Part 6 (1/2)
CHAPTER X
The _Nerpani_, or ”waterless track”--Exaggerated accounts--A long shot--The rescue of two coolies--Picturesque Nature--An involuntary shower-bath--The _Chai_ Pa.s.s.
THE renowned _Nerpani_, or _Nerpania_, ”waterless track,” begins at Gibti. Very few travellers have been on this road, and by the accounts brought back many people have been prevented from imitating their example.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE NERPANI ROAD]
Personally I found the track far better than I antic.i.p.ated. I have been on worse mountain roads among less precipitous cliffs. From what I had heard it seemed as if the greater part of the road for several miles was supported on crowbars fixed in the rock, but such is not the case. Here and there, however, are found along the track spots overhanging precipices; and where the perpendicular cliff did not allow of a road to be cut except at great expense, crowbars have been more or less firmly planted horizontally in the rock, and a narrow path made over them with large slabs of stone. The drop from the path to the river is often from eighteen hundred to two thousand feet, and the path is in many places no wider than six inches. But to any surefooted traveller that would not const.i.tute a real danger. The road is tedious, for the Nerpania cliff along which it has been constructed is subdivided into three smaller cliffs, separated in turn one from the other by ravines. It is thus troublesome to climb up and down some thousands of feet, each time along interminable and badly put together flights of steps, only to descend again on the other side. Some of the descents, especially the last to Gulamla, are precipitous, but with no nails in one's shoes and no stick in one's hand, there is really very little danger for people accustomed to mountaineering.
These are the main elevations on the road: Gibti, 8650 feet, 6750 feet, 7600 feet, 6700 feet, 7100 feet, 6600 feet from Gulamla. At bearings magnetic 350, going close to the river-bed through a gorge, one obtains a fine view of a huge gneiss peak towering on the left side of the _Neganza_ or _Nejangar_ Mountain. This peculiar rock, shaped like a fortress, goes by the name of the Ladjekut Peak and rises where the Nejangar River meets the Kali. Here we pitched our tents.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE NERPANI ROAD]
Towards sunset there was much agitation in camp over the appearance of wild goats on the other side of the Kali River in Nepal.
”Your rifle, Sahib, your rifle!” shouted a chorus of impatient natives.
”Quick, quick, your rifle!”
I seized my Mannlicher and followed the excited gang to a place some hundred yards away, where a large boisterous crowd had collected to watch the game.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE NERPANI ROAD]
”Where are they?” said I, as I could not see anything.
”There, there!” they all screamed at the top of their voices, pointing to the summit of the opposite cliff over four hundred yards distant.
”Oh, that is too far.”
”No, no, Sahib, please shoot,” they all implored.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE NERPANI TRACK]
I put up the Lyman back-sight to four hundred yards, took aim and fired.
Down came rolling from rock to rock the poor wild goat, amid the frantic excitement of the crowd around me. It rolled down until it came to the shrub and vegetation, where its progress became slower. It fell on the small trees and, bending them by its weight, it would drop a few seconds later on to a lower one. The trepidation on our side was intense. At last the graceful body stuck across a bigger tree and swung on it for some minutes. The oscillation slowly ceased, and tree and goat became motionless. There our prey stuck fast.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CHAI-LEK Pa.s.s]
Hatchets were immediately produced, and two tall trees hurriedly cut and felled. A bridge was being spanned to cross the dangerous cold and swift waters of the Kali. A tree was thrown across, and its point just about reached a high rock on the other side. Then, amidst a dead silence, a coolie balanced himself over it. He had nearly reached the opposite bank when there was a crash. The tree broke, and the man was in the water, frightened and screaming pitifully, clutching a branch with convulsive fingers.
Another coolie went to his rescue, but the tree being now swung by the current, he also was pitched into the water. It was only after a terrible moment of suspense that our men had the common sense to draw the tree back towards the sh.o.r.e. One and all joined in a supreme effort, and the two men were eventually saved.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A NARROW GORGE BETWEEN TWO MOUNTAINS]
Our way to the next camp was first through a high narrow gorge. A beautiful waterfall on terraces faced us. From 6700 feet, the road ascended to 7650 feet, then on flights of steps and in places over crowbars the weary traveller descended to 7000 feet, where at Malpa the road was for a s.p.a.ce nearly level. The Malpa River, running from North to South, was crossed. On the Nepal side across the Kali the vegetation was luxuriant, while on the k.u.maon side it was spa.r.s.e and bare. Farther on another beautiful waterfall.
The track now rose on a steep incline to 8120 feet among huge rocks and boulders. What with the gigantic snow-peaks, the pretty waterfalls, the weird character of the country traversed, one got so interested in one's surroundings that one forgot all about any difficulty of climbing. From barren hills and rocks the track suddenly became clayish and sandy, and in a series of zigzags well shaded by _Tchuk, Utish_, and _Ritch_ trees, with a thick undergrowth of scrub wood and stunted vegetation, we found ourselves down as low as 6750 feet, ascending immediately after in a very short distance to 8100 feet to Camp Lahmari.
In olden times the path went over the highest part of the cliff, and it took a good walker the whole day to reach from one spring of water to the next, hence the name of ”waterless.”