Charles Granville Bruce

“ The Kangra Valley of the southern Punjab is in itself of great interest — a district of small broken hills usually well clothed with jungle and of rich cultivation, and presenting a great contrast to the deadly plains of the true Punjab, so close to it. The average elevation of the valley is about 2000 feet above the sea, though there are, of course, small points which exceed this by 1000 feet or so; but the feature which gives special character to this district is the great wall of the Dhaoli Dhar range, which bounds the valley on the north, and may best be called the outer Himalaya. ”

“ I wonder whether anywhere else in the world there is such an abrupt wall without foot-hills, for, as I have said, the broken hilly country of the Kangra cannot be described as foot-hills to this ridge. The rise is too abrupt, there is far too great a wall-like effect, and indeed from any of the points one passes on the ridge, the impression given is that of looking directly into a flat country. ”

“ Nevertheless, the coolie difficulty having been overcome, this is the one district where quite short mountaineering trips can be made. Where else in India can one leave the train in the morning and drive directly to the foot of the great hills, which one does from the station of Pathankote, if one is lucky, in twelve hours? If one is still more lucky and has a local friend to make the arrangements, and if one has, further, got over the shock and disgust of driving for twelve hours behind obviously inadequate ponies, a start can be made the next morning for the mountains. ”

“ Thus ended, eliminating the much-to-be-deplored harm to the porters, a most interesting and beautiful trip — a trip, however, which only stimulated an appetite naturally voracious for travel; and, considering the amount of glorious country still to be explored, it is most inconvenient that man’s years are but threescore and ten; and if, by chance, one is spared for the extra ten, which are supposed to be a pain and grief, well, there are various ways of being carried in the Himalaya, and something may still be accomplished. ”

“ We started on October 14th from Dharmsala in beautiful weather, although clouds the previous evening had been hanging about the summits of the range, and bivouacked at the before-mentioned Lakkar. There was a slight thunderstorm at night and broken clouds on the following morning, but apparently no sign of a thorough break in the weather. We had had the usual difficulties with porters, and our last remaining baggage did not turn up until the morning. Then the laggards refused point blank to cross the pass, and skedaddled when we were starting the other men. ”

“ As I have before stated, for the wandering mountaineer, the pleasantest places of the Himalaya lie in the medium ranges and the minor valleys, and this great ridge is an ideal playground. One has, however, to put up with the usual coolie nuisance in a very exaggerated form, because, for some reason which I do not know, there appears to be no civil process by which porters can be engaged. ”

“ The climate of the Dhaoli Dhar ridge, from its position directly over the plains of the Punjab, is a humid one, as of necessity it has an immense precipitation of rain, amounting this year (1909) to 180 inches in three months; and the reverse slope gets a very large though diminished share of it, any gap in the ridge, such as the Sarai Pass, letting in an extra quantity. ”

“ In this district there seems to be difficulty in getting coolies at all, and even then agreements with them seem to favour their side and not yours. It is lucky that the inhabitants are in general a pleasant and willing people. Across the border in Chamba, under a different régime, I believe, there is no difficulty, as the ordinary arrangements to assist travellers are in force. ”

“ They are generally good-looking and picturesquely dressed, their loose home-spun shirts being well made, and the outer one sufficiently large to stow away quite a little flock of lambs or kids too weak to keep up with the rest of the flock. I once saw a man who seemed extraordinarily swollen, and by special request he extracted lamb after lamb to the number of sixteen. This occurred during a trip I made in 1902, over the Sarai Pass into Chamba, from the tea-growing Palampur district of the Kangra Valley, in search of red bear. ”

“ Very large numbers of the hill people belong to the Gaddi tribe, a tribe of pastoral semi-nomads, great numbers of whom spend three-quarters of every year out herding sheep, and only the other quarter at their homes. ”

“ The rear-guard, as before mentioned, began finding deserted loads on the ground and no porters, and as the loads mounted up, so the road got more and more precipitous, the last 1000 feet being steep and rough walking at any time, but now, covered in fresh snow and with the wind driving a mixture of snow and sleet through everything, harder work than ever, and it was a very blown rear-guard that finally arrived on the pass. ”

“ Nothing could be truer than this of very high climbing, whereas the amount of sport that could be obtained and the amount of real mountaineering that could be done, with a limit of 20,000 feet, is enormous, and an unexampled time could be put in. ”

“ This only shows, what has often been pointed out, how quickly bad weather can change the easiest mountain, and how careful one has to be when in charge of a train of porters, not to run any risk. The descent, after the first 300 feet, which is steep, is ordinarily almost a run down, but it now took a long time, the path being very difficult to find, and the steps of the leading men being completely obliterated. ”

“ Having done itself a certain amount of good in this way, the loads were readjusted, and we proceeded in the growing dusk along very slippery hill-sides. Every one came down once or twice, but still the silence was maintained. Shortly after it was quite dark we arrived at a very small cave just under the wood-line, and managed to put our Whymper and Mummery tents up and get the coolies into the best shelter possible. The worst day has an ending, and there are always compensations to every evil. ”

“ It is only a question of degree, though it is true that there are many degrees, and, taking it all round, the hill villages on the Dhaoli Dar range take a very good degree indeed. The higher the mountains and the more trying the winter the greater the dirt undoubtedly. ”

“ They herd immense flocks of sheep and goats, many being their own and many belonging to other people, who place them in their charge. The other great tribe of professional herdsmen in the Himalaya is a Mohammedan tribe named Gujars. ”