1 $B INTRODUCTION.
2 While in the Esaukhtul oo«iiitry» we were met by Moossa Khaun
3 Akkkasy^ the Doominee nobleman who wee tent by the King
4 to oondnct UB to court. He was a tall man, rather corpulent, but of
5 a good figure. He had a fine beard, and was handaomely drcaecd in '
6 doth of gold, with fine shawls ; his sword, and other accoutrements,
7 were mounted in cro\d ; his horses were good, his trappings hand-
8 some, and lie hnd ;jf)mi pistols in his holsterv, with lions' heads in
9 gold upon the bulls. Though he scarroh- looktMl forty, he was near
10 sixty, had been engaged in civil anti iurciMn wars, and had been
11 raised by his party, dunn<^ a rebellion, to ilc liigh rank of Sirdar.
12 He had travelled in his own country, and hatl lonfi heen stationed in
13 Cashmeer, in praise ol" which country, or rather of its liceiiUous plea-
14 sures, he used oflen to enlarge. Altogether I found him very lively
15 and entertaining, and perfectly gentlemanlike in his manners. He
16 w«8 accompanied by a party of four or five hundred horse, who be>
17 longed- to a Caltnuk Duatdh, or regiment, though I saw no OBlmnka
18 amon^ them. He was also aooompanied by the diieft of the
19 A%baun tribes of Bungush and Khiittukt and by the diief of the
20 town of Kam^bangh, pUiin men like Anba» -who aooompanied ua as
21 6r aa the plain of Feriunrer, each bringing a ftroog body of mUitia
22 as we entered hia landa.
23 ' Galla^baiigb» where we left the plain, well deaerves a minute de-
24 •criptibn* The Indua is here compressed by mountains into a deep
25 diannel, only three hundred and fifty yards broad. The moontaina
26 on each side have an abrupt descent into the river, and a road is cut
27 along their base, for upwards of two miles. It had been widened for
28 us, but wa,<^ st?]! »o narrow, and the rock over it so steep, that no
29 camel with a bulky load could pass: to obviate this inconvenience,
30 twenty-eight boats had horn ])repared, to convey our largest packages
31 up the river. The first part of this pass is actually overhung by the
32 town of Calla^bflUgh, which is built in a singular manner upon the
33 face of the hill, every street rising above its ni i;^'^liliour5 and, 1
34 imagine, onlv accessible by means of the flat roofs of ihe houses be-
35 low it. As we pa^ed beneath, we perceived windows and balconies
36 Digitizer by LiOOgle