hindústhan and Tibet road near Serahan; but, when I passed up the Sutlej, this road was out of repair, and was declared wholly impassable at certain points. When it can be used at all, it is a great advantage to the traveller, as it saves him from descending, for two days' journey, into the burning valley of the Sutlej. Kotgarh is usually called Grúkot by the hillmen, which means the residence of the Gúrú, or saint, and affords a good instance of a transposition of letters not uncommon in some parts of India. There is a station. of the Church Mission there under charge of the Rev. W. Rebsch. This Mission was founded in 1840, with the view of affecting all the surrounding country; but missionary operations do not seem to have been commenced till 1843, shortly after which they were con ducted for long by Mr Rebsch's father-in-law, the Rev. Dr Prochnow. The native Christian community, when I visited Kotgarh, consisted of forty-six members; but many more persons were believed to be favourably disposed towards Christianity, though afraid to make any open avowal of it. Industrial operations are carried on by the converts; and, besides the schools at Kotgarh itself, a number of schools have been established at various places in the surrounding country. Medicine also is largely distributed by Mr Rebsch, accompanied by medical advice, and the intellectual activity of the torpid people around is stimulated. Besides Mr Rebsch, the Mission employed Mr Beutel a European teacher, a native Christian teacher, and three native Scripture readers. The native congregation consisted of 46 persons, 24 of whom were communicants; and during that and the preceding two years, there had been 18 baptisms, 6 of which were of adults. The view down into the valley of the Sutlej, both from Narkanda and Kotgarh, is exceedingly gloomy and oppressive; and on seeing it, I could not help thinking of "the valley of the shadow of death." The same idea had struck Lieut.-Colonel Moore, the interpreter to the Commander-in-Chief, whom I met at Kotgarh, a little lower down, along with Captain De Roebeck, one of the Governor-General's aides-de-camp. No description could give an adequate idea of the tattered, dilapidated, sun-burnt, and woe-begone appearance of these two officers as they rode up to Kotgarh after their experience of the snows of Spiti. Colonel Moore's appearance, especially, would have made his fortune on the stage. There was nothing woful, however, in his spirit, and he kept me up half the night laughing at his most humorous accounts of Spiti, its animals and its ponies; but even this genial officer's sense of enjoyment seemed to desert him when he spoke of his experience of the hot Sutlej valley from Gaura to Kotgarh, and he said, emphatically, "It is the valley of the shadow of death." I was struck by this coincidence with my own idea, because it was essential for me to get up into high regions of pure air, and, ill as I was, I could not but dread the journey up the Sutlej valley, with its vegetation, its confined atmosphere, its rock-heat, and its gloomy gorges. I had a sort of precognition that some special danger was before me, and was even alarmed by an old man, whose parting benediction to us was, "Take care of the bridges beyond Nachar." This was something like, "Beware the pine-tree's withered branch," and I began to have gloomy doubts about my capacity for getting high enough. Mr Rebsch, the amiable and talented head of the Kotgarh Mission, gave me all the encouragement which could be derived from his earnest prayers for my safety among the hohe Gebirge. There were two clever German young ladies, too, visiting at Kotgarh, who seemed to think it was quite unnecessary for me to go up into the high mountains; so that, altogether, I began to wish that I was out of the valley before I had got well into it, and to feel something like a fated pilgrim who was going to some unknown doom. Excelsior, however, was my unalterable motto, as I immediately endeavoured to prove by descending some thousand feet into the hot Sutlej valley, in spite of all the attractions of Kotgarh. CHAPTER XI. KOTGARH TO CHINI. SCENERY OF HIMÁ THE RAJAH OF BUSSAHIR DEATH OF A HILLMAN I SHALL say very little about the journey up to Chini, as it is so often undertaken, but may mention two incidents which occurred upon it. Between Nirth and Rampúr the heat was so intense, close, and suffocating, that I travelled by night, with torches; and stopping to rest a little, about midnight, I was accosted by a native gentleman, who came out of the darkness, seated himself behind me, and said in English, "Who are you?" I had a suspicion who my friend was, but put a similar question to him; on which he replied, not without a certain dignity, "I am the Rajah of Bussahir." This Bussahir, which includes Kunáwar, and extends up the Sutlej valley to Chinese Tibet, is the state in which I was travelling. Its products are opium, grain, and woollen manufactures, and it has a population of 90,000, and a nominal revenue of 50,000 rupees; but the sums drawn from it in one way or another, by Government officers, must considerably exceed that amount. Its rajah was exceedingly affable; and his convivial habits are so well known, and have been so often alluded to, that I hope there is no harm in saying that on this occasion he was not untrue to his character. I found him, however, to be a very agreeable man, and he is extremely well-meaning-so much so, as to be desirous of laying down his sovereignty if only the British Government would be good enough to accept it from him, and give him a pension instead. But there are much worse governed states than Bussahir, notwithstanding the effects on its amiable and intelligent rajah of a partial and ill-adjusted English education, in which undue importance was assigned to the use of brandy. He caused some alarm among my people by insisting on handling my revolver, which was loaded; but he soon showed that he knew how to use it with extraordinary skill; for, on a lighted candle being put up for him to fire at, about 30 paces off, though he could scarcely stand by this time, yet he managed, somehow or other, to prop himself up against a tree, and snuffed out the candle at the first shot. On the whole, the rajah made a very favourable impression upon me, despite his peculiarity, if such it may be called; and my nocturnal interview with him, under huge trees, in the middle of a dark wet night, remains a very curious and pleasant recollection. The other incident was of a more serious character, and illustrated a danger which every year carries off a certain number of the hillmen. Standing below the bungalow at Serahan, I noticed some men, who were ascending to their village, racing against each other on the grassy brow of a precipice that rose |