The romantic East: Burma, Assam, & Kashmir - Khamkoo

138 THE ROMANTIC EAST
of Kashmir. Nor, in fact, were there any roads
for wheeled traffic in Kashmir itself. The waterways
formed the principal means of transportation
within the valley, and goods imported and exported
were carried on men's backs. There was an old
road, available for coolie traffic, down the right
bank of the Jehlam from Baramula. Beyond
Kohala the road runs north at first, and is cut for
the most part in the face of the cliffs, sometimes
high above the river and sometimes approaching
its level.
The scenery after crossing the bridge
is
very
fine, the turbulent river rushing through
its narrow
bed below, the hills rising steeply from it on either
side, and in the distant background across the
river to the north-west are higher snow-capped
mountains. After the 1st milestone is the
Maharaja's rest-house at Barasalla, and near it
the
road was nearly blocked by two great
rocks that
had fallen from the cliffs above. Then the road
crosses a bridge and threads a tunnel, and after
passing other rock -falls we arrived at the 3rd
Jj
milestone, where a bad landslip above and below
the road left barely room for the tonga to pass in