1 354 WHERE THREE EMPIRES MEET
2 told ; a wonderfully-situated place, practically unassail-
3 able ; for the little terraced ledge on which it stood,
4 where now the gaunt dead fruit-trees alone remained
5 to show the former cultivation, was surrounded on all
6 sides by perpendicular precipices. There was but one
7 narrow, difficult approach to it up the cliff side, and that
8 could have been broken away and rendered inaccess-
9 ible in a few minutes. This impregnable fastness was
10 situated amid the wildest scenery ; and behind it was
11 an awful and seemingly impassable gorge leading steeply
12 up to the eternal snows. It was the sort of robber
13 stronghold that one's imagination would conjure up
14 while reading some tale of Albanian brigands.
15 Beech and myself, taking some Pathans with us,
16 climbed up to this spot and usefully employed ourselves
17 in cutting down the dead trees and pulling the rafters
18 out of the houses, which we threw over the precipice ;
19 a goodly supply of fuel for our men below. From this
20 point we could see, on the opposite side of the Kanjut
21 Eiver, high up a tributary ravine, a flat space, whereon
22 was a village and some cultivated land. This we knew
23 to be Jaglot, where it was reported that 200 of the
24 enemy were now stationed observing our movements.
25 From Jaglot there is a track across the mountains,
26 affording a short cut to the Nagar fortress of Nilt ; and
27 there is also, opposite Guetch, an easy ford across the
28 river ; so we were warned to be on the look-out for
29 a night surprise, and Lieutenant Taylor, who was
30 guarding the Chaichar Pari, sent a few sepoys to pro-
31 tect us.
32 While some of Spedding's men were cutting through
33 the pari near Guetch, the rest were at work on the
34 Chaichar, the stiffest pari of all. On seeing the old
35 road at this point I could readily understand how an