ontier now; for the opposite
slope of Nanga Parbat and the ridge to which it belongs is held by the
independent Mohammedan tribes of Yaghistan, born marauders since the
beginning of tradition. They have a republican form of government, one
of the fierce democracies numbering only seven houses. Life, liberty and
the pursuit of other people's property is a motto they act up to with a
persistency and consistency highly disagreeable to their neighbors over
the hill. The latter have, in self-defence, evinced a tendency to adopt
the same rule of action, and to steal from their friends by way of
reimbursement for what is stolen by their enemies--a disposition which
is discouraged by the maintenance of a considerable garrison at Astor.

[Illustration: A KAGANI, OR LAMA MONUMENT.]

The valley of Gilgit, continuous with that of Astor, inasmuch as the two
abut upon the Indus at nearly the same point, one falling and the other
rising, is the core of a tongue of territory projecting north-west into
the heart of Yaghistan, and nearly dividing that turbulent region into
two parts. The British in attaching this corner to Kashmir rather
strained established boundaries in their own favor, and will doubtless
continue the process till all Yaghistan is absorbed and the great
Karakoram range becomes the frontier from the Afghan territory to that
of Chinese Tibet.

At the town of Gilgit we have a reproduction in little of the valley of
Srinagar. Its level is somewhat lower, and, though farther north by two
degrees, it ripens such southern fruits as the pomegranate, etc. Its
attractions will not, however, have full sway so long as the peace of
the region remains precarious. The last attack from Yaghistan was
signally repulsed in 1866. The practice of going armed is still general,
and travellers need an escort. Some of the villages resemble the
casemates, mines and covered-ways of a fortress. The people are of the
same family and religion with those over the border, their foes,
although perhaps less hated by them than their nominal compatriots the
Kashmiris and Dogras. The Dards are an active and proud people, fond of
independence, with features distinctly Caucasian.

Continuing our exploration of the upper benches of the amphitheatre, we
turn to the right and skirt the upper Indus, which runs for several
hundred miles from south-east to north-west close along the southern
foot of the Karakoram, or rather upon a "hip" of the Roof of the Worl