1853: A Tourist On Foot

An unknown Englishman has penned in his peculiar language his long trek from Shimla to Srinagar via Tibet on foot in the summer of 1853, years after the notorious Treaty of Amritsar

I started from Simla on the 7th of May last, to wander in the mountains for six months, and as I wished to travel for the sake of convenience, and to save trouble, I determined to walk all the way, and now I am glad of it, for a pony would have been a source of constant anxiety over the line of country I travelled.

I left Simla and proceeded by regular marches to Chenie. I found it hard work at first, not being used to such severe exercise, but the beautiful scenery and magnificent mountains made one forget the fatigue when viewing such things after the day’s march. I started on my journey with the intention of going into Tibet, Iskardo, and then on to this lovely spot; rather a long journey you may say, but a very delightful one I have found it.

Soon after leaving Chenie you lose all the fine wooded mountains and enter on a new kind of country, a tree seldom to be seen, some of the passes were very fine. I have now been over ten, but the Parang is the highest; it has an elevation of 18,725 feet, six miles of snow to get over, but I quite enjoyed it all; some of the men suffered from snow blindness for a few days after. From this Parang Pass, I proceeded for sixteen days through a country without inhabitants I may say, for I do not think I saw twice that number of people; there are no villages, and only a few Tartars, who bring down their flocks to feed on the young and scanty herbage for a few weeks. The elevation of this line of country ranges between 15,000 and 10,000 feet; to me, it was a delightful climate, but many people find a difficulty in breathing.