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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Diary of a pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet, by William Henry Knight
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: Diary of a pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet
+
+Author: William Henry Knight
+
+Release Date: July 7, 2021 [eBook #3639]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: Jeroen Hellingman
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DIARY OF A PEDESTRIAN IN CASHMERE AND THIBET ***
+
+
+
+
+                         DIARY OF A PEDESTRIAN
+                                   IN
+                          CASHMERE AND THIBET.
+
+                                   By
+                 Captain Knight, Forty-eighth Regiment.
+
+                                London:
+                Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street.
+                 Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
+                                 1863.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                   To
+                        those for whose perusal
+              the following pages were originally written
+                        they are affectionately
+                               dedicated.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+With the fullest sense of the responsibility incurred by the addition
+of another volume to the countless numbers already existing, and daily
+appearing in the world, the following Diary has been committed to the
+press, trusting that, as it was not written with intent to publication,
+the unpremeditated nature of the offence may be its extenuation, and
+that as a faithful picture of travel in regions where excursion trains
+are still unknown, and Travellers’ Guides unpublished, the book may not
+be found altogether devoid of interest or amusement. Its object is
+simply to bring before the reader’s imagination those scenes and
+incidents of travel which have already been a source of enjoyment to
+the writer, and to impart, perhaps, by their description, some portion
+of the gratification which has been derived from their reality. With
+this view, the original Diary has undergone as little alteration of
+form or matter as possible, and is laid before the reader as it was
+sketched and written during the leisure moments of a wandering life,
+hoping that faithfulness of detail may atone in it for faults and
+failings in a literary and artistic point of view.
+
+Although the journey it describes was written without the advantages of
+a previous acquaintance with the writings of those who had already gone
+over the same ground, subsequent research has added much to the
+interest of the narrative, and information thus obtained has been added
+either in the form of Notes or Appendix. Under the latter head,
+acknowledgment is principally due to an able and interesting essay on
+the architecture of Cashmere, by Capt. Cunningham, and also to a paper
+by M. Klaproth, both of whom appear to have treated more fully than any
+other writers the subjects to which they refer.
+
+As differences will be found to occur in the names of places, &c.
+between the parts thus added and the remainder of the book, it may be
+well to explain that in the former only are they spelt according to the
+usually received method of rendering words of Eastern origin in the
+Roman character. By this system the letters ā, e, ī, o, and ū, are
+given the sounds of the corresponding Italian vowels; i and u are
+pronounced as in “hit” and “put;” and the letter a is made to represent
+the short u in the word “cut.” In this way it is that Cashmere,
+correctly pronounced Cushmere, comes to be written Kashmīr, and Mutun,
+pronounced as the English word “mutton,” [1] is written Matan, both of
+which, to the initiated, represent the true sound of the words. Those
+who have adopted the system, however, have not always employed it
+throughout, nor given with it the key by which it alone becomes
+intelligible; and the result has been that in many ways, but
+principally from the un-English use made of the letter a, it has tended
+quite as much to mislead and confuse, as to direct.
+
+In the narrative, therefore, wherever custom has not already
+established a particular form of spelling, the explanation of the sound
+has been attempted in the manner which seemed least liable to
+misconception, and, except as regards the letters a and u no particular
+system has been followed. These have been invariably given the sounds
+they possess in the words “path” and “cut” respectively, a circumflex
+being placed over the latter to denote the short u in the word “put.”
+
+Such names, therefore, as Cushmere, Tibbut, Muhummud, Hijra, &c. have
+been left as custom has ruled them, and will appear in their more
+well-known costume of Cashmere, Thibet, Mahomet, and Hegira.
+
+The concluding sketch was originally intended to accompany a series of
+brightly-coloured Cashmerian designs illustrative of the life of
+“Krishna;” and the reproduction of these, in their integrity, not
+having been found feasible, the sketch itself may appear de trop.
+
+It has, however, been retained on the possibility of the translations
+which occur in it being of interest to those who may not be acquainted
+with the style of Eastern religious literature; while the outline it
+presents of some of the religions of the East, bare and simple as it
+is, may be acceptable to such as are not inclined to search out and
+study for themselves the necessarily voluminous and complicated
+details.
+
+
+    London.
+        June, 1863.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+    Preface.                                    vii
+
+    Introduction.                                 3
+
+    Part I.
+    The Pleasures of the Plains.                  9
+
+    Part II.
+    Cashmere.                                    39
+
+    Part III.
+    A Halt in the Valley.                        78
+
+    Part IV.
+    Little Thibet.                              129
+
+    Part V.
+    Ladak and the Monastery of Hemis.           181
+
+    Part VI.
+    A Retreat to the Valley.                    205
+
+    Part VII.
+    Last Days of Travel.                        261
+
+    The Religions of Cashmere and Thibet.       305
+
+    Appendix A.
+    The Temples of Cashmere.                    347
+
+    Appendix B.
+    The Mystic Sentence of Thibet.              362
+
+    Appendix C.
+    A Sketch of the History of Cashmere.        376
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+   1. Ladak                                         frontispiece.
+   2. View in Sirinugger                            To face p. 84
+   3. Solomon’s Throne                                         90
+   4. Hurree Purbut                                            92
+   5. Martund                                                 108
+   6. Pandreton                                               122
+   7. Lamieroo                                                164
+   8. Road to Egnemo                                          176
+   9. Rajah’s Palace, Ladak                                   182
+  10. Monastery of Hemis                                      192
+  11. Seventh Bridge, Sirinugger                              268
+  12. Hindoo Temple in the Himalayas                          306
+  13. Gunesh                                                  311
+  14. Birth of Krishna                                        312
+  15. Temple Decoration, Himalayas                            318
+  16. Ancient Jain Temple                                     336
+
+
+  17. Chubootra, or Resting-place in the Himalayas Vignette Title.
+  18. The Head of Affairs                                       3
+  19. An Unpropitious Moment                                   27
+  20. Kismut                                                   29
+  21. Crossing the Sutlej                                      30
+  22. A Halting-place in Cashmere                              74
+  23. Latticed Window, Sirinugger                             102
+  24. Sacred Tank, Islamabad                                  104
+  25. Painting versus Poetry                                  111
+  26. Love-lighted Eyes                                       112
+  27. Vernagh                                                 115
+  28. Cashmerian Temple Sculpture                             121
+  29. Patrun                                                  126
+  30. Roadside Monument, Thibet                               152
+  31. Road to Moulwee                                         155
+  32. Rock Sculpture                                          156
+  33. Thibetian Monument                                      159
+  34. Natives and Lama                                        164
+  35. Thibetian Religious Literature                          167
+  36. Inscribed Stones                                        170
+  37. Inscribed Stone                                         176
+  38. Monument at Hemis                                       190
+  39. Painted Stone                                           199
+  40. Buddha                                                  202
+  41. Snow Bridge                                             241
+  42. Kangree                                                 266
+  43. Ancient Hindoo Temple                                   305
+  44. Fukeer of Solomon’s Throne                              322
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ERRATUM.
+
+
+Page 116, line 5, for A.D. 1612, read A.D. 1619.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+            “Who has not heard of the Vale of Cashmere,
+                With its roses the brightest that earth ever gave,
+            Its temples, and grottoes, and fountains as clear
+                As the love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave?”
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+More than a year and a half had been spent in the hottest parts of the
+plains of India, and another dreaded hot season was rapidly making its
+approach, when, together with a brother officer, I applied for and
+obtained six months’ leave of absence for the purpose of travelling in
+Cashmere and the Himalayas, otherwise called by Anglo-Indians “The
+Hills.”
+
+We had been long enough in the country to have discovered that the
+gorgeous East of our imagination, as shadowed forth in the delectable
+pages of the “Arabian Nights,” had little or no connexion with the East
+of our experience—the dry and dusty East called India, as it appeared,
+wasted and dilapidated, in its first convalescence from the fever into
+which it had been thrown by the Mutiny of 1857–58. We were not long,
+therefore, in making our arrangements for escaping from Allahabad, with
+the prospect before us of exchanging the discomforts of another hot
+season in the plains, for the pleasures of a sojourn in the far-famed
+valley of Cashmere, and a tramp through the mountains of the
+Himalayas—the mountains, whose very name breathes of comfort and
+consolation to the parched up dweller in the plains. The mountains of
+“the abode of snow!”
+
+Our expeditionary force consisted at starting of but one besides the
+brother officer above alluded to—the F. of the following pages—and
+myself. This was my Hindoo bearer, Mr. Rajoo, whose duty it was to make
+all the necessary arrangements for our transport and general welfare,
+and upon whose shoulders devolved the entire management of our affairs.
+He acted to the expedition in the capacity of quartermaster-general,
+adjutant-general, commissary-general, and paymaster to the forces; and,
+as he will figure largely in the following pages, under the title of
+the “Q.M.G.,” and comes, moreover, under the head of “a naturally dark
+subject,” a few words devoted to his especial description and
+illumination may not be out of place.
+
+With the highest admiration for England, and a respect for the
+Englishman, which extended to the very lining of their pockets, Mr.
+Rajoo possessed, together with many of the faults of his race, a
+certain humour, and an amount of energy most unusual among the family
+of the mild Hindoo. He had, moreover, travelled much with various
+masters, in what are, in his own country, deemed “far lands;” and
+having been wounded before Delhi, he had become among the rest of his
+people an authority, and to the Englishman in India an invaluable
+medium for their coercion and general management.
+
+To us he proved a most efficient incumbent of the several offices we
+selected him to fill. His administration no doubt did display an
+occasional weakness; and his conduct as paymaster to the forces was
+decidedly open to animadversion; for, in this capacity, he seemed to be
+under the impression that payments, like charity, began at home, and he
+also laboured under a constitutional and hereditary infirmity, which
+prevented him in small matters from discerning any difference between
+meum and tuum.
+
+Having been employed collectively, however, it would be unfair to judge
+of his performances in detail; and from his satisfactory management of
+the expedition, occasionally under such trying circumstances as a
+break-down in the land transport, or an utter failure in his tobacco
+supply, we had every reason to be satisfied with our choice. The latter
+misfortune was the only one which really interfered at any time with
+his efficiency, or upset his equanimity, and it unfortunately occurred
+always at the most inopportune seasons, and at a time when he was
+undergoing his greatest hardships.
+
+As long as the supply lasted, the mysterious gurglings of his “Hubble
+Bubble,” or cocoa-nut water-pipe, might be heard at almost any hour of
+the day or night. “Hubble bubble, toil and trouble,” was the natural
+order of his existence; and when in some peculiarly uncivilised region
+of our wanderings, the compound of dirt, sugar, and tobacco, in which
+his soul delighted, was not forthcoming, he and his pipe seemed at once
+to lose their vitality, and to become useless together. The temporary
+separation which ensued, being in its way a mensa et thoro, was a
+source of trouble and inconvenience to all concerned, and we had, more
+than once, cause to regret not having given the tobacco question that
+forethought and consideration to which it would be well entitled by any
+one undertaking a similar expedition.
+
+Overlooking these weaknesses, Mr. Rajoo’s character was beyond
+reproach, and for the particular work he had to perform, his
+combination of efficiency, portability, and rascality, rendered him in
+every respect “the right man in the right place.”
+
+Such was our “head of affairs,” and such the small force he had at
+first to provide for. As we passed out of India, and got further from
+regions of comparative civilization, his cares increased: cellar,
+kitchen, larder, farm-yard, tents, &c. had then to accompany our
+wandering steps, and the expedition gradually increased in size, until
+it attained its maximum of nearly forty. From this it again as
+gradually decreased, and as one by one our retainers disappeared, it
+dwindled in dimensions until it finally reached its original limited
+proportions, and then “we three met again,” once more upon the plains
+of India.
+
+All our necessary preparations having been completed, and a sacrifice
+of three precious weeks having been duly offered to the inexorable
+genius who presides over public correspondence, we reduced our
+impedimenta to the smallest possible compass, and with about a hundred
+pounds to commence life with, all in two shilling pieces, that being
+the only available coin of the realm in this our second century of
+British administration, we took our departure by railway for Cawnpore.
+Here we found ourselves located and hospitably entertained in the house
+in which our unfortunate fellow-countrywomen were confined on their
+recapture from the river by the Nana Sahib, one of the few mementos of
+the mutiny still left standing at Cawnpore.
+
+Next day we laid our dâk for Simla, and about six o’clock in the
+evening, with the Q.M.G. on the roof, and ourselves and our possessions
+stowed away in the innumerable holes and corners of the rude wooden
+construction called a “Dâk garee,” or post coach, we took our
+departure. After a few mishaps with our steed, involving the necessity
+of getting out to shove behind, we entered upon the Grand Trunk Road,
+and with a refreshing sense of freedom and relief, soon left Cawnpore
+in all its native dust and dreariness behind us.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PART I.
+
+THE PLEASURES OF THE PLAINS.
+
+
+May 21, 1860.—Being fairly under weigh, our first attention was
+directed towards the machine which was to be, in a great measure, our
+home for many days to come. Not overburdened with springs, and not much
+to look at, though decidedly an extraordinary one to go, our conveyance
+was by no means uncomfortable; and, stretched upon a mattress extending
+its entire length, F. and I chatted over our plans and projects, and
+star-gazed, and soon fell asleep, in spite of the ruts on the road and
+the wild discordant bugling of our ragged coachman, who seemed to
+consider that, however inferior in other respects, in a matter of music
+we were not to be outdone, not even by Her Majesty’s own royal mail. At
+first sight, the necessity of trying to clear such lonely roads as we
+were travelling was not altogether apparent; but a slight acquaintance
+with the general principles and laws of progression of the national
+Indian institution called a bullock-cart, or “beil-garee,” soon clears
+up the difficulty. Built entirely of wood, and held together by scraps
+of ropes and cord, a more hopeless-looking machine cannot exist; and
+drivers and bullocks alike share in the general woodenness and
+impassibility of the structure. The animals, too, having probably lost
+all the better feelings of their nature in such a service, are appealed
+to entirely through the medium of their tails, and the operation
+occasionally results in the whole creaking mass being safely deposited
+in some capacious rut, there to remain until “the Fates”—assuming,
+perhaps, the appearance of three additional bullocks—arrive to draw it
+out again. Occasionally, too, the institution comes to a halt for the
+night, comfortably drawn up in the centre of the line of traffic, with
+a delightful disregard for aught but the present, and an air of supreme
+contempt for the most eloquent music of all the ragged coachmen on the
+Grand Trunk Road.
+
+Every five miles we stopped to change our horse, and miserable indeed
+was the raw-boned little animal that made his appearance on every
+occasion. Still the pace was kept up in spite of appearances, and at
+seven A.M. we reached “Ghoorsahagunge”—more generally known as
+Gooseygunge—sixty miles from Cawnpore, and 197 from Delhi.
+
+Here we slept in peace until eleven o’clock, and awoke from dreams of
+Cashmere to the unpleasant realities of a violent dust-storm. The usual
+“Khus-khus tatties,” or screens of fragrant grass, which are kept in a
+continual state of moisture at door and window, and convert the
+dust-charged scorching blast into a comparative coolness, were not
+forthcoming, and our halt was not a pleasant one by any means: still
+our faces were towards the mountains, and the pleasures of hope enabled
+us to take our misfortunes with entire philosophy. We started again
+about five P.M., when the power of the sun was somewhat abated, and
+encountered the usual difficulties with refractory horses at every
+change. A start was in no case effected without much management and
+exertion. A half-naked black generally attaches himself to each wheel;
+the driver, from a post of vantage, belabours the miserable horse with
+all his might and main; the Q.M.G. takes a firm hold of the rails on
+the roof; and all shouting, grunting, and using bad language together,
+away we go at full gallop, if we are in unusual luck, for about 300
+yards. Then comes a dead stop: the same operation commences again, and
+so on, until the animal is sufficiently far from his last stable to be
+able to look forward with some confidence to the one ahead, and resigns
+himself to circumstances accordingly. One peculiarity in this peculiar
+country we found to be, that in putting our steed-to, the English
+custom is reversed. The cart is “put-to,” not the horse; and the latter
+being left standing anywhere on the road, the lumbering “garee” is
+dragged up to his tail, and fastened up with a combination of straps
+and ropes, marvellous to behold.
+
+May 23.—To-day we arrived at “Etawah,” where we found a very
+comfortable little staging bungalow, but no supplies of either beer or
+butter procurable. On the road in the early morning there were herds of
+deer and antelope in sight, but time being precious we left them
+unmolested.
+
+As yet very little change makes its appearance in the character of the
+country. Level plains, with patches of trees, mango and palm, as far as
+the eye can reach, and everywhere dust, dust, dust! The palm-trees,
+however, with toddy parties scattered about among them, serve to make
+the scene look cheerful, and, for an eastern one, comparatively lively.
+In the evening we again took the road, with a hot wind blowing strongly
+and steadily, and before long we were overtaken by a dust-storm, which
+completely enveloped us in its murky folds, and interfered with our
+happiness a good deal. Got through the night much as usual, with the
+addition of a midnight vocal entertainment, which some hundreds of
+wolves and jackals treated us to, while the “authorities” were looking
+to our welfare, by taking off and greasing our wheels. Of travellers we
+meet but few, generally bullock-train parties, with soldiers, &c.,
+return dâks, and an occasional old Mussulman, or other native, taking
+advantage of the early morning for his journey, and wrapped and
+swaddled up as if afraid of being congealed by the coolness of the
+morning air.
+
+Every day’s journey leaves one more and more at a loss to discover the
+sources of the wealth of this enormous country. The soil, for miles and
+miles a dead flat, is now barren as a desert, and we meet hardly a sign
+of active traffic. During the night we certainly did encounter a long
+train of heavily-laden bullock-waggons; but the merchandize was
+gunpowder, and its destination was up, instead of down the road.
+
+May 24.—Arrived at “Kurga,” where we found neither bread nor butter
+forthcoming—nothing but—“plenty fowl, Sahib!” In the evening we again
+encountered a heavy dust-storm, the worst of the season; the whole
+night it continued to blow in our teeth; and between the fierce dryness
+of the wind and the searching particles of dust, which visited us
+without ceremony, we spent anything but an agreeable night. At three
+A.M. we reached the “Hingus Nuddee,” or river; and changing our
+solitary horse for two fat bullocks, we crossed its sandy bed, and over
+a bridge of boats—not so genteelly, perhaps, but much more securely,
+than we could have otherwise done. There were the remains here of a
+handsome suspension bridge; but the chains had been cut by the rebel
+Sepoys, and nothing but the pillars now remained.
+
+May 25.—At four A.M. we crossed the bridge of boats over the Jumna, and
+found ourselves under the gloomy battlements of the Fort of Delhi.
+
+Entering by the Calcutta Gate, we drove through large suburbs, lighted
+up with rows of oil lamps, reminding one, in the dim light, a good deal
+of Cairo. Arriving at the dâk bungalow, we found it such a dirty
+looking deserted building, and the interior so much of a piece with the
+exterior, that we mounted again, and set off to try the Hotel, or
+“Pahunch Ghur,”—a name originally intended to convey the meaning “An
+arriving house,” but neatly and appropriately corrupted into the term
+“Punch Gur,” which speaks for itself, and troubles no one much about
+its derivation. We were rather disappointed with the general appearance
+of the city: dirt and grandeur were closely combined, and the
+combination gave the usual impression of shabby genteelness in general,
+not at first sight prepossessing. After driving through what might have
+been an Eastern Sebastopol, from the amount of ruin about, we reached a
+cut-throat-looking archway; and the coachman, here pointing to a dirty
+board, above his head, triumphantly announced the “Punch Gur!” Hot and
+thirsty, we got out, with visions of rest and cooling sherbets, too
+soon to be dispelled. Passing through long dirty halls, and up
+unsavoury steps, we at last reached a sort of court, with beds of
+sickly flowers, never known to bloom, and from thence issued to a suite
+of musty hot Moorish-looking rooms, with gold-inlaid dust-covered
+tables, and a heavily-draped four-post bedstead, the very sight of
+which, in such a climate, was almost enough to deprive one of sleep for
+ever. Our speech forsook us, and without waiting to remark whether the
+lady of the house was an ogress, or possessed of a “rose-coloured body”
+and face like the full moon, we fairly turned tail, and drove in all
+haste to our despised dâk bungalow, where, meekly and with softened
+feelings towards that edifice, we were glad to deposit ourselves on a
+couple of charpoys, or “four-legs,” as the bedstead of India is called,
+and endeavour to sleep the best way we could. “Delhi,” we found, quite
+kept up its reputation of being the hottest place in India. All idea of
+sight-seeing was out of the question, and the whole of our energies we
+were obliged to expend in endeavouring to keep moderately cool.
+
+After enjoying the two first of blessings in a hot climate—viz. a
+plentiful supply of cold water and a change of raiment, we felt
+ourselves able to undergo the exertion of meeting the traditional
+grilled fowl at breakfast, and of inspecting the curiosities from the
+bazaars. At the first wish on the latter subject, we were invaded by a
+crowd of bundle-carrying, yellow-turbaned, rascally merchants, who, in
+half a minute, had the whole of their goods on the floor—rings,
+brooches, ivory ornaments, and inutilities of all sorts and kinds, all
+of them exorbitantly dear, and none of any real value.
+
+We left Delhi again at about six P.M., after loitering about the city
+for a short time, among the teeming bazaars, some parts of which were
+picturesque and “Eastern” enough. Outside the city walls, the country
+was ruined and dilapidated in the extreme; demolished houses and wasted
+gardens telling their tale of the loss of Delhi, and our struggle for
+its recapture.
+
+May 26.—During the night, we got over seventy-three miles, and reached
+“Kurnaul” at seven A.M. The bungalow we found unusually comfortable,
+being a remnant of the old régime, and one of the few which escaped
+from the hands of the rebels during the mutiny.
+
+The country here begins to improve in appearance—more trees and
+cultivation on all sides; and the natives appear finer specimens than
+their more southern relations. The irrigation, too, seems to be carried
+on with more systematic appliances than further south—the water being
+raised by the Persian wheel, and bullock-power introduced in aid of
+manual labour.
+
+May 27.—Arrived at Umballa at three A.M., and found the staging
+bungalow full. The only available accommodation being a spare charpoy
+in the verandah, F. took a lease of it, while I revelled in the
+unaccustomed roominess of the entire carriage, and slept till six, when
+we got into our lodgings. Although so near the foot of the Himalayas,
+the weather was so oppressive here that exploring was out of the
+question; and at six P.M., changing our carriage for palankeens, or
+doolies, we commenced a tedious and dusty journey to the village of
+“Kalka,” the veritable “foot of the hills,” where we were met by a
+string of deputies from the different “dry-lodgings” in the
+neighbourhood, soliciting custom. The first house we came to was
+guarded by an unmistakeable English hotel-keeper, of some eighteen
+stone; and so terrible was the appearance she presented, with her arms
+akimbo, rejoicing in her mountain air, that in our down-country and
+dilapidated condition, we felt quite unequal to the exertion of
+stepping into her little parlour; and passing her
+establishment—something in the small bathingplace-style of
+architecture—we went on to the next, very much of the same order, and
+called the “Brahminee Bull.” Here, to my dismay however, standing in
+the selfsame position, weighing the same number of stone, and equally
+confident in the purity of her air as her neighbour, stood another
+female “Briton,” with the come-into-my-parlour expression of
+countenance, regarding us as prey. Under the circumstances, exhausted
+nature gave in; though saved from Scylla, our destiny was Charybdis,
+and we accordingly surrendered ourselves to a wash, breakfast, and the
+Brahminee Bull. During the day, we had a visit from a friend and
+ex-brother officer, whom we had promised to stay with, at “Kussowlie,”
+on our road up. Kalka was not hot, but grilling, so that a speedy
+ascent to the station was soon agreed upon. Not caring to risk a
+sun-stroke, I resigned myself to the traditional conveyance of the
+country, a “jhampan,” while the other two rode up; but here, for the
+second time, it was “out of the fryingpan into the fire.” Such an
+infernal machine as my new conveyance turned out never could have
+existed in the palmiest days of the Inquisition. It was a sort of
+child’s cradle, long enough for a creature of some five or six summers,
+made like a tray, and hung after the fashion of a miniature four-post
+bedstead, with goat’s-hair curtains. The structure is suspended,
+something in the fashion of a sedan-chair which has been stunted in its
+growth, between two poles; between the projections of these again,
+before and behind, connected by a stout strap, are two shorter bars,
+each supported, when in travelling order, on the shoulders of two
+bearers. When the machine is in motion, therefore, there are four men
+in line between the shafts.
+
+The pace is always rather fast, and down a declivity the torturers go
+at a run; the result is, that prominent parts of one’s body are
+continually in collision with the seat or sides of the machine, coming
+down from various altitudes, according to the nature of the ground and
+the humour of the inquisitors. After getting over about six miles in
+this graceful and pleasing manner, we reached the first of the
+fir-trees, and as we rose still higher a delicious breeze came over the
+hills, as precious to the parched and travel-stained pilgrim from the
+plains as a drop of water to the thirstiest wanderer in the desert.
+Kussowlie appeared a picturesque little station, perched at the summit
+of one of the first of the hilly ranges, and here I found my two
+companions, burnt and red in the face as if they, too, had had their
+sufferings on the road, occupied in looking over the goods of a
+strolling Cashmere merchant; luckily for themselves, however, it was
+under the protecting superintendence of our hostess. Our friends were
+living on a miniature estate commanding a magnificent view of the
+mountain ranges on one side, and, on the other, the plains of the
+Punjab, the scorching country from which we had just made our escape
+lying stretched out before us like an enormous map in relief. Towards
+the mountains were the military stations of “Dugshai” and “Subathoo,”
+and the boys’ asylum of “Senore,” the latter rather marring the face of
+nature by the workhouse order of its architecture. “Simla” we could
+just distinguish, nestled among the blue mountains in the far distance.
+
+Here we spent a couple of days very pleasantly with our hospitable
+entertainers, and satisfactorily pulled up all arrears of sleep—a
+luxury none can really appreciate who have not travelled for six days
+and nights in the different local conveniences I have mentioned.
+
+Before leaving we had an opportunity of seeing how England in the
+Himalayas makes its morning calls. Walking, which amounts almost to an
+impossibility in “the plains,” seems to be voted infra dig. in “the
+hills,” and Mrs. Kussowlie according made her appearance seated in
+state in a jhampan, and borne on the shoulders of four of her slaves.
+
+These were active, wiry-looking natives, dressed in long green coats,
+bound with broad, red, tight-fitting pantaloons, and with small turbans
+of red and green on their heads. Altogether, a more startling-looking
+apparition to the uninitiated than this Himalayan morning visitor could
+hardly be imagined, even in a tour through the remotest regions of the
+earth.
+
+May 29.—About six o’clock in the evening we remounted our instruments
+of torture and took the road to Simla. For about seven miles the path
+was down hill, and the bearers being fresh, they huddled us along at a
+pace calculated to outrage our feelings most considerably, and, at the
+same time, with no more consideration for our welfare than if we were
+so many sacks of coal. In spite of the sufferings of the principal
+performers, the procession was most amusing; and as we jolted, bumped,
+and bundled along, it was impossible to keep from laughing, although
+crying, perhaps, would, under the circumstances, have been more
+appropriate. My machine led the way, four of the inquisition being in
+the shafts, and four in waiting, running along at the side with pipes,
+bundles, sticks, &c. Then came F. similarly attended, and finally the
+Q.M.G., hubble bubble in hand, and attired in a gold embroidered cap,
+surrounded by a lilac turban: seated in a sort of tray, and reclining
+at his case in full enjoyment of his high position, he looked the
+priest of the procession, and managed to retain his dignity in spite of
+the rapid and unceremonious way in which he was being whirled along. As
+the moon went down we had the additional effect of torchlight to the
+scene, three bearers having the special duty of running along to show
+the pathway to the rest. This seemed a service of some danger, and our
+torch-bearers at times verged upon places where a stumble would have
+apparently extinguished both themselves and their torches for ever.
+About half way we stopped for about an hour for the bearers to partake
+of a light entertainment of “ghee and chupatties”—otherwise, rancid
+butter and cakes of flour and water. This was their only rest and only
+meal, from the time they left Kussowlie at six P.M. until they reached
+Simla at eight A.M. The same set of bearers took us the entire
+distance, about thirty-five miles; and the four men who were not
+actually in the shafts used to rest themselves by running, ahead and up
+precipitous short cuts, so as to insure a few minutes’ pull at the pipe
+of consolation before their turn arrived again. To us, supposed to be
+the otium cum dig. part of the procession, the road seemed perfectly
+endless. No sooner were we up one ascent than we were down again on the
+other side; and when we thought Simla must be in sight round the next
+turn, it seemed suddenly to become more hid than ever. In one of these
+ups and downs of life my machine, during a heavy lurch, fairly gave way
+to its feelings, and with a loud crash the pole broke, and down we both
+came, much to my temporary satisfaction and relief. A supply of ropes
+and lashings, however, formed part of the inquisitors’ stores, and we
+were soon under weigh again to fulfil the remainder of our destiny.
+
+The entrance to Simla led us through a fine forest of oaks, firs,
+cedars, and other large trees; and winding along through these we
+could, every now and then, discern, towering over the backs of endless
+ranges of blue and hazy mountains, ridge upon ridge of glittering snow,
+which cast its icy breath upon us even where we were, helping us to
+forget the horrors of the night, and giving us a renewal of our lease
+of existence. Simla itself soon opened on our view, a scattered and
+picturesque settlement of houses of the most varied patterns perched
+about over the mountain top, just as an eligible spot presented itself
+for building purposes. It is situated 8,000 feet above the level of the
+sea and 7,000 over the average level of “the plains,” Umballa, which is
+near the foot of the range, being 1,000 above the sea-level. From our
+halting-place we could discern the scene of our night’s journey, with
+Kussowlie looking like a mere speck in the distance, and we felt a
+proud sort of consciousness of having accomplished a desperate
+undertaking in very good style. Passive endurance was, under the
+circumstances quite as worthy of praise as the more active virtues
+displayed by those who were the cause of our sufferings. After the
+first good breakfast I had eaten for three months, we pulled up arrears
+of sleep till four P.M. and found, on awaking, that our much expected
+letters had arrived from the post, and among them the necessary
+permission from the Punjab Government to travel in Cashmere, and
+instructions for our guidance while in the territory. From among the
+routes laid down in the latter we chose No. 1. [2] The direct line
+across the mountains from Simla would have entailed additional delay
+and permission, and as time was precious we decided upon descending
+again to the plains and making our way through Lahore, not, however,
+without a severe pang at leaving so soon the terrestrial paradise of
+which we had got a glimpse. After arranging our movements with the
+“authorities,” we sallied out to see fashionable Simla airing itself,
+which, as far as dress is concerned, it appeared to do very much in the
+fashionable watering-place style at home. The jhampans, palkies,
+dandies, [3] &c. which took up the entire road, however, loudly
+proclaimed India, Simla being much too dainty to touch the ground with
+its pretty feet, and too lazy to use its own legs for purposes of
+out-door locomotion. The station seems a curious combination of many
+styles and places; the scenery and houses, Swiss; the people Anglo
+Indians, Affghans, Cashmeeries, &c.; the conveyances,
+Inquisito-Spanish; and the bazaars, in their native dirt, pure Indian.
+
+May 31.—After making our leave secure, we made up our minds for a
+plunge into the plains again and a forced march to Lahore, being rather
+expedited in the determination by hearing that several travellers had
+been recalled from leave in consequence of there being a scarcity of
+officers with their regiments.
+
+With a fine moonlight night in our favour we again took the road; and
+practice slightly assuaging our sufferings, we got on smoothly enough
+till within a few hours from Hureepore Bungalow, when my machine again
+broke with a crash, and the nature of the fracture being compound, I
+walked on and left the executioners to repair the instrument at their
+leisure.
+
+June 1.—Reached Hureepore at four A.M., and found the place in
+possession of a crowd of monkeys of all sorts and sizes, taking an
+early breakfast. Here, chicken and eggs being again written in our
+destiny, we halted for an hour or two, and at eleven again took the
+road with our cast-iron bearers, and hurried along in the noonday sun,
+up hill and down dale, through Kussowlie, and on and on till we were
+once more fairly deposited at the feet of “Mrs. Charybdis.” A slight
+dinner here, and at 8.30 P.M. we were again in train, shuffling along
+through several feet of dust, which the bearers, and torch-carriers,
+and the rest of our numerous train, kicked up about us, in clouds
+nearly dense enough to cause suffocation.
+
+June 2.—At 8.30 A.M. we arrived again at Umballa, and with nothing to
+comfort us in our dusty and worried condition but the reflection that
+our start from Simla was a magnificent triumph of stern determination
+over present enjoyment and unwonted luxury, we again resumed our forced
+march. At six P.M. we took our departure, in a very magnificent coach,
+but in an “unpropitious moment,” for the horse was unusually averse to
+an advance of any sort, and when we did get clear of the station his
+opinions were borne out by a terrific storm of dust, with a thunder,
+lightning, and rain accompaniment, which effectually put a stop to all
+further progress. The horse for once had his wish, and was brought to a
+regular stand. The wind howled about us, and the dusty atmosphere
+assumed a dull red appearance, such as I had only once before seen at
+Cawnpore, and the like of which might possibly have prevailed during
+the last days of Pompeii. After getting through the worst of the storm,
+we pushed along, and had reached the twentieth mile-stone, when,
+catching a flavour of burning wood, I looked out and found the wheel at
+an angle of some 30 degrees, and rubbing against the side preparatory
+to taking its leave altogether. Here was another effect of starting in
+an unpropitious moment. The interruption in the great forced march
+preyed heavily upon our minds, but, on the principle of doing as “Rome
+does,” we took a lesson from the religion of “Islam,” and concurring in
+the views expressed by our attendant blacks, viz. that “whatever is
+written in a man’s destiny that will be accomplished,” we ejaculated
+“Kismut” with the rest, and resignedly adapted ourselves to the
+writings in our own particular page of fate. Having sent back to
+Umballa the news of our distress, a new conveyance in a few hours made
+its appearance; and hauling it alongside the wreck, we unshipped the
+stores, reloaded, and eventually reached “Thikanmajura” at eight A.M.
+
+June 3.—Starting at about three o’clock P.M., we found the unpropitious
+moment still hanging over us: first a violent dust-storm, and then a
+refractory horse, which bolted completely off the road, and nearly
+upset us down a steep bank, proved to demonstration that our star was
+still obscured.
+
+About midnight we reached the river “Sutlej,” and exchanged our horse
+for four fat and humpy bullocks, who managed, with very great labour
+and difficulty, to drag us through the heavy sands of the river-bed
+down to the edge of the water. Here we were shipped on board a
+flat-bottomed boat, with a high peaked bow; and, after an immensity of
+hauling and grunting, we were fairly launched into the stream, and
+poled across to the opposite shore. The water appeared quite shallow,
+and the coolies were most of the time in the water; but its width,
+including the sands forming its bed, could not have been less than two
+miles and a half. It was altogether a wild and dreary-looking scene, as
+we paddled along—the wild ducks and jackals, &c. keeping up a concert
+on their own account, and the patient old bullocks ruminating quietly
+on their prospects at our feet.
+
+On arriving at what appeared to be the opposite bank, we were taken
+out, and again pulled and hauled through the deep sand, only to be
+reshipped again on what seemed a respectable river in its own right;
+and here, getting out of patience with a stream that had no opposite
+bank, I fell asleep, and left the bullocks to their sorrows and their
+destiny.
+
+June 4.—Arrived at Jullundur, where we had to share the bungalow with
+another traveller and a rising family, who kept us alive by howling
+vigorously all day. The road from this being “Kucha,” literally
+uncooked, but here meant to express “unmetalled,” we had yet another
+form of conveyance to make acquaintance with. It was a palkee, rudely
+strapped upon the body of a worn-out “Dâk garee;” and although a more
+unpromising-looking locomotive perhaps never was placed upon wheels,
+the actual reality proved even worse than the appearance foreboded.
+
+Anybody who has happened to have been run away with in a dust-cart
+through Fenchurch Street, or some other London pavement, the gas pipes
+being up at the time, might form some idea of our sensations as we
+pounded along, at full gallop, over some thirty miles of uneven,
+uncooked road; but to anybody who has not had this advantage,
+description would be impossible. About half way, it appeared that it
+was written in my miserable destiny that the off fore-wheel of my shay
+was to come off, and off it came accordingly; so that once more I
+became an involuntary disciple of Islam, and went to sleep among the
+ruins, with rather a feeling of gratitude for the respite than
+otherwise. On awaking, I found myself again under way; and effecting a
+junction with my companion, we had a light supper off half a
+water-melon; and, after crossing the River Beas by a bridge of boats,
+and being lugged through another waste of sand by bullocks, we once
+again reached a “cooked” road, and arrived at “Umritsur” at six A.M.
+
+June 5.—Found the heat so great here that we were unable to stir out.
+
+As a consolation, we received a visit from four “Sikh Padres,” who
+rushed in and squatted themselves down without ceremony, previously
+placing a small ball of candied sugar on the table as a votive and
+suggestive offering. The spokesman, a lively little rascal, with a
+black beard tied up under his red turban, immediately opened fire, by
+hurling at us all the names of all the officers he had ever met or read
+of. The volley was in this style: First, the number of the regiment,
+then Brown Sahib, Jones Sahib, Robinson Sahib, Smith Sahib, Tomkins
+Sahib, Green Sahib, and so on, regiment after regiment and name after
+name, his brother Padres occasionally chiming in in corroboration of
+their friend’s veracity and in admiration of his vast stock of military
+information. After much trouble, we got rid of the pack, at the price
+of one rupee, which was cheap for the amount of relief afforded by
+their departure.
+
+June 6.—Reached Lahore at ten P.M. and had a night in bed, for the
+third time only since leaving Cawnpore. The Q.M.G. being at once set to
+work to make the necessary arrangements for our final start for
+Cashmere, we paid a hurried visit to the Tomb of Runjeet Singh and the
+Fort and City of Lahore. These were worth seeing, but they abounded in
+sights and perfumes, which rendered the operation rather a trying one,
+considering the very high temperature of the weather.
+
+June 7.—Drove out in a dilapidated buggy, and with an incorrigible
+horse, to Mean Meer, the cantonments of Lahore. The place looked burnt
+up and glaring like its fellows, and a fierce hot wind swept over it,
+which made us glad enough to turn our backs on it and hurry home again
+as fast as our obstinate animal would take us. The Q.M.G., we found,
+had collected our staff of servants together, and was otherwise pushing
+on our preparations as fast as the dignity and importance of the
+undertaking would admit.
+
+The staff consisted of khidmutgar, bawurchie, bhistie, dhobie, and
+mihtar; or, in plain English, butler, cook, water-carrier, washerman,
+and sweeper.
+
+Of these, the washing department only brought with it its insignia and
+badge of office. This was an enormous smoothing-iron, highly ornamented
+with brass, decorated with Gothic apertures, and made to contain an
+amount of charcoal that would have kept an entire family warm in the
+coldest depths of winter. Being of great weight, we rather objected to
+such an addition to our stores—the more so as our linen was not likely
+to require much getting-up. The dhobie, however, declared himself
+unable to get on without it, and it accordingly had to be engaged with
+its master.
+
+June 8.—To-day Rajoo is still hard at work laying in stores from the
+bazaars and arranging means of transport for them; the weather hot
+beyond measure; and as neither our food nor quarters are very good, we
+begin to forget our lessons of resignation, more especially as the
+mosquitoes begin to form a very aggravating item in our destiny.
+
+June 9.—About four P.M. the Q.M.G. came in triumphantly with about
+sixteen tall baskets covered with leather, which he called “khiltas;”
+and having ranged them about the room like the oil-jars of “Ali Baba,”
+he proceeded to cram them with potatoes, tea, clothes, brandy, and the
+whole stock of our earthly goods, in a marvellous and miscellaneous
+manner, very trying to contemplate, and suggestive of their entire
+separation from us and our heirs for ever.
+
+Coolies not being procurable in sufficient numbers to carry away all
+our stores together, F. and I agreed to start in the morning, leaving
+the head of affairs with the rearguard to follow at his leisure. Got
+away at last in two “palkees,” with four “banghy wallahs,” or
+baggage-bearers, carrying our immediate possessions, guns, &c. Spent
+the night wretchedly enough, the roads being of the worst, and covered
+nearly a foot deep everywhere with fine dust, which our bearers very
+soon stirred up into an impenetrable cloud, enveloping us in its folds
+to the verge of suffocation.
+
+The sensation is strange enough, travelling in this way along a lonely
+road at dead of night, closely shut up in an oblong box, and surrounded
+by some twenty or more dusky savages, who could quietly tap one on the
+head at any time, and appropriate the bag of rupees—inseparable from
+Indian travelling—without the slightest difficulty. That they do not do
+so is probably from the knowledge they possess that with the bag of
+rupees there is generally to be found a revolver, and that an English
+traveller is of so generous a disposition that he seldom parts from his
+money without giving a little lead in with the silver.
+
+June 10.—After a dusty jolt of forty miles, we reached “Gugerwalla” at
+eight A.M., and felt the change from Lahore most refreshing. The
+village seemed a quiet little settlement, very little visited by
+Englishmen, and the inhabitants, probably on that account, appeared of
+a different stamp from those we had hitherto met. The women, in
+particular, were more gaily dressed, and not so frightened at a white
+face as more south. The rearguard not having come up at six P.M. we
+started off without it. Crossed the Chenab during the night. The fords,
+by torchlight, were most picturesque, and rather exciting, in
+consequence of the water at times taking it into its head to see what
+was inside the “palkee.” The Chenab makes the fourth out of the “five
+waters” from which the “Punjab” takes its name. The Jhelum only
+remains—the ancient Hydaspes of Alexandrian notoriety.
+
+June 11.—Reached “Goojerat” at five A.M. and enjoyed a few hours of
+quiet sleep in a very comfortable bungalow. The “khiltas” not making
+their appearance, we halt here for the night. In the evening we
+explored the city—a straggling rabbit-barrow settlement, inclosed by a
+mud wall, and boasting the narrowest streets I had ever seen. In an
+open space we came upon a marvellously-ornamented “mundir,” or Hindoo
+temple, painted in the most florid style, with effigies of dark
+gentlemen in coloured pants riding on peacocks, antelopes, and other
+beasts of burden common in the country. It seemed the centre of
+attraction to a numerous concourse of strangers from the north; among
+others, a bevy of young ladies with loose trousers and fair
+complexions, evidently “Cashmeeries,” who seemed to regard the “heathen
+temple” as one of the wonders of the world. In the middle of the night
+the rearguard came in with the supplies, and we at once turned it into
+an advanced-guard, and packed it off to make preparations for our
+arrival at “Bimber.”
+
+June 12.—Spent a very hot day at Goojerat, and amused ourselves by
+inspecting the gold-inlaid work for which the place is famous. At 5.30
+P.M. we started for our last night’s journey in British territory; and
+thus terminated, for the present, our experiences of all the hot and
+dusty “pleasure of the Plains.”
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PART II.
+
+CASHMERE.
+
+
+June 13.—About two A.M. we passed out of India into the territory of
+His Highness the Maharajah of Cashmere, and halted at Bimber. The
+accommodation here turned out to be most indifferent, although in our
+route the edifice for travellers was called a “Baraduree,” which
+sounded grandly. It means a summer-house with twelve doors; but beyond
+the facilities it afforded of rapid egress, we found it to possess but
+few advantages.
+
+Putting a couple of charpoys outside, we managed a few hours’ sleep al
+fresco, in spite of the flies and mosquitoes innumerable, who lost no
+time in taking possession of their new property. On being able to
+discern the face of the country, we found ourselves at the foot of a
+range of hills of no great height, but still veritable hills; and
+although the sun was nearly as hot as in the plains, we felt that we
+were emancipated from India, and that all our real travelling troubles
+were over. In the evening we inspected the Maharajah’s troops,
+consisting of eight curiously-dressed and mysteriously-accoutred sepoys
+under a serjeant. These same troops had rather astonished us in the
+morning by filing up in stage style in front of our two charpoys just
+as we awoke, and delivering a “Present arms” with great unction as we
+sat up in a half-sleepy and dishevelled condition, rubbing our eyes,
+and not exactly in the style of costume in which such a salute is
+usually received. We now found the “army” in the domestic employment of
+cooking their victuals, so that we were unable to have much of a
+review. However, we looked at their arms and accoutrements; ammunition
+they had none; and saw them perform the “manual and platoon.” Their
+arms had been matchlocks, but had been converted, these stirring times,
+into flintlocks! In addition to these, which were about as long as a
+respectable spear, they had each a sword and shield, together with a
+belt and powder-horn, all clumsy in the extreme. In loading, we found
+an improvement on the English fashion, for, after putting the imaginary
+charge in with the hand, they blew playfully down the muzzle to obviate
+the difficulty of the powder sticking to the sides. After presenting
+the troops with “bukhshish,” we strolled through the village and met
+the “thanadar,” or head man, coming out to meet us, arrayed in glorious
+apparel and very tight inexpressibles, and mounted on a caparisoned
+steed. Dismounting, he advanced towards us salaaming, and holding out a
+piece of money in the palm of his hand; and not exactly knowing the
+etiquette of the proceeding, we touched it and left it where we found
+it, which appeared to be a relief to his mind, for he immediately put
+it in his pocket again.
+
+His chief conversation was on the subject of the Maharajah and the
+delights of Cashmere, and anxiety as to our having got all supplies,
+&c. which we required, as he had been appointed expressly for the
+purpose of looking after the comfort of the English visitors. What with
+our friend and his train, and the detachment of “the army” which had
+accompanied us, our retinue began to assume the appearance of a
+procession; and it was with great difficulty that we induced them all
+to leave us, which they did at last after we had expressed our full
+satisfaction at the courtesy displayed by the Maharajah’s very
+intelligent selection of a “thanadar.”
+
+June 14.—Broke up our camp about three A.M. and started our possessions
+at four o’clock, after some difficulty in prevailing upon the coolies
+to walk off with their loads. On mustering our forces, we found that
+they numbered thirty-seven, including ourselves. Of these twenty-four
+were coolies, carrying our possessions—beer, brandy, potatoes, &c.; our
+servants were six more; then there were four ponies, entailing a native
+each to look after them; and, last of all, one of the redoubtable
+“army” as a guard, who paraded in the light marching order of a sword,
+shield, bag of melons, and an umbrella. F. and I travelled on “yaboos,”
+or native ponies—unlikely to look at, but wonderful to go. Mine was
+more like a hatchet than anything else, and yet the places he went over
+and the rate he travelled up smooth faces of rock was marvellous to
+behold.
+
+About eight o’clock we found ourselves once more among the pine-trees;
+and, although the sun was very powerful, we had enough of the freshness
+of the mountain air to take away the remembrance of the dusty plains
+from our minds. No rain having fallen as yet, the springs and rivers
+were all nearly dry; but we saw several rocky beds, which gave good
+promise of fly-fishing, should they receive a further supply of water.
+
+About nine A.M. we reached our halting-place, “Serai Saidabad,” a
+ruined old place, with a mud tenement overlooking, at some elevation,
+the banks of a river.
+
+Here we were again received with a salute, by a detachment of warriors
+drawn up in full dress—viz. red and yellow turbans, and blue trousers
+with a red stripe.
+
+After undergoing a refreshing bath of a skin of water, taken in our
+drawing-room, we got our artist to work at breakfast, and shortly after
+found, with considerable satisfaction, that we were in for the first of
+the rains. This welcome fact first proclaimed itself by the
+reverberation of distant thunder from among the mountains to the north;
+then an ominous black cloud gradually spread itself over us, and, with
+a storm of dust, down came the rain in torrents, making the air, in a
+few minutes, cool and delicious as possible, and entirely altering the
+sultry temperature which had previously prevailed. The thirsty ground
+soaked up the moisture as if it had never tasted rain, and the trees
+came out as if retouched by Nature’s brush; while as, for F. and
+myself, we turned the unwonted coolness to the best account we could,
+by setting ourselves to work to pull up all arrears of sleep forthwith.
+
+June 15.—Started at four A.M., with our numerous train, and found the
+road all the pleasanter for the rain of the previous evening, and all
+things looking green and fresh after the storm. Our path led us up a
+rocky valley, with its accompanying dashing stream, in the bed of which
+we could see traces of what the brawler had been in his wilder days, in
+huge and polished boulders and water-worn rocks, which had been hurled
+about in all directions. We afterwards went straight up a precipitous
+mountain, wooded with pine, which was no light work for the coolies,
+heavily laden as they were. No sooner, however, were we on the top of
+this than down we went on the other side; and how the ponies managed
+their ups-and-downs of life was best known to themselves; certainly,
+nothing but a cat or a Cashmere pony could have got over the ground.
+About nine A.M. we reached “Nowshera,” under another salute, where we
+found an indifferent-looking “Baraduree,” completely suffocated among
+the trees of a garden called the “Bauli Bagh,” or “Reservoir Garden,”
+from a deep stone well in the centre of it. Here we got on
+indifferently well, the weather being close after the rain, and the
+place thickly inhabited by crowds of sparrows, all with large families,
+who made an incessant uproar all day long; besides an army of
+occupation of small game, which interfered sadly with our sleeping
+arrangements at night. In the evening we made the acquaintance of a
+loquacious and free-and-easy gardener, entirely innocent of clothes,
+who came and seated himself between F. and myself, as we were perched
+upon a rock enjoying the prospect. According to his account, the
+Maharajah’s tenants pay about seven rupees, or fourteen shillings, per
+annum for some five acres of land. In the middle of the night we came
+in for another storm of thunder and lightning, which took a good many
+liberties with our house, but cooled the air; and only for the
+mosquitoes, and other holders of the property, whose excessive
+attentions were rather embarrassing, we would have got on very well. As
+it was, however, I hardly closed an eye all night, and spent the
+greater part of it in meandering about the Bauli Bagh, vestito da
+notte—in which operation I rejoice to think that, like the Russians at
+the burning of Moscow, I at least put the enemy to very considerable
+inconvenience, even at the expense of my own comfort.
+
+June 16.—About half-past four A.M. we got under weigh again, heartily
+delighted to leave the sparrows and their allies in undisputed
+possession of their property.
+
+The “kotwal,” and other authorities, who had been extremely civil in
+providing supplies, coolies, &c., according to the Maharajah’s order,
+took very good care not to let us depart without a due sense of the
+fact, for they bothered us for “bukhshish” just as keenly as the lowest
+muleteer; and when I gave the kotwal twelve annas, or one shilling and
+sixpence, as all the change I had, he assured me that the khidmutgar
+had more, and ran back to prove it by bringing me two rupees. I gave
+the scoundrel one, and regretted it for three miles, for he had robbed
+the coolies in the morning, either on his own or his master’s account,
+of one anna, or three-halfpence each, out of their hardly-earned wages.
+To-day we find ourselves once more among the rocks and pines, and as we
+progressed nothing could exceed the beauty of the views which opened
+upon us right and left. A mountain stream attended our steps the whole
+way sometimes smoothly and placidly, sometimes dancing about like a mad
+thing, and teasing the sturdy old battered rocks and stones which long
+ago had settled down in life along its path, and which, from the amount
+of polish they displayed, must themselves have been finely knocked
+about the world in their day. Rounding a turn of the river, where it
+ran deeply under its rocky bank, we came suddenly upon the ghastly
+figure of a man carefully suspended in chains from a prominent tree.
+His feet had been torn off by the wolves and jackals, but the upper
+part of the body remained together, and there he swung to and fro in
+the breeze, a ghastly warning to all evildoers, and a not very pleasing
+monument of the justice of the country. He was a sepoy of the
+Maharajah’s army, who had drowned his comrade in the stream below the
+place where he thus had expiated his crime. Not far from this spot we
+discovered traces of another marauder, in the shape of a fresh
+footprint of a tiger or a leopard, just as he had prowled shortly
+before along the very path we were pursuing.
+
+From this we gradually got into a region of fruit-trees, interspersed
+with pines; and sometimes we came upon a group of scented palms, which
+looked strangely enough in such unusual company. Through clustering
+pomegranates, figs, plums, peach-trees, wild but bearing fruit, we
+journeyed on and on; and, as new beauties arose around us, we could not
+help indulging in castles in the air, and forming visions of earthly
+paradises, where, with the addition only of such importations as are
+inseparable from all ideas of paradise, either in Cashmere or
+elsewhere, one might live in uninterrupted enjoyment of existence, and,
+at least, bury in oblivion all remembrance of such regions as the
+“Plains of India.”
+
+About ten A.M., after a continuous series of ups-and-downs of varied
+scenery, we arrived at “Chungas,” a picturesque old serai, perched upon
+a hill over the river. It was marked off in our route as having no
+accommodation, but, located among the mouldering remnants of grandeur
+of an old temple in the centre of the serai, we managed to make
+ourselves very comfortable, and thought our “accommodation” a most
+decided improvement upon our late fashionable but rather overcrowded
+halting-place. From the serai we can see, for the first time, the snowy
+range of the Himalayas, trending northwards, towards the Peer Punjal
+Pass, through which our route leads into the Valley of Cashmere.
+
+June 17.—Another ride through hill and dale to “Rajaori,” or “Rampore,”
+a most picturesque-looking town, built in every possible style of
+architecture, and flanked at one extremity by a ruined castle. Our
+halting-place was in an ancient serai, with a dilapidated garden,
+containing the remains of some rather handsome fountains. It was
+situated on a rock, several hundred feet above the river which
+separated us from the town; and, from our elevated position, we had a
+fine view of the whole place, and got an insight into the manners and
+customs of the inhabitants, without their being at all aware of our
+proximity.
+
+The women and children appeared to be dressed quite in the Tartar
+style: the women with little red square-cornered fez caps, with a long
+strip of cloth thrown gracefully over them, and either pyjamas of blue
+stuff with a red stripe, or a long loose toga of greyish cloth,
+reaching nearly to the feet. The little girls were quite of the
+bullet-headed Tartar pattern, of Crimean recollection, but wore rather
+less decoration. The Crimean young ladies generally had a three
+cornered charm suspended round their necks, while the youthful fashion
+of Rajaori, scorning all artificial adornment, selected nature only as
+their mantua-maker, and wore their dresses strictly according to her
+book of patterns. After enjoying a delightfully cool night in our
+elevated bedroom, we started for “Thanna.”
+
+Our path led through a gradually ascending valley, cultivated, for the
+rice crop, in terraces, and irrigated by a complicated net-work of
+channels, cut off from the mountain streams, and branching off in every
+direction to the different elevations. The ground was so saturated in
+these terraces that ploughing was carried on by means of a large
+scraper, like a fender, which was dragged along by bullocks, the
+ploughman standing up in the machine as it floundered and wallowed
+about, and guiding it through the sea of mud.
+
+June 18.—Reached Thanna at nine A.M. and came to a halt in a shady spot
+outside the village. There was an old serai about half a mile off, but
+it was full of merchants and their belongings, and savoured so strongly
+of fleas and dirt, that we gave it up as impracticable.
+
+This was the first instance of our finding no shelter; and, as ill luck
+would have it, our tents took the opportunity of pitching themselves on
+the road, a number of coolies broke down, and one abandoned our
+property and took himself off altogether. Under these interesting
+circumstances, we were obliged to spend the day completely al fresco,
+and to wait patiently for breakfast until the fashionable hour of
+half-past two P.M. The inhabitants took our misfortunes very
+philosophically, and stopped to stare at us to their heart’s content as
+they went by for water, wondering, no doubt, at that restless nature of
+the crazy Englishman, which drives him out of his own country for the
+sole purpose, apparently, of being uncomfortable in other people’s. Our
+position, although at the foot of the grander range of mountains, we
+found very hot, and a good deal of ingenuity was required in order to
+find continued shelter from the scorching rays of the sun. The natives
+here, seemed to suffer to a great extent from goitre, and one of our
+coolies in particular had three enormous swellings on his neck,
+horrible to look at. During the night, Rajoo came in with the missing
+baggage, except two khiltas, for which no carriage could be procured,
+and which he was in consequence obliged to abandon on the road until
+assistance could be sent to them.
+
+June 19.—Started at daybreak from our unsatisfactory quarters, and
+enjoyed some of the finest scenery we had yet encountered. The road
+ascended pretty sharply into what might be called the real mountains,
+and finding our spirits rise with the ground, we abandoned our ponies
+and resolved to perform the remainder of our wanderings on foot. As we
+reached the summit of our first ascent, and our range of view enlarged,
+mountain upon mountain rose before us, richly clothed with forest
+trees; while, overtopping all, peeped up the glistening summits of the
+snowy range, everything around seems cool and pleasant, in spite of the
+hot sun’s rays, which still poured down upon us. Our road from this,
+descending, lay among the nooks and dells of the shady side of the
+mountain; and the wild rose and the heliotrope perfumed the air at
+every step as we walked along in full enjoyment of the morning breeze.
+Our sepoy guide of to-day was not of the educated branch of the army.
+He was the stupidest specimen of his race I had ever met; and as his
+language was such a jargon as to be nearly unintelligible, we failed
+signally in obtaining much information from him.
+
+Among other questions, I made inquiries as to woodcock, the cover being
+just suited to them, and after a great deal of difficulty in explaining
+the bird to him, he declared that he knew the kind of creature
+perfectly, and that there were plenty of them. By way of convincing us,
+however, of his sporting knowledge, he added that they were in the
+habit of living entirely on fruit; and he was sadly put out when F. and
+I both burst into laughter at the idea of an old woodcock with his bill
+stuck into a juicy pear, or perhaps enjoying a pomegranate for
+breakfast. Shortly after, we came suddenly upon quite a new feature in
+the scene—a strange innovation of liveliness in the midst of solitude.
+
+At a bend in the road, what should appear almost over our heads but a
+troop of about a hundred monkeys, crashing through the firs and
+chestnuts, and bounding in eager haste from tree to tree, in their
+desire to escape from a party of natives coming from the opposite
+direction. They were large brown monkeys, of the kind called lungoors,
+standing, some of them, three feet high, and having tails considerably
+longer than themselves. Their faces were jet black, fringed with light
+grey whiskers, which gave them a most comical appearance; and as they
+jumped along from tree to tree, sometimes thirty and forty feet,
+through the air, with their small families following as best they
+could, they made the whole forest resound with the crashing of the
+branches, and amused us not a little by their aërial line of march.
+
+After crossing a dashing mountain-torrent by a rude bridge of trees
+thrown across it, we arrived at the village of Burrumgulla. Here our
+guide wanted us to halt in a mud-built native serai, but, with the
+recollection of past experience fresh upon us, we declined, preferring
+to choose our own ground and pitch our first encampment. The ground we
+selected was almost at the foot of a noble waterfall, formed by a huge
+cleft in a mass of rugged rock. The water, dashing headlong down, was
+hidden in the recess of rock below, but the spray, as it rose up like
+vapour and again fell around us, plainly told the history of its birth
+and education. Even had we not seen the snowy peaks before us from the
+mountain top, there was no mistaking, from its icy breath, the nursery
+in which its infant form had been cradled. Just at our feet was one of
+the frail and picturesque-looking pine bridges spanning the torrent;
+while just below it another mountain river came tumbling down, and,
+joining with its dashing friend, they both rolled on in life together.
+As soon as our traps arrived, F. and I had a souse in the quietest pool
+we could find, and anything so cold I never felt; it was almost as if
+one was turned into stone, and stopping in it more than a second was
+out of the question. After breakfast and a siesta, we sallied out to
+try and explore the head of the cataract above us. After rather a
+perilous ascent over loose moss and mould, and clutching at roots of
+shrubs and trees, we were brought to a stand by a huge mass of
+perpendicular rock, which effectually barred us from the spot through
+which the water took its final leap. The upper course of the torrent,
+however, amply repaid us for our labour, for it ran through the most
+lovely dell I ever saw; and as it bounded down from rock to rock, and
+roared and splashed along, it seemed to know what there was before it,
+and to be rejoicing at the prospect of its mighty jump. Torrent as it
+seemed, it was evidently nothing to what it could swell to when in a
+rage, for here and there, far out of its present reach, and scattered
+all about, were torn and tattered corpses of forest trees, which had
+evidently been sucked up and carried along until some rock more abrupt
+than its neighbours, had brought them to a stand and left them,
+bleached and rotting, in the summer’s sun. At night we found ourselves
+glad to exchange our usual covering of a single sheet for a heavy
+complement of blankets, and found our encampment not the least too
+warm. The authorities here were particularly civil and obliging, and
+supplied us with the best of butter, eggs, and milk. The latter was
+particularly good, and, not having often tasted cow’s milk in the
+Plains, we did it ample justice here.
+
+June 20.—Found it rather hard to turn out this morning, in consequence
+of the great change in the temperature, but got under weigh very well
+considering. Our path led us up the main torrent towards the snow, and
+in the first three miles we crossed about twenty pine-tree bridges
+thrown across the stream, some of them consisting of a single tree, and
+all in the rudest style of manufacture. Near one of these, under an
+immense mass of rock, we passed our first snow. It looked, however, so
+strange and unexpected, that we both took it for a block of stone; and
+being thatched, as it were, with leaves and small sticks, &c., and
+discoloured on all sides, it certainly bore no outward resemblance to
+what it really was.
+
+After an almost perpendicular ascent up natural flights of steps, we
+reached our next stage, Poshana—a little mud-built, flat-roofed
+settlement on the mountain-side. Here we engaged a couple of
+“shikàrees,” or native sportsmen, and made preparations for a détour
+into the snows of the Peer Punjal in search of game.
+
+June 21.—Having made a division of our property, and sent the Q.M.G.
+with an advanced guard two stages on to Heerpore, F. and I started at
+daybreak for a five-days’ shooting expedition in the mountains.
+
+We took with us a khidmutgar and bhistie—both capital servants, but
+unfortunately not accustomed to cold, much less to snow. Besides these,
+we had ten coolies to carry our baggage, consisting of two small tents,
+bedding, guns, and cooking utensils, &c.; and our two shikàrees with
+their two assistants. The two former wore named Khandàri Khan and Baz
+Khan,—both bare-legged, lightly clothed, sharp-eyed, hardy-looking
+mountaineers, and well acquainted with the haunts of game, and passes
+through the snow.
+
+For the first time we had now to put on grass shoes or sandals; and
+though they felt strange at first, we soon found that they were
+absolutely necessary for the work we had before us. Our shoemaker
+charged us six annas, or ninepence, for eight pairs, and that was
+thirty per cent. over the proper price. However, as one good day’s work
+runs through a new pair, they are all the better for being rather
+cheap. Along the road in all directions one comes across cast-off
+remains of shoes, where the wearer has thrown off his worn-out ones and
+refitted from his travelling stock; and in this way the needy
+proprietor of a very indifferent pair of shoes may, perchance, make a
+favourable exchange with the cast-off pair of a more affluent
+pedestrian; but, to judge from the specimens we saw, he must be very
+needy indeed in order to benefit by the transaction. On leaving
+Poshana, we immediately wound up the precipitous side of a mountain
+above us, and soon found that, from the rarification of the air, and
+the want of practice, we felt the necessity of calling a halt very
+frequently, for the purpose, of course, of admiring the scenery and
+expatiating upon the beauties of nature. About two miles on the way we
+came to a slip in the mountain-side, and just as we scrambled, with
+some difficulty, across this, our foremost shikàree suddenly dropped
+down like a stone, and motioning us to follow his example, he
+stealthily pointed us out four little animals, which he called
+“markore,” grazing at the bottom of a ravine. Putting our sights to
+about 250 yards, we fired both together, with the best intentions, but
+indifferent results; for they all scampered off apparently untouched,
+and we again resumed our march.
+
+Our encamping ground we found situated among a shady grove of
+fir-trees, with a mountain-torrent running beneath, bridged over, as
+far as we could see, with dingy-looking fields of snow and ice. Here,
+in the middle of June; with snow at our feet, above us, and around us,
+we pitched our tent, and had breakfast, and laid our plans for a search
+for game to-morrow. Though the wind blew cold and chilly off the snows,
+we soon found that the midday sun still asserted his supremacy, and our
+faces and hands soon bore witness to the fierceness of the trial of
+strength between the two. Our camp, although so high up, was not more
+than six miles from Poshana, and from thence we drew all our supplies,
+such as milk, eggs, and fowls, &c., the coolies’ and shikàrees’
+subsistence being deducted from their pay. Our own living was not
+expensive: fowls, threepence each for large, three-halfpence small;
+milk, three-halfpence per quart, and eggs, twelve for the like amount,
+or one anna. For the rest, we lived upon chupatties, or unleavened
+cakes of flour—very good hot, but “gutta-percha” cold—potatoes from
+Lahore, and, in the liquid line, tea and brandy. At night we slept upon
+the ground—pretty hard it was while one was awake to feel it—and not
+having any lamp, we turned in shortly after dark, while in the morning
+we were up and dressed before the nightingales had cleared their
+voices. These latter abounded all about us, and formed a most agreeable
+addition to our establishment.
+
+June 22.—Left our camp before sunrise, and crossing a large field of
+snow over the main torrent, we clambered up the precipitous side of our
+opposite mountain. The snow at first felt piercingly cold as it
+penetrated our snow-shoes, but before we reached the top, we had little
+to complain of in the way of chilliness. Our sharp-sighted guides soon
+detected game on the rocks above us, and off we went on a stalk, over
+rocks and chasms of snow—now running, now crawling along, more like
+serpents than respectable Christians, and all in a style that would
+have astonished nobody more than ourselves, could we have regarded the
+performance in the cool light of reason, and not influenced by the
+excitement of chasing horned cattle of such rare and curious
+proportions.
+
+The markore, however, were quite as interested in the sport as we were,
+and after an arduous and protracted stalk, they finally gave us the
+slip, and we called a halt at the summit of a hill for breakfast and a
+rest during the heat of the day. The former we enjoyed as we deserved,
+but for the latter I can’t say much: occasionally a cold blast from off
+the snow would run right through us, while the sun bore down upon our
+heads with scorching power, making havoc with whatever part of us it
+found exposed to its rays, and blistering our hands and legs. The
+guides helped us out by building up a most ricketty-looking shanty with
+sticks and pieces of their garments and our own, and under this apology
+for shelter, with our feet almost in the snow, we passed the day, until
+it was cool enough again to look for game. In the evening we came
+suddenly upon a kustura, a sort of half goat, half sheep, with long
+teeth like a wolf. He was, however, in such thick cover, that we were
+unable to get a shot at him.
+
+Our camp, we found, moved, according to order, some three miles higher
+up, to facilitate the shooting on that side: it was still, however,
+among the firs and nightingales.
+
+June 23.—Up again before sunrise, and off to the tops of the mountains
+in search of game. The pull-up took us about an hour and a half, and on
+reaching the summit, we found ourselves above the pass of the Peer
+Punjal, the rocky and snow-covered ranges of mountain around us
+gradually trending off on all sides, and losing themselves in
+pine-covered slopes, till they finally blended with the blue outlines
+of the ranges of Pills we had crossed on our route from Bimber. While
+taking a sharp look around us for a herd of some twenty animals which
+we had seen the day previously, we suddenly found ourselves close to a
+party of five markore, but they scampered off so fast over rock and
+snowdrift, that they gave us no opportunity of getting a shot.
+
+Following them up, we came, while clinging to an overhanging ledge of
+rock, upon one solitary gentleman standing about 150 yards below. We
+both fired together, but the pace we had come, and the ground we had
+crossed, had unsteadied our aim, and though my second bullet parted the
+wool on his back, it was not written that our first markore was to fall
+so easily. After this we tracked the first herd for a long distance
+over the snow, until they scampered down an almost perpendicular face
+of snow and ice, and here we gave them up, halting on a spur of the
+mountain for a repast of chicken, eggs, chupatties, and cold tea.
+During our morning’s work we had come across some most break-neck
+places, and had one or two narrow escapes, which, at the time, one was
+hardly conscious of. The snow was wedged into the ravines like sheets
+of ice, and being most precipitous, and continuing to the very foot of
+the mountains, terminating in the numerous torrents which they fed, a
+single false step in crossing would have sent one rolling down, without
+a chance of stopping, to be dashed to pieces at the bottom. In this
+way, a couple of years before, two coolies and a shikàree had been
+killed, while shooting with an officer. F. and I generally crossed
+these places in the footsteps of the guides, or in holes cut by them
+for our feet with a hatchet; but the men themselves passed them with a
+dash, which only long practice and complete confidence could have
+imitated. During our halt we suffered a good deal from the sun,
+although the snow was only six inches off. In spite of the shade which
+our guides constructed for us out of mysterious portions of their
+dress, both our wrists and ankles were completely swollen and blistered
+before evening, while our faces and noses in particular began to assume
+the appearance so generally suggestive of Port wine and good living.
+
+Our descent to the camp was a good march in itself, and we arrived
+there about five P.M. hot and tired, ‘but quite ready for our mountain
+fare. On our road, we luckily discovered a quantity of young rhubarb,
+growing in nature’s kitchen-garden, and pouncing on it, we devoted it
+to the celebration of our Sunday dinner. [4] We also saw a number of
+minaur, or jungle-fowl, something of the pheasant tribe; but they were
+so wild that nothing but slugs would secure them, and they entirely
+declined the honour of an invitation to our Sunday entertainment.
+
+June 24.—We were not at all sorry to remember this morning, as the sun
+rose, that it was a day of rest, for after our last few days of work we
+were fully able to enjoy it. Amused ourselves exploring all about us,
+and picking wild flowers in memory of our camp. The commonest were wild
+pansy and forget-me-not, and the rhododendron grew in quantities. In
+the afternoon we made a muster of our standing provisions, having only
+brought four days’ supply, and seeing little chance of getting back for
+ten. The result was., that tea was reported low, potatoes on their last
+legs, and brandy in a declining state. Under these melancholy
+circumstances, we agreed to stop another day for shooting, and then
+march over the snows for Aliabad and Heerpore, to join our main body at
+the latter place. A road by Cheta Panee was declared impracticable for
+coolies, in consequence of the hardness of the snow; so we gave it up.
+
+June 25.—All over the mountains again this morning before daybreak, and
+up to breakfast-time without seeing game. However, one of our
+sharp-sighted guides then detected markore, grazing at a long distance
+up the mountains; even through the glasses they were mere specks, and,
+to our unpractised eyes, very like the tufts and stones around them;
+but in all faith that our guides were right, off we started in pursuit.
+The first step was to lose all our morning’s toil by plunging for a
+mile or so down a steep descent. After that being accomplished, up we
+went again, up and up an apparently interminable bank of snow, at an
+angle of about sixty degrees, and slippery as glass. At the summit,
+exhausted and completely out of breath, we did at last arrive, and from
+this our friends of the morning were expected to be within shot. Not a
+sign of a living creature appeared, however, to enliven the solitude
+around us, and we began to think that our guides were a little too
+clear-sighted this time, when what should suddenly come upon us but a
+solitary old markore, slowly and leisurely rounding a rugged point of
+rock below. We were all squatted in a bunch upon a space about as large
+as a good-sized towel; but, hidden as we thought ourselves, I could
+discern that our friend had evidently caught a glimpse of something
+which displeased him in his morning cogitations. Still, on he came, and
+just as he crossed a small field of snow, F. opened fire at him across
+the ravine: the ball struck just below his body, and, as he plunged
+forward, I followed with both barrels. On he went, however, and before
+another shot could be fired he was coolly looking down upon us from a
+terrace of inaccessible rocks, completely out of range. Nothing
+remained but to descend again, and this we accomplished very much more
+speedily, though perhaps not quite in such a graceful style as we had
+ascended. The shikàrees merely sat down on the inclined plane, and with
+a hatchet or a stick firmly pressed under the arm as a lever to
+regulate the pace, or a rudder to steer clear of rocks as occasion
+might require, down they went at a tremendous pace, until the slope was
+not sufficient to propel them further.
+
+Our own wardrobe being limited in dimensions we declined adopting this
+mode of locomotion, and slipping and sliding along, soon accomplished
+the descent, in a less business-like but equally satisfactory manner.
+While taking the direction of our camp, we espied seven more animals,
+perched apparently upon a smooth face of rock; and after a short
+council of war off we started on a fresh stalk, down another descent,
+over more fields of snow, and up a place where a cat would have found
+walking difficult.
+
+While accomplishing this latter movement, our guides detected two huge
+red bears, an enormous distance off, enjoying themselves in the evening
+air, and feeding and scratching themselves alternately, as they
+sauntered about in the breeze. Abandoning our present stalk, which was
+not promising, down we went again, and crossing about a mile and a half
+of broken ground, snow, rocks, &c., we reached a wood close to the
+whereabouts of our new game. F. and I, separating, had made the place
+by different routes, and just as I had caught sight of one enormous
+monster, F. and the shikàree appeared, just on the point of walking
+into his jaws. Having, by great exertion, prevented this catastrophe,
+we massed our forces, and taking off our hats, just as if we were
+stalking an unpopular landed proprietor in Tipperary, we crept up to
+within sixty yards of the unsuspicious monster, and fired both
+together. With a howl and a grunt, the huge mass doubled himself up,
+and rolled into the cover badly wounded. Being too dangerous a looking
+customer to follow directly, we reloaded and made a circuit above him;
+and after a short search, discovered him with his paws firmly clasped
+round a young tree. By way of finishing him, I gave him the contents of
+my rifle behind the ear, and we then rolled him down a ravine on to the
+snow beneath, where, a heavy storm of rain, hail, and thunder coming
+on, we left him alone in his glory. Putting our best legs foremost, we
+made for our camp, amid a pelting shower of hail like bullets and an
+incessant play of lightning around us, as we pushed our way along the
+frozen torrent. About five P.M., tired and drenched, we reached the
+camp, when we discovered that our tents, though extremely handy for
+mountain work, were not intended to keep out much rain, and that all
+our rugs, and other comforts, were almost in as moist a state as
+ourselves. During the entire night it continued to hail, rain, thunder,
+and lighten; and with the exception of the exact spots we were each
+lying on, there was not a dry place in the tent to take refuge in.
+
+June 26.—After an exceedingly moist night, we made the most of a little
+sunshine by turning out all our property, and hanging it around us on
+stones and bushes to dry. After we had distinguished ourselves in this
+way, for a couple of hours, down came the rain again; and after stowing
+our half-dried goods, we assembled under a tree, and held a council of
+war as to our future movements. The rain had swelled the mountain
+torrents considerably, and the hail, lying on the old snow, had made it
+slippery as glass, so that we were obliged to give up the mountain pass
+we had agreed upon, and decided on a retreat to “Poshana,” our present
+ground being fairly untenable. Sending off our tents and traps, and
+half-drowned servants, who were completely out of their element, we
+remained behind under the pines till the rain a little abated, and
+having secured the bear-skin for curing, we started off with our
+rear-guard for Poshana. The road was so slippery, that even with
+grass-shoes we could hardly keep from falling; and the snow we found as
+hard as ice, and proportionately difficult to cross. The consequence
+was, that in passing a steep incline with the guide, he slipped, and I
+followed his example, and down we both went like an engine and tender,
+the guide fishing about with his legs for obstacles, and I above him,
+endeavouring to use my pole as an anchor to bring us to.
+
+Luckily, we both reached terra firma safely, after a perilous run,
+though at the same side we started from, and a long distance from our
+point of previous departure. On at length reaching the opposite side,
+we found a disconsolate coolie bemoaning himself and reckoning his
+bones, having also fallen down the snow, while a little further on we
+came upon the bhistie lamenting over a similar disaster. The latter
+functionary had also lost a valuable pot of virgin honey, which had
+only come up from Poshana the day before, and which we had not had time
+to see the inside of even, ere it was thus lost to us for ever, and
+made over as a poetical reparation to the bears of the country for the
+ruthless murder we had committed on one of their number. Found the hut
+at Poshana empty, and were glad to get into its shelter again. The rain
+seeming quite set in, we determined to discharge our shikàrees, and
+after paying them three rupees each for their week’s work, we sent them
+away perfectly happy, with a few copper caps and a good character
+apiece.
+
+June 27.—Left Poshana at five A.M., and made for the Peer Punjal pass.
+A sharp struggle brought us to the summit, where we found a polygon
+tower erected, apparently as a landmark and also a resting-place for
+travellers to recover themselves after their exertions. [5] At the
+Cashmere side of the pass I had expected to see something of the
+far-famed valley, but nothing met the eye but a wild waste of land,
+bounded on all sides by snow, while a few straggling coolies toiled up
+towards us with some itinerant Englishman’s baggage like our own.
+
+This turned out to belong to a party returning to Sealkote, and we were
+rather elated by seeing among their possessions several enormous
+antlers, which promised well for sport at the other side of the valley.
+They turned out, however, to have been bought, and, as their owners
+informed us, there was no chance of meeting such game until October or
+November. About two miles down the pass we reached the old serai of
+Aliabad, and found the only habitable part of it in possession of a
+clergyman and a young Bengal artilleryman bound for the
+shooting-grounds we had just left. With much difficulty we obtained a
+few eggs, and a little milk with which we washed down the chupatties we
+had brought with us; but the coolies were so long getting over the
+path, that no signs of breakfast made their appearance until about two
+o’clock. At mid-day it came on to rain heavily, and we took up our
+quarters in a miserable den, with a flooring of damp rubbish and a
+finely carved stone window not very much in keeping with the rest of
+the establishment. Here we spent the day drearily enough, the prospect
+being confined to a green pool of water in the middle of the serai,
+around which the Pariah dogs contended with the crows for the dainties
+of offal scattered about. As soon as it was dark, we were glad enough
+to spread our waterproof sheets on the ground, and sleep as well as the
+thousands of tenants already in possession would allow us.
+
+June 28.—Up at sunrise, and packed off our things down the mountain for
+Heerpore, where the main body of our possessions were concentrated.
+
+Shortly after their departure it began to rain an Irish and Scotch
+combined mist, and after warming our toes and blinding our eyes over a
+wood fire for about three hours, in hopes of its clearing, we donned
+grass-shoes and, putting our best legs foremost, accomplished about
+thirteen miles of a most slippery path without a halt, except for the
+occasional purpose of adjusting our dilapidated shoes.
+
+After the first five or six miles the path entered a beautifully-wooded
+valley, and at one spot, where two torrents joined their foaming waters
+at the foot of a picturesque old ivy-grown serai, the landscape was
+almost perfection. Passing this, we entered a thickly-shaded wood,
+studded with roses and jessamine, and peopled with wood-pigeons and
+nightingales, who favoured us with a morning concert as we passed.
+Crossing a wooden bridge over the torrent, we reached a fine grass
+country, and here the presence of a herd of cows told us we were near
+our destination. At Heerpore we found Mr. Rajoo located with all our
+belongings in a little wooden sort of squatter’s cabin, where we were
+glad to take shelter out of the dripping rain. It reminded one strongly
+of Captain Cuttle’s habitation and a ship’s cabin together, and made
+one feel inclined to go on deck occasionally. It was on the whole,
+however, very comfortable, and seemed, after our late indifferent
+quarters, to be a perfect palace. After breakfast, we made inquiries as
+to our worldly affairs, and found that all were thriving with the
+exception of the potatoes, which had been taken worse on the road, and
+were already decimated by sickness. We added a sheep to our stock, for
+which we paid three shillings, and laid in a welcome supply of butter.
+The khidmutgar and bhistie, we found, had retailed the history of their
+many sorrows to the other servants, and, having expatiated most fully
+on the horrors they had endured among the snows and thunderstorms of
+the mountains, were promising themselves a speedy end to all their woes
+among the peace and plenty of the promised land of Cashmere.
+
+June 29.—After some trouble in procuring coolies, we started at eleven
+in a shower of rain, and found ourselves gradually passing into the
+valley, and exchanging rocks and firs for groves of walnut; and moss
+and fern for the more civilized strawberry and the wild carnation. The
+strawberries, though small, had a delicious flavour, and we whiled away
+the time by gathering them as we passed. About two o’clock we reached
+the village of Shupayon, and here began to perceive a considerable
+change in the style of architecture from what we had been accustomed
+to; the flat mudden roof giving place to the sharply-pitched wooden
+one, thatched with straw, or coarsely tiled with wood.
+
+Our halting-place we found, for the first time, to possess a staircase
+and upper story. A little square habitation it was, with a verandah all
+round it, and built entirely of wood. From this, as the clouds lifted
+from the mountain-tops around, a most lovely view opened out before us.
+
+Wherever the eye rested toward the mountains, the snow-capped peaks
+raised themselves up into the clear blue sky; while at our feet lay the
+far-famed valley, reaching towards the north, to the very base of the
+mountain range, and rising gradually and by a gentle slope to our
+halting-place, and so back to the pass from which we had just
+descended.
+
+As the sun appeared to have come out again permanently, we took the
+opportunity of getting our tents and other property which had suffered
+from the wet out for a general airing.
+
+June 30.—Marched about nine miles through fertile slopes of
+rice-fields, shaded by walnuts and sycamores, and found our
+halting-place situated in a serai, shrouded in mulberry and cherry
+trees, and with a charming little rivulet running through it,
+discoursing sweet music night and day. Our habitation was a baraduree,
+or summer-house, of wood, and having an upper room with trellised
+windows, where we spent the day very pleasantly. At dinner we had the
+first instalment of the land of promise, in the shape of a roly-poly
+pudding of fresh cherries, a thing to date from in our hitherto
+puddingless circumstances.
+
+July 1.—Started at daybreak for our last march into the capital. The
+first appearance of the low part of the valley was rather
+disappointing, for there was nothing striking in the view; still, the
+country was extremely fertile, and its tameness was redeemed by the
+glorious mountain range, which bounded the valley in every direction,
+with its pure unsullied fringe of snow. Our path was occasionally
+studded with the most superb sycamores and lime-trees; and as we
+approached the town we entered a long avenue of poplars, planted as
+closely together as possible, and completely hiding all the buildings
+until close upon them. Passing through the grand parade-ground, we
+found a bustling throng of about four hundred Cashmeeries, with heavy
+packs beside them, waiting for an escort to take out supplies to the
+Maharajah’s army, now on active service at a place called Girgit, in
+the mountains. The said army seemed to be fighting with nobody knew
+who, about nobody knew what; but report says that his Highness, having
+a number of troops wanting arrears of pay, sends them out periodically
+to contend with the hill tribes, by way of settlement in full of all
+demands.
+
+Having engaged a boat’s crew at Ramoon, we were, on arriving at the
+River Jhelum, which runs through the city, immediately inducted to the
+manners and customs of the place; and being safely deposited in a long
+flat-bottomed boat, with a mat roof and a prow about twelve feet out of
+the water, we were paddled across by our six new servants, and landed
+among a number of bungalows on the right bank, which were erected by
+the Maharajah for the reception of his English visitors. These are
+entirely of wood, of the rudest construction, and are built along the
+very edge of the river, which is here about a hundred yards broad.
+
+We were received on landing by the Baboo and Moonshee, the native
+authorities retained by the Maharajah for the convenience of his
+visitors; and learning from them that there were no bungalows vacant,
+we pitched our little camp under a shady grove of trees close by; and
+thus, in the capital of the land of poetry and promise, the far-famed
+paradise of the Hindoo, we brought our wanderings to an end for the
+present, and gave ourselves and our retainers a rest from all the toils
+and troubles of the road.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PART III.
+
+A HALT IN THE VALLEY.
+
+
+Being fairly settled in our quarters, we were not long in putting our
+new staff of dependants into requisition; and, taking to our boat,
+sallied forth to get a general view of the city of Sirinugger. [6]
+Finding, however, a review of the army going on, we stopped at the
+parade-ground to witness the interesting ceremony. The troops we found
+drawn up in lines, forming the sides of a large square, and dressed in
+what his Highness Rumbeer Singh believes confidently to be the English
+costume. As far as one could see, however, the sole foundation for this
+belief lay in the fact of their all wearing trousers! These were
+certainly the only articles of their equipment that could in any way be
+called English in style; and they bore, after all, but a slender
+resemblance to the corresponding habiliments of the true Briton.
+
+The head-dress, generally speaking, was a turban. One regiment,
+however, had actually perpetrated a parody on the English shako—a feat
+which I had always hitherto considered absolutely impossible.
+
+The cavalry were mounted upon tattoos, or native ponies, and wore white
+trousers, with tight straps, which rendered them for the time being the
+most miserable of their race.
+
+A few of them had imitations of Lancer caps, some had boots, some
+slippers, some spurs, others none; some had wondrous straps of tape and
+cord, others wore their trousers up to their knees; but one and all
+were entirely uniform in looking completely ill at ease and out of
+their element in their borrowed would-be-English plumage. Just as we
+had finished taking a general view of the army, the Maharajah appeared
+upon the stage, dressed in a green-and-gold embroidered gown and turban
+and tight silk pantaloons, mounted on a grey caparisoned Arab steed.
+After riding round the lines with his retinue, he came up, and we were
+presented in due form; and after asking us if we had come from
+Allahabad, and expressing his opinion that it was a long way off, in
+which we entirely concurred with him, he shook hands in English style;
+and, taking his seat in a chair which was placed for him, we collected
+ourselves around, and, similarly seated, prepared to inspect the
+marching past of his highness’s redoubtables. Before this began,
+however, the Maharajah’s little son made his appearance, dressed in all
+respects like his papa, with miniature sword and embroidered raiment;
+and to him we were also introduced in form. During the marching past, I
+congratulated myself upon being several seats distant from his
+highness’s chair, for the effect was so absurd that it was almost
+impossible to preserve that dignity and composure which the occasion
+demanded.
+
+The marching was in slow time, and the step being fully thirty-six
+inches the fat little dumpy officers nearly upset themselves in their
+efforts to keep time, and at the same time prevent their slippers from
+deserting on the line of march; while, in bringing their swords to the
+salute, they did it with a swing which was suggestive of their throwing
+away their arms altogether. Besides artillery, five regiments of
+infantry and two of cavalry marched past—in all, little over 2,000
+men—colours flying and bands playing “Home, sweet home!” After this the
+irregulars began to appear; and although the first part of the army
+might have almost deserved the name, these put them completely in the
+shade. One colonel had a pair of enormous English gold epaulettes and a
+turban; another a black embroidered suit, with white tape straps, and
+slippers; and as for the men, there were no two of them dressed alike,
+while in the way of arms, each pleased his own particular fancy also. A
+long gun over the shoulder was the most popular weapon; but each had,
+in addition, a perfect armoury fastened in his girdle: pistols with
+stocks like guns, daggers and even blunderbusses made their appearance;
+and the general effect, as the crowd galloped independently past,
+dressed in their many-coloured turbans, and flowing apparel, was most
+picturesque. As soon as the last of the flags and banners and prancing
+horses had gone past, the Maharajah set us the example of rising, and
+mounting his grey steed, cantered off in state, surrounded by the crowd
+of dusky parasites, arrayed in gold and jewels, who formed his court.
+
+His Highness appeared to be about thirty-eight years old, and was as
+handsome a specimen of a native as I had ever seen. He wore a short,
+jet-black beard, and mustachios, turned up from the corners of his
+mouth, and reaching, in two long twists, nearly to his eyes. He
+appeared absent and thoughtful which, considering the low state of his
+exchequer, was perhaps not to be wondered at. [7] His English visitors
+spend a good deal of money every summer in his kingdom; and for this
+reason alone, he is anxious enough to cultivate their acquaintance, and
+gives naches, or native dances, and champagne dinners periodically to
+amuse them. He presents, also, an offering to each traveller that
+arrives, and we in due course received two sheep, two fowls, and about
+fourteen little earthen dishes containing rice, butter, spices, eggs,
+flour, fruit, honey, sugar, tea, &c., all of which were laid at the
+door of our tent, with great pomp and ceremony, by a host of
+attendants.
+
+After the review, we took boat again and paddled down the stream to
+look at the town, and a quainter and more picturesque-looking old place
+it would be hard to conceive. The houses are built entirely of wood, of
+five and six stories, and overhanging the river, and are as close as
+possible to each other, except where here and there interspersed with
+trees. Communication is kept up between the banks by means of wooden
+rustic bridges, built on enormous piles of timber, laid in entire
+trees, crossing each other at equal distances. Not a single straight
+line is to be seen in any direction—the houses being dilapidated and
+generally out of the perpendicular; and everywhere the river view is
+bounded by the snow-capped ranges of mountain, which, towards the
+north, appear to rise almost from the very water’s edge.
+
+July 2.—Taking the Q.M.G. as a guide, we sallied out immediately after
+breakfast to explore the land part of this Eastern Venice. Entering at
+the city gate, on the left bank of the river, near the Maharajah’s
+palace, we walked past a row of trumpery pop-guns, on green and red
+carriages, and so through the most filthy and odoriferous bazaar I ever
+met with, till we reached the residence of Saifula Baba, the great
+shawl merchant of Sirinugger. Here we found a noted shawl fancier
+inspecting the stock, and were inducted to the mysteries of the
+different fabrics. Some that we saw were of beautiful workmanship, but
+dangerous to an uninitiated purchaser. They ranged from 300 to 1,000
+rupees generally, but could be ordered to an almost unlimited extent of
+price. After inspecting a quantity of Pushmeena and other local
+manufactures, Mr. Saifula Baba handed us tea and sweetmeats, after the
+fashion of his country; and we adjourned to the abode of a worker in
+papier maché, where we underwent a second edition of tea and
+sweetmeats, and inspected a number of curiosities. The chief and only
+beauty of the work was in the strangeness of the design; and some of
+the shawl patterns, reproduced on boxes, &c., were pretty in their way,
+but as manufacturers of papier maché simply, the Cashmeeries were a
+long way behind the age.
+
+On reaching home, we found that the Maharajah had sent his salaam,
+together with the information that he was going to give a nach and
+dinner, to which we were invited.
+
+July 3.—After continuing our explorations of Sirinugger, we repaired,
+about seven o’clock, to the Maharajah’s palace, where we were received
+by a guard of honour of sixty men and four officers, the latter in gold
+embroidered dresses, and hung all over with ear-rings and finery of
+divers sorts and kinds.
+
+Ascending the stairs, we were met by the Deewan, or prime minister, who
+conducted us into an open sort of terrace over the river, where we
+found the Maharajah with the few English officers already arrived
+seated on either side of him, and the nach-girls, about twenty in
+number, squatted in a semicircle opposite them. Standing behind his
+Highness were colonels of regiments and native dignitaries of all
+sorts, dressed in cloth of gold and jewels, and in every variety and
+hue of turban and appointments. A number of these were Sikhs; and
+magnificent-looking men they were, with their flowing dress and
+fiercely-twisted whiskers and mustachios. The nach-girls, too—a motley
+group—were attired in all the hues of the rainbow, and with the
+white-robed musicians behind them, awaited in patience the signal to
+commence. In singular contrast to this glittering throng, which formed
+the court, were the guests whom the Maharajah, on this occasion,
+delighted to honour. The British officer appeared generally in the
+national but uncourtly costume of a shooting jacket! and though some
+few had donned their uniform, and one rejoiced in the traditional
+swallow-tail of unmistakeable civilization, neither the one nor the
+other contrasted favourably in point of grace with the Cashmerian rank
+and fashion.
+
+After shaking hands with his Highness, who prides himself upon his
+English way of accomplishing that ceremony, and does it by slipping
+into one’s hand what might be taken for a dying flat fish, we took our
+seats, and the dancing began shortly afterwards. Though on a more
+magnificent scale than anything I had seen of the kind before, the
+programme was flat and insipid enough. The ladies came out two and two,
+and went through a monotonous die-away movement, acting, dancing, and
+singing all at the same time, and showing off their red-stained palms
+and the soles of their feet to the best advantage. Some of the women
+were very pretty, but very properly they modified their charms by
+dressing in the most unbecoming manner possible. Their head-dress was a
+little cloth of gold and silver cap hung all round with pendent
+ornaments, and these were becoming enough, but the remainder of the
+dress was much more trying. A short body of shot silk was separated by
+a natural border from a gauze skirt, which hung down perfectly straight
+and innocent of fulness, and allowed a pair of white pyjamas to appear
+beneath. These were fastened tightly round the ancles, which were
+encircled by little bunches of the tinkling bells, which the ladies
+make such use of in the dance. Round the shoulders comes a filmy scarf
+of various colours, which also plays a prominent part in all their
+movements, and answers in its way to the fan of more accomplished
+Western belles.
+
+After each couple had gone through the whole of their performances,
+they used to squat themselves down suddenly in the most ungraceful
+style imaginable, and were then relieved by another pair of artistes
+from the group.
+
+One lady, in addition to the dance, favoured us with “the Marseillaise”
+with the French words, being occasionally prompted by the head of the
+orchestra, who nearly worked himself into a frenzy while accompanying
+the dancers with both vocal and instrumental music at the same time.
+The Maharajah himself was plainly dressed in white robes, with a pair
+of pale-green striped silk pantaloons fitting his legs like stockings
+from the knee down, and terminating in a pair of English socks, of
+which he seemed immensely proud. His turban was of the palest shade of
+green, and (in strong contrast to the rest of his court) without any
+ornament whatever. The little heir to the throne—a nice little
+blackamoor of about eight years of age—was, like his father, perched
+upon a chair, and arrayed in a green and gold turban, pants, and socks,
+with the addition of a velvet gold-embroidered coat, while round his
+neck were three or four valuable necklaces, one of pear-shaped emeralds
+of great size and beauty. After a few dances the doors of the
+banqueting-room were thrown open, and his Highness led the way into
+dinner with the commissioner. On entering, we found a capital dinner
+laid out English fashion, and with a formidable army of black bottles
+ranged along the table. The Maharajah, however, had disappeared, and we
+were left to feed without a host. The grandees, meanwhile, remained
+outside, and still enjoyed the dances, ranging themselves upon their
+haunches in front of the rows of chairs which not one among them would
+have dared to trust himself in for either love or money. Considering
+that our entertainer was a Hindoo, and that his dinner-giving
+appliances were limited, each person having to bring his own knife,
+fork, spoon, and chair, we fared very well, and after having drunk his
+health, again assembled in the court, where we found Rumbeer Singh
+still occupied with the wearisome nach, and reattired in a gorgeous
+dress of green velvet and gold. After a short stay he got up, and we
+all followed his example, glad enough to bring the entertainment to an
+end, and betake ourselves to our boats. At the stairs there was a
+desperate encounter with innumerable boatmen, each boat having six,
+eight, or ten sailors, and all being equally anxious to uphold the
+credit of their craft by being the first to land their masters safe, at
+home. We were fortunate enough to reach our own at once, and, with a
+shouting crew, away we dashed up the river, leaving the others
+struggling, fighting, and flourishing their paddles in the air, in a
+way which was more suggestive of an insurrection scene in Masaniello
+than the departure of guests from a peaceable gentleman’s own hall door
+on the night of an evening party.
+
+On the stairs there was an extraordinary assemblage of slippers, which
+seemed to hold the same relative position that hats and cloaks do in
+more enlightened communities—that is, the good ones were taken by the
+owners of the bad, and the proprietors of the bad ones were fain to
+make the best of the exchange. Next morning our khidmutgar came up with
+a most doleful countenance and presented to our notice a pair of
+certainly most ill-favoured slippers, which a fellow true-believer had
+inadvertently substituted for a pair of later date. The lost ones had,
+in fact, only recently been received from the boot-maker; and the blow
+was difficult to bear with resignation, even by the saintliest follower
+of Islam—a reputation which our retainer came short of by a very long
+way indeed.
+
+July 4.—Having an accumulation of letters to answer, we devoted the day
+to writing—merely enjoying a little otium cum dig.—in the evening,
+reclining in our boat while serenaded by the crew of boatmen.
+
+July 5.—Walked up, before daybreak, to the Tukht e Sûleeman, or
+Solomon’s throne, “the mountainous Portal,” which Moore speaks of
+in Lalla Rookh, and which forms the most striking landmark in the
+valley.[8]
+
+From the summit there was a curious view of the multitudinous wooden
+houses and the sinuous windings of the river, which could alone be
+obtained from such a bird’s-eye point of inspection. An old temple at
+the top was in the hands of the Hindoo faction, being dedicated to the
+goddess Mahadewee, and in charge of it I found two of the dirtiest
+fukeers, or religious mendicants, I ever had the pleasure of meeting.
+One was lying asleep, with his feet in a heap of dust and ashes, and
+the other was listlessly sitting, without moving a muscle, warming
+himself in the morning sun. Both were almost naked, and had their
+bodies and faces smeared with ashes and their hair long and matted.
+They appeared to have arrived at a state of almost entire abstraction,
+and neither of them even raised his eyes or seemed to be in the
+slightest degree aware of my presence, although I took a sketch of one
+of them, and stared at both, very much as I would have done at some new
+arrival of animals in the Zoological Gardens.
+
+In the evening we went again to Saifula Baba’s and visited the
+workrooms, where we were much astonished by the quickness with which
+the people worked the intricate shawl patterns with a simple needle,
+and no copy to guide them.
+
+The first stages of the work are not very promising, but the finished
+result, when pressed and rolled and duly exhibited by that true
+believer Saifula Baba, in his snowy gown and turban, was certainly in
+every way worthy of its reputation.
+
+Returning home, we visited a garden where any of the English visitors
+who die in the valley are buried—the Maharajah presenting a Cashmere
+shawl, in some instances, to wrap the body in. There were about eight
+or ten monuments built of plaster, with small square slabs for
+inscriptions. One of these was turned topsy-turvey, which was not to be
+wondered at, for a native almost always holds English characters
+upside-down when either trying to decipher them himself or when holding
+them to be read by others.
+
+July 6.—In the early morning I ascended to the throne of Solomon, in
+order to get a sketch of the Fort of Hurree Purbut, and in the
+afternoon we repaired to the lake behind the town, where there was a
+grand Mela or fair, on the water, to which the Maharajah and all his
+court went in state. The lake is beautifully situated at the foot of
+the mountains, and was covered so densely in many parts with weed and
+water-plants that it bore quite the appearance of a floating garden;
+and as the innumerable boats paddled about, with their bright and sunny
+cargoes, talking and laughing and enjoying themselves to their heart’s
+content, the scene began to identify itself in some measure with
+Moore’s description of the “Sunny lake of cool Cashmere,” and its
+“Plane-tree isle reflected clear,” although the poet’s eyes had never
+rested on either lake or isle. Putting poetry on one side, however, for
+the present, we made our way to the extremity of the lake, in order to
+pay a visit to his Highness’s gaol, where we were received by a very
+civil gaoler, equipped with a massive sword and dilapidated shield. We
+found 110 prisoners in the place, employed generally in converting dhan
+into chawul, or, in other words, clearing the rice-crop. There was also
+a mill for mustard oil, and the most primitive machine for boring
+fire-arms ever invented, both worked by water-power. The prison dress
+was uniform in the extreme: it consisted simply of a suit of heavy
+leg-irons and nothing more!
+
+After seeing the fair, we paddled across through a perfect water-meadow
+to the Shalimar gardens, where we found the Rajah and his suite just
+taking their departure. The vista on entering the gardens was extremely
+pretty: four waterfalls appear at the same moment, sending a clear
+sheet of crystal water over a broad stone slab, and gradually receding
+from sight in the wooded distance. A broad canal runs right through the
+gardens, bridged at intervals by summer-houses and crossed by carved
+and quaintly-fashioned stepping stones. At the extremity there is a
+magnificent baradurree of black marble, which looks as if it had been
+many centuries in existence, and had originally figured in some very
+different situation. The pillars were entire to a length of seven feet,
+and were highly polished from the people leaning against them. Around
+this, in reservoirs of water, were about two hundred fountains, all
+spouting away together, and on one side a sheet of the most perfectly
+still water I ever saw. It appeared exactly like a large looking-glass,
+and it was impossible to discern where the artificial bank which
+inclosed it either began or terminated.
+
+In these gardens it was that Selim, or Jehangeer the son of Akbar, used
+to spend so many of his days with the far-famed Noor Jehan in the
+beginning of the seventeenth century, and here was the scene of their
+reconciliation, as related by Feramorz to Lalla Rookh ere he revealed
+himself to her as her future lord, the king of Bucharia. From these
+founts and streams it was that the fair Persian sought to entice her
+lord, with “Fly to the desert, fly with me!”
+
+
+           “When breathing, as she did, a tone
+            To earthly lutes and lips unknown;
+            With every chord fresh from the touch
+            Of Music’s spirit,—’twas too much!”
+
+
+“The light of the universe” overcomes even the “conqueror of the
+world.” Thinking it, after all, wiser to kiss and be friends than be
+sulky, he surrenders at discretion:—
+
+
+           “And, happier now for all their sighs,
+            As on his arm her head reposes,
+            She whispers him with laughing eyes,
+           ‘Remember, love, the Feast of Roses!’”
+
+
+Leaving the favourite haunts of the “magnificent son of Akbar,” we
+crossed the lake again to see the Maharajah inspect a party of about
+2,000 soldiers, who were departing for the war at Girgit. Nothing in
+the way of supplies being procurable near the scene of action, the
+greater part of the review was taken up by the marching past of a horde
+of Cashmeree and mountain porters, heavily laden with the sinews of
+war. According to report, the pay of the army here is about five
+shillings per mensem, with a ration of two pounds of rice per diem.
+
+In the evening, the number of boats congregated on the lake was
+marvellous. All were perfectly crammed with Cashmerian
+pleasure-seekers; but the turbaned faithful, in spite of the pressure,
+in no way lost their dignity, but with pipes and coffee enjoyed
+themselves in apparently entire unconsciousness of there being a soul
+on the lake beside themselves. The most wonderful sight, however, was
+the immense crowd of many-coloured turbans congregated on shore,
+witnessing the departure of the Cashmerian Guards; and as they thronged
+the green slopes in thousands, they gave one quite the idea of a mass
+of very violent-coloured flowers blooming together in a garden. On our
+way home we had great jostling, and even fighting, in order to maintain
+our position among the crowds of boats, the result of which was that
+our crew managed to break two paddles in upholding the dignity and
+respectability of their masters. The Maharajah himself, however, gave
+us the go-by in great style, in a long quaint boat, propelled by
+thirty-six boatmen, and built with a broad seat towards the bows, in
+shape like the overgrown body of a gig in indifferent circumstances, on
+which his Highness reclined. By his side was the little prince, in
+glorious apparel, while half a dozen of his court, arrayed in spotless
+white, appeared like so many snow-drifts lying at his feet.
+
+July 7.—Made our arrangements to-day for a trip by water to the Wûler
+Lake, and spent the afternoon in inspecting the jeweller’s and other
+shops in the city. The native workmen appear to engrave cleverly both
+on stone and metal, and some of their performances would bear
+comparison with any European workmanship of a similar kind. They also
+work in filagree silver, charging about sixpence in every two
+shillings’ worth of silver for their labour. About nine P.M. we took to
+our boats; F. and I occupying one together, in which we stowed bedding,
+dressing-things, &c. while the cooking apparatus and servants occupied
+the other. Passed the night very comfortably, and found the situation
+most conducive to sleep, as we glided gently along with the stream.
+
+July 8.—Awoke to find an innumerable swarm of mosquitoes buzzing about
+our habitation, and apparently endeavouring to carry it off bodily.
+Letting down, however, the muslin curtains, which the foreknowledge of
+the faithful Q.M.G. had provided us with, we succeeded in puzzling the
+enemy for the time being. About eight o’clock, the fleet came to an
+anchor at a luxuriant little island at the entrance of the great lake;
+to all appearance, however, it might have been situated in a meadow,
+for we had to force our way to it through a perfect plain of green
+water-plants, whose slimy verdure covered the face of the lake for
+miles around. It was wooded by mulberry trees, very prettily entwined
+with wild vines, and in the midst were the remains of an old Musjid, in
+which we discovered a slab of black marble, covered with a beautifully
+carved inscription in Arabic, and appearing as if it had not always
+held the ignoble position which it now occupied. Scattered about the
+island, also, were many scraps of columns and carved stones, which gave
+evidence of having belonged to some ancient temple or palace. While
+thus surveying our island, we were pestered to death by swarms of
+prodigious mosquitoes, for which the Wûler Lake is justly celebrated,
+and during breakfast the eating was quite as much on their side as
+ours; so that we were glad to weigh anchor, and with our curtains
+tightly tucked in around us, we floated away, in lazy enjoyment of
+climate and scenery, towards the centre of the lake. As we cleared the
+margin of the water-plants, we found ourselves on a glassy surface,
+extending away towards the west as far as the eye could see, and
+bordered on all sides by gorgeous mountains and ranges of snow. Around
+the edges of the lake a sunny mirage was playing tricks with the cattle
+and the objects on the banks, and as we glided lazily on with the
+stream, and the splashing paddles, and even the foiled mosquitoes, made
+music about us, we began to enter more into the spirit of our
+situation, and to appreciate the peculiar beauties of the “sunny lake
+of cool Cashmere,” with the dolce far niente existence which of right
+belongs to it. About one o’clock we reached Sompoor, at the Baramoula
+extremity of the lake, and as it came on to blow a little, it was not
+too soon: our boats were totally unadapted for anything rougher than a
+mill-pond, and in the ripple excited by the small puffs of wind, I had
+the misfortune to ship what was, under the circumstances, a heavy sea,
+and so sacrificed the prospects of a dry lodging for the night. Sompoor
+we found a picturesque but dirty village, with promise of good fishing,
+in the river below it. We unfortunately had no tackle, but the boatmen
+succeeded in catching five or six good fish with a hook baited with a
+mulberry only: a very favourite article of consumption, apparently,
+among the Cashmerian little fishes.
+
+Dropping down the river, we dined on the bank among the mulberry trees,
+and I afterwards essayed to take a sketch of the village; such a firm
+and determined body of mosquitoes, however, immediately fell upon me,
+that, after a short but unsuccessful combat, I was fairly put to
+flight, and Sompoor remained undrawn. We passed the night above the
+town, ready for an early start in the morning.
+
+July 9.—Left our moorings before sunrise, and halted about eight A.M.
+at a little island stacked with elephant-grass, where, after as good a
+swim as the tangled weeds would permit, we breakfasted pleasantly under
+the trees.
+
+From this point we adopted a new mode of progression, the boatmen
+towing us from the bank; and the motion was a great improvement on the
+paddling system, except that it had a tendency to set one to sleep
+altogether. Reached Sirinugger, and our camp again, at four P.M.
+
+July 10.—Paid Saifula Baba, the shawl merchant, a visit to-day, in
+order to get a bill of exchange on Umritsur cashed. Found him just
+going out to Mosque, in his snow-white robe and turban, cleanly-shaved
+pate, and golden slippers. Not having any money, he promised us a
+hundred rupees of the Maharajah’s coinage to go on with. These nominal
+rupees are each value 10 annas, or 1s. 3d., the most chipped and
+mutilated objects imaginable. On one face of the coin are the letters
+I.H.S. stamped, a strange enough device for a heathen or any other mint
+to have adopted. While floating about the Eastern Venice, we discovered
+a number of finely-cut old blocks of stone in the built-up wall which
+bounded the river; and on inspecting the place, we came upon an ancient
+Mussulman cemetery and ruined Musjid, in which there were some very
+antique-looking carvings, which apparently had commenced life elsewhere
+than on Mussulman ground. The graveyard, however, was itself extremely
+old, although many of the turbaned and lettered tombstones of the
+faithful were in perfect preservation. All began with the “La Ulah ila
+Ullah,” or “B’ism Ullah,” [9] with which everything connected with a
+Mussulman does commence, either in life or death.
+
+All through the city one can trace the remains of some much more
+ancient structure in the huge blocks of carved stone which are
+scattered about among their more plebeian brethren, and serve to form
+with them, in humble forgetfulness of past grandeur, the foundations of
+the lofty rattletrap but picturesque wooden structures which line both
+sides of the river and form the city of Cashmere in the year of grace
+1860.
+
+Some of these houses, as one looks into the narrow lanes leading to the
+river and sees them in profile, are apparently in the last stage of
+dissolution, leaning out of the perpendicular and overtopping their
+lower stories and foundations in a way that would put even the leaning
+tower of Pisa to shame. One six-storied house, of long experience in
+this crooked world, had made the most wonderful efforts to redeem his
+character and to recover his equilibrium by leaning the contrary way
+aloft from what he did below. Poor fellow! he had been but badly
+conducted in his youth, and was nobly endeavouring to correct his ways
+in a mossy and dilapidated old age. The tracery of much of the
+wood-work carvings, and particularly of the windows, varies greatly,
+and in some places is so minute that it requires close inspection to
+find out the design. Of these the Zenana windows of the Maharajah’s
+palace are about the finest specimens; but as there is no way of
+approaching them closely, it is impossible to make out their details.
+
+July 11.—Started this evening by water for Islamabad, the ancient
+capital of Cashmere.
+
+We made a slight change in our arrangements, rather for the better, by
+hiring a large boat for ourselves and handing our own over to the
+servants and culinary department in general.
+
+July 12.—Found ourselves not very far on our road on awakening this
+morning, the night having been very dark, the current strong against
+us, and the sailors lazy.
+
+Another cause of delay also, if these were insufficient, was, that the
+proprietor of the boat dropped his turban overboard, with two rupees in
+the folds of it, and the old lady his spouse had stopped the fleet for
+at least an hour to cry over the misfortune. Before breakfast we had a
+swim, and found ourselves only just able to make way against the
+stream. Breakfasted on the river bank, under the trees, and surrounded
+by rocky snow-capped mountains. Reading, scribbling, and eating
+apricots brought us to about an hour before sunset, when F. and I
+landed and went ahead to pick out a spot for a dining-room for
+ourselves. In the search, we passed through orchards and gardens
+innumerable, and finally decided upon a grove of magnificent sycamores
+on the river bank, where we laid out our table just as the sun went
+down. Within view was a picturesque old wooden bridge, on the mossy
+tree-formed piles of which the bushes were growing, as if quite at
+home, and hanging gracefully over the flowing river.
+
+July 13.—Found ourselves at sunrise at the end of our boat journey,
+bathed in the river, and started for Islamabad, about half a kos off.
+
+On the bank we found three other travellers encamped, and leaving them
+fast asleep, we pushed ahead and took possession of the baraduree. This
+we found a charming little place in a garden, full of ponds of sacred
+fish, with old carved stones scattered about, belonging to the Hindoo
+mythology. Through one corner of an upper tank a stream of crystal
+water flowed in from the mountain which rose perpendicularly behind
+it—the water welling up from below in a constant and abundant stream.
+Round this corner were some most grotesque stones; and here the sacred
+fish were assembled in such shoals as to jostle each other almost out
+of the water; but whether they were attracted by the fresh supply of
+water or the sacred images covered as they were with votive offerings
+of milk and rice, flowers, &c., the fish or the Brahmins alone can
+tell.
+
+Tradition states that an infidel Christian officer once killed three of
+these fish, and having eaten one of them, died shortly after. Putting
+their sanctity out of the question, however, the little creatures are
+so tame and so numerous that few people would be inclined either to
+kill or to eat them. While feeding them with bread, I could have caught
+any number with my hand; and holding a piece of tough crust under
+water, it was amusing to feel them tugging and hauling at it, making
+occasional snaps at one’s fingers in their efforts. They were generally
+about half a pound in weight.
+
+Our baraduree was built of wood, in the usual style, with latticed
+windows of various designs, and having one room overhanging the stream
+which ran through the centre of the house from the sacred tanks.
+Directly below the place we occupied was a little waterfall, which
+conversed pleasantly day and night; and by taking-up a loose plank in
+the floor we could see as well as hear it. Learning that there were
+some ruins in the neighbourhood, supposed to have existed from before
+the birth of our Saviour, we started in the afternoon for a place
+called Bowūn, or more popularly Mutton, about two and a half kos off.
+
+The sun to-day we found very hot in this same valley of coolness, its
+rays coming down on the backs of our heads in a very searching and
+inquisitive manner. Along the entire path there were running streams in
+every direction: and what with these and the magnificent sycamores and
+walnut-trees which shaded us as we walked, our opinions of the beauty
+of the country got a considerable rise. The path from the Peer Punjal
+Pass by which we entered appears to be the worst point of view from
+which to see the valley. From either the Peshawur or Murree roads the
+effect is much finer; and from the north-east, from which direction it
+is perhaps seldomer seen than any other, it looks greener and more
+beautiful than from either of the other points.
+
+At Mutton we found our three lazy friends of the morning, encamped
+under the trees reading green railway-novels, and evidently very much
+puzzled how to kill time. Beyond a tank teeming with sacred fishes,
+there appeared nothing whatever to be seen here. Taking warning from
+this, we thought it not worth while proceeding to Bamazoo, where we
+were told there were caves; but, treating the fishes to a small coin’s
+worth of Indian maize, we retraced our steps and diverged about a kos
+off the Islamabad road to Pandau. Here we were rewarded by coming
+suddenly upon a magnificent old Cyclopeian ruin of grey stone, bearing,
+from a little distance, the appearance rather of an ancient Christian
+Church—such as may be seen occasionally in Ireland—than of a heathen
+place of worship. On entering, we found a number of ancient carvings on
+the massive stone walls, but they were much worn, and the designs to us
+were unintelligible. Some of them were like the Hindoo divinities,
+while others were more like Christian devices, such as cherubims, &c.
+Altogether, it puzzled us completely as to its origin; but there was no
+doubt whatever as to its having existed from an extremely ancient date;
+and from its general style, as well as the absence of any similitude to
+any other place of heathen worship we have met, we set it down in our
+own minds as most probably a temple to the Sun. [10] Most of the
+figures, as far as their worn state would allow one to judge, appeared
+to be female; and there was an entire absence of any symbol at all
+resembling a cross. Many of the huge pillars had been eaten away as if
+they were of wood, by the combined effects of wind and weather; but
+hands had also been at work, as pieces of the decorations and figures
+appeared scattered about in every direction.
+
+Passing through the town of Islamabad on our return, we went into some
+of the houses to see the people at work at the loom-made shawls. Very
+hard-working and intricate business it seemed to be, and very hard and
+Manchestery the production looked to my eye, far inferior to the
+hand-made, shawl, though not generally considered so.
+
+I tried to negotiate a shawl with the overseer, but he assured me that
+the pieces were all made separately, and were sent in to the merchant
+at Sirinugger to be put together, and that he in fact had nothing
+whatever to do with the sale of them.
+
+In the evening we dined at a fashionably late hour, and were lulled to
+sleep by the simple music of our domesticated waterfall.
+
+July 14.—Started at daybreak for Atchabull, three and a half kos off
+towards the north-east. The baraduree we found situated in the middle
+of a large reservoir, in a beautiful but half-ruined garden; and here,
+the commissariat being unusually late in arriving, we took the edge off
+our appetites with a quantity of small apricots, red plums, cherries,
+&c.
+
+While exploring the gardens, we found, among other remains of grandeur,
+a Humaam, or hot-bath room, which was in very good preservation, and
+had probably in its day been honoured by the fair presence of Noor
+Jehan, with whom Atchabull was a favourite resort, and who has been, at
+one time or another, over all these gardens, during her lord’s visit to
+the valley.
+
+About thirty yards from the house, at the base of an almost
+perpendicular hill, were the great sources of interest which the place
+possesses—viz., a number of springs of ice-cold water, bubbling up to a
+height of two or three feet above the surrounding water level, and
+forming three separate rivers: one in the centre which expanded round
+our house, and one on either side. Around were fruit-trees of all sorts
+and kinds, and from every quarter came the gurgling sound of rushing
+water mingled with the singing of innumerable birds. Here sweetly
+indeed do the “founts of the valley fall;” and their number and beauty,
+as well as the purity of the clear and crystal streams which they pour
+over the length and breadth of the land, it is which forms one of its
+chief and pleasantest features, and has, no doubt, mainly contributed
+to its reputation as a terrestrial paradise. To the abundance of these
+streams the inhabitants are indebted for the crops of waving rice which
+spread their delicately-green carpetting over the entire valley; the
+purity of the waters give to the silks the brightness of their dyes and
+to their shawls their fame; and from its virtues also the love-lighted
+eyes are supposed to derive their far-famed lustre. No wonder,
+therefore, that to the Hindoo at least, “Cashmere is all holy land.”
+From his sun-burnt plains and his home by the muddy banks of his sacred
+Ganges, he can form but a small conception of these cooling streams and
+shady pleasures. Should he happen to read the glowing descriptions of
+Lalla Rookh, and be perhaps led to reflect that—
+
+
+       “If woman can make the worst wilderness dear,
+        What a heaven she must make of Cashmere!”
+
+
+He no doubt ejaculates “Wa, wa!” in admiration of the poetry of the
+West, and thinks complacently of the partner of his joys as all his
+fancy painted her. His highest flights of imagination, however,
+probably fail to transplant him very far beyond the actual wilderness
+which bounds his mortal vision, while Pudmawutee and Oonmadinee, as
+here depicted by his own artistic skill, present, in all their
+loveliness of form and feature, his best conceptions of ideal worth and
+beauty. No wonder, therefore, that the reality of
+
+
+       “Those roses, the brightest that earth ever gave,
+        Those grottoes and gardens and fountains so clear!”
+
+
+and above all of—
+
+
+       “Those love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave,” [11]
+
+
+should shed its influence largely on his imagination, and that, in
+contrast to his own dry and dusty native plains, Cashmere should well
+be called the Hindoo’s Paradise.
+
+July 15.—Marched at dawn for Vernagh, a distance of eight kos, rather
+over a Sabbath-day’s journey. Here we had to wait a considerable time
+for our breakfast, the cook being an indifferent pedestrian and the day
+a very hot one. The baradurree was curiously built, close to an octagon
+tank, the water from which ran at a great pace through an arch in the
+middle of the house. [12] The tank was supplied with water in great
+volume, but from no apparent source, and was filled with fine fish, all
+sacred, and as fat as butter, from the plentiful support they receive
+from the devout among the Hindoos, not to mention the unbelieving
+travellers, who also supply them for amusement. The tank itself, the
+natives informed us, was bottomless, and it really appeared to be so;
+for from the windows of the baradurree, some fifty feet over the water,
+we could see the sides stretching back as they descended, and losing
+themselves in the clear water, which looked, from the intensity of its
+blue, both deep and treacherous to an unlimited extent. The water, too,
+was so intensely, icily cold, that an attempt to swim across it would
+have been a dangerous undertaking, and neither F. nor I could summon
+courage to jump in. We, however, bathed in the stream which ran out of
+the inexhaustible reservoir, and its effect we found very similar to
+that of hot water, so that a little of it went a very long way with us.
+As for the fish, they swarmed in such numbers that they jostled each
+other fairly out of the water in a dense living mass, while striving
+for grains of rice and bread.
+
+This also was a favourite resort of Jehangeer and Noor Jehan; and I
+found an inscription in the Persian character which, in a sentence
+according to Eastern custom, fixed the date of the erection of the
+building attached to the tank as A.H. 1029, or, about A.D. 1619. The
+inscription runs thus:—
+
+
+   “The king of seven climes, the spreader of justice, Abdool,
+    Mûzuffer, Noor-ûl-deen [13] Jehangeer Badshah, son of Akbar,
+    conqueror of kings, on the day of the 11th year of his reign paid a
+    visit to this fountain of favour, and by his order this building
+    has been completed. By means of Jehangeer Shah, son of Akbar Shah,
+    this building has raised its head to the heavens.”
+
+   “The ‘Inventor of Wisdom’ has fixed its date in this line,
+    viz:—‘Aqsirabad o Chushma Wurnak.’”
+
+
+The fountain or reservoir, and the canal, &c. seem to have been the
+work of Shah Jehan, Noor Jehan’s son, or were probably remodelled in
+his reign. The inscription referring to them runs also in the Persian
+character on a slab of copper:
+
+
+   “Hyan, by order of Shah Jahan, King, thanks be to God, built this
+    fountain and canal. From these have the country of Cashmere become
+    renowned, and the fountains aye as the fountains of Paradise.”
+
+   “The poet Survashi Ghaib has written the date in this sentence,
+    viz:—‘From the waters of Paradise have these fountains flowed.’”
+
+
+July 16.—On the road again at daybreak, with the intention of going to
+a place called Kûkûnath, where there were more springs, and which, from
+information obtained from the sepoy who accompanied us, was on our road
+to Islamabad. However, like most information relative to either
+direction or to distance in this country, it turned out to be wrong,
+and we accordingly altered our course and made for our old quarters.
+Breakfasted under a huge walnut-tree, at a village about six kos off,
+and reached Islamabad about one P.M., after a very hot tramp of ten
+kos, through groves of sycamore and walnuts, and hundreds and hundreds
+of acres of rice-fields, immersed in water, and tenanted by whole
+armies of croaking frogs. The people were principally employed in
+weeding their rice-crops, standing up to their knees in mud and water,
+and grubbing about, with their heads in a position admirably adapted to
+give anybody but a native, apoplexy in such a hot sun.
+
+July 17.—In the middle of the night we were awoke by a tremendous
+uproar in our wooden habitation, as if some one was crashing about the
+boards and panels with a big stick; immediately afterwards something
+jumped upon my bed, and with a whisk and a rush, clattered through the
+room to F.’s side, over the table, and back again to my quarter. Half
+asleep and half awake, I hit out energetically, without encountering
+anything of our uninvited guest; and the faithful Rajoo coming in with
+a light, I found F. brandishing a stick valiantly in the air,
+everything knocked about the room; an earthenware vessel of milk spilt
+upon the floor, a tumbler broken, and a plate of biscuits on the table
+with marks of teeth in them. This latter discovery was quite a relief
+to my mind, for the visitation had a most diabolic savour about it, and
+we were just beginning to fancy that there was a slight smell of
+sulphur. However, the milk and the biscuits being such innocent food,
+we were enabled to fancy that the intruder might have been no worse
+than a wild cat, which had frightened itself by breaking, our tumbler,
+and had eventually jumped through the window and made its escape. This
+interpretation, however satisfactory to ourselves, was apparently not
+so to the Q.M.G., and to his dying day he will probably remain rather
+doubtful of the kind of company we kept that night.
+
+At sunrise I paid another visit to the ruins of Pandau, or Martund, and
+sketched it from the north-east; a view which took in the only columns
+of any perfection that remained standing.
+
+Islamabad being, as its name implies, the “abode of Mahomedanism,” I
+had set the kotwal to work to procure me a good copy of the Koran.
+
+On returning, however, I found that he had collected together a bundle
+of the common editions printed in the Arabic alone, without
+interlineations. He assured me, however, that they were rare and
+valuable specimens; and I was amused by the old gentleman reading out a
+passage in a sonorous voice, following each word with his finger, and
+astonishing the bystanders by the display of his erudition; but at the
+same time holding the precious volume upside down, and thus failing in
+impressing at least one of his audience. In the evening we started
+again for Sirinugger.
+
+July 18.—Found ourselves, according to sailing directions, at anchor
+this morning, or in other words, tied to an upright stick, at
+Wentipore, on the left bank of the river, where there were some old
+ruins to be seen.
+
+The architecture we found very similar to the Pandau temple. One
+column, however, was left standing, which was more perfect than any we
+had seen before.
+
+The ruins consisted of a large quadrangle, with cloisters all round,
+and the remains of a temple in the centre; both these were completely
+decayed, but the enormous stones piled together in grand confusion
+showed that the buildings had been of considerable extent. [14] The
+corner stones here alone pointed out the position of the cloisters,
+which at Pandau had been in very fair preservation.
+
+About fifty yards from the entrance there were three columns of
+different form, sunk in the ground, their capitals just reaching a
+little below the surface, and connected by trefoil arches, all in
+pretty good preservation.
+
+A few hundred yards down the river we found another large ruin, but in
+a more dilapidated state than either of the others. In both, the
+designs carved in the huge stones were something similar in
+pattern—viz. a female figure, with what appeared to be a long strip of
+drapery passing round either arm and descending to the ancles. It was
+impossible to decipher the exact device, but the breast and head, in
+most instances, were plainly distinguishable.
+
+About three kos from Sirinugger, we stopped at another very extensive
+site of Cyclopeian ruins, at a place called Pandreton. Here we found
+the most perfect building of any we had met; and for a considerable
+distance around were traces of what must have been, in ages past, a
+city of some extent.
+
+Among other interesting remains, there was the base of a colossal
+figure standing in the midst of a field of cut corn. Only from the
+knees down remained, but this block alone was over seven feet high; the
+toes were mutilated a good deal, but the legs were in wonderful
+preservation. There was also, about half a mile off, an enormous base
+of a column, resting on its side, at the summit of a little eminence,
+where a considerable amount of mechanical power must have been required
+to place it. Its diameter was about six feet; and at some distance we
+found the remainder of the column, split into three pieces. It was
+about twelve feet long, the lower part polygon, the upper round, and
+the top a cone similar in form to the stones dedicated to Mahadeö in
+the temples of the Hindoos. The building which alone remained in at all
+a perfect state was situated in a sort of pond or tank of slimy green,
+and was quite inaccessible without a boat. [15] Sending on the cooking
+apparatus and servants, I remained with the smaller boat; and with a
+rug and a supply of biscuits, set to work to sketch the ruins. The
+operation, however, was not performed without very great difficulty.
+Innumerable mosquitoes made the spot their home, and at critical
+moments they persisted in settling themselves in the most uncomfortable
+positions. The ants, too, took a fancy to my paint-box, and even
+endeavoured to carry off some of the colours; so that between the two I
+was soon fairly put to flight, and obliged to evacuate the territory.
+
+On consulting my Hindoo authority, Rajoo, on the subject of Cyclopeian
+ruins, he tells me that they were built, not by man but by “the gods,”
+in the Sut Jûg, or golden age, an epoch which existed no less than
+2,165,000 years ago, or thereabouts!
+
+This view of the matter increases the interest of the ruins immensely,
+besides being very complimentary to the style of building practised by
+“the gods” in that age.
+
+The Hindoo ages are four, and we are believed to be at present in the
+last of the four, of which 5,000 years have been already accomplished.
+The names and duration are as follows, viz:—Sut Jûg, 1,728,000 years;
+Treth Jûg, 1,296,000 years; Dûapûr Jûg, 864,000 years; and Kul Jûg.
+432,000 years. This makes the present age of the world to be about
+3,893,000 years!
+
+About five P. M. I reached Sirinugger, and found the advanced guard in
+possession of one of the bungalows. Spent the night in a succession of
+skirmishes with innumerable fleas, who appeared to have been out of
+society for a considerable time previous to our arrival. Up to this
+moment I fancied that I knew something of the natural history of the
+race, having studied them and fought with them and slept with them in
+their happiest hunting grounds. Greek fleas, Albanian fleas, Tartar
+fleas, Russian fleas, I had combated on their own soil, but never
+before was I put to such utter confusion. All night long the enemy
+poured in upon me, and several times during the action was I forced to
+leave the field and recruit my shattered forces outside in the
+moonlight. As day dawned, however, I fell upon the foe at a certain
+advantage, and managed at last to get a few hours of sleep.
+
+July 19.—Made an expedition to the small lake to see a building which
+we were informed was built by the Puree, or fairies—the Peri of
+poetical licence.
+
+After a sharp struggle up a steep hill, under a hot sun, we reached the
+building; but, to all appearance, the fairies had less to do with the
+edifice than a race of very indifferent engineers. It was evidently the
+remains of a hill fort, built of stones and mortar, and with nothing
+wonderful in its construction whatever. It was tenanted by buffaloes
+and a few natives; and having seen specimens of both before, we took
+our departure again rather in a bad humour with both the fairies and
+their partisans.
+
+In the plain below we found the remains of Cyclopeian ruins in an
+enormous block of stone, part of a column.
+
+July 22.—Started this evening in the direction of the water-lake in
+further search of ancient ruins.
+
+July 23.—Found ourselves at daybreak among the mosquitoes in a little
+stream about two kos from Patrun. After breakfasting, we started for
+the vicinity of the ruins. As usual, in the villages we passed through,
+we found traces of cut stone doing duty as washing-stones, or corners
+of walls, &c; and at Patrun we found rather a fine old ruined temple,
+something similar in style to those towards Islamabad. [16] It was
+surrounded at some distance by trees, which had tended apparently to
+preserve the building, for the stone carvings were clearer and less
+decayed by time than any others we had seen. Being caught here in a
+heavy rain, we had a scamper for our boats, and after a wet journey,
+reached Sirinugger about eight P.M.
+
+July 26.—Finding ourselves rather tired of Sirinugger, and with no
+other books than Hindostanee to beguile the time, we resolved upon an
+expedition across the mountains into the regions of Little Thibet.
+Began preparations by hiring twelve coolies, at thirteen shillings each
+per mensem, and a mate or head man to look after them. Increased our
+stock of ducks to twelve, and otherwise added to our necessary stores,
+and completed the arrangements for a move.
+
+To-day a number of arrivals and departures took place, and the whole
+settlement was in a state of excitement and confusion. Boatmen swarmed
+about in rival application for employment, while all the rascals in the
+place seemed to have assembled together for the occasion: those who had
+bills, wanting to get them paid; and those who were either lucky or
+unfortunate enough to have none, wanting to open them as soon as
+possible with the new comers. What with these and pistol practice and
+rifle shooting from upper casements across the river, in order to
+expend spare ammunition, the European quarter was a very Babel all day
+long, and we were not sorry to escape the turmoil and get under weigh
+to new scenes as soon as possible.
+
+About dusk we embarked in two large boats with Rajoo, the cook, and the
+bhistie, the other servants remaining behind, much to their delight, to
+take charge of spare baggage, &c. left in the bungalow. One of the
+Maharajah’s army also accompanied us, a rough-and-ready-looking sepoy
+irregular, whose duty it was to ferret out supplies and coolies, &c.
+during our march, and at the same time, perhaps, to keep a watch over
+our own movements and desperate designs. Passed the night under gauze
+fortifications, the disappointed mosquitoes buzzing about outside in
+myriads, and striving hard to take a fond farewell of their much-loved
+foreign guests.
+
+By strange sounds from the direction of my companion’s quarters, as if
+of smacking of hands, &c., I was led to infer that they had partially
+succeeded in bidding him good-bye. I, however, luckily escaped without
+receiving even as much as a deputation from the enemy, and slept in
+happy unconsciousness of their vicinity.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PART IV.
+
+LITTLE THIBET.
+
+
+July 27.—About six o’clock this morning we found ourselves at anchor
+under the mountains at the northern extremity of the lake, and at the
+mouth of a dashing river of ice-cold water, into which we lost no time
+in plunging. On mustering our forces after breakfast, we found that our
+possessions required fourteen coolies for their transport. Our own
+immediate effects took four, viz. bedding two, guns one, and clothes,
+&c. one; the kitchen required four more; tent one, charpoys one,
+servants’ reserve supply of food one, brandy, one, plank for table and
+tent poles one, and last though not least, the twelve ducks took up the
+services of the fourteenth all to themselves. The rest of our train
+consisted of the faithful Rajoo, who came entirely at his own request
+to see a new country, the two servants, the sepoy, and the coolie’s
+mate, who was to act as guide, carry small matters, and make himself
+generally useful. After a most affectionate parting with our boatmen,
+Messrs. Suttarah, Ramzan, Guffard, and Co., we started on our new
+travels at about ten A.M. under a broiling sun. After several halts
+under shady chestnuts, groves of mulberry, &c., and passing by a gentle
+ascent through a lovely country, we came to our first encamping ground,
+at Kungur, and pitched our tent under a chestnut grove, considerably
+hot and tired by our first march, after all the ease and comparative
+idleness we had of late been enjoying in the valley. Here we saw the
+first of the system of extortion which goes on among the government
+authorities and the people; for after the paymaster to the forces had
+settled with the seven coolies who were not in our permanent employ,
+not being able to take all as we had originally intended, they
+assembled round us, and complained most dolefully of the smallness of
+their pay. The sepoy, who appeared a most pugnacious customer, cuffed
+some of them, and made desperate flourishes at others with a big stick,
+and seemed altogether so anxious to prevent, as he said, the
+“cherishers of the poor,” from being inconvenienced by the “scum of the
+earth,” that we suspected something wrong, and on inquiring,
+ascertained, that out of the amount due to the seven, viz. one rupee
+five annas, or about two shillings and eightpence, the organ of
+government had actually stopped eight annas, or one shilling. The
+mistake we soon rectified, much to the delight of the “scum of the
+earth,”—who had certainly earned their three annas, or fourpence
+halfpenny per man, by carrying our impedimenta eight kos under a hot
+sun,—and equally to the disgust of “the organ” who handed over the
+difference with a very bad grace indeed, and was rather out of tune for
+the rest of the day. Our hearts being expanded by this administration
+of justice, we proceeded to a further act of charity, and emancipated
+our twelve ducks from their basket, into a temporary pond constructed
+for them by the bhistie, where they dabbled about to their hearts’
+content, and soon forgot the sorrows of the road in a repast of meal
+and rice.
+
+July 28.—Marched at six A.M., and after proceeding about a kos found
+that we were in for a regular wetting. Our path lay through a
+beautifully wooded ravine with precipitous mountain peaks appearing
+ahead in every direction: these, however, were soon shrouded in
+impenetrable mist, which gradually gathered in about us, and proceeded
+to inspect us in a most searching and uncomfortable way.
+
+The road however, though beautiful, was by no means a good one, and it
+was in many places difficult work to keep one’s feet in the wet slush,
+over wooden bridges, or along the side of a dashing torrent which kept
+us company, and which seemed to be labouring just now under an unusual
+degree of temporary excitement, in consequence of having had too much
+to drink. We had arranged to breakfast on the road, but the rain made
+us push on, and on reaching the vicinity of our halting-place, we
+stopped to inspect the condition of our garments, and to satisfy
+ourselves as to our future prospects in the matter of dry changes of
+raiment. On opening our small reserve, of which the mate had charge, I
+found that sad havoc had been made in the precious articles we had been
+so hopefully depending upon for comfort and consolation at the end of
+our soaking march. The last efforts of our generally rather useless
+dhobie had been brought to bear upon our present equipment. The massive
+brass smoothing-iron and its owner had alike done their best to start
+us creditably in life with the only clean linen we were likely to
+behold for many weeks, and now nothing remained of the first instalment
+of these spotless results, but a wringing mass of wet and dirty linen.
+The sun, however, coming out opportunely to our assistance, we made the
+best of our misfortune by spreading out our small wardrobe to the
+greatest advantage in its rays. Our guide, who by the way appeared to
+know nothing whatever about the path, proceeded to unroll his turban,
+and divesting himself of his other garments, took to waving his entire
+drapery to and fro in the breeze, with a view to getting rid of the
+superfluous moisture. Leaving him to this little amusement, in which he
+looked like a forlorn and shipwrecked mariner making signals of
+distress, I repaired to a torrent close by, and after a satisfactory
+bathe in the cold snow water, and very nearly losing the whole of my
+personal property in the rushing stream, donned the few dry articles I
+was possessed of, and proceeded to pick out our camping ground. We
+fixed it among the scattered cottages of the little village of
+Gûndisursing, and while waiting for the main body, stayed our appetites
+with the few apricots we managed to discover on the already rather
+closely picked trees.
+
+Got breakfast at two P.M. just as the rain began to come down upon us
+again. The supplies procurable here were flour, milk, fowls, and eggs;
+butter, however, was not forthcoming.
+
+July 29.—Marched early after enjoying a drier night than I had
+anticipated from the look of the evening and the fine-drawn condition
+of our tent.
+
+Our road continued up a beautifully wooded and watered valley, and
+reaching a gorge in the mountains, about five kos from our start, we
+halted at a log hut a little way beyond a wooden settlement dignified
+by the name of Gûgenigiera.
+
+Here we had a bathe in the rushing snow torrent, a curious combination
+of pain and pleasure, but the latter considerably predominating,
+particularly when it was all over.
+
+After breakfast we sent the coolies on again, intending to halt three
+kos off; however, on reaching the ground, they unanimously requested to
+be allowed to go on to the village of Soonamurg, the halting-place
+shown on our route. It was altogether considerably over a Sabbath-day’s
+journey, being nine kos of a bad mountain-path; but as no supplies
+whatever were procurable short of it, we held on our course. After
+leaving our halt, the path led us close to the torrent’s edge, and the
+gorge narrowing very much, we were completely towered over in our march
+by gigantic peaks of rock, blocks of which had come down from their
+high estate at some remote period of their existence, and now occupied
+equally prominent though humbler positions in the torrent’s bed below.
+Occasionally they presented themselves in our actual path, and at one
+place we found that our course was blocked completely, the inaccessible
+mountain side descending precipitously to the torrent, and leaving us
+no option but to take to the water, roaring and boiling as it was. Our
+guide went first with great deliberation and groping his way with a
+stick, and after an ineffectual attempt to scale the rock above, F. and
+I also unwillingly followed his example. The water was piercingly cold
+as it swept against us, and the pain was so great that we were glad to
+blunder over as quickly as possible, without taking very much trouble
+about picking our steps. After passing this in safety we came suddenly
+upon a band of hill-men with their loads, from Thibet; they were the
+first natives we had encountered, and wild and weird-looking savages
+they appeared as they congregated about us, gibbering to each other in
+their astonishment at our sudden appearance. With them, was a
+strange-looking bullock, with long black mane and tail, and hind
+quarters like a horse, which they apparently used for carrying their
+merchandize. To-day we passed the first snow since leaving the valley,
+although in the distance there was plenty of it to be seen.
+
+Nothing could exceed the beauty of the view as we approached our
+intended halting-place. Having crossed the torrent by a wooden bridge,
+the mountains we had been winding through showed out in all their
+grandeur, while above us, inaccessible peaks, with sharp and fanciful
+projections, nestled their mighty heads among the fleecy clouds, which
+hung about after the recent rains. In advance again, other mountain
+ranges rose behind each other, clothed on their southern faces with
+delicate grass up to the point where the snow lay lightly on their
+rocky top-knots and hid itself among the clouds. From the bridge, a
+rustic structure of entire pine-trees, we passed through an upper
+valley carpeted with the brightest soft green pasturage, until we
+reached the usual little cluster of dilapidated wooden tenements which
+constitute a village in these mountains. This was Soonamurg, and
+crossing another bridge, formed of two single giant pines, we came to a
+halt and pitched our camp close to a huge bank of snow on the river’s
+brink. What with our halt, and the badness of the path, we did not
+arrive until five P.M., and as the sun set, the spray from our snowy
+neighbour began to wrap its chilling influence about us, and we were
+glad enough to invest ourselves in some thick cashmere wraps of native
+manufacture, which we had hitherto considered merely as standbyes in
+case of extraordinary cold on mountain tops.
+
+According to general report, however, we only reach the foot of the
+mountains to-morrow. This sounds well, considering that we have been
+ascending steadily for three days, and have left huge avalanches of
+snow beneath us, not to mention the mountains which we traversed on the
+Peer Punjal side before even entering the Valley of Cashmere at all.
+
+At Soonamurg, where we had been warned that there were no supplies, we
+found large herds of sheep and goats. The people, however, were not at
+all inclined to sell them, and we had some trouble in getting hold of a
+couple of fine fat sheep from them, for which we paid, what was here
+considered a high price, viz. two rupees, or four shillings each. We
+also enlisted the temporary services of two hairy, horny goats, which
+are to accompany us for the next three marches as portable dairies, no
+supplies being procurable on the road. Butter and milk are both
+forthcoming here in abundance, and occasionally rice is to be got.
+Penetrated with the freshness of the mountain air and the freedom of
+our vagabond life, we came unanimously to the conclusion that we had
+made a wise exchange from the far niente dolces of Sirinugger, and
+passed a vote of general confidence in the expedition.
+
+July 30.—The wind this morning blew bitterly cold over the snow and
+into our tent, rendering the operation of turning out rather more
+unpopular than usual.
+
+Got off, however, about six, and had a fine bracing march over a grassy
+valley among the mountains. After about four kos, the sun began again
+to assert his supremacy, and, in conjunction with the cold of the
+morning, rather took liberties with our faces and hands. About half-way
+we came upon the merry ring of axes among the trees, and found a party
+of natives constructing a log-house for the benefit of travellers
+towards Ladak. Pitched our camp in a wild spot at the foot of the
+mountains, bathed in the snow water, and had a sheep killed for
+breakfast.
+
+One of the live stock died this morning: an unfortunate hen had been
+sat upon by the ducks, and the result was asphyxia, and consignment to
+the torrent.
+
+July 31.—Finished up the month by a difficult march of four and twenty
+miles, encamping at Pandras about eight P.M. and no longer at the foot
+of the mountains. Immediately on leaving our halting-place we commenced
+the ascent of a steep glacier, and for upwards of four miles our path
+lay entirely over the snow: so dense and accumulated was it, that even
+when the sun came out and burned fiercely into our faces and hands,
+there was no impression whatever made on its icy surface.
+
+The glacier was surrounded on all sides by peaks of perpetual snow,
+while parts of it were of such ancient date that, ingrained as it was
+with bits of stick and stones &c., it bore quite the appearance of
+rock. The path was in some places so indistinct, that on one occasion I
+found myself far ahead of the rest of the party, and approximating to
+the clouds instead of to the direction of Ladak. About five kos on our
+journey we halted to let the kitchen come up, and had our breakfast on
+the snow in the company of a select party of marmots. The little
+creatures appeared to live in great peace and seclusion here, for they
+let us up, in their ignorance of fire-arms, to within thirty yards of
+them before scuttling into their habitations. They were all dressed in
+blackish brown suits of long thick fur, and considering that they live
+in snow for at least eight months out of twelve, they appeared not the
+least too warmly clothed. As we went by they used to come out and sit
+up on their hind legs, with their fore paws hanging helplessly over
+their paunches, while, with a shrill discordant cry, they bid us
+good-morning and then hurried back to their houses again. Not having
+our rifles handy they escaped scot free, otherwise we might have
+borrowed a coat from one of them as a reminiscence of the country.
+After another kos or two we began to get clear of the glacier; but
+occasionally we came upon enormous masses of snow jammed up on either
+side of the torrent, the action of the water having worn away the
+centre. The path gradually led us through rocky passes, over torrents
+spanned by snow among the magnificent mountain range; and although the
+march was, rather long for a hill country, we found no fault with it
+until about the last three kos, when it was getting late in the day,
+and although fast becoming hungry, we saw no immediate prospect of
+getting anything to eat.
+
+The last few kos we find invariably longer than their fellows; one kos
+by description, at this stage of the proceedings, being generally equal
+to two in reality. Asking a native, how far we are from a
+halting-place, is invariably answered in one of two ways: either thoree
+door, not very far, or nuzdeek, close. Thoree door means generally
+about four miles, while nuzdeek may be translated five at least. A kos
+too, which ought to be from one and a half to two miles, means here
+anything between one mile and seven. Delaying as much as possible, to
+let our servants up, we reached Pandras at last, and found all the
+inhabitants turned out to see our arrival; they were dressed in long
+woollen coats and sheepskins, and looked something between Russians and
+Tartars, with a strong flavour of the Esquimaux, as depicted by Polar
+voyagers. As the sun went down it became bitterly cold, and we found
+the natives even, shuddering under the influences of the snowy wind,
+which, setting in from the mountains, appeared to blow from all points
+of the compass at one and the same time. What the village of Pandras
+must be in mid-winter it is hard to imagine, so covered with snow as
+the mountains around it are even in August, and so bleak and so barren
+the valley in which it is situated.
+
+In spite of the cold, we astonished the entire swaddled population by
+taking off our clothes, and bathing in a little crystal stream close
+by: two operations, in all probability, which they themselves had never
+perpetrated within the memory of the oldest inhabitant, This feat
+accomplished, we were much astonished by the arrival of a rara avis, in
+the shape of a British traveller, from the direction of Ladak. He
+turned out to be an officer of the Government survey, now being carried
+on in the mountains, and we took the opportunity of deriving from him
+all the information we could, relative to the prospect before us. He
+strongly recommended us to go to the monastery of Hemis, beyond Ladak,
+and also to the Lakes, but the latter would appear to be beyond the
+limits of our time. The only natives we had met during our unusually
+long march to-day, were four hairy-looking savages from the interior,
+from whom, after much difficulty, I succeeded in purchasing an
+aboriginal tobacco-pouch, flint, and steel, all combined in one, paying
+for the same about three times its actual and local value, viz. two
+rupees. They were dressed in long woollen coats, with thick bands of
+stuff rolled round their waists; and all four had bunches of yellow
+flowers stuck in their caps, and pipes, knives, tobacco-pouches, &c.
+hung round their girdles. Their shoes were of the Esquimaux pattern,
+the soles sheepskin, coming up all round the front of the foot, where
+they were joined by woollen continuations—shoes, socks, and leggings,
+being thus conveniently amalgamated into one article of apparel.
+
+August 1.—On the road a little later than usual, all hands being tired
+after yesterday’s exertions. The path to-day lay among huge boulders of
+rock, which had come down as specimens from the mountains above, and
+after a short march of five kos, we reached Dras, a little assemblage
+of flat-roofed houses, with a mud fort about half a mile from it, in
+the valley. This was built with four bastions and a ditch scarped with
+paving-stones, which surrounded it on all sides except one, where it
+was naturally defended by the torrent. On the road we passed a curious
+bridge, built entirely of rope manufactured from twigs of trees. The
+cables thus formed were swung across the torrent, from piles of loose
+stones, in a most scientific way, though not one calculated to inspire
+confidence in any traveller with weak nerves who might have to trust
+himself to its support. It appeared, nevertheless, a most serviceable
+structure, and was decidedly picturesque. At Dras we were able to get
+all supplies except fowls.
+
+August 2.—Having a long and up-hill march before us, we were up and
+dressed by moonlight. Outside the village, we came upon two curious old
+stones, standing about six feet high, upright, and carved in the way we
+had already seen at the ruins of Pandau and elsewhere. These stones
+were of irregular form, and carved on three sides, and the designs,
+though much worn, were distinctly traceable. They represented,
+apparently, a male and female figure, standing about five feet high,
+and surrounded by three smaller figures each. Like all the other
+sculptured figures we had seen, they were innocent of clothes, with the
+exception of the rope, or very scant drapery, which ran across their
+ancles and up either side to the shoulders.
+
+Leaving these, we passed through a wild and rugged valley among the
+mountains, cultivated in patches, and watered by numerous little
+sparkling crystal streams. At short intervals, there were little
+settlements of mud huts, built, Tartar fashion, one on top of another,
+and peopled by a few miserable-looking natives, who appeared, in their
+woollen rags, to be cold, even in the middle of this summer’s day. The
+few travellers we met during our march were flat nosed, heavy-looking
+creatures, with Chinese skull-caps and pig-tails, and were employed in
+conveying salt to Cashmere, packed in bags of woven hair, and laden on
+cows and asses as weird and strange-looking as their owners. About five
+kos off, we called a halt for breakfast, and reached Tusgam about four
+P.M.
+
+Here we found a few Arbor Vitæ, and other shrubs, in bad health, the
+first of the tree species we had encountered since ascending the
+glacier.
+
+August 3.—Struck our camp at sunrise, and crossing the torrent, which
+still accompanied us, descended the Pass by a slight decline. During
+the day we passed through numerous gorges, studded with giant masses of
+rock, and bounded on all sides by rugged and inhospitable mountains. We
+only saw one village, and that some way off the road—Kurroo, the guide
+called it. Breakfasted under an overhanging rock on the mountain side,
+just where our path was, hemmed in by the torrent, and were disturbed
+during our repast by several volleys of stones which rattled down over
+us from above. They were set free by the melting of some large masses
+of snow, which, being covered with sticks and dirt, we had not noticed
+when we chose our breakfast parlour so close to their uncomfortable
+proximity. To-day we met more salt-carrying parties—uncouth-looking
+savages in pig-tails, speaking a language that not one of our party
+could understand. We also encountered an original-looking gold-washing
+association of five, who were wending their way towards the snow with
+their wooden implements. They were all also weighted with bags of
+grain, to keep them alive during their search. Their labour consists in
+sifting the fine sand which comes down in the snow-torrents, charged
+with minute particles of gold; and the proceeds, from the appearance of
+“the trade,” would not seem to be very great. They say it amounts only
+to a few annas a day, but would probably not allow to the full amount
+for fear of being taxed.
+
+At our breakfast-halt we saw the most primitive specimen of a smoking
+apparatus probably ever invented. It consisted of a dab of mud stuck in
+a hole of a tree, about five feet from the ground. Two small sticks,
+inserted in this from above and below and then withdrawn, had evidently
+served to form the smoke passage; while the bowl as evidently had been
+fashioned by the simple impression of a Thibetian thumb, the whole
+forming, for the use of needy travellers, as permanent and satisfactory
+a public pipe as could well have been devised. It had just been in
+requisition before we passed, for a small quantity of newly-burned
+tobacco lay in the bowl; and a fresh patch of clay on the mouthpiece
+had probably been added, either in the way of general repairs or by
+some extra-fastidious traveller, who preferred having a private
+mouthpiece of his own. After rather a severe march through rocky
+mountain gorges, we reached Chungun, a little oasis of about five acres
+of standing barley, with three or four flat-roofed houses dotted about
+it in the usual Tartar style of architecture. It also boasted four
+poplar-trees, standing in a stiff and reserved little row, evidently in
+proud consciousness of their family importance among such rugged,
+treeless, iron mountains.
+
+It was altogether a refreshing little spot for a halt, after the savage
+scenery we had marched through; and pitching our camp in it, we were
+not long in introducing ourselves to the little brawling stream of
+clear cold water to which it owed its existence.
+
+August 4.—Started this morning in a mountain mist. Just outside the
+village we passed the scene of the fall of an avalanche, which gave one
+some faint idea of the enormous forces occasionally at work among these
+mountains. It had taken a small village in its path, and over the place
+where it had stood we now took our way, among a perfect chaos of masses
+of rock, and uptorn earth, trees, &c. The whole ground was torn and
+rent, as by the eruption of volcanoes or the explosion of enormous
+magazines of powder. Passing this, our path continued to descend the
+gorge until about two kos from Chungun, when another torrent came down
+to join its forces to the one we were accompanying; and leaving our old
+companion to roar its way down to join the Indus, we proceeded up the
+valley in the society of our new friend. Passing a series of little
+villages nestled among the rugged rocks, we crossed the stream by a
+tree bridge and causeway, to the Fort of Kurgil, where, after a long
+consultation, we breakfasted. The differences of opinion between the
+guide and the rest of the natives as to the distance of a village
+ahead, where milk and supplies were forthcoming, were so wide, some
+saying three kos, others six, &c., that we finally determined upon
+getting some breakfast before deciding the true distance for ourselves.
+The village Hundas was another most perfect little oasis. It was only
+about five or six acres in extent, under the frowning mountain, and was
+terraced and planted in the neatest and most economical way imaginable.
+The fields were beautifully clean, and were quaintly adorned in many
+instances by huge blocks of rock from the mountain above, bigger
+considerably than the whole of the houses of the village put together.
+Leaving Kurgil, we made a sharp ascent, and crossed a plateau bounded
+by some extremely curious formations of rock and sandstone.
+
+The mountains appeared to have been reared on end and cut with a knife,
+as if for the especial benefit of geologists in general, although the
+hues of their many-coloured strata were calculated to attract even the
+most ungeological mind by their brightness. Descending from this
+plateau, we came to a pass dotted with three or four little villages,
+wooded with poplars, and adorned with a few shrubs of different kinds.
+Here every available inch of ground which the grudging rocks bestowed
+was cultivated, although all around, the mud-built native huts were
+broken down and deserted, in such numbers as to give the idea of an
+Irish settlement whose inhabitants had transplanted themselves to
+America. At the last of these little villages, called Pushkoom, we
+pitched our camp, the retainers taking a fancy to the place from the
+promise it gave of abundant supplies.
+
+August 5.—Made our first day’s halt, and enjoyed it considerably—not
+the least of its advantages being the immunity it gave us from being
+torn out of bed at grey hours in the morning. The rest of the force
+also appreciated the day of rest, and made themselves comfortable after
+their fashion under our grove of trees.
+
+In the afternoon I ascended the mountain opposite to reconnoitre and
+inspect the curious formation of strata, which formed the principal
+feature of the place.
+
+The ascent I found at first to be over a soft crumbling small stone,
+resembling ashes, but of various colours, and in distinctly-marked
+strata. These were generally of pinkish red and grey, and from them in
+large masses, rose enormous blocks of concrete, in all manner of forms
+and shapes, some like towers and fortifications, and others standing
+out boldly by themselves, worn by the weather into holes and ridges.
+After a considerably difficult ascent, from the crumbling nature of the
+stones, I reached the summit of the mountain, and climbing a concrete
+monster which capped it, had a magnificent survey of the mountain
+ranges and country around. In every direction the eye rested on snowy
+summits, and the wind from them fell coolly and refreshingly after the
+toil of ascent under a hot sun.
+
+Returning through the village, I found the natives hard at work
+collecting their crops of wheat and barley, and stowing them away,
+generally upon the flat tops of their houses. They seemed altogether a
+peaceful, primitive race; but, although their ground appears in
+first-rate order, they themselves are uncultivated and dirty in the
+extreme. The ladies, I am sorry to say, are even rather worse in this
+matter than the gentlemen. The female costume consists generally of
+robes of sheep and goat skins thrown across the shoulders; while a long
+tail of twisted worsted plaits, looking like a collection of
+old-fashioned bell-ropes, forms the chief decoration. This is attached
+to the back hair, and hangs down quite to the heels, where it
+terminates in a large tuft, with tassels and divers balls of worsted
+attached to it. On a hill overhanging the village were the remains of a
+mud fort, which had been pulled down by Gûlab Singh in one of his
+excursions to Thibet, with a view to bringing the inhabitants to a
+proper sense of their position, and enforcing the payment of his
+tribute.
+
+The number of battered and deserted huts about the village is accounted
+for by the erratic habits of the people, which induce them never to
+stay long in one set of houses, but to flit from one side of the valley
+and from one settlement to another as the fancy strikes them. That the
+large increase of the flea population among such a race, however, may
+have something to do with their restlessness, seems more than probable.
+
+Except when impressed for government employ, they seldom leave the
+vicinity of their villages, and one old gentleman told me he had never
+been even as far as a place called Lotzûm, which is only two kos off!
+The religion seems to be a mixture of Buddhism and Mahomedanism—the
+latter on the decrease as we get farther into the country.
+
+The dress assimilates to the Chinese—pig-tails and little skull-caps
+being the order of the day. We obtained here good supplies of cow’s
+milk, butter, &c., and among other things, some peas. These enabled us
+to celebrate our Sunday’s dinner by a “duck and green peas,” and never
+since the first invention of ducks could a similar luxury have been so
+thoroughly appreciated.
+
+August 6.—Started early again, and marched five kos, through the little
+half-deserted settlement of Lotzûm to the village of Shergol, where we
+halted for breakfast. Here we found ourselves fairly among the
+Buddhists, and saw an entirely new description of monuments connected
+with religion, from anything we had yet encountered. The most striking
+objects were a series of tomb-like buildings, without entrances, and
+adorned on all sides by the most hideous effigies, rudely executed in
+coloured mud. [17]
+
+Some of these were men, depicted in bright red on a yellow ground, with
+horrible staring countenances; others women, adorned with numberless
+necklaces and other ornaments; besides these, there were peacocks,
+griffins with human arms, deer, &c., and all in the most flaring
+colours and the very rudest designs.
+
+In the perpendicular face of a rock beyond was a very curious
+monastery, or abode of the Lamas. It was built completely in the rock,
+and was reached by a natural cavity on the face of the stone.
+
+Jutting out from the upper part, balconies had been erected overhanging
+the precipice, and these were decorated with red copings, spotted with
+white. From the fact of only one of our party knowing the language, it
+was difficult to ascertain from the natives the history of this curious
+abode, but they gave us to understand that it was the home of their
+Lamas, or spiritual preceptors. Here we met another of the race of
+wandering Englishmen, who was wending his way back to the valley. He
+was returning from a shooting tour, was all alone, and appeared to have
+had very hard work indeed of it, if his face and hands and generally
+dilapidated appearance might taken as a criterion. Not being quite in
+such light marching order ourselves, we were able to ask him to
+breakfast, and from his ready acceptance and the entire justice he did
+to our offer, I don’t think he could have had anything to eat for a
+week.
+
+He appeared to be a thorough sportsman, and had bagged several head of
+large game, which he showed us. They were principally a kind of wild
+sheep with enormous heads and horns, each of his trophies being almost
+a coolie load in itself. Leaving Shergol, we entered a curious valley
+with rocks of concrete standing out like towers and fortifications, and
+on the summits of these again, airy-looking habitations with red
+streaks adorning them, and entered, as that at Shergol, by holes in the
+face of the rock. These were, or had been, the abodes of the Lamas;
+numbers of them now however, as well as the mud settlements at their
+feet, appeared in ruins, and gave no sign of habitation, beyond having
+about them a number of little flags stuck on long poles, which
+fluttered about in the breeze. According to the account of our
+interpreter, which had to pass from Thibetian into Hindostanee before
+it could clothe itself in English, the cause of this dilapidation was
+the state of wealth and ambition at which the Lamas had arrived, and
+the consequent interposition of Gûlab Singh to take down their pride
+and ease them of a little of their wealth, both of which he
+accomplished in the style to which he was so partial, by slaughtering
+some hundreds of them and reducing their airy habitations to ruins.
+
+At a place called Moulwee we came to a curious block of massive rock
+standing close beside the path, with one of the red-topped houses built
+into its side. Above this was a colossal figure with four arms, rudely
+cut on the face of the rock, and above all was perched an implement,
+something after the fashion of a Mrs. Gamp’s umbrella of large
+proportions, together with sundry sticks and rags, which seem to be the
+common style of religious decoration in these parts.
+
+The figure was about eighteen feet high, the lower extremities being
+hidden behind the building at the base of the rock. It resembled in
+some measure the sculptures occasionally seen among Hindoo temples, but
+no one appeared to know anything whatever of its origin or history.
+
+Close to this there were an immense number of stones collected
+together, bearing inscriptions in two different characters, one of
+which resembled slightly the Devanagree or Sanscrit. Seeing such a
+profusion about, I appropriated one which happened to be conveniently
+small, and carried it off in my pocket.
+
+The sun being intensely powerful, we called a halt at a village named
+Waka, perched among the rocks, where we found a rattletrap of a
+baradurree, which saved us the trouble of pitching our tents. Opposite
+to us was a curiously worn mass of concrete mountain, which might
+easily have been mistaken for artificial lines of fortification, had
+not the scale been so large as to preclude the possibility of any but
+giants or fairies having been the engineers. At the head of the valley
+there was a fine snow-covered mountain, which helped to keep us cool in
+an otherwise excessively hot position. The cook having been rather
+overcome by his exertions to-day, we got our dinner at the fashionable
+hour of nine P.M.
+
+August 7.—Starting from Waka at cock-crow, we marched up a steep
+ascent, through a bleak-looking range of hills, to Khurboo, where we
+bivouacked under a tree and got breakfast about noon.
+
+Afterwards, I examined more minutely the inscription on the stones,
+which, as we advanced into the country, appeared to increase
+considerably in number. They consisted in almost every case of the same
+word, containing five letters in one character and six in the other,
+though I occasionally there were additional letters, and sometimes,
+though very rarely, a stone with a different inscription altogether.
+After a good deal of difficulty I succeeded in unearthing a Lama from
+the village to help me in my researches, and a strange-looking
+dignitary of the Church he turned out to be when he did make his
+appearance. He was a bloated and fat old gentleman, dressed in a
+yellowish red garment of no particular shape, and looked altogether
+more like a moving bundle of red rags than anything else, human or
+divine.
+
+Finding that nothing was required of him more expensive than
+information, he appeared delighted to show off his learning, and by
+means of the sepoy, who was the only one of our party acquainted with
+both Thibetan and Hindoostanee, I ascertained that the words carved
+upon the stones were “Ûm mani panee,” and meant, as far as I could make
+out, “the Supreme Being.” As the old gentleman repeated the mystic
+syllables, he bobbed and scraped towards a strange-looking monument
+close by, in an abject, deprecatory way, as if in extreme awe of its
+presence. [18]
+
+On inquiring the origin of this new structure, which was built of
+stones and plaster, and decorated with red ochre, all we could get out
+of him was a fresh string of “Ûm mani panees,” and a further series of
+moppings and mowings, accompanied by a sagacious expression of his fat
+countenance, indicative of the most entire satisfaction at the
+clearness of his explanations, and a sense of his own importance as a
+Lama and an expositor of the doctrines of Bûddh.
+
+He also explained the only other inscription which I had seen; and
+according to the interpretation of the sepoy, it ran thus:—“As God can
+do so none other can.” [19]
+
+Not another piece of information could I elicit relative to the
+religion beyond the continual “Ûm mani panee, Ûm mani panee!” which our
+friend seemed never tired of mumbling; and although the sepoy was, I
+believe, considerably more adapted for the extraction of reluctant
+supplies of food for our kitchen than for eliciting such information on
+the subject of theology as I was in search of, the real cause of
+failure was more to be attributed to the extreme ignorance of the
+particular pillar of the Church that we had got hold of, than to any
+little literary failings of the interpreter. Such were the quantities
+of the inscribed stones about this place, that in one long wall I
+estimated there must have been upwards of 3,000, and this in a country
+where inhabitants of any sort are few and far between, and where none
+appear who seem at all capable of executing such inscriptions.
+
+August 8.—Having suffered a good deal yesterday from the heat of the
+sun, we started this morning by a bright moonlight, at about half-past
+four A.M.
+
+Entering the Pass of Fotoola, we ascended gradually for some five kos,
+and reached a considerable elevation, with a good deal of snow lying
+about on the mountains. A peak on the right was 19,000 feet above the
+sea level, and few of those in our immediate vicinity were under 17,000
+feet. From the summit of this pass we descended about three kos to
+Lamieroo, without passing a single hut or village on the entire road.
+The only natives we encountered were a party of three from Ladak, on
+their way to Cashmere, with a couple of fine native dogs, as a present
+from the Thanadar to some of his visitors. The pedestrians one
+generally meets now are old ladies, carrying conical baskets filled
+with sulphur or saltpetre, in the direction of Cashmere, and so shy are
+they, that on beholding “the white face” they drop their loads as if
+shot, and scuttle away among the mountains, so that, if inclined, we
+could seize upon the Maharajah’s munitions of war and carry them off
+without difficulty. On reaching the vicinity of Lamieroo, the inscribed
+stones became more frequent than ever. They were placed generally upon
+long broad walls, the tops of which sloped slightly outwards, like the
+roof of a house. Supplies of uncut stones were also in many instances
+collected together in their vicinity, as if for the benefit of any
+pedestrian who might feel inclined to carve out his future happiness by
+adding to the collection. Lamieroo, as its name would seem to imply,
+appears to have been a headquarters of the Lamas and their religion. It
+contains a curious monastery, or Lamaserai, built upon the extreme top
+ledge of a precipice of concrete stone, and at its base (some hundred
+feet below) the habitations which constitute the village are also
+perched on pinnacles of rock, and scattered about, often in the most
+unlikely spots imaginable. Entering the bason formed by the valley in
+which this curious settlement is situated, one opens suddenly by an
+ascending turn upon the whole scene, and anything more startlingly
+picturesque it would be hard to conceive. As the view appears, the
+first objects presented are a host of little monument-like buildings,
+which line the path and are dotted about in groups of from three to
+twelve or fourteen together. They stand about seven feet high, and, as
+far as we could make out from the natives, are erected over the defunct
+Lamas and other saints of the Buddhist religion, after which they
+become sacred in the eyes of the living, and are referred to with
+scrapings and bowings and “Ûm mani panees” innumerable. In the
+monastery we found twenty Lamas at present domiciled—fat,
+comfortable-looking gentlemen they all were, dressed in orange-yellow
+garments, and not a bit cleaner than the rest of the natives, nor
+looking by any means more learned. Mounting the side of the bill, and
+passing under one of the red-ring pillared monuments, we entered the
+precincts of the monastery, and threading some very steep and dark
+passages in the interior of the rock, were received by a deputation of
+Lamas, with the salutation of “Joo, Joo!”
+
+We were then ushered with great ceremony into their temple, much to the
+awe and consternation of our guides, who apparently expected to see us
+as much overcome by the sanctity of the place as they themselves were.
+The temple we found a small square room with a gallery round it, from
+which were suspended dingy-looking Chinese banners, flowers, &c., and
+at one end were about twenty idols of various designs, seated in a row
+staring straight before them, and covered with offerings of Indian
+corn, yellow flowers, butter, &c. They were for the most part dressed
+in Chinese fashion, and in the dusky light had certainly a queer
+weird-looking appearance about them, which was quite enough to overawe
+our village guide; not being accustomed to such saintly society, he
+could hardly raise his eyes or speak above his breath, but stood with
+hands joined together and in a supplicating posture, enough to melt the
+heart of even the very ugliest of idols. The service (by particular
+desire) began by three of the most unctuous of the Lamas squatting down
+on some planked spaces before the divinities, and raising a not
+unmusical chaunt, accompanying themselves at the same time with a pair
+of cymbals, while two large double-sided tom-toms or drums gradually
+insinuated themselves into the melody. These were each fixed on one
+long leg and were beaten with a curved stick, muffled at the end. The
+performance of the cymbals was particularly good, and the changes of
+time they introduced formed the chief feature of the music, and was
+rather pleasing than otherwise. The service as it drew to a close, was
+joined by a duett upon two enormous brass instruments like
+speaking-trumpets grown out of all decent proportions; they were about
+five feet long, and were placed on the ground during the performance,
+and as two of the fattest of the Lamas operated and nearly suffocated
+themselves in their desperate exertions, the result was the most
+diabolical uproar that ever could have been produced since the first
+invention of music.
+
+Not being able to trust the sepoy in such a delicate undertaking, I was
+unable to get any information from the Lamas on religious subjects; and
+all signs and suggestive pointings, &c. were immediately and invariably
+answered by “Ûm mani panee,” so that we left about as wise as we
+entered. The most interesting object in the place was a library of
+Thibetian books. It consisted of an upright frame divided into square
+compartments, each with a word cut deeply into the wood over it, and
+containing the volumes. These were merely long narrow sheets, collected
+between two boards, also carved on the outside with a name similar to
+the one on the shelf. The characters were beautifully formed, and I
+tried to purchase a small volume, if a thing about two feet long could
+be called so, but without effect. There were about thirty of these
+books in the place, ponderous tomes, carefully covered up, and little
+read, to judge by the quantity of dust collected on them. They read us,
+however, a small portion of one, in a drawling, sonorous tone, and with
+no very great facility.
+
+These books, together with a number of rudely-printed papers, of the
+nature of tracts, one of which I carried away, containing some of the
+characters similar to that on the inscribed stones, appear to have been
+printed at Lassa, [20] the capital of Thibet Proper, and from there,
+the head-quarters of the religion in these parts, all the musical
+instruments and other paraphernalia belonging to the temples are also
+sent. One exception, however, I discovered; this was an empty
+brandy-bottle, bearing a magnificent coloured label, which certainly
+could not have been issued from the Grand Lama’s religious stores. To
+the English eye, or rather nose, it had but little of the odour of
+sanctity about it; but here it evidently held a high position, and was
+prominently placed among the temporal possessions of “the Gods.”
+
+The women here, and those we met on the road during the last two
+marches, wore a curious head-dress, differing from anything of the kind
+we had before seen. It consisted of a broad band extending from the
+forehead to the waist behind, and studded thickly with large coarse
+turquoises. These generally decrease in size from the forehead, where
+there is a larger turquoise than the others, down to the waist, and
+where the hair ends, it is joined into a long worsted tail terminating
+at the heels. Some of these bands must be of considerable value, but
+the proprietors, although otherwise in complete rags, will not part
+with them for any consideration. One lady whom I accosted on the
+subject, thought I was going to murder her, and took to her heels
+forthwith. In general, however, the fair sex here carefully hide both
+their charms and their turquoises behind the nearest rock or the most
+convenient cover that presents itself, and vanish like phantoms
+whenever they discern a white man in the distance.
+
+The cooking department being delayed by the ascent, we got no breakfast
+to-day until one o’clock, unless a drink of milk and a biscuit on
+arrival could be called by courtesy a breakfast.
+
+August 9.—Descended from Lamieroo through a precipitous pass for about
+three kos and a half, to Kulchee, a tidy little village of fifteen
+huts, situated in an oasis of apricot and walnut-trees, the first we
+had encountered since leaving Cashmere.
+
+The people here seemed particularly simple and happy among their waving
+corn-fields and wild fruit-trees, and they were most anxious to supply
+us with apricots and milk, and whatever they could produce. The Gopa,
+or head-man of the village, could speak a little Hindostanee, besides
+being able to read and write his own language in two characters, and as
+he seemed unusually sharp and intelligent, I was very glad to have a
+chat with him while waiting for the commissariat to come up. The
+character most common on the inscribed stones, and one of those now in
+actual use, he told me was Romeeque; the other, the square character on
+the stones, is obsolete, and is called Lantza; [21] while a third
+character, which was the one he was most conversant with, but which did
+not appear upon any of the stones, he called Tyeeque.
+
+His explanation of the stones was, that at the last day a certain
+recording angel, whom he called Khurjidal, would pass through the land,
+and inspecting these mounds of inscribed stones, would write down the
+names of all those who had contributed to the heap. What the
+inscription was he seemed unable clearly to explain, but believed it to
+refer in some manner to the Supreme Being. Whatever it was, all those
+who had contributed their share towards its dissemination, by adding
+stones to the mounds, were certain of future rewards, while those who
+had omitted to do so were as equally certain of punishment. [22]
+
+This explanation of the difficulty caused me some qualms of conscience
+on account of the future prospects of the unfortunate writer whose
+particular stone I had appropriated; but for fear the Gopa himself
+might be the sufferer, I thought it better not to confide my emotions
+to him, but to leave the case in the hands of Khurjidal.
+
+Regarding the state of the people here, he told me that each house paid
+a tax of seven rupees per annum to the Maharajah. This, for the entire
+village, would only give 105 rupees per annum towards the enrichment of
+the Treasury.
+
+The Lamas, who have no ground of their own, appear to be a further
+burden on the population. They are supplied gratuitously with food, and
+appear to be somewhat similar to the Hindoo Fukeer, devoting themselves
+to religion and remaining unmarried. They, however, are not so violent
+in their opinions, and are more conversable, to say nothing of being
+decidedly cleaner.
+
+We breakfasted under the spreading walnuts, among an audience composed
+of the entire village, who seemed much edified and amused by our novel
+manners and customs. Some of our English possessions took their fancy
+immensely. A cut-glass lantern and the label of a bottle of
+cherry-brandy in particular, seemed to them the very essence of the
+rare and curious, and they seemed never tired of admiring them. After
+breakfast we again took the road, and marched three kos to another
+little wooded settlement, called Nûrila, situated, like Kulchee, upon
+the Indus, or, as it is here called, the Attock. The noisy, dirty
+torrent, as it here appears, however, gives little promise of becoming,
+as it does in after life, one of the largest of the stately Indian
+rivers.
+
+August 10.—From Nûrila we travelled along the Indus bank to Suspûl, a
+distance of seven kos or thereabouts, stopping for breakfast at a
+village whose entire population consisted of one woman! The river being
+shut in by high and rocky mountains, our path took several most abrupt
+turns and startling ascents and descents in its meanderings, and proved
+altogether the worst for coolies to travel that we had as yet
+encountered. The greater part of our march, too, was under a burning
+sun, whose rays the rocks on either side of us reflected in anything
+but an agreeable way, giving thereby a considerable addition of colour
+to our already well-bronzed countenances. Near Suspûl we had to take to
+the water, as a mass of overhanging rock jutted into the river and
+completely obstructed the path; and here one of our coolies, stumbling,
+dropped his load into the torrent. It was a particularly precious part
+of our expeditionary stores, containing, among other things, the small
+stock of brandy which was to last us back to Sirinugger. However, on
+inspecting the contents of the basket, the precious liquid was safe and
+sound, and the only damage was the conversion, pro tem. of our stock of
+best lump sugar into moist. Suspûl we found situated in a half-moon
+shaped break of fertility among the barren mountains. The snow was
+within half an hour’s climb, while at the same time the sun shone with
+such power as to blister our faces, and even to affect the black part
+of the expedition, rendered somewhat tender, no doubt, by the unusual
+mixture of heat and cold to which they had already been exposed. We
+encamped here under a grove of apricot and apple-trees, which resulted
+in the production of an apple-dumpling for dinner.
+
+August 11.—Leaving Suspûl, we ascended considerably to the village of
+Buzgo, another of the cloud-built little settlements so dear to the
+Lamas. The tenements were most picturesquely pitched upon the extreme
+tips of almost perpendicular rocks, and to many of them access seemed
+apparently impossible. Leaving this, we entered upon a desert of
+shifting sand and stones, in the midst of which there was an unusually
+long wall of the inscribed stones, one of which, although containing
+the same inscription, was of a different pattern from any I had
+hitherto discovered. [23]
+
+The next oasis was Egnemo, formed, like all the others, by the
+existence of numerous little springs of crystal water, which enabled
+the waving corn to raise its golden head, and the apricot and the
+apple-tree to flourish in refreshing contrast to the general barrenness
+and sterility which reigned around.
+
+After a grilling march, we enjoyed the delights of a bathe under a
+waterfall of clear cold water, and got our breakfast by eleven o’clock.
+
+To-day, some of our brigade of coolies begin to complain of sickness,
+which sounds alarming, not only to themselves, but to us, for none
+others are now procurable. This results from their making too free with
+unripe apricots, and drinking too many gallons of cold water on the
+road; also, however, from the fact of my having doctored the first
+patient who had presented himself, with a couple of pills and some
+tea—a piece of generosity which drove all the others nearly mad with
+jealousy and envy, and set them thinking how they also might be
+participators in similar luxuries. The pills, although in this instance
+selected promiscuously from a varied stock, were the great objects of
+desire, and such was their confidence in the virtuous properties of the
+remedy, that the character of the particular bolus that fell to their
+share was to them a matter of no consequence whatever. So great a rage
+is there for medicine among people who have never known the luxury of
+paying for it, that even the blind and deformed continually applied to
+us for it on the road.
+
+August 12.—Halted to-day, and gave all hands a day of rest, which was
+rather required after our incessant marching. In the afternoon we
+explored the village, and enjoyed a magnificent sunset behind the
+ranges of distant snowy mountains. The crops here were more backward
+than those met hitherto, although the power of the sun was rather on
+the increase than otherwise, as we advanced. Some of the fields were
+occupied by beans, peas, and wheat, all growing like a happy family
+together.
+
+August 13.—Made an unusually early start, this morning, for our final
+march into Ladak. The first part of the journey was up a precipitous
+ascent, and over shifting gravel, which was very trying to our already
+well-worn boots; and it was a relief when, on arriving at the summit,
+we found a long and gradual descent before us, with an entirely new
+panorama of snow-clad mountains extending away towards Ladak.
+
+In the distance, close to the river Indus, which here branched out into
+several small and separate streams, there was a high mound, topped with
+buildings, which we made for, under the full impression that it was our
+journey’s end: however, on reaching it, and turning confidently round
+the corner, we found nothing but a deserted-looking building,
+surrounded by an immense number of the monuments which the natives call
+Permessur; while, stretched out at our feet, and forming, as it were,
+the bottom of a large basin among the mountains, was a dreary desert of
+glaring, burning sand. The place altogether looked like a city of the
+dead: not a soul appeared in sight, except one solitary old woman, who
+was slowly traversing the weary waste of sands, and all around was
+still and silent as the grave. In order to gain some intelligence of
+our whereabouts, I was obliged to give chase to this only inhabitant,
+and from her I discovered, that to reach Ladak—a green-looking speck
+which she pointed out in the far distance—we had to cross the desert
+sands, and still hold on our course for several miles. The sun was by
+this time high in the heavens, and we had already come a longish march,
+so that by the time I had traversed the arid plain under the blinding
+glare, and reached the green fields beyond, it was nearly twelve
+o’clock, and I had had nearly enough of the journey. It was, however, a
+couple of miles farther to the grove of trees, where, under very
+indifferent shade, travellers are in the habit of halting to pitch
+their camps; and on reaching this, I was glad to throw myself down on
+the grass, and, after a drink of milk, and the slight refreshment
+afforded by a leathery chupattie, to go to sleep on the grass, until
+the arrival of our servants and baggage should give us a prospect of
+breakfast. These made their appearance about two P.M., and all hands
+requiring a little rest from the toils of the road, we pitched our camp
+under the trees, and set ourselves to the enjoyment of a few days’ halt
+in the city of Ladak.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PART V.
+
+LADAK AND THE MONASTERY OF HEMIS.
+
+
+The first event after being settled in our new quarters was the arrival
+of a sheep, presented to us by the Kardar, or chief dignitary of the
+town, as a mark of affection and distinction. This, according to the
+strict letter of the law, we should have refused to accept; twenty days
+marching, however, while it had sharpened our appetites, had rather
+diminished our stores. Sheep were not to be got every day, and an
+ill-looking animal which we had succeeded in purchasing at Egnemo, had
+been overcome by the heat of the weather and taken itself off on the
+road. Other supplies, also, were a good deal weakened by successive
+attacks; potatoes had been extinct many days, and the stock of ducks,
+which formed our main stay in case of future difficulties, was rapidly
+succumbing to the knife of the assassin. Under these circumstances we
+felt that we would be in no way justified in hurting the Kardar’s
+feelings at the expense of our own, by refusing his present, and
+believing ourselves to be in this instance fit subjects for out-door
+relief, the new arrival was soon swinging about in the breeze, a
+welcome addition to our unfurnished larder.
+
+Having thus ended the struggle between our duty and our feelings, we
+turned our attention to the exploration of the surrounding country.
+
+The town of Ladak, although in a commercial point of view by no means a
+flourishing-looking settlement, was, as far as picturesqueness was
+concerned, everything that could be desired. It was built in the style
+so popular throughout the country—on pinnacles of rock, and such out of
+the way positions as seemed, of all others, the least adapted for
+building purposes—immediately outside the town, occupying a sort of
+bason among the surrounding mountains, and was what might fairly be
+called a “city of the dead.” It was of considerable extent, and was
+formed of groups of the numerous monumental buildings which I have
+described, and which in a country where the habitations of the living
+appear so few in proportion to those of the dead, form so curious and
+remarkable a feature. These tombs, although by no means of very modern
+date, bear traces, in many instances, of the more recently departed of
+the Buddhist population. Burnt fragments of bone, hair, &c., were
+scattered about in various directions, while, collected together in one
+corner, were the little mounds of mud with a rise at one extremity,
+where the sculptured turban ought to rest, which denoted the last
+resting-place of the Moslem faithful. Meeting with the Kardar’s
+chupprassie, I entered into conversation with him about the manners and
+customs of the Thibetians, a subject on which he seemed to have very
+hazy ideas indeed, although not on that account at all the less
+inclined to impart them to one more ignorant than himself. His opinion
+of the inscribed stones was that they were all written by the Lamas,
+but he failed completely in explaining for what reason they were
+collected together. He was aware, however, of Khurjidal, who was to
+inspect them at the last day. The tomb-like erections, he said, were
+considered in the light of gods; the bones and ashes of departed Lamas
+having been pounded up together and deposited beneath them, together
+with such valuables as turquoises, Pushmeena, rupees, &c. This fact
+would perhaps account for their being so often in a ruined state—Gûlab
+Singh having, probably, taken a look at their foundations in search of
+such valuable pickings. The reason my informant gave me for the
+unwillingness of the people, however poor, to sell their superabundant
+ornaments, was that they regarded them as sacred, and held them as
+their own property during their lifetime only; on decease the jewels
+reverted to the possessions of the Church. The Lamas are provided, by
+the custom of dedicating in every family of two or more, one to that
+office; should there be a number of girls in a family, all those that
+do not marry become nuns, and adopt the male attire of red and yellow.
+The nuns, however, seem to be by no means kept in confinement; they
+work in the fields, and one of them enlisted with us as a coolie, and
+brought her load into camp before any of her male coadjutors. Among
+other curious information my friend told me, that the Thibetians by no
+means consider that each man is entitled to the luxury of a wife all to
+himself; but that a family of four or five brothers frequently have but
+one between them, and that the system is productive of no ill-feeling
+whatever among the different members. [24] He also pointed out a fact
+which I had not before noticed, viz., that the Thibetians invariably
+pass to the right hand of these piles of stones and other monuments,
+but for what reason he was unable to inform me. [25] Having finished
+his stock of information, which I received thank-fully in default of
+better, he told me, with delightful coolness, that it was the proper
+thing for me to give him a bottle of brandy for the Kardar, and that it
+would be necessary to send also a corkscrew with the bottle, to enable
+him to get at it! The impudence of the request was almost worth the
+bottle, but brandy was too scarce and precious a commodity to justify
+us in pleasing the Kardar, so that all I could do was politely to
+decline sending the corkscrew or the bottle either. In the afternoon we
+explored the Bazaar, where we found abundance of dogs, dirt, and
+idlers, but little else. What little there was in the way of
+merchandise the proprietors seemed utterly indifferent about disposing
+of, and after visiting a few shops we went away in disgust. The people
+were a mixture of Cashmeeries, Chinese, Tartars, Bengalees, and Indians
+of all sorts and sects, and more idle, good-for-nothing looking
+scoundrels I never laid eyes on. One most amusing group of Mahomedan
+exquisites reminded one forcibly of Punch’s Noah’s ark costumes and
+Bond Street specimens of fashion. They were dressed in exaggerated
+turbans and long white Chogas, or loose coats, which reached down to
+their heels; and, as arm in arm, with gentle swagger, they sauntered
+through the bazaar, they had, in addition to their heavy swellishness,
+an air of Eastern listlessness to which the most exquisite of their
+European prototypes could never hope to attain. On reaching our camp we
+found another traveller had added his little canvas to the scene; it
+was one of the Government Survey, whom the natives invariably designate
+by the comprehensive title of “the Compass Wallahs.” Wallah is, in
+Hindostanee, as nearly as possible an equivalent to “fellow,” and in
+explaining the character of this particular order of Wallah, the accent
+is always strong on the second syllable of the compass. The Compáss
+Wallah in question we found quite a wild man of the mountains; his
+face, from changes of heat and cold and long exposure, was burnt and
+blistered into all sorts of colours, and, to make his appearance more
+generally striking, he wore as head-dress, a flyaway, puggery, or
+turban of blue cotton, of the most voluminous dimensions and wonderful
+construction imaginable. He gave us an amusing account of his
+operations among the clouds; how he always rode a cow! and was so much
+alone that he at times began to doubt the existence of other white men
+in creation besides himself; how he was sea sick at first, and unable
+to sleep at night from the great rarification of the atmosphere, &c. He
+joined us during dinner, just in time for a triumph of a plum pudding
+which our cook had unexpectedly produced, and his heart was so
+gladdened and expanded by either the suet, the raisins, or the brandy,
+that he chatted away until the dissipated mountain hour of eleven
+o’clock, when we sent him off to bed, much pleased with his
+entertainment, and again reassured, at least for a time, of the
+continued existence, not only of white men in the world, but of their
+plum puddings. Among other statistics he gave us the height of Ladak,
+as 11,000 feet, and that of the recently discovered monarch of the
+mountains, now set at rest as belonging to the Himalayan range, as
+being 29,003 feet above the level of the sea. [26]
+
+August 15.—Employed all the morning in endeavouring to procure supplies
+of tea, and after unearthing a queer-looking package containing seven
+pounds and a half, we differed about the price, the proprietor
+demanding twenty-four shillings, or about twice its local value.
+
+August 16.—There being no tidings of the arrival of expected caravans,
+we marched for the monastery of Hemis, crossing the Indus immediately
+after leaving Ladak, and following it up towards its source. Outside
+the town we passed a mound of the inscribed stones, which must have
+been nearly a quarter of a mile in length, and probably contained as
+many as 30,000. The left bank of the river, which thus formed our path,
+was a continuation of detached huts, forming no regular villages, and
+affording very little shade or apparent prospect of shelter for man or
+beast. The right bank, however, was studded with picturesque-looking
+little villages, built generally on rocky summits, and surrounded by
+tombs and Mani panees, to an extent almost to rival the towns
+themselves in size and importance. About nine miles on the road we
+halted for breakfast, on the confines of a desert of smooth stones,
+from which the heat ascended like vapour, and made our eye-balls ache
+again. There was no shade in sight, however, and milk was here
+forthcoming, so we made the best of a bad situation, and, after our
+repast, lost no time in getting again under weigh. After a hot tramp
+over a perfect desert, we reached the wooded little village of Chunga,
+where, as it was getting late, we called a halt and pitched our camp.
+All hands being tired by their march, we got our dinner at nine
+o’clock.
+
+August 17.—Started early for Hemis. From the formation of the mountains
+in which it is situated, the entrance to the village opens upon the
+traveller suddenly and as if by magic; and as we tramped this morning
+along the parched and sandy desert, welcome indeed was the unexpected
+vision of trees and rushing water which the sharp turn presented to our
+astonished gaze.
+
+The entrance to the gorge in which the monastery is situated was, as
+usual, quite covered with Mani panees and walls of inscribed stones;
+one of the former was studded with human skulls, and otherwise
+ornamented, in a way that proved the vicinity of some stronghold of
+Lama talent, though not perhaps of the very highest order.
+
+The monastery we found situated in a beautifully-wooded valley, thickly
+planted, and having a dashing little torrent foaming through the
+centre.
+
+It was built as usual, on the very face of the rock, and towering above
+it was an airy fort, ensconced among a number of crows’-nest
+habitations, perched about apparently with more regard to effect than
+comfort.
+
+While waiting for the kitchen to come up, we inspected the monastery,
+and were waited upon by half-a-dozen Lamas, who showed us through the
+various temples of the gods. Originally containing some two hundred
+Lamas, its numbers had now dwindled down, by their account, to fifteen
+or sixteen. We, however, saw actually more than that number ourselves
+while wandering through the building.
+
+They owned to having treasure in the monastery to the amount of three
+lakhs of rupees (£30,000), but of this we saw small signs during our
+inspection.
+
+Some of the divinities were, however, provided with vestments of cloth
+of gold, and were seated upon thrones, studded with would-be precious
+stones. Others were accommodated with large silver bowls, placed on
+pedestals, filled to the brim with “ghee,” or rancid butter, and unless
+blest with inordinate appetites, these, from their enormous size, might
+fairly last them all till doomsday. We were altogether conducted
+through four temples, each inhabited by a number of Chinese figures,
+seated in state, with offerings of corn, flour, rice and ghee, &c.
+before them, and these were generally served in valuable cups of china,
+and precious metals. Hanging from the ceiling and the walls around were
+scrolls, decorated in the Chinese fashion, with figures of
+tightly-robed, narrow-eyed ladies and gentlemen, scattered about with
+the usual perspective results.
+
+Some of these scrolls were decorated with scenes which it would take
+hours to decipher and appreciate. One, in particular, of the last day,
+was covered with innumerable little figures, and appeared well worthy
+of a close inspection.
+
+The bad people might here be seen, falling into the hands of some of
+the most disrespectable looking monsters I have ever beheld; while the
+good were sitting up in a bunch, looking on at the dreadful scene, in a
+satisfied and undisturbed way, beautiful to behold.
+
+The most curious things in the place, however, were the praying wheels,
+which I here saw for the first time. They were little wooden drums,
+covered round the sides with leather, and fitted vertically in niches
+in the walls. [27] A spindle running through the centre, enabled them
+to revolve at the slightest push. They were generally in rows of eight
+and ten, and well thumbed and worn they looked, but others of larger
+dimensions were placed by themselves, decorated with the words “Ûm mani
+panee,” in the Lanza character, all round the barrel.
+
+In the vicinity of the monasteries were various small temples, probably
+chapels of ease, rudely decorated with grotesque figures, in red and
+yellow, and having queer-looking structures fastened on the top of
+them, generally a trident, with tufts of hair attached, or strips of
+coloured calico, horns of animals, and other rude devices.
+
+In one place we came upon a praying-wheel, turned by water, but I was
+unable to ascertain whether the benefit accrued to the water, or to the
+possessor of the stream, or to the public generally. Sometimes the
+people carry portable wheels, and one old gentleman we met was provided
+with a huge brass one, with a wooden handle. It was suspended from his
+neck, in company with a collection of square leather charms, fastened
+by a string to his coat.
+
+On my asking him what the structure meant, he immediately begun to set
+it in motion, and piously ejaculating “Ûm mani panee,” passed on
+without another word, but in evident pity for my benighted spiritual
+condition.
+
+Among other curious sights, we saw one of the Lamas sitting at a chapel
+door, having, before him seven little brass pots. In each of these
+there was a letter of the words “Ûm mani panee,” and the pots being
+filled with water, he was employed in strewing each with a few grains
+of corn from a heap at his side, keeping up at the same time a loud
+mournful chant, and swaying himself to and fro, in time with the music.
+To have inquired the meaning of this would only have again resulted in
+the comprehensive information contained in “Ûm mani panee,” so we
+rested in our ignorance, and passed on, much to the relief of the
+chaunter. After going all through this curious monastery, we repaired
+to our tents, which had arrived in the interim, and which we found
+pitched pleasantly among the trees, within a few yards of the torrent.
+After a bathe and breakfast, we came unanimously to the conclusion that
+the water was so cold, and the air so cool and refreshing, we could not
+do better than halt for a couple of days, under the protection of the
+Church, before again taking the road on our homeward route.
+
+August 18.—Out early for a day’s stalk over the mountains, after deer,
+or anything there might be forthcoming. One of the coolies being a
+“shikaree,” or what they call in Ireland a “sportsman,” I took him with
+me, and with another to carry some breakfast, off we started at about
+five A.M. The ascent at first was so abrupt, that, although in pretty
+good walking condition by this time, I found myself halting very
+frequently to admire the prospect. Having attained the greatest height
+actually attainable, we spied quietly grazing, about half a mile off,
+some half dozen little animals, which my “sportsman” declared to be
+Ibex, and down Aye went again, best pace, with a view to making a
+circumbendibus, to get behind them. With a view to accomplish this, we
+had to pass across some very difficult ground, and at last came to a
+smooth face of rock, with nothing whatever about it to hold on by, and,
+moreover, an overhanging ledge, which fairly seemed to bar all further
+progress.
+
+The coolie, however, whose every toe was as useful to him as a finger,
+managed to scramble up; and not to be outdone, I also attained some
+height, when, holding on fly-fashion, and clinging to the rock with my
+fingers and grass shoes, suddenly the pole which partly supported me
+slipped away, and my whole attention had to be directed to again
+reaching the ground in as soft and comfortable a manner as possible. In
+this I succeeded beyond my expectations, and, a second attempt being
+more successful, finally reached the top. On attaining our
+hardly-earned post of vantage, however, there was no sign of our
+friends, but, suddenly, on the mountain below us a herd of about
+five-and-twenty more appeared to our delighted view. They were standing
+gazing up at us in astonishment, and for some moments we remained fixed
+and motionless, hoping to be taken for the stones we were habited in
+imitation of. Then, crouching down and crawling along as if on velvet,
+down we went again, and after another long and trying stalk, over
+broken ground formed apparently of small slates placed edgeways, and
+crumbling rocks, whose slightest fall would have been destruction to
+our plans, we attained a rock about two hundred yards from the herd,
+and paused for breath once more. They were lying about sunning
+themselves, with an outlying sentinel posted here and there on either
+side of them on the look-out; and seeing an eligible spot some fifty
+yards nearer, we stole along to reach it. We were not, however,
+destined to take this unfair advantage of the enemy. Just as we had
+half crossed the distance, an ill-fated, abominable little fragment of
+rock suddenly broke off, and at its first bound away went the herd like
+lightning over the precipitous rocks, and with a little chirrupping
+noise like sparrows, were in a few seconds well out of range of
+bullets. As the natives express it, “they became wind,” and we were
+left behind our rock, looking, after all our toils, to say the least of
+it, extremely foolish. A shot which I took at some 250 yards was more
+to relieve ourselves by making a noise than with any hopes of bringing
+down one of the light-heeled little creatures, for their bounding
+powers put all correctness of aim at that range out of the question.
+
+The next part of the programme was breakfast, but alas! there were no
+signs in any direction of the bearer of our supplies, and I now
+recollected that the rock which had so puzzled us would be quite
+inaccessible to the coolie and his precious charge, without which he
+himself was useless. All we could do was to ascend a high peak of
+mountain, in hopes that the breakfast would ascend another, and that we
+could then exchange signals of distress and obtain relief. However,
+after reaching our look-out station, which took us some climbing, we
+could discern nothing around us bearing the slightest resemblance to a
+coolie, and our hopes began to descend below zero.
+
+It was now about twelve o’clock, and taking advantage of the produce of
+the country, I made a light breakfast off two stalks of rhubarb, and
+tying a handkerchief to the top of my pole as a signal, lay down in the
+very minute portion of shade procurable under a midday sun, and
+indulged in the pleasures of imagination, conjured up by absent chicken
+legs and cold chupatties. After a long wait, I came to the conclusion
+that the two pieces of rhubarb were entirely insufficient to continue
+the day’s work upon, so I reluctantly gave the order to retreat upon
+our camp, and turned from thoughts of breakfast to those of dinner. My
+grass shoes were by this time completely worn out by the pointed rocks
+and flinty ground we had traversed, and my spare ones were in the
+society of the cold chicken and the chupatties, so that I was soon
+walking in nothing but socks. Before long, this portion of my property
+was also run through, and I was finally obliged to borrow the
+sportsman’s pointed slippers, in which I managed to get along over the
+ruggedest piece of creation I ever traversed, and reached our camp
+about three P.M. Tired, hungry, and burnt by the sun, a bathe in the
+rushing torrent and a visit to the kitchen were soon accomplished, and
+I then learnt that the coolie, being stopped by the rock, had come back
+at once, and, having been again immediately packed off by F. to search
+for us, had not been since heard of.
+
+August 19.—Found the Q.M.G. to-day laid up with fever and influenza,
+and administered some quinine pills to him, besides ordering a steed to
+carry him on to Ladak to-morrow.
+
+Explored the Lama’s habitations and temples, and saw some very curious
+carvings and paintings on stones, some of them not altogether in the
+Church order of design.
+
+Some of the ceilings were beautifully decorated, and must have cost a
+good deal of money in their day, but they were now rapidly falling into
+decay.
+
+During the day we had a good opportunity of seeing the Lamas go through
+their private devotions. The operation appeared simple enough. Each as
+he entered the court and passed along the rows of wheels, by simply
+stretching out his arm set the whole of them in motion, at the same
+time repeating “Ûm mani panee” in a dolorous voice to himself. Coming
+then to the large wheel with painted characters, he gave it an extra
+energetic spin, which sufficed to keep it in motion for several
+minutes, and having thus expended his energies for the time being, he
+again disappeared as he had come. One of the smaller wheels I found in
+a state of neglect and dilapidation as to its outer case, and thinking
+it a good opportunity to discover something as to the meaning of the
+system in general and of “Ûm mani panee” in particular, I quietly
+abstracted the inner contents, in full assurance that it would never be
+missed; that the wheel itself would go round as merrily as ever, and
+that, as far as the prayers were concerned, there were still sufficient
+left behind, considering the reduced state of the monasteries, to
+satisfy the conscience even of the devoutest of Lamas. [28]
+
+As I passed out, however, a huge black dog, which was chained up in the
+yard, seemed, by the rabid manner in which he made feints at my legs,
+to be quite aware of what I had done, and he snapped and howled, and
+strained and tore at his chain as I went by, just as if he detected the
+holy bundle sticking out of my pocket, and thoroughly understood my
+consequent guilty appearance. The principal designs upon the stones
+here—some of which, in colour, were in wonderful preservation—appear to
+be cross-legged effigies of Buddha, seated in that state of entire
+abstraction from all passions and desires, which seem to be the end and
+object of Buddhists’ aspirations.
+
+A certain rotundity of form, however, and appearance of
+comfortableness, rather tend to suggest that the pleasures of the table
+at least have not quite been renounced among the other pomps and
+vanities of Buddhist life.
+
+August 20.—Started for Ladak again, nominally at some desperately early
+hour of the morning, but in reality at about half-past five, the sun
+not shining upon our position until late, in consequence of our
+proximity to the mountains. Mr. Rajoo being still indisposed, and, in
+his own belief, dying, we mounted him upon a hill horse, where he
+looked like a fly on a dromedary. Halted for breakfast half way, and
+had a hot wearisome march afterwards into Ladak, the sun being
+intensely powerful, and the greater part of the journey over a glaring
+desert of shifting sand and loose stones. So deep was this in some
+places, that it was with difficulty we could drag our steps along. The
+latter part seemed perfectly interminable, and not until four o’clock,
+burnt, tired, and parched with thirst, did we reach our old halting
+place. Since our departure, the Thanadar had changed his fancy as to
+brandy, and now requested a bottle of vinegar. This we promised in the
+event of his procuring us some tea, our stock being low, and none other
+procurable without government assistance. By this means we obtained a
+decorated bundle of pale-looking tea for thirteen rupees, or 1l. 6s.
+The bundle contained 7½ lbs., so that the price was heavy enough,
+considering our proximity to the land of tea.
+
+My shoe-leather being in a doubtful state, I invested in a pair of the
+sheepskin Chino-Esquimaux ones of local manufacture, but soon found
+that the old saw of “nothing like leather” was quite a fallacy, when
+the leather savoured so strongly of mutton as that composing my new
+boots did. In the morning they were absent, and it was not until after
+much search that the mutilated remains of one foot was discovered,
+gnawed and sucked out of all semblance to Blucher, Wellington, or any
+other known order of shoe or boot, while the other appeared
+irretrievably to have gone to the dogs. Our lantern here was also
+carried off by some of the canine race, and left beautifully cleaned,
+but unbroken, not far from our tent door.
+
+Finding that there was no news of caravans, or probability of their
+arriving, we determined upon striking our camp, and retiring again
+towards Cashmere, having attained the furthermost point which the
+limits of our leave allowed.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PART VI.
+
+A RETREAT TO THE VALLEY.
+
+
+August 21.—Left Ladak about four P.M. and halted for the night on the
+confines of the desert-plain at Pitok. On the road I succeeded—much to
+my astonishment—in getting a necklace of bits of amber, and a
+turquoise, from an old lady, whom I found at her cottage-door weaving
+goat’s-hair cloth. She took two rupees for the family jewels, and, when
+the bargain was struck, seemed in a desperate fright at what she had
+done, looking about in every direction to see that no avaricious old
+Lama was near, nor any of her gossiping acquaintance, who would be
+likely to tell the minister of what she had done.
+
+For the first time during our travels, the retainers turned a little
+rusty to-day. The scarcity of the tobacco supply and dislike to quit
+the amusements of city life were the chief causes, and the consequence
+was that the cook, who was sent off at two o’clock to have dinner ready
+for us on arrival, made his appearance about sunset and gave us dinner
+at nine P.M. The Q.M.G. and the Sipahee sauntered in afterwards at
+their leisure, having left the coolies and ourselves to pitch the camp
+how and where we liked. Smarting under these indignities, and knowing
+that the Sipahee was the head and front of the offending, I, in a weak
+moment, committed an assault upon that ferocious warrior. The
+consequence was that the representative of “The Army,” feeling its
+dignity insulted in the face of the populace, immediately set to work
+upon the unfortunate natives, and assaulted even the gopa, or kotwal,
+of the village; and so severely was one of the coolies handled, that I
+was obliged to interfere in the cause of peace, and not without
+difficulty succeeded in stopping the stone I had thus so unwittingly
+set rolling.
+
+This same Sipahee rejoiced in the name of Dilour Khan, which might be
+loosely translated the “Invincible One,” and such we always called him.
+He was a fierce-looking soldier beyond measure to look at, and very
+terrible among the miserable Thibetians, making desperate onslaughts
+upon the unfortunate boors, to obtain supplies fit, as he said, for the
+Grandees, the Cherishers of the Poor, the Protection of the World, &c.
+
+The style of head-dress generally worn among the natives facilitated
+his efforts immensely in these matters; for, throwing aloft his sword,
+and relinquishing his umbrella, he used to seize suddenly upon a
+pig-tail, and, handling it after the fashion of a bell-rope, proceed to
+insist upon the production of impossible mutton and other delicacies in
+a way that was almost always successful, even under circumstances
+apparently the most hopeless.
+
+He had a sharp, detonating way, too, of delivering a volley of
+Thibetian, at the same time curling up his fierce-looking moustaches
+and whiskers, and gesticulating with both arms, which always had a
+great effect, the more so that the expletives were generally in
+Hindostanee, and not being understood, were all the more terrible to
+the unfortunate pig-tails on that account.
+
+August 22.—Left for Egnemo, over our old ground, which, wanting the
+attraction of novelty, appeared to us rather longer than on first
+acquaintance. The sun, too, was more powerful than ever and the deep
+soft sand more trying, so that we were glad enough to get under shelter
+at our journey’s end. Here we found the apricot trees, which were
+teeming with fruit when we passed, completely stripped and bare, and it
+was with difficulty we got a few from the houses for preserving
+purposes.
+
+August 23.—Made an early start, and arrived at Suspûl after a pleasant
+march, a cool breeze from the mountains fanning our faces the entire
+way. Here we pitched upon a cool and shady camping-ground, close to a
+rushing torrent, where we were soon immersed in ice-cold water. While
+making a short cut back to breakfast up a precipitous face of concrete
+stone, I very nearly finished my wanderings in Thibet with an
+unpleasantly abrupt full stop. I had nearly reached the top, which was
+higher than I had imagined, when the treacherous lumps of stone to
+which I was clinging, came away in my hands, and, with a tremendous
+crash, down I came in a perfect storm of dirt, dust, and stones, very
+much to the fright and astonishment of F. and the mate, who were
+quietly finishing their toilet below. A broken bone in such a place as
+Egnemo would have been a serious misfortune, and it was therefore a
+matter of considerable satisfaction to find that, although half-stunned
+and doing but little credit in appearance to my recent washing, I had
+escaped with no worse injuries than torn hands and what the doctors
+would call abrasions of the side and elbow.
+
+August 24.—Marched as usual, and reached Nûrila about noon. From the
+hilliness of the road and the laziness of the coolies combined, they
+did not arrive until two P.M., so that we breakfasted at three o’clock.
+To occupy the time, however, we took advantage of the products of the
+country, and set to work upon a quantity of apples, and having both
+thirst and hunger to assuage, I think we got through about sixteen each
+before the kitchen appeared. While bathing we were suddenly caught in a
+pouring shower of rain, which obliged us to snatch up our only garments
+and beat a hasty and not to say dignified retreat into a little den of
+a water-mill, where we crouched until it was over. After the rain had
+stopped, a curious fall of stones and rocks took place down the
+precipitous face of mountain which bounded the opposite side of the
+Indus to our camp. The noise and the commotion the stones made in their
+descent, reminded one exactly of volleys of grape, and to any traveller
+unfortunate enough to get in their way, the results would probably have
+been quite as disastrous.
+
+Our larder having been low of late, we effected the purchase of a sheep
+here, for which we paid two shillings.
+
+August 25.—Left for Lamieroo. The khitmutgar, having reported himself
+sick to-day, we mounted him on a pony, the efficiency of that branch of
+the service being of vital importance to the future prospects of the
+expedition. Having discovered, by yesterday’s experience, that nature
+abhors a vacuum, and no apples being forthcoming at Lamieroo, we halted
+for breakfast at the village of Kulchee.
+
+Here I tried hard to purchase a curiously contrived praying-wheel from
+an old Lama, but without success. My old acquaintance, the gopa,
+however, brought me one for sale, but it was in such a dilapidated
+state, and so highly valued as church property, that I let him keep his
+shaky religious curiosity at his own price. Leaving Kulchee, we crossed
+the Indus at a mud fort, and bid the roaring, dirty river a final
+good-bye. Near this the bhistie and khitmutgar, journeying together,
+lost the path, and found themselves well on the road to Iscardo before
+discovering their mistake. The road to-day, like all our return
+journeys, appeared twice the length it did on first acquaintance. The
+hills, too, were very severe on the coolies, and it was fortunate we
+halted for breakfast on the road.
+
+At Lamieroo, we found a great change in the temperature; a strong cold
+breeze blowing, and a general winteriness prevailing, which affected
+our retainers considerably more than it did ourselves. The Q.M.G. in
+particular, not having entirely recovered his health, and being low in
+the article of tobacco, still believed himself to be dying, and was
+most unusually low-spirited and down in the mouth. As it threatened
+rain, we pitched our camp close to an old serai, in order to allow our
+servants to ensconce themselves under a roof, and to derive the full
+benefit of their wood fire, which they lost no time in kindling.
+
+August 26.—Exactly a mouth to-day since leaving Sirinugger. The live
+stock begin to show signs of time on their constitutions; the four
+surviving ducks wandering about, with a melancholy sort of
+consciousness that the mysterious fate that has overtaken their late
+companions is also hanging over themselves, and appearing entirely
+changed in consequence from the joyous birds they used to be on first
+starting for their Thibetian travels. To-day being Sunday, we all
+enjoyed a rest; and the feeling on waking at dawn, and remembering that
+we were not to be rudely turned out of bed, was quite a delightful and
+novel sensation. The wind, too, was unusually chill, and as it made
+nothing of the trifling obstacle presented by the walls of our tent, we
+were some time before we finally emerged from among the bed-clothes.
+The people here we found employed in pulling their corn crops, and
+stacking them upon the roofs of their houses. At Suspûl, although much
+hotter than here, they had hardly begun to take in their crops, and at
+Ladak, the harvest was untouched when we left.
+
+In the afternoon, while rambling about the crow’s nests of Lamieroo, I
+discovered by chance a very curious temple in course of construction,
+and a number of Lamas and Zemindars superintending the proceedings. The
+principal decorative work was being carried on by a Chinese-looking,
+pig-tailed artist, evidently not a local celebrity, who was
+embellishing the walls most profusely with scenes, portrayed in the
+purest style of pre-Raphaelite colouring. The figures in these had only
+been furnished with flesh-coloured spots where their faces were to be,
+and the foreign “pigtail” was employed, seated on a high platform, in
+furnishing them with features and casts of expression in accordance
+with the spirit of the scenes which they helped to compose. This he did
+certainly with very great skill, and the operation was a most
+interesting one to watch. The floor was covered with pigments, and
+materials of all kinds, and the little community, in the midst of the
+surrounding apparent solitude, were working away like a hive of bees.
+They appeared to have a hive-like dislike also of the approach of a
+stranger, and one old Lama, with a twisted mat of hair erected on the
+top of his head—a drone of the hive—took a particular dislike to me,
+and scowled savagely as I quietly examined the curious designs upon the
+walls.
+
+The eternal “Ûm mani panee” formed a very large part of the decoration,
+being painted over the walls in every variety of coloured letters. In
+the inner part of the temple was a large coloured statue, with eight
+arms, and two-and-twenty heads.
+
+The heads were placed in threes, looking every way, in the shape of a
+pyramid, a single head crowning the whole. [29] One of the hands held a
+bow, but the implements contained in the others were entirely Buddhist
+in character, and to me unknown.
+
+Behind this figure was a star, with innumerable radiating arms from the
+centre, while from the points of the fingers were five other rows of
+hands, continuing the star-like circle. These were in half relief on
+the wall, the figure itself standing out some feet, as if to receive
+and appropriate the offerings of corn, flowers, oil, &c., which already
+began to be laid at its feet. Among the litter I remarked several tame
+partridges and “chickore” walking about, probably sacred to the newly
+installed divinities.
+
+The whole scene was a very curious one, and not the less so from being
+entirely unexpected, and occurring in such an apparently deserted spot.
+One might have explored the place a dozen times without hitting upon
+the hive of workmen, and, even when discovered, the excellence of the
+designs and workmanship in so uncivilized a region, was in itself
+remarkable.
+
+Some of the paintings were of rather startling a character to find
+occupying places in the order of church decoration, or indeed any
+other, but they were not perhaps more unsuitable than many I have seen
+in more avowedly civilized temples of worship.
+
+August 27.—We found it very hard, in spite of our day of rest, to turn
+out early again this morning. The wind was sharp and cold, and the
+temperature altogether decidedly changed from that we had been having.
+The head of the cooking department being still sick, proceeded on a
+pony, and, having a certain air of the Sepoy about him, very grand and
+imposing he looked. The road being long and up hill, we breakfasted at
+a tomb in the pass of Fotoola, reaching Khurboo about three P.M.
+
+In the evening, the comptroller of the household made his appearance
+upon the cook’s pony, having from want of tobacco, and other causes,
+become done up on the road. The bhistie alone holds out, and seems, as
+far as servants go, the only hope of the expedition. To-day’s march has
+again spoiled F.’s and my own lately amending complexions, the icy wind
+and the burning sun together completely blistering our faces. In the
+evening we enjoyed a lovely sunset, which tinted the magnificent range
+of mountains we had crossed with the most beautiful hues imaginable.
+
+August 28.—Another bitterly cold morning. Got away well considering,
+and arrived at Waka in time for a late breakfast in the little native
+serai, where we had before halted. Mr. Rajoo and the cook came in with
+an air of great magnificence. They were each mounted, and each pony was
+provided with a well-grown foal, so that the two departments may be
+said to have performed their march with four horses.
+
+August 29.—Descended the Waka Valley, leaving Shergol to our left, and
+thereby saving about a kos and a half of already explored road.
+
+Breakfasted under a shady grove of pollards, at the little village of
+Lotzûm, a cold refreshing bathe in a snow torrent enabling us to do
+full justice to our cook’s very excellent performances in this line.
+That dignitary was upon his legs again to-day, and Rajoo convalescent
+once more. Arriving about three P.M. at our old ground at Pushkoom, we
+found the peaceful, quiet-looking little spot we had left, a scene of
+the greatest noise and bustle imaginable. We were now received in due
+form by the Kardar, and Thanadar of Kurgil, not to mention the Wuzeer,
+or Vizier of Pushkoom. This dignitary had formerly been its Rajah, but
+during Gûlab Singh’s time was reduced to the post of Vizier, or Prime
+Minister to nobody in particular, with a salary of some thirty rupees
+per annum. Where our last camp was pitched, we found a circle of
+natives congregated, some standing, some sitting on their haunches, but
+all accompanying to the full extent of their voices—at the same time
+clapping time with their hands—the efforts of a band of six or seven
+artists on the pipe and tabor, who kept up a quavering strain of what
+they doubtless believed to be music. To the united melody thus
+produced, a string of a dozen or so of ladies, in their full war paint,
+were decorously going through the monotonous evolutions of a popular
+dance, waving their arms about, gesticulating, and at the same time
+lingering, as it were, over the ground, and comporting themselves in
+that staid, yet fitfully lively way, which seems to be the general
+style of Eastern dancing. They were attired most picturesquely, and
+evidently in their very fullest ball costume, so that we were fortunate
+in hitting upon such a good opportunity of seeing their gala manners
+and customs. They all wore caps of some kind, either of a small,
+close-fitting pattern, like a fez, or in the shape of a large, and very
+ultra Scotch cap, black, and very baggy; these were hung round with
+little silver ornaments, something in the shape of wine labels for
+decanters, but studded with turquoises; some of them, also, wore
+brooches, generally formed of three cornelians, or turquoises, in a
+row. The broad bands of turquoise, worn usually on the forehead, were
+for the time disrated from their post of honour, and were suspended
+instead from the nape of the neck, over a square piece of stiff cloth,
+embroidered with strings of red beads. Round the shoulders, and hanging
+low, in order to show off the turquoises, lumps of amber, and other
+family jewels, were the sheepskin cloaks, inseparable from Thibetian
+female costume; they were, however, of larger size than those of every
+day life, and were gorgeously decorated outside in red and blue, the
+fur merely appearing at the edges. Below this, everything merged in
+some mysterious way into the variegated sheepskin boots of the country,
+also decorated with red, blue, and yellow cloth patterns on the instep.
+These bore a very conspicuous position in the dance, as the ladies,
+contrary to the principles of modern art, were continually regarding
+and showing forth the aforesaid boots, as they glided about, and
+pattered the time to the well-marked music. The dance was altogether
+much more pleasing than the Indian nach, and the ladies, in spite of
+their savage jewellery, and rude manner, were much more womanly and
+respectable than their gauzy, be-ringed and bare-footed southern
+rivals.
+
+After the dance was over, there was a general move to a large, open
+space of ground, where the male part of the community were to show off
+their prowess in the native games. To my astonishment, some fifty or
+sixty Thibetians here assembled, each provided with a veritable hockey
+stick, not on foot, however, but each man mounted on his own little
+mountain pony, and prepared to play a downright game of hockey on
+horseback. In the centre of the battle-field, between the two “sides,”
+the pipes and tabors forming the band took their station, and each time
+the wooden ball of contention was struck off, set up a flourish to
+animate the players. The Thibetians, however, required no such
+artificial excitement, but set to work with an energy and spirit, quite
+refreshing to behold, and the scene soon became most animated and
+amusing. The Thibetians, unlike Englishmen under similar circumstances,
+appeared to think the more clothes they had on the better, and in their
+long woollen coats and trowsers, and their huge sheepskin boots, they
+quite overshadowed the wiry little horses they bestrode. Besides having
+to carry all this weight, the ponies, most unfairly, came in also for
+all the shinning; but in spite of these disadvantages, they performed
+their parts to admiration, dashing about in the most reckless manner,
+at the instigation of their riders, and jostling and knocking against
+one another in a way that would have disgusted any other pony in the
+world. Conspicuous among the crowd of riders, was the thirty-rupee
+Prime Minister, who on a most diminutive little animal, charged about
+in a way he never could have condescended to do, had he had the
+misfortune to have still remained a Rajah. Each time that the ball was
+sent into the goal, the striker, picking it up dexterously, without
+dismounting, came again at full speed down the course, the band struck
+up, and throwing the ball into the air, he endeavoured to strike it as
+far as possible in the direction of the adverse party. Behind him, at
+best pace, came his own side, and a desperate collision appeared the
+inevitable result; however, not a single man was unhorsed during the
+entire struggle, nor were there any violent concussions, or accidents
+of any kind on either side.
+
+The men rode very short, and their clumsy boots, stuck through the
+heavy stirrup-irons, gave them a ludicrous appearance, which was little
+indicative of the firm seat and active part they displayed in the
+games. After seeing the last of the hockey we pitched our camp under a
+grove of trees, and had an audience of the Kardar, with a view to
+obtaining information as to our new line of march, which here branches
+off from the old route. He, however, was unable to afford us much
+intelligence, and we were glad to get rid of him again, with a present
+of fifteen bullets, which were the objects he appeared, at the time, to
+covet most in the world.
+
+To-day a charge was brought against our immaculate bhistie, by the
+Q.M.G., of secreting about half-a-pound of precious white sugar in his
+sheepskin bag. On being confronted with the Bench he confessed the
+crime, improving on it, like most natives, by declaring that it was for
+medicine for his little boy at home, who had sore eyes! The cook, being
+taken up with the festivities and the turquoises, gave us our dinner at
+an unusually fashionable hour.
+
+August 30.—Started for a fresh line of exploration, not without some
+difficulty and opposition, in consequence of a desire on the part of
+the Sipahee and the servants to revisit Kurgil, with a view to the
+tobacco supplies supposed to exist there.
+
+The consequence was that they obtained all sorts of information for us
+as to the badness of our proposed road, and the insuperable obstacles
+to be overcome from unbridged rivers, snow, &c. Persevering in our
+plans, however, we were rewarded by finding a great improvement in the
+scenery, and, from the novelty of the day’s work, a corresponding
+benefit to the spirits of the entire expedition. Passing through a
+little village called Menzies, we halted for breakfast within view of
+the northern face of an entire new range of snow-capped mountains.
+Everything gave promise of fine scenery in advance, and about four P.M.
+we reached Thambis, a lovely piece of cultivation, surrounded on all
+sides by monster rocks, and overlooked by a peak of pure white virgin
+snow, and here we pitched our little camp. Entering the village
+suddenly from the rocky mountain-pass, the little place looked
+inexpressibly green and refreshing, and we were soon under the shade of
+a row of pleasant pollards, which lined the bank of a stream near which
+we halted. As at Pushkoom, the second crops were down, and the people
+employed in thrashing and grinding their corn. The new crop consisted
+principally of pulse of various kinds, radishes, and a few fields of
+tobacco, and nestled in pleasant nooks and corners there were
+occasional gardens of melons.
+
+Here we got two fine sheep for one rupee ten annas, or 3s. 3d., and one
+of them formed a sumptuous repast for the coolies and retainers, who
+held a most convivial banquet round their camp-fires in the evening.
+The primitive inhabitants seemed quite unaccustomed to the sight of
+strangers, and we found on this account, better and more plentiful
+supplies procurable, while the assembling of the entire village to
+behold the wonderful arrival, formed a pleasant excitement after the
+day’s march.
+
+To-day we had the choice of two roads, one on either side of the
+torrent; that on the right bank was reported bad, and we accordingly
+decided upon the other, but an unexpected obstacle then presented
+itself in the shape of a bridge of rope of a very considerable length,
+crossing the torrent. It was formed of the twigs of trees, and being in
+an unpleasantly dilapidated condition, the passage was a matter of some
+difficulty if not danger. To save the direct strain a number of the
+villagers took up their position to distend the side ropes, and having
+to get over the outstretched legs of these officious aids, made the
+affair a very much more nervous proceeding than it would otherwise have
+been. The lowness of the side-ropes, and the oscillation of the
+ricketty structure rendered the feat altogether a rather more amusing
+performance to the looker on than to the actual performer, and I was
+not to reach the opposite shore. On the arrival of the coolies, they
+all hung back, and regarded the machine with utter astonishment, and
+when one of them did essay the passage, his coat caught in one of the
+twigs, about half way across, and not having the use of his hands, he
+was completely caught as in a trap, and unable either to advance or
+retire. In endeavouring to turn, his load nearly upset him, and there
+he remained until extricated by one of the villagers. A few of the
+coolies afterwards got across, and also the servants, with great
+trepidation, but the greater number, with the main body of the baggage,
+including, alas! all the cooking department, except one load, were
+afraid to essay the passage, and had to take to the bad road in
+despair. The fraction of the commissariat stores which did reach our
+side of the water turned out to be plates, knives, forks, and kettles,
+so that we had before us no prospect of breakfast until we arrived at a
+village some ten kos off, where a more respectable bridge was to
+re-unite us with our goods and chattels.
+
+As promised, the path on our side was pretty good, and led us through
+several peaceful little villages, overhung by giant rocks, and dotted
+with enormous blocks of stone, which had descended to disturb the
+harmony of the scene during some convulsion or commotion in the
+interior economy of the mountains. Some of these were taken advantage
+of by the natives to serve as canvas for their designs, and were carved
+with effigies of four-armed divinities, and other sacred subjects. With
+the exception of these, we saw few traces of Buddhism about us here.
+Passing through one of the villages, I bought a medicine-book, or
+charm, from one of the natives. It was in Arabic, and was rolled and
+swathed like a mummy, and worn round his arm. He told me that he had
+inherited it from his father, and appeared by no means happy when it
+was gone.
+
+Arriving at Sankoo, we found it a well-wooded thinly-inhabited valley,
+about a kos and a half in length. Here we had a new specimen of bridge
+architecture to pass. It was formed simply enough of two crooked trunks
+of trees, and, considering the torrent below, it required a
+considerable amount of confidence to enable one to traverse it
+successfully. From the scarcity of the population, I had great
+difficulty in finding anybody to procure me a drink of milk, and when I
+at last discovered a woman and two children, she was so thunderstruck
+that, catching up one of her offspring in her arms and shrieking to
+another to follow her, like a hen and chickens swooped at by a hawk,
+away they went as fast as their legs would carry them. As this was no
+satisfaction to me, however productive it might be of milk to the baby,
+I began to make signs of bringing down the family mansion that short
+distance required to raze it to the ground, and thus succeeded in
+calling forth from its interior a half-naked old gentleman out of his
+study to my assistance.
+
+He, however, in an abject way informed me that he had no milk himself,
+but would introduce me to a friend who had. I accordingly followed him,
+“at the point of the stick,” until we reached another mud hovel, where
+we found the lady of the house sitting in her porch working, and a
+supercilious-looking gentleman reclining at her side.
+
+Neither of them, however, seemed to pay the slightest attention to my
+wants, and savage with thirst, I charged the whole trio, saluting the
+gentleman at the same time with an application of my stick. Instead of
+his jumping up, however, as I expected, I found that the unfortunate
+man was kept in his recumbent position by rheumatism, or some such
+ailment, and that, in my ignorance of Thibetian, and want of milk and
+patience combined, I had committed an atrocious and unwarrantable
+assault upon an invalid. Meantime, however, the lady was off like a
+shot, and soon returned from the dairy bearing both milk and flour,
+wherewith to appease the ferocity of her visitor. Having nearly choked
+myself with the meal and brought myself round again with the milk, I
+gave the invalid full compensation and satisfaction as far as I was
+able, for my attack, and again took to the road in search of the bridge
+which was to re-unite us with our baggage and our breakfast. Before
+reaching it, however, I was the unfortunate cause of the entire
+abandonment of some half-dozen houses, by merely halting to sit down
+for a few minutes under a tree in their vicinity. Whether the
+inhabitants—who appeared to be all women—thought that I was going to
+open trenches and beleaguer them or not I don’t know, but, after a few
+minutes, I used to see one of them dart out from behind a mud wall and
+scuttle away like a rabbit; then another lady would steal out,
+carefully lock the door, and with a child on her back and a couple of
+olive branches in rear, crawl over the housetop and out at the back
+garden, there taking to her heels, and vanishing with her convoy
+suddenly from sight. This operation being repeated in other tenements,
+I found myself at last left in full and uninterrupted possession of the
+entire settlement I happened to be in the vicinity of, including the
+cocks, hens, firewood, dwelling, places, and messuages, &c. thereunto
+appertaining and belonging. When they re-occupied the evacuated
+premises I don’t know, but Rajoo, I ascertained, wished them all no
+future happiness when, on coming up some time afterwards, he knocked at
+every door and looked down every sky-light and chimney in the village
+without being able to procure as much as a light to ignite the tobacco
+in his “hubble bubble.” The coolies having found the path on the right
+bank of the torrent quite as bad as prognosticated, we got our
+breakfast shortly before sunset. From the proximity of a high rocky
+mountain, towards the westward of our camp, however, this was
+considerably earlier than might be imagined.
+
+September 1.—Commenced our last month but one of leave, by a fine march
+of some sixteen miles from Sankoo to Tesroo, or Sooroo, at the foot of
+the grandest snowy range we had yet encountered. The path led us over a
+gigantic fall of rocks, evidently the deposits formed by successive and
+destructive avalanches.
+
+In some parts the traces were quite fresh, the rocks being rent and
+uptorn in a wonderful way; and, in one place, we passed the ground
+where two villages had been entirely overwhelmed by an avalanche, the
+entire population of twenty-five having been killed in the ruins.
+
+After walking about five or six kos, in the finest and freshest of
+morning air, we suddenly opened upon a noble mountain of pure unbroken
+snow, rearing its head proudly into the blue sky among a train of
+courtiers, not so noble, nor so purely, whitely, clad as itself, but
+still arrayed in robes of glistening snow. Here the path emerged from
+the side of the rugged mountain torrent, and brought us about two kos
+over fine turfy grass to within some three miles of Sooroo; and here we
+halted, under a grove of trees, for breakfast. After this, we had
+another rope bridge to pass, which was so little to the taste of the
+coolies, that they were glad to get the natives to carry over their
+loads for them. On crossing we found the Thanadar, a fine old
+black-muzzled Cashmeeree, with his Moonshee, and a train of eight
+Sipahees waiting to receive us, and were conducted in due form to our
+camping ground. Here the breeze, as it whistled over our tent, savoured
+strongly of the snow, and reminded us of the vicinity of the chilly
+mountain Grandees we had seen on our road, and which still presided
+over us.
+
+The natives even appeared to feel the cold, though in the winter months
+they are entirely snowed up, and ought to be pretty well inured to it
+by this time.
+
+The entire valley is, in winter, totally submerged in snow, and a
+stranger might then pass over it without knowing there were villages
+beneath his feet. The bridges are annually swept away, and so suddenly
+does the hard weather make its appearance, that even now the
+inhabitants were in fear and trembling lest the snows should come down
+on them before their crops of wheat and barley were carried for the
+winter’s use.
+
+Numbers of fields of corn are still within a week or so of ripening,
+and, should they be lost, the chance of winter’s subsistence would be
+small indeed.
+
+The appearance of a Thibetian settlement here, as one looks down upon
+it from a height, is very much that of an ant-hill. The huts are built
+on the top of each other, and generally on mounds, and the people, like
+ants, are busily and laboriously employed in laying up their winter
+store, not only of grain, but also of firewood, and anything capable of
+serving in its place, to enable them to struggle through their dreary
+mouths of captivity.
+
+Huge loads of corn and stacks are to be seen moving about, apparently
+spontaneously, disappearing through queer holes and corners of the
+earth, and again appearing on the housetops, where they are stacked and
+stored. The bundles of fire-wood being placed with the branches
+outside, and neatly ranged, they give the peaceful settlement quite a
+bristling and warlike appearance, as if defended by chevaux de frise.
+The Zemindars here pay but two rupees a year to the Maharajah, but it
+seems a hard case that such hardly-subsisting people should have to pay
+anything whatever in such a sterile dreary territory as they possess.
+
+To-day we came across one solitary mound of the inscribed stones,
+probably the last, as we now cross the mountains into Cashmerian
+territory again.
+
+To the south of our camp, the road from Ladak through Zanskar joins the
+valley, and we half regretted not having risked the chances of that
+road; however, it was uncertain whether it was passable, and, as time
+was valuable, we had but little option in the matter.
+
+September 2.—Being Sunday, we had a regular rest, explored the country,
+and made the acquaintance of the few Thibetians who inhabited the
+villages.
+
+Everywhere there were signs of the invasion of Gûlab Singh, some twenty
+years ago. Houses in ruins, and forts reduced to dust and rubbish. To
+replace these latter, a new fort had been constructed by Rumbeer Singh,
+in what appears about the worst possible position in the entire valley
+to render it of any use whatever.
+
+The people were busily employed in their fields, pulling and carrying
+corn, and treading it out with oxen. A team of six I saw, most
+uncomfortably performing this work. They were tied together by the
+noses, and so small a piece of ground had they to revolve upon, that
+the innermost animal had to go backward continually, while the centre
+ones were regularly jammed together by the outsiders. Two deformed
+natives were employed in driving this unhappy thrashing machine.
+
+In the evening, the Thanadar’s Moonshee came to beg a “razee nama,” or
+“letter of satisfaction,” which we gave him, together with a
+“bukshish,” with which he seemed well pleased.
+
+September 3.—Got up this morning with a peculiarly cold feel, and
+started with a fine piercing breeze in our teeth, blowing directly off
+the snows.
+
+Our force was augmented to-day by three goats, as portable dairy, and a
+party of natives, with three days’ supplies, also a guide, for our path
+lay over ground neither much frequented nor well known. To-day’s has
+been the grandest scene of the panorama yet unfolded to us. From the
+last halt, no inconsiderable height in itself, we mounted continually
+towards the huge white masses of snow, which so lately towered above us
+in the distance. Passing the remains of mighty avalanches firmly fixed
+across the foaming torrent, we ascended the snow valley by the side of
+a perfect mountain of ice and snow, the accumulations of, possibly, as
+many years as the world has existed, which had formed itself immoveably
+between the mighty mountain’s sides. The terrific force, with which the
+masses of snow had come down each season, to repair the ravages in the
+frozen monster’s constitution caused by the melting away of his lower
+extremities, could be seen by the enormous blocks of stone which rested
+on its surface in all directions. In some places fantastic arches of
+snow were thus formed, with blocks of rock resting on their summits,
+and such a distance were these central accumulations of rocks, and
+snow, and ice, from the cradles in which they were reared, that it was
+impossible to conceive, without the occurrence of an earthquake, how
+they could ever have reached their present positions.
+
+One begins now faintly to understand how it is that the enormous number
+of torrents dashing about are kept supplied with icy life. The vast
+quantities of snow wedged into solid masses, which must have existed
+since all time among these mighty mountains, would serve to feed rivers
+innumerable, and the supply, as long as rivers and mountains exist,
+would appear to be inexhaustible.
+
+Our path, if path it could be called, was very bad in parts, and so
+difficult for the coolies that we were fortunate in getting our
+breakfast at two P.M., and, when we did get it, a snowstorm which came
+down upon us rather hurried our proceedings in discussing it.
+
+The entire afternoon it continued snowing, and the mountain-tops soon
+hid themselves and sulked away among the leaden mists. Our tent was
+pitched among a low sort of scrub, the only apology for fire-wood
+procurable, and here we soon had a fine carpet of fresh snow, which put
+the unfortunate coolies, and the servants, and the three goats and the
+four ducks, and, in fact, everybody but F. and myself, who now begin to
+feel thoroughly at home, to considerable discomfort and inconvenience.
+
+About a hundred yards from us rises the central mountain of
+consolidated old snow; while the monarchs of the place, whose
+hospitality we have been enjoying, overtopped our diminutive little
+worn canvas dwelling with proud and gloomy magnificence, or hid
+themselves from us in their ermine mantles, with aristocratic
+frigidity. [30] Before us, the path continues towards the clouds,
+hemmed in, to all appearance, by a mighty glacier, which it would seem
+impossible to avoid in our to-morrow’s route. To-day we again find the
+society of the little shrieking marmots, who seemed more than over
+astonished at what could bring so strange and motley a group of
+creatures to disturb the universal quiet of their solitude. Of all our
+party the cook, perhaps, here fares the worst. The only things growing
+about us are a few plants of rhubarb and the miserable scrub, which he
+is obliged to use with all faith as firewood! this being thoroughly wet
+requires much coaxing to ignite, and what with the difficulties of his
+profession, the cold, the falling snow, and the increased appetites of
+the Sahibs, the unfortunate head of the cooking department becomes for
+the time the most intensely miserable being, black or white, upon the
+whole face of the globe.
+
+September 4.—Awoke this morning to find the encampment, and its
+vicinity, covered with snow, and every prospect of a snow-stormy march
+before us. The coolies and servants were in a deplorable state of
+frozen discomfort, but all kept up their spirits by laughing at each
+other’s woes. Just as the sun appeared above the mountains for a few
+minutes only, we got under weigh; the tent, however, took some time to
+disencumber of its load of frozen snow, and to pack, and all the
+baggage required excavating previous to becoming capable of removal.
+
+The path up to the great glacier above us was wild and barren, it lay
+over a little plain watered by branching streams, and covered over with
+ice and newly fallen snow. Crossing one of these streams, I flushed a
+solitary woodcock, the only inhabitant of the wild, and shortly
+afterwards, our guide, an uncouth bundle of sheep-skins, slipped over a
+frozen stone, and came down in the freezing water with a splash, which,
+at that hour of the morning, made one shudder all over involuntarily.
+The snow-shoes which F. and myself had donned, alone saved us several
+times from a similar, uncomfortable fate. Our path, properly speaking,
+should have led over the very centre of the glacier; but, in
+consequence of the numerous crevasses and the early appearance of the
+new snow, our guide steadily refused to take us over the pass by that
+route. To have taken it without a guide would have been simply
+impossible; so we diverged to one side, and, after a sharp ascent of
+two hours over the snow, reached a sort of upper basin among the very
+mountain-tops. Here the scene which opened on us was wild beyond
+description. We were now about 18,000 feet above the sea, and in every
+direction around us snow hemmed in our view. Under our feet was a plain
+of pure white snow; the mountain-tops were snowy hillocks, standing
+white against the leaden sky; and from above the fleecy snow-flakes
+fell around us thickly as we trudged along. The ground was most
+treacherous, and required great care in traversing, and in one place,
+being ahead of the guide, the snow and ice suddenly gave way beneath
+me, and with a most unpleasant sensation of uncertainty as to where I
+might be going, I found myself standing up to my waist in snow and to
+my knees in freezing water.
+
+The guide, almost at the same moment, came to the same end, and it was
+not without much floundering and blundering that we both extricated
+ourselves from our difficulties. Shortly after this we crossed the
+highest point of the pass, and here the guide said his prayers to the
+presiding “peer,” or divinity of the place, previous to asking for
+bukshish; after which he and the sepoy proceeded to smoke a pipe of
+peace and tranquillity together. The most trying part of our day’s work
+we found to be waiting for breakfast, the coolies being much retarded
+both by the road and the state of the weather. We stopped at a sort of
+temporary abode, where some slight protection from rain and snow was
+obtained by the piling up of stones against an eligible rock, and here,
+after a long and dreary wait, we breakfasted in a little smoke-dried,
+draught-inviting den, the snow all the time coming down in a way not
+altogether adapted for the enjoyment of such al fresco entertainments.
+Descending from this, we came to a grassy slope at last, and so by a
+most precipitous path to the valley on the southern side of the
+mountains, down which a formidable torrent rolled along, dividing
+itself into a number of channels not very promising as to our prospects
+of reaching the opposite side. Here we saw an enormous flock of sheep
+grazing on the mountain-side, seeming, as they moved to and fro in
+search of pasture, like a floating cloud against the hill. There must
+have been several thousands, though accurate computation was out of the
+question. They made, however, all the other mountain-flocks we had met,
+appear as nothing in point of numbers.
+
+Arriving at the many-branching river, I was for some time quite at a
+loss for a ford, until a native, seeing the dilemma I was in, crossed
+to my assistance. Finding me stripping to the work, he insisted on my
+mounting upon his back, and in an evil moment I consented. The
+consequence was that, after passing safely a couple of the streams, in
+the deepest spot of the whole torrent, he tottered and fell, and down
+we both came, he in the most ungraceful position in which man can fall,
+and I, luckily, upon my feet. The sensation, however, on suddenly
+finding the water rushing past, and one’s feet slipping about among the
+clinking stones, was anything but pleasant, and it was with difficulty
+that I collected myself together and completed the uncomfortable
+passage. The tent being luckily pitched about a mile farther on, the
+loss of dignity in the eyes of the bystanders was the only evil result
+of the misfortune. Towards night it came on again to snow, and the
+coolies and retainers had another hard bivouac of it, while F. and I
+were obliged to keep all hands at the pumps, or, in other words, to
+fasten all available rags and wraps under our canvas, to keep out the
+soaking wet.
+
+The cold was very great, and everything gave token of coming winter,
+and testified to what the Himalayas can do in the snow and ice line of
+business when their full time shall arrive.
+
+September 5.—After a damp night’s bivouac, we awoke to find “a mixture
+as before” falling—a mixture of rain, sleet, and snow—anything but
+promising for the comfort of our day’s march. To avoid having to wait
+in the wet for breakfast, we sent on the kitchen and the cook, and,
+after some time, followed leisurely ourselves.
+
+An overhanging ledge of rock afforded us some shelter for our meal,
+and, after warming and drying ourselves to some extent in this
+smoke-blackened and not very commodious little Himalayan hotel, we
+again pressed on. This was our third day away from either villages or
+regular shelter of any sort, and the retainers were naturally anxious
+to reach some settlement where they could, for a time at least, protect
+themselves from the rain and snow which still continued to fall. The
+consequence was, they pressed on some sixteen miles farther at a good
+pace, to reach a little wooden village at the head of the Wurdwan
+valley, and we saw nothing of them on the road. On reaching our
+halting-place, however, lo and behold, our unfortunate cook was absent,
+and nobody seemed to know anything whatever about him! The cooking
+things and the larder were all present, and dinner-hour was at hand;
+but, alas! the pots and kettles were without a lord, and the question
+of where was our dinner began to give way in point of interest to where
+was our cook. At the time F. and I left the “cave-hotel,” the whole of
+the coolies, Rajoo, the three goats, and the two sheep, had all gone on
+ahead, as also the “Invincible One,” the sepoy.
+
+The bhistie and the missing cook had therefore only remained behind.
+The road, soon after leaving, entered a wooded gorge, and, as the
+valley narrowed, the torrent began to get considerably more rapid and
+boisterous, as it took to leaping down the giant rocks, which bound it
+in between their iron grasp and formed its only bed.
+
+The path was wet and sloppy, and led in parts along the tops of rather
+dangerous precipices. Passing cautiously over these, and through wooded
+paths lined with mosses and wild flowers, whose perfume scented the
+entire air, we came upon a curious bridge of well-packed snow, which
+spanned the torrent. A treacherous-looking specimen it was, and after
+taking its likeness in my pocket-book, I was passing it as a matter of
+course, when I suddenly heard a shout, and perceived F. and the mate at
+the other side of the torrent beckoning me to cross the snow. I
+accordingly, with no very good grace and some astonishment, essayed the
+passage. The snow I found hard as ice, and not liking the look of its
+treacherous convex sides, I held my course straight up the centre, and
+then descended with great care and deliberation along the junction of
+the snow and the mountain. So slippery was the passage, that without
+grass shoes I should have been sorry to have attempted it, and, as I
+halted to regard the curious structure from a distance, I could not
+help thinking what a likely spot it was for a traveller to lose his
+life without anybody being the wiser, and what a small chance he would
+have in the deep and rapid torrent below if he should happen to slip
+into its remorseless clutches. The path from this continued its
+perilous character, in one place traversing a precipitous face of rock
+only passable on all fours, beneath which a thick cover of long grass
+and weeds hung over the deep, treacherous-looking pools of the torrent.
+Having on a pair of grass shoes which had already done one day’s work,
+I had broken down about half way, and was now nearly bare-footed. I
+consequently did not arrive till nearly the last of the party, and
+found the tent pitched and fires lit under a group of large trees, in
+the wooden village of about a dozen houses, called Sucknez. It was then
+getting dusk, and after waiting a reasonable time, we sent out a party
+from the village to make search for our missing man, while F. and I,
+lighting a fire almost in the tent door, proceeded to cook our own
+dinner.
+
+The materials consisted of an unlimited supply of eggs and a box of
+sardines, hitherto neglected, and despised among the artistic
+productions of our lost professor. F. superintended the frying of the
+eggs, and produced a conglomeration of some eight of them, which we
+pronounced unusually delicious, while I laid the table and looked after
+the kettle, for we thought it better, under our bereaved circumstances,
+to knock tea and dinner into one meal. Although we had made a longish
+march, we managed, with the aid of the kettle and the brandy, to sit up
+by the light of a roaring pine fire until late, in the hopes of some
+news arriving of our searching party. None however came, and we went to
+bed hoping that the man had lost his way, and fearing that he had
+fallen either over the slippery snow-bridge or down one of the many
+precipices into the torrent.
+
+September 6.—Morning came, but neither news of our cook nor of the
+party who went out in his search, and, after breakfast, donning a pair
+of grass shoes, and provided with some matches and a small bottle of
+cherry-brandy, I sallied out with the mate on a voyage of discovery.
+Outside the village I met the searching party, who had been out all
+through the bitter night, but had found no traces of the object of
+their search.
+
+Sending a note to F. to dispatch all the coolies to search, I pressed
+on to the most dangerous precipice of our yesterday’s route, and,
+descending to the torrent, searched about the grass and weeds at the
+bottom, but without finding any traces. About this place I met three
+lonely travellers, laden with meal, who had come along the entire path,
+but had seen no sign of a human creature anywhere. I now gave up our
+man as lost, but still held on, in a pouring mixture of sleet and snow,
+which added considerably to the gloom of the scene. Every now and then
+the old mate, who was in very low spirits, would raise a lugubrious
+wail at the top of his voice of “Ai Khansaman Jee! Ai Khansaman Jee?”
+“Oh, cook of my soul! oh, cook of my soul, where art thou?” at the same
+time apparently apostrophizing the deepest whirlpools of the torrent,
+while the roar of the waters effectually prevented his magnificent
+voice from reaching more than a dozen yards from the spot where he
+stood. Arriving at the snow-bridge, we examined it closely for signs of
+footmarks; it was, however, so hard that it baffled all our efforts.
+
+At the other side I explored the path which I myself had followed in
+the first instance. It, however, only led to a small shelter among the
+rocks and trees, where the natives had evidently been in the habit of
+lighting their fires and halting for the night. After continuing the
+search to another snow-bridge above, we returned to our camp, and made
+the sepoy issue a notice that twenty rupees reward would be given for
+the recovery of our cook, dead or alive, and also that a reward would
+be given to any person who should bring us any reliable information
+about him. At the same time we sent the notice to the villages below,
+and spread it as much as possible; but though twenty rupees would be a
+small fortune to one of these people, they took but little interest in
+the matter, and looked upon the whole thing as “Kismut,” or destiny.
+“If it was the will of God that the body should be found, it would be
+found, if not, where was the use of looking for it;” and so they took
+no steps whatever in the matter.
+
+To add to the probabilities of the snow-bridge having been the cause of
+our loss, it appeared that a short time before, a coolie carrying
+Pushmeena &c. had fallen there, and had never since been heard of;
+while another, who had also fallen into the torrent, was only
+discovered six days afterwards miles and miles below.
+
+Having now despatched several searching parties, and received no
+tidings, we decided upon retreating to the next village down the
+valley, and halting there for a few days, in order to do all we could
+for our unfortunate man.
+
+September 7.—Started on our march again in heavy sleet and rain, which,
+higher up the mountains, took the form of downright snow. The valley
+descended by a slight incline, through fir and other forest trees, and
+about four kos down, we reached another little wooden city, where,
+being wet through and through, we were glad to halt, and getting a good
+fire lit in one of the log-houses, we set to work to dry our clothes.
+The house was reached by a most primitive ladder, made of half the
+trunk of a tree, hollowed out into holes for the feet; and, as for the
+shelter afforded by the tenement, it certainly kept off the rain, but
+was not intended to keep out the wind, for the trees which composed the
+walls were so far apart, that we could see the face of nature between
+them, and, in spite of the open windows, which the architect had
+thought necessary to provide the building with, the breeze whistled
+through the chinks in a way that might be very pleasant in hot weather,
+but was not so cheery when snow and rain was the order of the day. The
+roofs were the most novel structures I had ever seen. They consisted
+merely of rudely split blocks of wood, some five or six feet long,
+through the upper ends of which stout pegs had been driven, and, thus
+suspended, these weighty wooden tiles overlapped each other, and formed
+a rude covering, which, unpromising as it was to outward appearance,
+answered its purpose sufficiently well, and was at least quite in
+keeping with the remainder of the wooden mansion. The people here were
+something like the Cashmeerees in appearance, and as we descend into
+civilization, fowls, and other hitherto foreign animals begin to show
+themselves once more. The entire substitution of wood for mud and
+stones effectually marks the difference between the Cashmerian and
+Thibetian sides of the snowy range we had just crossed. About eight kos
+from Sucknez we reached Bragnion, where we found the camp pitched in a
+most promising position, having a fine view of the valley below, and
+the distant ranges of mountains. The torrent here spread itself into
+several channels, and the valley, widening to allow it fuller liberty
+to pursue its joyful existence, descended in a succession of wooded
+slopes, one beyond the other, while the eternal snows again bounded the
+view in the distance.
+
+The small portions of comparatively level ground in sight were covered
+with crops of the richest colours. One in particular, which the people
+called “gunhar,” was of the hue of beetroot, and grew upon its stalk in
+heavy, gorgeous masses, which added considerably to the richness of the
+landscape. The seed of this consists of myriads of little
+semi-transparent white grains, very like ant’s eggs, and the taste is
+something similar to that of wheat. Above our camp, in a ravine of the
+hills, is the place where an officer had been killed by the fall of an
+avalanche, while out on a shooting expedition. His companion, a noted
+sportsman, was saved, by making a tremendous jump; but he himself, and
+three shikarees, were swept away, their bodies not being recovered for
+two months afterwards.
+
+September 8.—After a cold night, during which I dreamt of our lost
+cook, we were awoke by a shout of “Jeeta hy!”—“He is living!” then,
+“Rusta bhool gya!”—“He lost his way!” and gradually it dawned upon us
+that the man we had fancied floating down the torrent a mangled corpse
+was still actually in the land of the living.
+
+It appeared that he had been discovered, sitting helplessly upon the
+mountain side, by a chance and solitary traveller from Thibet. He had
+lost his way at the snow-bridge, and, in trying to retrace his steps,
+completely got off the only track existing, and had consequently
+wandered about among the wood and cover as long as his strength enabled
+him.
+
+The accounts of his movements amid the general excitement were rather
+conflicting, but this being the fourth day since his disappearance, and
+the weather having been very bad all that time, he must have had a very
+narrow escape of his life, from the combined effects of cold and
+hunger. By the man’s account who found him, he was so weak, that he was
+unable to eat the chupatties thrown across to him; and, his rescuer
+accordingly leaving with him some meal, and means to make a fire, came
+on to Sucknez, and from thence sent out a party to carry him in.
+Sending a horse and some supplies for him, we looked forward with some
+interest to his own account of his most unsought-for adventures.
+
+The villagers here, we found, were in the habit of making regular
+expeditions among their crops at night, to keep off the bears who prowl
+about in search of food. Armed with torches, they keep up a tremendous
+shouting all through the dark hours, during the time their grain is
+ripening; and thinking to get a daylight view of the robbers, I started
+up the mountain with a native guide and a rifle. My “sportsman,”
+however, in spite of many promises, failed in showing me anything more
+savage than a preserve of wild raspberry-trees, on which I regaled with
+much satisfaction.
+
+A curious custom in the valley is that of hanging quantities of hay up
+among the branches of trees, and its object puzzled me immensely, till
+my guide informed me that in the winter the snow lies five and six
+yards in depth, and that the supplies of hay, which now look only meant
+for camel-leopards, are then easily reached by the flocks of sheep
+which abound in the valley. At present these were all collected among
+the mountains, to be out of the way of the harvest, and this accounts
+for the enormous herd we had seen while descending from the pass.
+
+September 9.—Found the sun brightly shining again this morning, and
+everything looking fresh and beautiful after the rain. The man who had
+gone with supplies to the cook returned with news that he was ill from
+the effects of cold and fasting, and not able to come on to us. While
+at breakfast, my yesterday’s guide brought us in a bowl of raspberries,
+which gave pleasant token of the change from the desolate country we
+had recently passed through, to the land of plenty we had reached. We
+also got about eleven seers (22 lbs.) of virgin honey, for which we
+paid three rupees. While trying it for breakfast, a dense swarm of the
+original proprietors came looking for their stores, and the noise they
+made buzzing about, made one fancy they contemplated walking off bodily
+with the jars. In the evening our long-lost cook again returned to the
+bosom of his family. The poor creature looked regularly worn out. From
+the combined effects of snow and fire he was quite lame; his turban,
+most of his clothes, and all his small possessions, had vanished while
+struggling through the thick cover, and he himself had subsisted for
+two nights and three days, unsheltered and alone, upon nothing but
+tobacco and snow! On losing his way, not thinking of crossing the
+snow-bridge, he struck right up the mountain side, in search, first of
+the path, and afterwards of some hut or shelter. He then gradually got
+into thick and almost impervious cover; not a habitation of any sort
+was within miles of him, and thus he wandered about for two days and
+nights. On the third day he descended again towards the torrent, and,
+falling and stumbling, reached a rock on its bank, and there seating
+himself, was, by the merest chance, seen by the passing traveller from
+the other side of the torrent. Making signs that he was starving, this
+man threw him some chupatties, and these, wonderful to relate, the cook
+put in his pocket without touching. Supposing him to be either too
+weak, or else, even while starving, too strict a Hindoo to eat cooked
+food, his rescuer then threw him across some meal in his turban, and
+went off for assistance. The poor creature was rather proud, I think,
+to find himself the centre of attraction, as well as of being valued at
+twenty rupees; and, as he falteringly related his sorrows and escape
+from death, the coolies and the rest of the forces gathered round him,
+listening with wide open mouths to the wonderful narrative of his
+adventures.
+
+September 10.—Took another day’s rest to give our unfortunate cook a
+little time to recover his energies. In the evening, the villagers
+produced us a couple of hives of honey, which we packed away in earthen
+jars for transport to the plains. The amount was 39½ seers, or 79 lbs.
+for which we paid ten rupees.
+
+The unwillingness of the people to produce their honey the “Invincible
+One” accounted for by saying that they were afraid of our not paying
+them. On inquiry, however, the real cause turned out to be, that the
+Sepoy himself was in the habit of exacting a heavy tax on all purchases
+on our part, and fear of him, not us, was the true difficulty.
+
+In the evening, we took a tour through the village, and discoursed, as
+well as we could, a native Zemindar, whom we found with his household
+around him, gathering in his crop of grain, which had been partially
+destroyed by the early snow. His land appeared to be about four acres
+in extent, and for this, he told us, he paid twelve rupees per annum to
+the Maharajah of Cashmere. He failed signally, however, in explaining
+how he produced that amount by his little farm. The produce of his land
+sufficed only to feed himself and his family, and the proceeds of the
+sale of wool, belonging to his twelve sheep, he estimated at only two
+rupees. Besides these, he possessed a few cows, and appeared as cheery
+and contented a landholder as I ever met, in spite of his losses by the
+snows, and his inability to make out, even by description, his ten
+rupees of ground-rent to the Maharajah.
+
+The crops around consisted chiefly of bearded wheat (kanûk), barley
+(jow), anik, tronba, and gunhar, all otherwise nameless; and also a
+small quantity of tobacco, turnips, and radishes.
+
+September 11.—Having with some difficulty procured a pony for the cook,
+we started again for Cashmere, and, after a very steep ascent, through
+woods of magnificent pine-trees, with every now-and-then a glorious
+peep of distant snow-peaks towering in the skies, we reached the summit
+of the peer, which separates the territory called Kushtwar from that of
+Cashmere. According to the “Invincible” authority, this territory
+belonged, some sixty years ago, to an independent Rajah, and, on his
+death without heirs or successors, it fell into the clutches of Gûlab
+Singh. [31]
+
+The entire revenue, he stated, was 3,000 rupees. From the heights along
+our path, we could see the great glaciers of Dutchen, with its mountain
+peak of 25,000 feet, which we had been bound for when the misadventure
+of our cook interfered with our plans, and left us not sufficient time
+to carry out our explorations.
+
+The summit of the pass we found evidently not long freed from the old
+snow, while the new supply lay about in masses all over the mountain.
+
+Passing over a wild and marshy plain at the summit, we began to descend
+a lovely pine-clad valley once more into veritable Cashmere, and, about
+four P.M. encamped in a forest-clearing, which, in a very short space
+of time, was illuminated by no less than seven roaring campfires. Our
+own formed the centre, and was formed of a couple of entire
+pine-trunks, while the others were ranged about wherever a dry and
+prostrate tree presented a favourable basis for a conflagration. In the
+evening we enjoyed the warmth of our fires considerably, and discussed
+hot brandy and water seated on the very trees which formed our fuel. We
+were all the more inclined to appreciate our position, as we felt that
+we were nearly out of our cold latitudes, and rapidly descending to the
+land of dog days once again.
+
+September 12.—Continued our march down the valley, through continued
+wooded grassy scenes, and attended by a not too noisy torrent. About a
+kos from our halting place, we began again to see the wooden houses,
+and came to a halt at the picturesque little village of Nowbogh, where
+there were two roads branching off to Islamabad.
+
+Here we had a long wait for breakfast, the servants being overcome by
+the unaccustomed civilization and tobacco they met on the road. We
+accordingly set to work at our own kitchen fire, and breakfasted
+without further assistance off fried eggs, rice, and honey.
+
+In the evening we found alas! that a fire at our tent door, as we had
+had hitherto, was rather too hot to be pleasant. We were here visited
+by the local prodigy, a rustic carpenter, who insisted upon making
+something for us with his rather primitive-looking turning lathe. His
+shop I found completely al fresco, between a couple of cows in the
+centre of a farm-yard, and here he set to work at a walnut cup, which
+he turned out creditably enough. The only thing against it was, that
+his lathe bored a hole right through the bottom of it, which spoiled
+the utensil a good deal for drinking out of. However, not at all taken
+aback, he plugged it up with a piece of stick, and at once requested
+the bukshish, which was the chief part of the performance. Like most of
+the Cashmeeries, he complained bitterly of the exactions of the
+Maharajah’s government, and stated his own rent to amount to sixteen
+Huree Singh’s rupees (£1) per annum. Not seeing how he could accumulate
+that sum, by even an entire year of work such as his, I took the
+liberty of disbelieving his assertion.
+
+September 13.—Started for Kûkûnath. Our path lay over a finely-wooded
+hill, from which we had a full view of the Peer Punjal range, now
+divested considerably of the snows which lay upon it at the time we
+started for Thibet.
+
+Gradually descending into the valley proper, we soon found ourselves
+once more among the waving rice-fields and apple-orchards, while the
+wooden tenements again gave way to mud and stone, and thatched
+erections. At a village called Soprû, we found some iron mines in
+working order, and passing Kundunath, a pretty little spot adorned with
+gardens of melons, pumpkins, sunflowers, &c., we shortly after reached
+Kûkûnath. Here we encamped close to a collection of bubbling crystal
+springs, which, bursting out of the hill side, and spreading into a
+dozen separate streams, took their course down to the innumerable
+fields of rice which they watered in their passage through the valley.
+To-day our little camp assumes quite a lively appearance again, three
+sheep and several fowls having been added to the farm-yard; these,
+together with three surviving ducks of the real original stock, and a
+wonderful white Thibetian cock, who owes his life entirely to his
+highly-cultivated vocal powers, strut about in front of the tent, and
+give an air of unwonted respectability to the scene. Two marches more
+take us to Islamabad, and it seems altogether about time that the
+present expedition should draw to a close. Supplies appear alarmingly
+low. Sugar out some days, brandy ditto, European boots worn out long
+ago, and both F. and myself living in grass shoes; clothes generally
+dilapidated, and decidedly dirty; servants very anxious for more
+tobacco and society, and everything, in fact, requiring rest and
+renovation after our seven weeks’ wanderings.
+
+September 14.—Reached the picturesque little baraduree of Atchabull
+once more, after a pleasant march from Kûkûnath. Shortly after taking
+possession, a fresh arrival of Sahib’s possessions and servants came
+in, the latter rather astonished to find the house occupied by such
+early birds. The owners turned out to be a colonel of the Bengal
+Artillery and a brother officer. These were almost our first
+acquaintances since starting, so that we were glad enough to fraternize
+and hear what was going on in the world. Two of our former boat’s crew
+here also appeared, and gave us tidings of our rearguard and baggage.
+The latter had been ejected from its lodgings, and taken out for an
+airing on the river, having been visited by a flood caused by the
+melting of the snows shortly after our departure. The weather here
+began to be unpleasantly hot again; the disappearance of the snow from
+the mountains having removed the principal cause of the usual coolness
+in the valley.
+
+Dined with the white men under the spreading sycamores, and enjoyed the
+luxuries of bread, beer, and sugar in our tea, to all of which we had
+now been long unaccustomed.
+
+September 15.—A short march brought us to Islamabad, which we found
+unusually lively from the assembling of a host of pilgrims, who had
+come from far and wide for a religious fair at Mutton. The groups of
+different nations, and their manners and customs while bivouacking,
+were most picturesque, and served to amuse and interest us for the
+entire day.
+
+September 16.—Started early by boat, in the fond expectation of
+reaching Sirinugger in the evening. Dusk, however, found us no farther
+than the ruins of Wentipore, and we only reached the capital at
+daylight in the morning. Finding our old quarters vacant, we were soon
+located once more under a roof; and, fifty days having elapsed since we
+had seen either letter or paper, we lost no time in applying to the
+postal authorities for our expected accumulations and arrears of
+correspondence. This resulted in the production of twenty-seven
+epistles and eleven papers, which we carried home triumphantly in our
+boat, and proceeded forthwith to devour in that ravenous fashion only
+known and appreciated by such as have ever undergone a similar literary
+fast.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PART VII.
+
+LAST DAYS OF TRAVEL.
+
+
+September 30.—For the last fifteen days we have been living once more
+the life of otium cum dignitate common to the travelling Englishman in
+Cashmere. Basking in the sun, taking the daily row upon the river,
+eating fruit, and buying trash in the city, have been our principal
+occupations and amusements.
+
+About the 20th of the month an English general officer arrived, and was
+received with all honours, including a salute of heavy ordnance, which
+was happily unattended with loss of life or limb. A dance and grand
+review were also given in his honour; so that the arrival made quite a
+stir, and came fairly under the head of an event in the valley. At the
+review the Maharajah was decorated with unusual grandeur, and as he and
+his guest rode down the line together—the latter in a plain blue frock,
+and the other in all his cloth of gold and jewelled splendour—never
+were simplicity and display more strikingly placed in contrast.
+
+The general’s medals and crosses, however, appeared to have a greater
+interest and importance in the Maharajah’s eyes than their intrinsic
+value could have commanded for them, and, during the marching past of
+“The Army,” he kept continually poking his finger at them, and pointing
+them out to the courtiers who were gathered about his chair. The
+general, at the same time, was employed in explaining how many
+thousands the British Army consisted of, and how vastly superior it was
+to all other armies whatever, not even making an exception (as I
+thought he might fairly have done) in favour of the “Invincible
+Forces,” then and there manfully throwing out their feet before him to
+the martial strains of “Home, sweet Home!” After the last of the army
+had marched past, the general, with an energy little appreciated by his
+friends in cloth of gold, jumped up, and, begging permission to
+manœuvre the troops himself, went off to throw the unfortunate colonel
+commanding into a state of extreme consternation, and to frighten the
+few English words of command he was possessed of, fairly out of his
+head.
+
+In the early mornings my chief amusement had been to watch the colonel
+in question preparing both himself and his troops for the approaching
+spectacle, and very sensibly he went through the performance. He was
+arrayed on these occasions in the full dress of a green velvet
+dressing-gown, worn in the style affected by the ferocious ruffian in
+small theatres, and, in place of a bugler, was accompanied by a
+pipe-bearer. This aide followed him over the battle-field, wherever the
+exigencies of the service required, and supplied him with whiffs of the
+fragrant weed to compose his nerves at intervals during the action.
+Their united efforts, however, although slightly irregular in
+appearance, were attended with full success, for, with the help of ten
+rounds of ammunition, the troops, even when handed over to the tender
+mercies of the “Foreign General” got through their ordeal very
+creditably; and, as they shot nobody, and did nothing more irregular
+than losing their shoes upon the field, the event passed off smoothly
+and pleasantly, and to the satisfaction of all concerned.
+
+Here we met an old Sikh acquaintance of the road, who informed me that
+he had taken service under the Maharajah. Next day he paid us a visit,
+by appointment, and expressed himself highly delighted with his
+entertainment; smoking and drinking, however, not being lawful in
+society to the Sikhs, we could do but little in the character of hosts,
+beyond letting him talk away to his heart’s content, and with as little
+interruption as possible. He told us his entire life and history, in
+the worst of English, and we affected to understand the whole of the
+narration, which, perhaps, was as much as any host could have been
+called upon to do under the circumstances. The old gentleman’s dress
+was extremely gorgeous, and contrasted rather strongly with our own
+woollen shooting-jackets and general exterior. He wore a turban of
+purest white, entwined in endless folds round a light green skull-cap;
+his waistcoat was of green velvet, embroidered, and richly bordered
+with gold. His pyjamas—striped silk of the brightest hue—fitted his
+little legs as tightly as needle and thread could make them, and his
+lady-like feet were encased in cotton socks and gold embroidered
+slippers. Over all this he wore a green and gold silk scarf of
+voluminous proportions, and of that comprehensive character which an
+Eastern scarf, and in Eastern hands, alone is capable of assuming.
+Round his wrists were massive gold bracelets, but of other trinkets he
+had few; and the enormous ear-rings, so usually worn by his race, were
+not among them. His long grey beard and almost white moustache were,
+perhaps, the only ornaments his fine old head required. The last time I
+had seen him, he was arrayed entirely in scarlet and gold, and he had,
+no doubt, a large reserve of dresses and jewellery; but, in spite of
+his tinsel and gilding, he appeared a perfect little Eastern gentleman,
+and the only one I had met as yet in our travels. After expressing a
+great desire to open a correspondence with us, which, considering the
+small number of topics we possessed in common, was rather a strange
+wish, the old gentleman and his retinue took their leave, and we had
+seen the last of Beer Singh Bahadûr and his glorious apparel.
+
+October 1.—Busily employed to-day in packing away our possessions, and
+making final arrangements for again taking the road.
+
+Paid a visit to Saifula Baba, the shawl merchant, whose dignity was
+considerably upset by a cold in his head, and bought a few specimens of
+his trade, though not sufficient to raise his spirits entirely above
+the influenza. The approaching winter, and the evacuation of the
+territory by the principal rupee-spending community, seemed a source of
+great unhappiness to the sun and silver-loving natives.
+
+Their houses seem but badly adapted to keep out cold, and their efforts
+at heating them are frequently attended by the burning down of a whole
+nest of their wooden habitations.
+
+Their chief means of artificial warmth seems to be an earthenware jar
+covered with basket-work, which each native possesses and carries about
+with him wherever he goes.
+
+This, which is called a Kangree, is filled with charcoal, and, as the
+Cashmeerians squat down upon the ground, they tuck it under their long
+clothes, where, until they again rise, it remains hidden from sight,
+and forms a hot-air chamber under their garments. [32] Among other
+artists I discovered a native painter, rather an uncommon trade in
+these parts, from whom I obtained some original designs, illustrating,
+with uncommon brilliancy, the very common ceremonies of Hindoo and
+Mahomedan Shadees, or marriage processions, and other manners and
+customs of native life.
+
+After getting together everything we required for the road, and
+clearing out the whole of our possessions, much to the inconvenience of
+several large standing armies of fleas, we finally took our departure
+in two boats, manned by twelve boatmen, and started for Baramoula, on
+the road to Muree and the plains.
+
+October 2.—After making but little progress during the night, we
+discovered in the morning that our boats were rather too large for the
+river, in its present weakly and reduced state. Every ten minutes we
+found ourselves aground upon the sand and mud, and the cooking boat
+behind us followed our example, while the river ahead showed no
+prospect whatever of deepening. The Manjees, under the circumstances
+performed wonders in the nautical manœuvring line. Jumping overboard
+incessantly, they called upon Peer Dustgeer, their favourite patron
+saint, to aid them in their difficulties, and shrieked and screamed
+till the whole place resounded with their cries.
+
+Sometimes the saints were stony-hearted, probably not being in a humour
+to be shouted at, and then the entire body of silky-skinned darkies
+would set to work, laughing and shouting, to clear away the bar of
+sand. Their paddles forming in this operation, very effective
+substitutes for spades and shovels, with much difficulty we reached the
+lake, and about nine o’clock arrived at Baramoula.
+
+Here the river ceases to be navigable, and abandons itself for a short
+time to irregular and wanton habits, before finally sowing its wild
+mountain oats, and becoming the staid and sedate Jhelum of the Plains.
+Unlike some rivers, the Jhelum contains more water in the middle of
+summer than at other times. Its principal resources are the snows, and
+these mighty masses are so wrapped up in their own frigid magnificence
+that it requires a good deal of warm persuasion from the sun to melt
+their icy hearts to tears.
+
+October 3.—Took the road once more, and started for Muree. Our train
+was increased by a couple of volunteer native travellers, who were glad
+of our society in order that they might get clear of the Maharajah’s
+dominions with as little questioning as possible. Our coolies numbered
+twenty-six, so that altogether our forces now reached to thirty-eight.
+After a fine march, we halted at Nowshera, where the dashing river
+afforded us an exciting swim before breakfast. Coming out of the water,
+however, I had the ill luck to slip upon a treacherous rock, and,
+falling heavily on my side, and so over into the rapid stream, had some
+difficulty in fishing myself out again, and was very near taking an
+unpleasantly short cut to the Plains. In the evening, when the cook
+came to inspect the larder for dinner, it was discovered, that, with an
+unusual want of presence of mind, a newly-killed sheep had been left by
+mistake in the boats for the benefit of the already overpaid boatmen.
+This was the third animal we had lost, from various causes, during our
+travels, and the mishap most seriously affected the success of our
+dinner arrangements for the day.
+
+October 4.—Found great difficulty in getting up this morning after my
+fall, and still more in walking three miles, which I had to do before
+finding a pony. The view was beautiful the whole way; but we had been
+so gorged with scenery of all sorts and kinds, that rugged passes,
+shady dells, waterfalls, &c., however precious they may become in
+future recollection, were almost thrown away upon us for the time
+being. Breakfasted under the pine trees, near an ancient temple, and
+halted at Uree, where there was a baraduree for travellers. Except,
+however, to very dirty travellers indeed, it would be of little use.
+While descending a very steep part of the road, my saddle suddenly
+slipped over the pony’s round little carcase on to his neck, and,
+nolens volens, I came to the ground, the pony remaining in a position
+very nearly perpendicular, with his tail towards the heavens and his
+head between my legs, in which predicament he luckily remained
+perfectly quiet, until the bhistie, coming up behind, set us both on
+our proper extremities once more.
+
+October 5.—Started for Chukothee, and thinking, in an evil moment, to
+walk off the effects of my late mishap, I essayed the fifteen miles on
+foot.
+
+Long before reaching half way, however, I began to look about for
+anything in the shape of a pony, that might appear in sight; but, none
+being forthcoming, I was obliged to finish as I had begun, and at last
+reached our destination, a snug little village, buried in fields of
+yellow rice upon the hill-side. On the way, I fell in with a fine old
+Mussulman Zemindar, trudging along on his return to Delhi, from paying
+a visit to Sirinugger.
+
+Being an unusually talkative old gentleman, we fraternized by the way,
+and he told me that he had been to see the civil commissioner of his
+district, now acting as commissioner in the valley, to make his salaam,
+relative to a “jageer,” or Government grant of certain villages to the
+amount of some three thousand rupees per annum, which he had succeeded
+in obtaining on account of his loyalty during the recent mutiny.
+
+Of this three thousand rupees, it appeared that only one thousand would
+come into his own pocket, the remainder being payable as rent, &c. to
+Government.
+
+His son had also a jageer of twelve thousand rupees, so that both he
+and his family were loyal and well to do in the world. His ideas of
+Cashmere were rather amusing. He appeared to think it a miserable spot
+enough, compared to his own land, and the only advantage he could hit
+upon, was, in my estimation, quite the reverse, viz: that Sirinugger
+was very hot in the middle of summer.
+
+The rice he had a supreme contempt for. It was not to be compared with
+the Indian rice, and the Cashmeeries he pooh-poohed, as being no judges
+whatever of its qualities, and, in fact; not fit to eat rice at all. He
+seemed quite unable to understand my walking when I could ride; or,
+indeed, why I should leave such a charming country as India to be
+uncomfortable in Cashmere, without even having any jageer business to
+transact as an excuse.
+
+Our coolies, being an unusually miserable crew, we got breakfast about
+two P.M. To-day our tent lamp finished its erratic life, according to
+the Dhobie’s account, by self-destruction! That good for nothing piece
+of charcoal had, however, doubtless dashed the solid cut-glass globe,
+which formed the chief glory of the instrument, against a rock, while
+thinking of his hubble bubble, and his little blackamoors at home.
+
+The lamp had got over all the difficulties of the road from Lahore to
+Ladak and back, and had been quite a peep-show to half the natives of
+Thibet, who were never tired of regarding their multiplied countenances
+in the numerous cut circles of the glass shade, so that we felt quite
+grieved at its melancholy loss. Our water bottle also to-day finished
+its existence, and the table came into camp a bundle of sticks; so that
+everything seemed to betoken the approaching dissolution of the
+expedition. The farm-yard consists of five ducks, all strangers, and a
+pet sheep, and the khiltas look haggard and dilapidated in the extreme.
+The musical cock, alone, of old friends still survives, but he appears
+in weak health, and his constitution is evidently undermined by the
+changes of climate it has undergone. We were here worried by a party of
+strolling mountebanks from the Punjab, who persisted in horrifying us
+by making two young girls and three boys, all apparently entirely
+destitute of bones, stand upon their heads, and go through similar
+performances on the grass. The girl actually pattered a measure with
+her feet upon the back of her head, and the proprietors seemed utterly
+unable to account for our apathetic disregard of so extremely talented
+and interesting a performance.
+
+October 6.—Left for Hutteian, about fifteen miles off. Ponies being
+scarce, I had to walk part of the way; but the sepoy, pitching by
+chance upon our friends, the Punjabees, triumphantly carried off a
+stout little animal of theirs for my use. Before mounting, however, I
+was mobbed by the tumbling family, en masse, who went on their knees in
+their solicitations to be exempt from the seizure of their property.
+Finding me obdurate in retaining the pony at a fair valuation, with
+“the army” to bear me out, they proceeded to diplomatic measures to
+gain their end. First, a very small child, choosing a stony place in
+the path, suddenly stood upon her head, and proceeded to form black
+knots with her body. Finding that this only caused me to threaten her
+father with a stick, they produced a blind girl, who threw herself half
+naked at my feet and cried by order. The poor creature had lost her
+sight by the small-pox, and I had remarked her the day before patiently
+toiling over rocks and broken paths with one little child in her arms,
+and another half leading, half obstructing her, endeavouring to guide
+her footsteps down the rocks. She, however, got no immediate benefit
+from the pony of contention; so, giving her some money to console her
+in her forced misery, I still remained inexorable. After this, the
+encampment broke up, with all its pots and pans, cows and fowl, &c. and
+took to the road, leaving me in undisturbed possession of my new
+conveyance. The weather began to astonish us a little to-day, by a
+renewed accession of October heat. Still the climate was delightful.
+Morning and evenings always cool, and sometimes cold, and a bright
+cheery blue invariably over head, while a refreshing breeze made music
+through the pine trees, and waved the golden ears of rice.
+
+Encamped under a spreading sycamore, at the junction of two mountain
+streams. To-day a new order of bridge appeared, consisting merely of a
+single rope, the passengers being tugged across in a basket. From its
+appearance it was rather a matter of congratulation that we were not
+called upon to cross it.
+
+October 7.—Being Sunday, we made a halt, and enjoyed a refreshing bathe
+in the stream, and a rest from the toils of the road.
+
+October 8.—Left “Hutteian,” and, winding along the valley, arrived, by
+a steep ascent, at Chukar, a little village boasting a fort and a small
+nest of Sepoys. It also owned a curiously dirty, and consequently
+saintly Fukeer, whom we found sitting bolt upright, newly decorated
+with ashes, and with an extremely florid collection of bulls, demons,
+&c. painted about the den he occupied. On the road I again picked up
+the old Mussulman, who seemed delighted to chat, and gave me an account
+of the part he had played in the mutiny.
+
+He appeared frequently to have warned his Commissioner that an outbreak
+was about to take place, but without his crediting the story; and when
+it actually did occur, the latter fled from his station at Lahore, and
+took shelter with a friendly Risaldar until the storm should blow over.
+From thence he sent for the old gentleman, my informant, and “Imam
+Buksh” forthwith mounted his camel and came with five and twenty armed
+followers to his assistance. While here, a party of rebels came
+searching for English, and Mr. Buksh narrated how he went forth to meet
+them, and proclaimed, that they might kill the Englishman if they
+would, but must first dispose not only of himself, but also of his five
+and twenty followers. Upon this they abused him, and asked him, “What
+sort of a Mussulman he called himself?” and denounced him as a
+“Feringee,” or foreigner.
+
+The rebels, however, finally went off, and the Commissioner and his
+family, by Imam Buksh’s further assistance, succeeded in escaping all
+the dangers of the times. For this service it was that the old
+gentleman had just received his jageer of two villages, now some years
+after the occurrence of the events.
+
+He appeared to think very little of the Maharajah’s rule, and was of
+opinion that the people were miserably oppressed, paying, by his
+account, two thirds of the produce of their lands to the Government.
+This was in kind, but, where the revenue was taken in coin, a produce
+of about fourteen pounds of grain was subject to a tax of two rupees.
+On the subject of the cause of the mutiny in India, he said that
+greased cartridges certainly had nothing to do with it; for the rest,
+why, “It was the will of God, and so it happened.” To induce him to
+argue on the possibility of the mutiny having been successful, I found
+to be out of the question. “It was the power of God which had prevented
+the rebels from gaining over us, and, in the name of the Holy Prophet
+and the twelve Imams, how then could it have been otherwise?” As to the
+probability, however, of there being another mutiny, he admitted that
+he thought there would be one, but that, as long as we maintained
+justice, no other power could hold the country against us. On my asking
+him if we did not maintain justice in the land, he said no, and adduced
+the fact that in every case brought before the courts an enormous
+amount of bribery goes on among the Rishtidars, and other
+understrappers, whereby the man with most money wins his cause. No
+Englishman, he thought, could take a bribe, but he seemed to be under
+the impression that those in authority were aware of the system being
+carried on by those beneath them. He admitted that he knew of one
+native who would not take a bribe! and dwelt largely on the subject, as
+if it were a wonderful fact, which I have no doubt it was.
+
+In the evening we presented Mr. Imam Buksh with some of our sheep,
+which delighted his heart immensely, and he spent the entire evening in
+cooking and eating it, together with a perfect mountain of chupatties,
+which he manufactured with great care and deliberation.
+
+October 9.—Left our camp very early, and had a sharp ascent up the
+mountains. A considerable descent again, brought us to the village of
+Mehra, where we pitched our tents, once more within sight of the
+territories of India.
+
+October 10.—Marched into Dunna, our last halting-place in Cashmere. It
+is situated nearly at the summit of the frontier range of hills, and
+commanded a most extensive view of the mountains of Cashmere and Cabul,
+besides those on the Indian side.
+
+October 11.—Took a last fond glance towards “the valley,” and descended
+by a very steep and difficult path to the river Jhelum, which forms the
+boundary between the two territories. Here a couple of queerly-shaped,
+rudely-constructed boats, with two huge oars apiece, one astern and one
+at the side, formed the traveller’s flying bridge. Into one of these
+the whole of our possessions and coolies, &c. were stowed, and we
+commenced the passage of the stream.
+
+This we managed by, in the first instance, coasting up the bank for
+several hundred yards, and then striking boldly into the current; and
+it was amusing to see our well-crammed boat suddenly drawn into the
+rapid stream and whisked and whirled about like a straw, while a nice
+calculation on the part of the skipper, and a good deal of rowing and
+shouting on that of the sailors, enabled us to touch the opposite shore
+not very far below the point from which we had started. One last
+lingering look at Cashmerian ground, a step over the side, and we were
+once more standing upon the territories of Queen Victoria, and in the
+burning land of India—happily, however, still six days’ journey from
+the Plains.
+
+October 12.—Marched up the spur of the Muree Hill to Dewul, where we
+found a room in a mud fort converted into a halting-place for
+travellers, reached by a series of break-neck ladders, and looking very
+much like a cell in a prison, with its two chairs and clumsy wooden
+table. Here we found a little amusement in the arrival of the Chota
+Sahib, or “small gentleman,”—otherwise the Assistant Civil Commissioner
+of the district,—to review the fort and its dependencies. On the first
+tidings of his approach, the Thanadar immediately turned out the entire
+garrison, consisting of twelve military policemen, called “Burqundaz,”
+or “Flashers of lightning!” These soon appeared in their full dress of
+crimson turbans and yellow tights, and, shouldering their
+“flint-locks,” proceeded to perform a series of intricate evolutions,
+by way of practice for the rapidly-approaching inspection. When the
+great little man did arrive, there was, we thought, a good deal of
+irregularity among the troops, such as laughing in the ranks and
+treading on toes, &c. However, the only point the inspecting officer
+dwelt upon was the absence of uniformity in dress, caused by the
+deficiency of two pairs of yellow tights among the lightning flashers,
+otherwise he appeared perfectly satisfied, and all went off well. After
+his review he invited himself to our dinner-party, and honoured our
+repast with the further addition of a kid stew. He turned out to be one
+of the ex-Company’s officers, a subaltern of eighteen years’ service,
+fifteen of which had been spent away from his regiment on the staff. He
+was with his corps, however, when it mutinied, and escaped without much
+difficulty. The unfortunate colonel of the regiment, finding that none
+of his men would shoot him, had done so with his own hand. He gave it
+as his opinion that the cartridges were the cause of the mutiny; but
+allowed that his regiment was in a bad state of discipline some time
+before, and that all the native corps were known to be disaffected
+years before the event occurred, both by the officers present and those
+absent upon staff employ. Altogether, after the Chota Sahib had
+thoroughly discussed both the mutiny and the dinner, we were left under
+the impression that there was quite sufficient cause for the
+disaffection of the Bengal army without ever arriving at the vexed
+question of greased cartridges at all.
+
+October 13.—Marched early into the Hill Station of Muree. Not being yet
+quite in walking trim, I had pressed a mule into the service, who
+carried me in good style as far as the entrance to the town. Here,
+however, he seemed suddenly to remember that we had each a character to
+support, and, stopping short, he utterly refused to budge another step.
+Not being willing even to be led, I finally abandoned him to his own
+devices, and walked on to the Commandant’s bungalow, where I found my
+companion already hospitably received, and comfortably seated at
+breakfast, discussing kidneys and beefsteaks, and such like unwonted
+delicacies of the Muree season.
+
+After getting somewhat over the novelty and discomfort of being again
+in a house with doors and glass windows, and other inconveniences, we
+sallied out to inspect the station.
+
+Like its confrères of the Hills—Simla, Kussowlie, &c. Muree was a
+prettily-situated little settlement, with houses scattered about
+entirely according to the freaks and fancies of the owners, and with
+utter disregard of all system whatever. The Mall was a fine one, and
+its gaily-dressed frequenters, in jhampans and palkees, &c. were of the
+unmistakeable stamp of Anglo India in the Hills. Two or three of the
+ladies, however, were bold enough to walk, and looked none the worse
+for being divorced from their almost inseparable vehicles, and
+unattended by their motley crowd of red, and green, and variegated
+bearers.
+
+October 14.—Spent a quiet day among the hospitalities of Muree, and
+became gradually accustomed to city life. Going to church seemed rather
+a strange process, and the building itself was but a bad exchange for
+the grander temples which we had frequented for so many Sundays.
+
+October 15.—Laid our dak by doolie to Lahore, and, with our hospitable
+entertainer to guide us, started at five P.M. by a short cut, to meet
+our new conveyances.
+
+Reaching the main road, we once more packed ourselves away in our
+boxes, and, the sun soon setting his last for us upon the Cashmere
+mountains, left us to make our way down to the miserable plains as fast
+as the flaring and spluttering light of a couple of pine torches would
+allow our bearers to patter along.
+
+From this, until we reach Lahore, we are accompanied by an incessant
+shuffle shuffle of naked feet through the dusty road; jabbering and
+shouting of blacks, flickering of torches, bumping of patched and
+straining doolies against mounds of earth, glimpses of shining naked
+bodies, streaming with perspiration, as they flit about, and the whole
+enveloped in dense and suffocating clouds of dust, which penetrate
+everything and everywhere, and soon become, in fact, a part of one’s
+living breathing existence; occasionally, outstripping our procession,
+a vision passes, like the glimmer of a white strip of linen, a stick,
+and a black and polished body, it rushes by like the wind, and
+disappears in the gloom of dust and night, and, in a second, her
+Majesty’s mail has passed us on the road! As we near the plains this
+vision undergoes a slight change, and takes the form of an apparition
+of two wild horses tearing away with a red and almost body-less cart;
+this also goes by like a flash, but gives more notice of its coming,
+and our torches, for a second, light up the figure of a wild huntsman,
+with red and streaming turban, who sits behind the steeds and blows a
+defiant blast at us as he also vanishes into the darkness. About seven
+miles from Muree, we halted for dinner, and made renewed acquaintance
+with that interesting object—the Indian roadside chicken.
+
+October 16.—Arrived early at Rawul Pindee, and breakfasted at seven,
+apparently off guttapercha and extract of sloe leaves. On again
+immediately, and reached Gugerkhan bungalow at seven P.M. hot,
+apoplectic, and saturated with dust.
+
+The room smells thoroughly of the plains; an odour, as it were, of
+punkhas, mosquitoes, and mustiness, not to be found elsewhere, and
+entirely unexplainable to uninitiated sufferers.
+
+The chicken, whose “fate had been accomplished,” died as we entered the
+yard, and was on the table in the fashion of a warm spread eagle in
+fifteen minutes! After this delicacy is duly discussed, the doolies are
+emptied of dust, the bedding laid down, and jolt, jolt, creak, creak,
+grunt, grunt, on we go again, until sleep good-naturedly comes to make
+us oblivious of all things. The kahars, or bearers, however, take a
+different view of life, and at every relief a crowd of sniggering
+darkies assemble, on both sides, with applications for bukshish. At
+first one hears, “Sahib, Sahib!” in a deprecating tone of voice,
+mindful of sudden wakings of former Sahibs, sticks, and consequent sore
+backs, then più forte, “Sahib!” crescendo, “Sahib, Sahib!” and then at
+last, in a burst of harmony, “Sahib pûrana Baira kûtch bukshish mil
+jawe?” [33] and the miserable doolie traveller, who has been, probably,
+feigning sleep in sulky savageness for the last ten minutes, makes a
+sudden dive through the curtains with a stick, an exclamation is heard
+very like swearing, only in a foreign language, and the troop of
+applicants vanish like a shot, keeping up, however, a yelping of
+Sahibs, and Pûrana Bairas, and Bukshishs, until the new bearers get
+fairly under weigh, and have carried their loads beyond hearing. None
+but those who have been woken up in this manner from a comfortable
+state of unconsciousness, to the full realities of doolie travelling in
+Indian heat and dust, can form an idea of the trial it is to one’s
+temper; and, from my own feelings, together with the sounds I hear from
+my companion’s direction, I can testify as to the relief that the use
+of foreign expletives affords under the affliction.
+
+October 17.—Arrived at Jhelum about eight A.M. to all intents and
+purposes dust inside and out. Flesh and blood can stand no more for the
+present, and we resolve to halt here for the day. The weather appears
+quite as hot as when we started, and the wind comes in, hot and dry,
+and makes one feel like a herring of the reddest; while an infernal
+punkha is creaking its monotonous tune, as it flaps to and fro in the
+next room, making one again realize to the full, “the pleasures of the
+plains.” We begin, in fact, to discover that the thorns which were not
+forthcoming on the Cashmere roses are too surely to be found elsewhere.
+
+October 18.—Reached Goojerat at cock-crow; thus completing a distinct
+circle of travel through Bimber, Sirinugger, Ladak, Kushtwar, Muree,
+and back to our present halting-place, from whence we had originally
+branched off.
+
+October 19.—A dusty night’s work brought us at two A.M. to Goojerwala.
+Here we found that there was no bungalow between us and Lahore, and,
+consequently, no chance of either a wash or breakfast should we go on;
+we therefore chose loss of time in preference to loss of breakfast,
+with the addition of a day under a broiling sun, and halted until the
+authorities should awake to feed us.
+
+October 20.—Reached Lahore before sunrise, and got our letters and
+papers from the post once more. Afterwards we laid our dak for
+Cawnpore, and made all arrangements for a start in the evening.
+
+October 21.—Arrived at Umritsur about three A.M., and remained in our
+coaches until sunrise, when we set off for a stroll through the city.
+This we found the cleanest, if not the only clean, town we had seen
+since landing in India. The streets were well drained and built, and
+were guarded by a force of yellow-legged, red-turbaned Punjabee
+policemen, who were provided, like their brother blue-bottles at home,
+with staves and rattles instead of the more usual insignia of sword and
+shield. The houses were almost all decorated, outside and in, with
+grotesque mythological and other paintings, such as Vishnu annihilating
+Rakshus, or demons of various kinds, or wonderful battle-pieces,
+wherein pale-faced, unhealthy-looking people, in tailed coats and
+cocked hats, might be seen performing prodigies of valour, assisted by
+bearded and invincible Sikh warriors of ferocious exterior. The shops
+were built with verandahs, and the piazza character of some of the
+streets, in conjunction with the unusual cleanliness, gave one a very
+agreeable impression of Umritsur and its municipal corporation, whoever
+that body may be. The inhabitants are principally Sikhs, fine-looking
+men generally, with long beards turned up at either side of their
+faces, and knotted with their hair under the voluminous folds of their
+turbans.
+
+October 22.—Out at four A.M. to explore the great durbar, or
+head-quarters of the Sikh religion in the Punjab. Entering through a
+highly decorated archway in the kotwalee, or police station, we came
+upon an enormous tank, with steps descending into the water on all
+sides, and planted around with large and shady trees. In the centre of
+this rose the temple of the Sikhs, a light-looking, richly-gilt
+edifice, the lower part of which was constructed of inlaid stones upon
+white marble. From this to one side of the tank, a broad causeway led,
+decorated with handsome railings, and lamps of gilt-work upon marble
+pedestals. Along this, crowds of people were passing to and fro,
+arrayed in every possible variety of costume and colour. Sikhs,
+Hindoos, Mussulmen—men, women, and children, crowded together like bees
+in a hive. Round the edges of the tank were handsome buildings,
+minarets, &c. with trees and gardens attached to them; and that,
+towards the causeway, was divided in two by a fine and richly-decorated
+archway, in the upper part of which a party of patriarchal old Sikhs
+were squatted on their haunches, discoursing the affairs of the nation.
+This whole scene opened upon our view at a glance. The sun had as yet
+scarcely appeared over the horizon, and the reflection of its light
+shone faintly upon the gold-work and ornaments of the central building,
+tipping it and the lofty minarets with rosy light, whilst the rest of
+the buildings remained shrouded in the morning haze. With the incessant
+bustle of the thronging, brightly-vestured crowd, and the accompaniment
+of the wild discordant tom-toming of a band of turbaned musicians, it
+formed a scene which almost persuaded one to put once more confidence
+in the brightly-coloured descriptions of the “Arabian Nights.” While
+waiting for sun-rise, we ascended one of the minarets, from which we
+had a curious bird’s-eye view of the tank and surrounding city at our
+feet, while the plains lay stretching away before us; the horizon level
+and unbroken, as if it bounded in the ocean. From this we had also a
+private view of the manners and customs of the natives. Just below us
+was an early morning scene in the life of a Sikh gentleman. He was
+sitting up in his “four-leg,” on the open court of an upper story,
+which formed his bed-room, while his attendants were offering him his
+morning cup of coffee, and otherwise attending to his wants. In one
+corner, another Sikh gentleman, with one arm, was having a brass vessel
+of water poured over him, and a number of similar vessels stood upon a
+sort of rack, ready for the master of the house to have his bath.
+
+Scattered about the foot of the bed, which had a grandly decorated
+canopy, was a deputation of white-robed Sikhs paying their morning
+visit, or having an audience upon some matter of business. These by
+degrees got up and went out, each making a profound salaam as he passed
+the bed. One of them only, the old man called back, and with him, as he
+sat upon the “four-leg,” he had a long and confidential talk. This
+evidently was the medical adviser, and, judging by the dumb-show of the
+interview which ensued, the Sikh, as evidently, was the victim of a
+cold in his fine old nose, which he had doubtless caught from sleeping
+in the open air. After this we repaired to the kotwallee again, and,
+getting a pair of slippers in exchange for our boots, descended to the
+durbar and mingled with the crowd.
+
+Although we were inadmissible in boots, no objection whatever appeared
+to be made to the entrance of Brahminee bulls; for we found a number of
+them walking about the mosaic pavement with as much confidence and
+impunity as if the place belonged to them.
+
+In the building we found a collection of Sikh padres, or “gooroos,”
+sitting behind a massive volume richly cased in cloth of gold and
+silver, while squatted around under a canopy, were the Sikh faithful,
+offering their presents of cowries, chupatties, balls of sweetmeats,
+and showers of yellow and white necklaces of flowers. The book was the
+original law of Gooroo Gurunth Sahib, which they had just finished
+reading, and, as we entered, they were commencing to cover it up again,
+which they did, with great pomp and ceremony, in a number of cloths of
+various patterns, after which they distributed the votive offerings
+among themselves and the people present, and held a sort of banquet
+over the sweets and flowers. In the midst of the proceedings, a very
+fine specimen of the race of Fukeer came in, and presenting an offering
+of the smallest, laid his head upon the ground before the book, and,
+without a word, took himself off again. He was girt round the loins
+with a yellowish-red cloth; his body, from head to foot, was covered
+with ashes. The hair of his head was matted together in strips, like
+the tail of an uncared cow, and reached to his waist. A shallow earthen
+pot was his hat, and over his shoulders hung two large gourds,
+suspended by a cord, while in his hand he carried a long staff, covered
+over with stuff of the same kind as that round his waist. Such was the
+figure which entered among the gaily-dressed multitude in the saintly
+durbar; and, although to the assembled people there appeared nothing
+whatever either strange or unusual in the arrival, to us, who were
+looking on, the contrast between the unclad dirty mendicant, and the
+pure white vestments of the Sikhs around, rendered it a most striking
+and remarkable apparition.
+
+On entering, he had removed the earthen pot which formed his hat, and,
+one of the two gourds which were round his shoulders having fallen to
+the ground in the act, it was amusing to see him pause for a second,
+and anxiously examine whether any compound fracture had taken place in
+the precious article of his very limited dinner service. One extremity
+of the building we found was occupied for Hindoo worship; so that
+fraternity and equality, worthy of imitation seems to be the order of
+the day among the religions of Umritsur. The interior was richly
+decorated with gilding and mirrors, &c., but was little worthy of
+remark in comparison with the richness of the exterior effect.
+Presenting a “bukshish” to the expectant padres who guarded the sacred
+book, we left them to their devotions, and betook ourselves once more
+to our bungalow.
+
+October 23.—Travelling all night, we reached Jullunder at six A.M.,
+and, after breakfast, again started for Loodianah, where we dined. We
+here again crossed the Sutlej, but, the water being low, boat
+navigation was dispensed with, and a shaky bridge, and about two miles
+of sandy river-bed, completed the passage.
+
+At Loodianah we were stormed by a host of merchants, with pushmeena and
+other soft matters, who were rather disappointed at finding we had come
+from the birth-place of such like manufactures. Some of the local
+shawls, however, or “Rampore chudders,” were beautifully fine and
+delicate, and seemed worthy of inspection.
+
+October 24.—Reached Umballa at eight A.M., and started again shortly
+after. Our horses to-day were most miserable caricatures, and it was
+with difficulty we managed to progress at all. The last stage was
+accomplished at a walk; and what with this and the delay caused by a
+couple of sandy river-beds, we only reached Kurnaul at ten P.M. The
+miserable condition of the horses was accounted for by the enormously
+high price of grain and the absence of grass, in consequence of the
+want of rain. The general topic, in fact, is now the failure of the
+rains, and consequent apprehensions of a famine throughout the land.
+“Atar” is here eight seers the rupee, or in other words, flour sells at
+one shilling and ninepence a stone—an enormous price in these parts.
+
+October 25.—Sunrise found us still half-way to Delhi, and we stopped to
+breakfast at the little bungalow of Ghureekulla. Here we found a fine
+old Khansaman, who gave us an account of the incidents of the Mutiny
+which came under his notice. He had received a flying party of two
+hundred men, women, and children, who arrived at dead of night, some on
+horses, some on foot, and all worn and haggard by their march from
+Delhi, from which they had escaped. These he took care of, and supplied
+with food until the following day, when they departed, without, by his
+own account, giving him anything, either as pay or reward. He
+afterwards assisted others also, and received about one hundred and
+twenty rupees, one way or another, for his services. At present he
+receives six rupees a month, with whatever he can pick up from
+travellers; not a very large amount in the out-of-the-way little jungle
+station of Ghureekulla.
+
+October 26.—Passed through Delhi by moonlight, and reached the bungalow
+at one A.M. At gun-fire we emerged from our locomotives, and went to
+explore the king’s palace. In spite of the late lesson on the subject
+of sepoys, we found the gates of the fort held entirely by native
+guards, and a very small body of Europeans located within the walls.
+After rambling through the place, and discovering that its only beauty
+lay at present in its exterior, we went to the Jama Musjid, a fine
+mosque of red granite, inlaid in parts with white marble. The cupolas,
+of great size, were entirely marble, and the minarets, also of marble,
+were closely inlaid. The place had been only recently handed over to
+the Moslems after its late seizure, and was not as yet used for
+worship. Ascending one of the minarets, we had a fine view of the city
+of the Great Mogul dynasty, with its minarets and ornamented streets;
+and in the distance we could discern the positions occupied by our
+besieging force, when the last of the kings was brought so rudely to
+the termination of his reign.
+
+October 27.—Reached Koel, or Allyghur, at eight A.M. Started again at
+five, stopping on the way to inspect the Jama Musjid, and a very fine
+old tower, probably of Buddhist or Jain origin, which was covered over
+with ancient inscriptions. Just as the Muezzin was calling to evening
+prayer, we again resumed our monotonous order of travel, and branched
+off towards Agra to visit the famous Taj Mahul.
+
+October 28.—Reached Agra at two A.M., and finding the bungalow full,
+had to go to the hotel. At sunrise we drove out to the Taj, and here, I
+think, for the first time, we were not disappointed in the difference
+between reality and description. The entrance to the gardens in which
+the Taj is situated was beautiful in itself, but one sight of the main
+building left no room for admiration of anything besides.
+
+It is situated on the banks of the Jumna, with a fine view of the
+magnificent fort, with its mosque and minarets, and is entirely of pure
+white marble, inlaid with stones into shapes of flowers and arabesques,
+&c. At each corner rises a white marble minaret, like a pillar of snow,
+beautifully decorated and carved, but unsullied by a single line of any
+other colour whatever. The interior is profusely inlaid with minute
+stones of considerable value, and is lit by carved marble windows of
+the most beautiful design imaginable. In the centre, surrounding the
+tomb of Mûmtaz and her lord, is a marvellous white marble screen, in
+the form of a polygon, carved like perforated ivory, and also inlaid
+with minute stones of every shape and colour. [34] The queen, in whose
+honour the tomb was built, occupies the very centre of the enclosure,
+Shah Jehan’s tomb being on one side of it, and larger in size, which
+rather spoils the symmetry of the space.
+
+Exactly underneath the tombs, in the main body of the building, one
+descends to a marble vault, where there are two others precisely
+similar in shape, but without any inscription or ornament whatever, and
+under these latter the mortal remains of the famous Shah Jehan and
+Mûmtaz repose in peace. Over the queen’s tomb, in the very centre of
+the interior, a single ostrich egg was suspended by an almost invisible
+thread, probably to shadow forth something of the meaning of the
+“Resurgam” affixed to monuments elsewhere. On either side, without the
+mausoleum, are two buildings facing inwards, one of which is a mosque,
+built in red granite and white marble; and the whole are profusely
+ornamented with carvings in marble, which would take an age to examine
+thoroughly, and which produce an effect quite incapable of being
+adequately portrayed by either pen or pencil.
+
+In one of these edifices, among the inlaid work and arabesques, and not
+far from the mortal remains of the departed King and Queen, we found a
+curious and interesting inscription, which seems to have been hitherto
+unmentioned by the many travellers who have visited the sacred spot. It
+was prominently placed and easily decipherable, being in unusually
+large letters, and in that character which might be called the
+“Uneiform,” of which so many valuable specimens exist in all parts of
+the known globe.
+
+It ran thus:—
+
+
+            IN MEMORY OF VALENTINE’S DAY.
+
+
+The sentence appeared unfinished, and one or two words were probably
+required to complete the sense, but from similar existing records there
+could be no difficulty in filling in the missing syllables.
+
+It was curious, however, to reflect what the feeling could have been
+that stayed the writer’s hand, and prevented him from finishing his
+graceful tribute to the mighty dead.
+
+Mûmtaz, from whose name the word “Taj” is derived (the letter “z” being
+incapable of being pronounced by many natives except as a “j”), was the
+daughter of the famous Noor Jehan’s brother Asoph Khan. Shah Jehan
+followed his queen in A.D. 1665, and was laid in the building which he
+had himself originally designed in her honour alone.
+
+With Noor Jehan and Jehangeer the case was reversed. The conqueror of
+the world ended his career in A.D. 1627, and the partner of all his
+Cashmerian wanderings, and many adventures, who wore no colour but
+white after his death, finally rejoined him in a tomb which she had
+raised to his memory at Lahore.
+
+Having paid due homage to the beauty of the far-famed mausoleum, we
+went to the Fort, and, after visiting the Ram Bagh, the Ikmam Dowlah,
+and the various palaces built by Akbar Shah, once more took the road,
+and were soon again galloping through the dust, morning bringing us to
+the bungalow of Bewah. From this we again made for Ghoorsahagunge and
+Cawnpore, and by rail to Allahabad, there completing a circuit of
+travel extending to between two and three thousand miles:
+
+
+            “In heat and cold
+        We’d roved o’er many a hill and many a dale,
+        Through many a wood and many an open ground,
+        In sunshine and in shade, in wet and fair,
+        Thoughtful or blithe of heart as might befall
+        Our best companions, now the driving winds,
+        And now the trotting brooks and whispering trees,
+        And now the music of our own quick steps
+        With many a short-lived thought that passed between
+        And disappeared.”
+
+
+And now but one day more remains of our six months’ leave. The 31st of
+October sees us again fairly in the hands of the authorities. Brothers
+in arms, who during our absence have been having “all work and no
+play,” receive us with warm and disinterested welcome. The Q.M.G. is
+hauled away in triumph by a swarm of fellow black-legs to glad the
+squaw-like partner of his sooty bosom. The last remnants of the
+expedition are fairly broken up, and already the days when we went
+gipsying have passed away “a long time ago.”
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ROUTE.
+
+
+                 Miles.                   Miles.                 Miles.
+Allahabad                Vernagh             11   Peer               16
+Cawnpore           120   Islamabad           15   Nowbogh             9
+Ghoorsahagunge      72   Sirinugger    by water   Kukunath           10
+Etawah              73   Gunberbull    ,,  ,,     Atchabull           8
+Kurga               72   Kungur              11   Islamabad           6
+Delhi               51   Gundisursing        12   Sirinugger   by water
+Kurnaul             73   Soonamurg           14   Baramoula    ,,  ,,
+Umballa             45   Foot of the Hills    9   Nowshera            8
+Kalka               40   Pandras             24   Uree               15
+Kussowlie            9   Dras                 8   Chukothee          15
+Simla               40   Tusgam              14   Hutteian           14
+Hureepore           20   Chungun             12   Chukar              9
+Kalka               29   Pushkoom            10   Mehra               6
+Umballa             40   Waka                13   Dunna               6
+Thikanmajura        36   Khurboo             10   Puttun              6
+Jullundur           61   Lamieroo            12   Dewul               9
+Umritsur            59   Nurila              16   Muree              11
+Lahore              35   Suspul              14   Rawul Pindee       37
+Gugerwalla          39   Egnemo              10   Gugerkhan          30
+Goojerat            30   Ladak               18   Jhelum             37
+Bimber              27   Chunga              18   Goojerat           31
+Serai Saidabad      12   Hemis                2   Gugerwalla         30
+Nowshera            11   Ladak               20   Lahore             39
+Chungas             11   Pitok                4   Umritsur           35
+Rajaori             12   Egnemo              14   Jullundur          59
+Thanna              12   Suspul              10   Loodiana           32
+Burrumgulla         11   Nurila              14   Umballa            71
+Poshana              6   Lamieroo            16   Kurnaul            45
+Peer Punjal          9   Khurboo             12   Ghureekulla        36
+Poshana              9   Waka                10   Delhi              36
+Aliabad             11   Pushkoom            13   Allyghur           79
+Heerpore            13   Thambis             14   Agra               50
+Shupayon             6   Sankoo              16   Bewah              82
+Ramoon               9   Sooroo              12   Ghoorsahagunge     79
+Sirinugger          14   Among the Mountains 11   Cawnpore           72
+Wuler         by water   Ditto               14   Allahabad         120
+Islamabad     ,,  ,,     Sucknez             11
+Atchabull            6   Bragnion            14
+
+
+Parts of the country not having been at the time correctly mapped,
+these distances are in some instances approximations only.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE RELIGIONS OF CASHMERE AND THIBET.
+
+
+During all our wanderings, whether in India, Cashmere, or Thibet, the
+most striking feature throughout, was the outward display of religion
+and the prominent part which religious forms of worship take in the
+every-day life of the people. Monuments and temples everywhere bear
+testimony to the universal belief in a Supreme Being; and Hindoo,
+Mussulman, and Buddhist alike, by numberless prayers and frequent
+offerings, confess their desire to propitiate His power and to
+cultivate His favour.
+
+Every little village has its “Musjid” or “Shiwala,” and everywhere, and
+at all hours, votaries of the different sects may be seen, in the
+fashion they have learnt from childhood, openly remembering, at least,
+their Creator.
+
+The naked Hindoo, with loosened scalp lock and otherwise closely-shaven
+head, stands in running water, and with his face upturned to the sun
+apostrophises the Divine Essence, whose qualities and attributes he has
+alone been taught to recognise, through the numberless incarnations of
+his degenerate creed. Five times a day the Mussulman kneels in open
+adoration of his Maker, and, doffing his slippers, repeats, with
+forehead to the ground, the formula laid down for him by the only
+Prophet he has learnt to believe in. The Buddhist, too, mutters his “Ûm
+mani panee” at every turn, and keeps his praying wheel in endless
+motion, with entire confidence in its mystic virtues, and fullest faith
+in the efficacy of those forms which he has thus been taught to follow
+from his cradle.
+
+Each worships after the fashion of his fathers before him, and each, by
+the dim illumination of his own particular light, fancies himself upon
+the true path, and is able plainly to perceive his neighbour groping in
+the outer darkness.
+
+Seeing all this, and turning in imagination to other lands, it is
+curious to consider that the Church which possesses the only Lamp of
+Truth, and who by the help of its light pronounces all these zealous
+worshippers alike, to be but “Infidels and Turks,” and says to all, in
+language not quite so polite as that of Touchstone, “Truly, shepherds,
+ye are in a parlous state,” herself makes no such public demonstration
+of her faith. To an Eastern infidel travelling in the West, she would
+even appear, to outward eye, a tenfold greater infidel than her
+neighbours. Except on one day in seven, he would seldom find a place of
+public worship open to his gaze, while the Name which he himself has
+learned to reverence to such a degree that every scrap of paper that
+might chance to bear it, is sacred in his eyes, he might hear a
+thousand times, and perhaps not once in adoration; and while it
+commences every action of his own life he would there find it utterly
+excluded from its accustomed place. Even the form of parting
+salutation, which in almost all lands—Infidel and Heretical—greets him
+in the name of God, would, in Protestant England, fall upon his ear
+with no such signification. While the benighted Hindoo greets his
+parting neighbour to the present day with “Khûda Hafiz”—God the
+Preserver—the Englishman’s “Good-bye,” like well-worn coin, has changed
+so much by use, that now, no stranger could discern in it any trace
+whatever of the image with which it was originally stamped.
+
+And although the comparison between the apparent creeds of East and
+West is truly that between a very large proportion of faithful
+professors of a false religion and, to outward eye, a similarly large
+proportion of unfaithful followers of the true religion, it is
+interesting to form some idea of the different systems which have
+existed for so many ages, and which, though proved alike by reason and
+revelation to be of human origin and unequal to the wants of human
+nature, have yet maintained their influence to the present day, and
+hold among their votaries still such zealous worshippers of an unknown
+God.
+
+The oldest of all these religions appears to be that of the Hindoos.
+The Vedas, or Scriptures, date as far back as the Books of Moses, 1100
+B.C.; and previously even to their then being committed to writing by
+the Sage Vyasa, they are believed to have been preserved for ages by
+tradition. The primary doctrine of the Vedas is the Unity of God. There
+is, they say, “but one Deity, the Supreme Spirit, the Lord of the
+Universe, whose work is the universe.” “Let as adore the supremacy of
+that divine Sun, the Godhead, who illuminates all, who recreates all,
+from whom all proceed, to whom all must return, whom we invoke to
+direct our understandings aright in our progress towards His holy seat.
+What the sun and light are to this world, that are the Supreme Good and
+Truth to the intellectual and invisible universe; and as our corporeal
+eyes have a distinct perception of objects enlightened by the sun, thus
+our souls acquire certain knowledge by meditating on the light of truth
+which emanates from the Being of beings; that is the light by which
+alone our minds can be directed to the path of beatitude.”
+
+Every Brahmin must pray at morning and evening twilight in some
+unfrequented place, near pure water, and must bathe daily; he must also
+daily perform five sacraments, viz., studying the Vedas, making
+oblations to the manes of the departed, giving rice to living
+creatures, and receiving guests with honour. As to the doctrine of a
+future state, they believe in the transmigration of the soul, but that
+between the different stages of existence it enjoys, according to merit
+or demerit, years and years of happiness in some of the heavens, or
+suffers torments of similar duration in some of the hells. The most
+wicked, however, after being purged of their crimes by ages of
+suffering, and by repeated transmigrations, may ascend in the scale of
+being until they finally enter heaven and attain the highest reward of
+all good, which is incorporation with the Divine Essence.
+
+Like more enlightened systems of religion, the Hindoo faith has
+degenerated from the purity originally inculcated. The Monotheism,
+though still existing, has been almost smothered by a system of
+innumerable incarnations; by means of which the attributes of an unseen
+Deity were to be brought to the understandings of the ignorant; and, as
+might be expected, the hidden symbol has been almost lost in the
+tangible reality. The later Scriptures, or Pûranas, are believed to
+have been compiled between the eighth and sixteenth centuries, A.D.;
+and though still upholding the existence of a Supreme Being, by whom
+all things are composed, they introduce a variety of incarnations and
+divinities almost innumerable. Of these, the three principal are
+Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, representing respectively the creating,
+preserving, and destroying principles; and their wives, Sereswutee,
+Lukshmee, and Dewee. These latter are the active powers which develop
+the principles represented by the triad. The divinity most commonly
+portrayed however, though not publicly worshipped, is Gunesh. Almost
+every dwelling has her effigy rudely painted over the entrance; and she
+is invoked at the beginning of all undertakings, and is the remover of
+all difficulties. Her peculiar appearance is accounted for by the fact
+of her having been killed at an early period of life by Siva, who cut
+off her head, and, afterwards relenting, replaced it with the first
+that happened to come to hand, which turned out to be an elephant’s!
+
+Gunesh was produced by the intense wishes of Dewee, and is now appealed
+to at the commencement of almost every act in Hindoo life.
+
+The following invocation to this “household god” will give some idea of
+the position she holds in public estimation. It is taken from the “Prem
+Sagur,” or Ocean of Love, a history of the life of Krishna, a son of
+Vishnu, who, with Siva and Dewee, or Mahadewee, monopolises almost the
+entire public respect and adoration:—
+
+
+    “Oh elephant-faced Deity, obviator of difficulties, of exalted fame
+        resplendent,
+    Grant as a boon, pure language, wisdom, and felicity may be much
+        promoted.
+    Thou on whose two celestial feet the world is gazing, worshipping
+        both day and night,
+    O mother of the universe, grant unto me, remembering thee, true
+        skill and utterance.”
+
+
+The “Ocean of Love” gives a full account of the various incarnations of
+Krishna, the favourite divinity of the Hindoos, and opens with the
+scene of his birth. Kans, his uncle, has placed guards, in order that
+the child may be killed at his first appearance, it having been
+predicted that Kans himself is to fall by the hands of Krishna. The
+Cashmerian artist—whose powers of colouring were his chief
+recommendation—has depicted the moment when Vasadeo and Devakee, the
+father and mother, viewing Krishna, with long-drawn sighs, both begin
+to say, “If, by some means, we could send away this child, then it
+would escape the guilty Kans.” Vasadeo says, “Without destiny none can
+preserve him; the writing of Fate, that only will be accomplished.”
+
+Destiny being propitious, the guards fall asleep upon their posts, as
+shown in the accompanying design, and another child is substituted for
+Krishna. He is afterwards brought up as a herdsman, and spends his
+childhood among the milkmaids of Braj, upon whom he plays all sorts of
+tricks. “One day the divine Krishna played upon the flute in the
+forest, when, hearing the sound of the instrument, all the young women
+of Braj arose in confusion, and hastened and assembled in one place.
+The dark-blue Krishna, with body of the hue of clouds, stood in the
+midst; and such was the beauty of the fair ones, as they sported, that
+they resembled golden creepers growing from beneath a blue mountain!”
+
+The description of the state of the world, on Krishna’s appearance, is
+given by the saintly Shukadeo to King Parikshah—“O King, at the time of
+the divine Krishna appearing, in the minds of all such joy arose, that
+not even the name of grief remained. With joy the woods and groves
+began to bear fruits and flowers, their verdure still increasing. The
+rivers, streams, and lakes were filled with water, and upon them birds
+of every kind were sporting; and, from city to city, from house to
+house, from village to village, rejoicings were celebrated. The
+Brahmins were performing sacrifice; the Regents of the ten divisions of
+the horizon rejoiced. Clouds were moving over the circuit of Braj. The
+deities, seated in their cars, rained down flowers; the holders of the
+magic pill, the celestial musicians, and heavenly bards, continually
+sounding drums, kettledrums, and pipes, were singing the praises of the
+divine virtues; and, in one direction, Urvasee, and all the celestial
+dancers, were dancing. In such a time, then, on Wednesday, the eighth
+day of the dark half of the month Bhadon, at midnight, while the moon
+was in the mansion of Rohanee, the divine Krishna was born, of the
+colour of clouds, moon-faced and lotus-eyed, with a girdle of yellow
+cloth passing round his loins, wearing a crown, and arrayed in a
+necklace of five jewels, produced from the elements of nature, and with
+ornaments set with gems, in a four-armed form, sustaining the shell,
+the quoit, the mace, and the lotus he presented himself.”
+
+Krishna afterwards espouses a fair lady, of the name of Rûkminee, and
+the marriage is thus poetically described. Rûkminee has written a
+letter, filled with love, and sent it by the hand of a Brahmin, to the
+Root of Joy, Krishna:—“The Brahmin having arrived at Dûarika, perceives
+that the town is in the midst of the ocean, and on the four sides of it
+there are great mountains and woods and groves, which add beauty to the
+scene. In these were various kinds of beasts and birds, and the limpid
+lakes were filled with pure water, and lotus flowers were blooming,
+upon which swarms upon swarms of black bees were humming. To the
+distance of many miles orchards, containing an endless variety of fruit
+and flowers, extended; along these enclosures betel gardens were
+flourishing. The gardeners, standing at the wells, were singing with
+sweet strains; and, working waterwheels and buckets, were irrigating
+the high and low grounds.”
+
+Beholding this beautiful scene, and being gladdened thereby, the
+Brahmin, still advancing, beholds that “on four sides of the city are
+very lofty ramparts, with four gateways, in which folding-doors, inlaid
+with gold, are fixed, and, inside the city, houses of five and six
+stories high, of silver and gold, adorned with jewels, so lofty as to
+converse with the sky, are glittering. Their minarets and pinnacles are
+gleaming like lightning, and banners and pennons of many colours are
+fluttering. The warm fragrance of perfumes was issuing from windows,
+air-holes, and lattices. At every door were placed pillars of the
+plantain-tree, with fresh shoots, and golden vessels. Garlands and
+wreathed flowers were festooned from house to house, and joyful music
+was sounding. From place to place, the recital of the Pûranas and
+discourse about Krishna was kept up. The eighteen classes were dwelling
+in case and tranquillity.”
+
+On hearing the Brahmin’s message, the warder says:—“‘Great sir, be
+pleased to enter the palace; the divine Krishna reposes, in front of
+you, on a throne.’ Krishna, descending, bows to him, and shows him much
+respect, and those attentions which a man would show to his friend.
+Having applied fragrant unguents, and caused him to be bathed and
+washed, he partakes of food, possessing the six flavours. Afterwards he
+gave him the betel leaf, made up with areca nut, spices, and chunam;
+and having perfumed his body with saffron and sandal wood oil, and
+arranged his dress, and put upon him a necklace of flowers, he
+conducted him into a palace adorned with jewels, and caused him to
+repose in a fair curtained bed, studded with gems.” After sleeping
+profoundly, the Brahmin awakes, and relates his mission. Krishna goes
+to claim his bride, and orders his charioteer, Darak, to prepare his
+chariot. Darak quickly yokes four horses. Then the divine Krishna,
+having ascended, and seated the Brahmin, departs from Dûarika to
+Kundalpore. On coming forth from the city, behold! “on the right hand
+herds upon herds of deer are moving, and in front, a lion and lioness,
+carrying their prey, are advancing, roaring.”
+
+Having seen this auspicious event, the Brahmin, having mentally
+reflected, said, “Sire, from beholding, at this time, this good omen,
+it appears to my mind that, just as these are advancing, having
+accomplished their object, just so you will return, having effected
+yours.” Arrived at Kundalpore, he finds preparations made for the
+marriage:
+
+
+    “Swept were the streets, the crossings o’er-canopied, and with
+        perfumes sprinkled and sandal oil;
+    Clusters were formed of flowers of white and of red, and
+        interspersed with cocoa-nuts of gold.
+    The green foliage, fruits, and flowers, were in profusion, and from
+        house to house flowering wreaths.
+    Banners and pennons and flowers, in golden tissues, were suspended,
+        and well-fashioned vessels of gold
+    And in every house reigned joy!”
+
+
+“As for Rûkminee, with agitated frame, she gazed in every direction, as
+the moon is dimmed by the morn. Extreme anxiety showed in the heart of
+the fair one; she gazed, standing in a lofty balcony; her frame was
+agitated, her heart most sad; she drew deep sighs. While, through
+distress, tears rain from her eyes, she says, “Why has not Krishna
+arrived?” When the marriage-day dawns, she sends, by a Brahmin, to
+Krishna: “Receptacle of favour,—When two hours of the day remain I
+shall go to perform worship in the temple of Dewee, to the east of the
+city.” Her companions and attendants, arriving, first filled a square
+place in the courtyard with pearls, and spread a seat of gold set with
+pearls, on which they caused Rûkminee to sit, and anointed her with oil
+by the hands of seven married women whose husbands were alive.
+Afterwards, having rubbed her with fragrant paste, they adorned her
+with sixteen ornaments, and put on her twelve trinkets, and having
+arrayed her in a red boddice they seated her, fully adorned. Then the
+young Rûkminee, accompanied by all her handmaidens, went, with the
+sound of music, to perform her devotions. Screened by a curtain of
+silk, and surrounded by crowd upon crowd of companions, she appeared
+among the swarthy group who accompanied her as beautiful, as amid dark
+blue clouds, the moon with its company of stars!”
+
+Having arrived at the temple of Dewee, the royal maiden, having washed
+her hands and feet and sipped water, proceeded to offer sandal oil,
+unbroken grains of rice, flowers, incense, lamps, and consecrated food,
+and with earnest faith performed the worship of Dewee according to the
+prescribed ritual.
+
+“After which she fed women of the Brahmin caste with delectable food,
+and having attired them in fair garments, she drew a mark on their
+foreheads with a mixture of rice, alum, turmeric, and acid, and having
+caused to adhere some unbroken grains of rice, she received their
+benediction. Hearing from an attendant that Krishna has arrived, the
+Princess is filled with ecstatic delight, so that she cannot contain
+herself; and leaning on the arm of an attendant, in a graceful
+attitude, remains slightly smiling, in such a manner that no
+description can express her beauty. The guards become fascinated and
+remain immoveable. With trembling frame and coy of heart she finally
+departs with Krishna.”
+
+The domestic life and appearance of Krishna and Rûkminee is still
+further characteristically described in the imaginative pages of the
+“Ocean of Love:”—“Once on a time, in a palace of gold, studded with
+jewels, a gem-adorned bedstead, with curtains, was spread, on which a
+bedding white as foam, and adorned with flowers, with pillows for the
+cheek and for the head, continued to exhale perfumes. On all four sides
+of the bed vessels containing camphor, rose-water, saffron, sandal oil,
+and other ingredients, were placed; various kinds of marvellous
+pictures were delineated on the walls on all sides. In recesses, here
+and there, flowers, fruits, sweetmeats, and confections were placed,
+and all that could be required for enjoyment was at hand. Clothed in a
+petticoat and a full loose robe of dazzling splendour, embroidered with
+pearls, and a sparkling boddice, and a long refulgent wrapper, and
+wearing a glittering veil, covered with ornaments from head to foot;
+with red lines drawn across the forehead, having a nose-ring of the
+largest pearls, ornaments for the head, earrings, ornamental line at
+the parting of the hair, marks between the eyebrows, ornaments for the
+ears and forehead, a necklace composed of circular pieces of gold, a
+string of gold beads and coral, a breast ornament, a necklace of five
+strings and of seven, a pearl necklace, double and triple bracelets of
+nine gems, armlets, wristlets, and other kinds of fastenings for the
+arm; bangles, seals; seal rings, a girdle of bells, rings for the great
+toe, toe ornaments, anklets, and other ornaments of all kinds studded
+with jewels; the moon-faced, tulip-complexioned, gazelle-eyed,
+bird-voiced, elephant-gaited, slim-waisted, divine Rûkminee, and the
+cloud-coloured, lotus-eyed Krishna, ocean of beauty, splendour of the
+three worlds, root of joy, wearing a diadem like the crest of a
+peacock, and a necklace of forest flowers, a silken robe of yellow hue,
+and a scarf of the same, were reposing, when, all of sudden, the divine
+Krishna said to Rûkminee, ‘Listen, fair one,’” &c.
+
+Krishna afterwards takes 16,100 wives, and always at early dawn, one
+would wash his face, another would apply a fragrant paste to his body,
+another would prepare for him and give him to eat food of six flavours,
+another would make nice betel, with cloves, cardamums, mace, and
+nutmegs, for her beloved. “Each produced a daughter fair as Rûkminee;
+each ten sons, brave sons were they! 161,000 and all alike, such were
+the sons of Krishna!”
+
+Such is part of the history of the favourite divinity of the benighted
+Hindoo as related in the flowery pages of the “Ocean of Love,” and the
+history may be, more or less, read in the every-day scenes of Indian
+life which pass around one.
+
+The description of Rûkminee, strange as it is, corresponds with many
+other fair portraits in the Hindee; witness that of “Oonmadinee,” the
+daughter of “Rutundutt”:—
+
+“Her beauty was like a light in a dark house—her eyes were those of a
+deer, her curls like female snakes, her eyebrows like a bow, her nose
+like a parrot’s, her teeth like a string of pearls, her lips like the
+red gourds, her neck like a pigeon’s, her waist like a leopard’s, her
+hands and feet like a soft lotus, her face like the moon, with the gait
+of a goose, and the voice of a cuckoo!”
+
+More apparent even than in the earthly nature of the Hindoo’s
+conception of the Divine attributes, the falsity and the human origin
+of his Faith may be seen in the effect it produces wherever it is
+allowed to obtain undivided sway. Combining dirt, idleness, and
+religion together, the Hindoo Fukeer, attired in the minutest rag of
+raiment, at times in none at all, wanders from place to place, and with
+long and matted hair, blood-shot haggard eyes, and scowling visage,
+fancies himself upon the path which leads direct to Paradise.
+
+Attenuated to the last degree, he suffers all extremes of heat and
+cold, sleeps upon a bed of ashes, and sits moodily beneath the burning
+mid-day sun, lives on charity while scorning usually to ask for alms,
+and bears the reputation of a saint while reducing himself to the very
+level of the beasts that perish.
+
+Something of the cheerful feelings which actuate these religious
+mendicants may be found in the following passage:—“He may be called a
+wise ‘Jogee,’ or ‘Fukeer,’ who has dried up the reservoir of hope with
+the fire of austere devotion, and who has subdued his mind, and kept
+the organs of sense in their proper place; and this is the condition of
+persons in this world, that their bodies undergo dissolution, their
+heads shake, and their teeth fall out. When men become old, they walk
+about with sticks, and it is thus that time passes away. Night succeeds
+day, and year succeeds month, and old age succeeds childhood, and we
+know not who we are ourselves, and who others are; one comes and
+another departs; and at last all living creatures must depart. And,
+behold! night passes away, and then day dawns; the moon goes down and
+the sun rises; thus does youth depart, and old age comes on, and thus
+Time pursues his course: but although man sees all these things, he
+does not become wise. There are bodies of many kinds, and minds of many
+kinds, and affections or fascinations of many kinds, and Brahma has
+created wickedness of many kinds; but a wise man, having escaped from
+these, and having subdued hope and avarice, and shaved his head, and
+taken a stick and water-pot in his hands, having subjugated the passion
+of love and anger, and become a ‘Jogee,’ who wanders and travels about
+with naked feet to places of pilgrimage, obtains final liberation. And,
+behold, this world is like a dream.”
+
+The derivation of the word “Fukeer,” and an illustration of the
+disposition of the mendicant race, is given in a Persian tale, called
+the “Four Dervishes.” The story was originally narrated to amuse a king
+of Delhi, who was sick, and was afterwards done into Hindostanee by a
+Mussulman author, who styles himself, “This wicked sinner, Meer Ammun
+of Delhi.”
+
+The speaker, a certain prince, who aspires to the title of “generous,”
+has built a lofty house, with forty high and spacious doors, where, at
+all times, from morning to evening, he gives rupees and gold mohurs
+[35] to the poor and necessitous, and whoever asks for anything he
+satisfies him. “One day a Fukeer came to the front door and begged. I
+gave him a gold mohur; again he came to a second door, and asked for
+two gold mohurs. I passed over the matter, and gave him two gold
+mohurs.
+
+“In this manner he came to every door, and asked for an additional gold
+mohur each time, and I gave him according to his request. Having come
+to the fortieth door, and received forty gold mohurs, he came in again
+by the first door, and begged afresh.
+
+“This appeared to me a very bad action on his part. I said to him, ‘O
+avaricious man! what sort of mendicant art thou, who knowest not the
+three letters of “Fukur” (poverty), according to which a Fukeer should
+act?’ The Fukeer said, ‘Well, O liberal person, do you explain them to
+me.’ I replied, ‘The three letters are f, k, and r. From f comes “faka”
+(fasting); from k, “kinaüt” (contentment); and from r comes “reeazut”
+(abstinence). He is not a Fukeer in whom these qualities are not. Oh,
+avaricious creature! you have taken from forty doors, from one gold
+mohur to forty. Calculate, therefore, how many you have received. And,
+in addition to this, your avarice has brought you again to the first
+door. Expend what you have received, and return and take whatever you
+ask for. A Fukeer should take thought for one day; on the second day
+there will be some fresh bestower of alms.’ Having heard this speech of
+mine, he became angry and dissatisfied, and threw all he had received
+from me on the ground, and said, ‘Enough, father; be not so warm; take
+all your presents back again. Do not again assume the name of
+“Liberal.” You cannot lift the weights of liberality. When will you
+arrive at that day’s journey?’
+
+“When I heard this I was alarmed, and with many solicitations asked him
+to forgive my fault, and to take whatsoever he wished. He would not
+accept my gifts at all, and went away saying, ‘If you were now to offer
+me your whole kingdom I would not receive it from you.’”
+
+This studied indifference about a matter of more than a thousand
+pounds, though perhaps not often exercised upon so large a scale, is
+just that which these wandering fanatics display towards every offering
+they receive, and in every action of their useless lives. Whatever may
+be said against them, however, their profession of poverty and
+suffering is no mockery, as was that of the well-fed “monks of old,”
+whose reasonings were something similar on religious points.
+
+The Fukeer soliloquizes: “The condition of our being born is, that our
+griefs are many and our pleasures few, because this world is the root
+of misery. What happiness, therefore, has man? If any man should climb
+to the top of a tree, or sit down on the summit of a hill, or remain
+concealed in water, yet death does not allow him to escape. At the
+most, man’s age is a hundred years, half of which passes away in night,
+half of the other half is expended in childhood and old age; the
+remainder is spent in altercation, separation from those we love, and
+affliction, and the soul is restless as a wave of the sea. No one who
+has come into the world has escaped from affliction. It is vain to fix
+one’s affections on it, and therefore it is best to cultivate and
+practise religion.” And so, as a remedy for the evil which he has
+discovered to exist upon the earth, and to work out a successful escape
+from it, he sits himself down in dust and ashes, and, mistaking the
+sign-post, adopts the path which leads him furthest from the point he
+wishes to arrive at.
+
+As the Hindoo is the most ancient of religions, so the Buddhist is the
+one which is professed by the largest portion of the human race. It is
+the religion of Burmah, Ceylon, China, Siam, Thibet, and Russian
+Tartary, and is computed to claim as many as three hundred and
+sixty-nine millions among its Votaries. [36] “Gautama,” or “Sakya
+mounee,” its founder, was born in Bengal about the seventh century
+before Christ. Yet India at present contains no modern temples of its
+worship, and no native of India, that I have ever met, knew anything of
+its founder, or was even acquainted with the term “Buddha,” or
+“Buddhist.” Its doctrines are the most curious of those that have ever
+been promulgated, and appear even now to be scarcely understood in all
+their ramifications. According to original Buddhism, there is no
+Creator, nor being that is self-existent and eternal. The great object
+is the attainment, in this life, of complete abstraction from all
+worldly affairs and passions, and the ultimate result, of entire
+annihilation. Like the Hindoo, the Buddhist believes in transmigration
+of souls, and until utter annihilation is reached, he is doomed to
+shift his earthly tenement, from form to form, according to the deeds
+done in the flesh. It is, therefore, the great object of all beings,
+who would be released from the sorrows of successive birth, to seek the
+destruction of the moral cause of continued existence, that is, the
+cleaving to existing objects or evil desire. It is only possible to
+accomplish this end by attending to a prescribed course of discipline,
+and by fixing the mind upon the perfections of Buddha. Those who after
+successive births have entirely destroyed all evil desires are called
+“Rahuts,” and after death the Rahut attains “Nirwana,” or ceases to
+exist. The actual meaning of the word “Rahut,” is “Tranquillity,” and
+it appears to be the same word which is used on a small scale, to
+express the soothing qualities of that far-famed Eastern sweetmeat, the
+Rahut-lûkma, or “Morsels of tranquillity.”
+
+The Buddhas themselves are beings who appear after intervals of time
+inconceivably vast. Previous to their reception of the state, they pass
+through countless phases of being, at, one time appearing in human
+form, at another as a frog, or fish, &c., in each of which states they
+acquire a greater degree of merit.
+
+In the birth in which they become Buddha, they are always of woman
+born, and pass through infancy and youth like ordinary mortals, until
+at the prescribed age they abandon the world and retire to the
+wilderness, where they receive the supernatural powers with which the
+office is endowed. Their highest glory is that they receive the wisdom
+by which they can direct sentient beings to the path that leads to the
+desired cessation of existence.
+
+The Buddhism of Thibet appears to be an innovation on the original
+system of religion. It was introduced into the country about the
+seventh century of our era; and although Sakya mounee, who is supposed
+by the Thibetians to have lived one thousand years before Christ, is
+still believed to be the founder of the present system, the Delai Lama,
+at Lassa, is regarded as an incarnation of Buddha, and is the supreme
+infallible head of the whole Thibetian religious community.
+
+The original tenets, too, have been modified, and the modern Scriptures
+have been adapted to three different capacities of mankind—viz. the
+lowest, mean (or middle), and the highest. The principles thus declared
+are as follows:—
+
+“1. Men of vulgar capacity must believe that there is a God, a future
+life, and that they shall therein reap the fruits of their works in
+this life.
+
+“2. Those that are in a middle degree of intellectual and moral
+capacity, besides admitting the former position, must know that every
+compound thing is perishable, that there is no reality in things, that
+every imperfection is pain, and that deliverance from pain or bodily
+existence is final happiness.
+
+“3. Those of the highest capacities, besides the above enumerated
+articles, must know that, from the body to the supreme soul, nothing is
+existing by itself, neither can it be said that it will continue always
+or cease absolutely, but that everything exists by a dependant or
+casual connexion.” [37]
+
+One cause of the extension of the religion of Buddha appears to be the
+broad basis upon which admission to the priesthood has ‘been placed. No
+one can become a Brahmin except by birth, but the privileges of
+becoming a Lama are open to all who are willing to receive them upon
+the conditions implied in their acceptance. The principal duties to be
+attended to, by one about to become a priest, are thus laid down:—“He
+who, with a firm faith in the religion of Truth, believes in Buddha,
+shall rise before daylight, and, having cleaned his teeth, shall then
+sweep all the places appointed to be swept in the vicinity of the
+‘Vihara,’ or monastery; after which he shall fetch the water that is
+required for use, filter it, and place it ready for drinking. When this
+is done, he shall retire to a solitary place, and for the space of
+three hours meditate on the obligations of his vow. The bell will then
+ring, and he must reflect that greater than the gift of 100 elephants,
+100 horses, and 100 chariots, is the reward of him who takes one step
+towards the place where worship is offered. Thus reflecting, he shall
+approach the ‘Dagoba,’ where relics of holy men are placed, and perform
+that which is appointed; he shall offer flowers just as if Buddha were
+present in person, meditate on the nine virtues of Buddha with a fixed
+and determined mind, and seek forgiveness for his faults, just as if
+the sacred relics were endowed with life. He shall then meditate on the
+advantages to be derived from carrying the alms-bowl and putting on the
+yellow robe.” The injunctions on the priesthood relative to their
+abstracting their thoughts and desires from all earthly matters
+whatever, are of the strictest nature. “The door of the eye is to be
+kept shut. When the outer gates of the city are left open, though the
+door of every separate house and store be shut, the enemy will enter
+the city and take possession; in like manner, though all the ordinances
+be kept, if the eye be permitted to wander, affection for worldly
+objects will be produced.” A story is told of a priest named
+Chittagutta, who resided once in a cave, upon the walls of which the
+history of Buddha was painted “in the finest style of art.”
+
+The cave was visited by some priests, who expressed their admiration of
+the paintings to Chittagutta, but the devotee replied that he had lived
+there sixty years and had never seen them, nor would he, except for
+their information, ever have become aware of their existence. There was
+near the door of his cave a spreading tree; but he only knew that it
+was there by the fall of its leaves or flowers; the tree itself he
+never saw, as he carefully observed the precept not to look upwards, or
+to a distance!
+
+The priest of Buddha must possess but eight articles: three of these
+are matters of dress; the others, a girdle for the loins, an alms-bowl,
+a razor, a needle, and a water-strainer. The bowl receives the food
+presented in alms; the razor is for shaving the head; the needle keeps
+his yellow wardrobe in order; and the water-strainer is the most
+serviceable of all, for “if any priest shall knowingly drink water
+containing insects, he shall be ejected from the priesthood.”
+
+The Dagobas, or shrines of relics, which abound in such numbers in
+Thibet, have also been found in India and other countries. Some of them
+when opened have been found to contain what appears to be remains of a
+funeral pile, also vessels of stone or metal, and, occasionally,
+caskets of silver and gold, curiously wrought. “Some of these have been
+chased with a series of four figures, representing Buddha in the act of
+preaching; a mendicant is on his right, a lay follower on his left, and
+behind the latter a female disciple.” This somewhat describes the
+appearance of the stone-carved figures at the monastery of Hemis. [38]
+These caskets have been set with rubies and chased with the leaves of
+the lotus. Besides these have also been found small pearls, gold
+buttons, rings, beads, pieces of clay and stone bearing impressions of
+figures, bits of bone, and teeth of animals, pieces of cloth, &c. The
+images are sometimes recumbent, at other times standing upright, with
+the hand uplifted in the act of giving instruction. Sometimes they have
+three heads and six or more arms.
+
+In order to form clear and accurate ideas of the religion of Buddha, it
+would be necessary to study a vast number of volumes, some of them
+contradictory and of very doubtful authority, and the result would
+appear hardly to compensate for the trouble, so altered has modern
+Buddhism become from ancient, and into so many different systems has it
+been divided in the many different countries in which it is professed.
+Among its doctrines there is much that is virtuous and true. It
+preaches benevolence and goodwill towards men, but enjoins no active
+efforts to prove the sincerity of such goodwill. It requires its
+members to “confess their sins with a contrite heart, to ask
+forgiveness of them, and to repent truly, with a resolution not to
+commit such again. To rejoice in the moral merit and perfection of
+human beings, and to wish that they may attain beatitude; further, to
+pray and exhort others to turn the wheel of religion, that the world
+may be benefited thereby.” Its general aim seems to be to overcome all
+emotions and preferences of the mind, and all that would disturb its
+repose and quiet. It seeks to destroy the human passions and not to
+regulate them; and with faith in Buddha only as its aid, it succeeds
+about as well as might have been anticipated.
+
+Between these two religions of Brahma and Buddha, that of the “Jains”
+sprang up, apparently a heresy from both. It has nearly died out in
+India, though many ruins of its temples remain. The Jains agree with
+the Buddhists as to the transmigration of souls, and carry their
+respect for life to the still greater extent, that besides a strainer
+to remove all animalculæ from the water they imbibe, they carry a broom
+to sweep away the insects from their path. They differ from the
+Brahmins in repudiating their minor incarnations and gods, as the
+following translation will serve to show:—“A rajah, of the name of
+Gondshekur, had a minister, Abhûechund, who converted him to the Jain
+religion. He prohibited the worship of Vishnu, and all gifts of cows,
+land, and balls of flour and rice, and would not allow any one to carry
+away bones to the Ganges. One day the minister began to say, ‘O great
+king, be pleased to listen to the judgments and explanations of
+religion: Whosoever takes another’s life, that other takes his life in
+another world. The birth of a man after he has again come into the
+world does not escape from this sin; he is born again and again, and
+dies again and again. For this reason it is right for a man, who has
+been born in the world, to cultivate religion. Behold! Brahma, Vishnu,
+and Mahadeo, being under the influence of love, anger, and fascination,
+descend upon the earth in various ways; but a cow is superior to them
+all, for it is free from anger, enmity, intoxication, rage, avarice,
+and inordinate affection, and affords protection to the subject; and
+her sons also behave kindly to, and cherish the animals of the earth,
+and therefore all the gods and sages regard the cow with respect. For
+this reason, it is not right to regard the gods—in this world, respect
+the cow. It is virtuous to protect all animals, from the elephant to
+the ant, and from beasts and birds to man. In the world there is no act
+so impious as for men to increase their own flesh by eating the flesh
+of other creatures. They who do not sympathise in the griefs of
+animated beings, and who kill and eat other animals, do not live long
+on the earth, and are born lame, maimed, blind, dwarfs, and humpbacked,
+&c.; and it is a great sin to drink wine and eat flesh; wherefore to do
+so is improper. The minister, having thus explained his sentiments to
+the rajah, converted him to the Jain religion, so that he did whatever
+the minister said, and no longer paid any respect to Brahmins, Fukeers,
+Jogies, Dervishes, &c., and carried on his government according to this
+religion.”
+
+Next among the religions of the East, whose outward observances so
+forcibly attract attention, comes that of the Moslem—“The marvellous
+reformation wrought by Mahomet and the Koran in the manners, morals,
+and religious feelings of so many millions.”
+
+Mahomet, in truth, although “The False Prophet,” would appear to have
+been a considerable benefactor to his species. The Arabs, at the time
+of his birth, were sunk in idolatry and the worship of the stars, while
+their morals were under no control either of law or religion. The
+Prophet’s aim appears, in the first instance, to have been, to secure a
+system of orderly government, and at the same time to gain, for his own
+family, a dignity which should be exalted beyond all fear of
+competition—the dignity of lordship over the holy city of Mecca. This
+was then held under no higher tenure than the sufferance and caprice of
+the Arab tribes. To perpetuate this lordship by assuming an hereditary
+and inviolable pontificate was Mahomet’s first idea, and at a banquet
+given to the whole of his kinsmen he revealed his scheme. They,
+however, rejected his appeal, and he then proclaimed himself as an
+apostle to all, and setting aside existing forms and traditions
+proceeded to a higher flight of ambition. For election by blood, he
+substituted election of God; and assuming a direct revelation from on
+high, he, by force of an ardent and ambitious will, carried out his
+project even at Mecca itself, where, to all who visited his shrine, he
+preached without distinction. From the powerful opposition brought
+against him, Mahomet was at last obliged to fly; but before doing so,
+and casting off the high position he held among his own tribe and
+kinsmen, he assembled his followers together on a mountain near Mecca,
+and there, without distinction of blood or calling, he enrolled them as
+equal followers in one community, and entered with them into a solemn
+and binding agreement. “That night Mahomet fled from Mecca to Medina,
+and then took its rise a pontificate, an empire, and an era.” This
+hegira, or “flight,” is believed to have occurred on the 19th June,
+A.D. 622 [39] but has been variously stated; it is, however, the era
+now in general use among no less than one hundred and sixty millions of
+people.
+
+Although himself an undoubted impostor, and the Koran a manifest
+forgery, Mahomet would appear to deserve a larger share of
+appreciation, or at least of charitable judgment, than he usually
+receives.
+
+“He was one richly furnished with natural endowments, showing
+liberality to the poor, courtesy to every one, fortitude in trial, and,
+above all, a high reverence for the name of God. He was a preacher of
+patience, charity, mercy, beneficence, gratitude, honouring of parents
+and superiors, and a frequent celebrator of Divine praise.” The great
+doctrine of the Koran is the Unity of God, and in this creed Mahomet
+himself seems to have been a sincere believer. “Its design was to unite
+the professors of the three different religions then followed in
+Arabia—who for the most part were without guides, the greater number
+being idolaters, and the rest Jews and Christians, mostly of erroneous
+and heterodox belief—in the knowledge and worship of one eternal and
+invisible God, and to bring them to obedience of Mahomet as the only
+prophet and ambassador of the truth.” The “fatiha,” or opening chapter
+of the Koran, is said to contain the essence of the whole, and forms
+part of the daily prayers of all zealous Mussulmans. It commences with
+the formula pronounced at the beginning of their reading on all
+occasions whenever an animal is slaughtered for food, and upon the
+undertaking of all important actions whatever:
+
+
+    “In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate. Praise be to
+    God, the Lord of the Creation, the all-merciful, the
+    all-compassionate! Ruler of the day of reckoning!
+
+    “Thee we worship, and Thee we invoke for help. Lead us in the
+    straight path—the path of those upon whom thou hast been gracious,
+    not of those that are the objects of wrath or that are in error.”
+
+
+The Moslem faithful pray five times in the twenty-four hours: in the
+morning before sunrise, at noon, before sunset, after sunset, and
+before the first watch of the night: and that these observances were
+not originally instituted merely that their prayers might be seen
+before men, would appear from the injunction which lays down that “what
+is principally to be regarded in the duty of prayer, is the inward
+disposition of the heart, which is its entire life and spirit, the most
+punctual observance being of no avail if performed without devotion,
+reverence, attention, and hope.”
+
+Prayer was held by Mahomet to be the “pillar of religion” and the “key
+of paradise,” and in the performance of it, his disciples are enjoined
+to lay aside their ornaments and costly habits, and all that might
+savour of either pride or arrogance.
+
+Its observance, however, at five stated times appears to be nowhere
+mentioned in the Koran, although the custom is now an essential part,
+and the most noticeable and characteristic feature of Mahomedanism.
+
+Saints and sinners join equally in the form. A crime just committed, or
+one in immediate contemplation, in no way interferes with the
+“five-time prayers,” and the neglect of them amounts to an abnegation
+of the Faith. The summons to prayer was originally only one sentence,
+“To public prayer.” Mahomet, however, afterwards bethought himself that
+a more elaborate and striking call would be an improvement, and the
+present “Azzan,” or call to prayer, was introduced.
+
+While the matter was under discussion, Mahomet being unable to decide
+upon any suitable form, a certain Abdallah dreamed that he met a man
+arrayed in green raiment carrying a bell. Abdallah sought to buy it,
+thinking it would just suit the Prophet for assembling together the
+Faithful. The stranger, however, replied, “I will show you a better way
+than that; let a crier call aloud—
+
+
+   “Great is the Lord! great is the Lord!
+    I bear witness that there is no God but the Lord;
+    I bear witness that Mahomet is the Prophet of God!
+    Come unto prayer, come unto happiness—
+    God is great! God is great! There is no God but the Lord!”
+
+
+Mahomet, learning the particulars of Abdallah’s dream, believed it to
+have been a vision from on high, and sent his servant forthwith to
+execute the Divine command. Ascending to the top of a lofty house, this
+first of established Mûezzins, on the earliest appearance of light,
+startled all around from their slumbers with the newly-adopted call,
+adding to it, “Prayer is better than sleep! Prayer is better than
+sleep!” And ever since, at the customary five hours, have his
+successors thus summoned the people to their devotions.
+
+Concerning the future state, the Mahomedan believes that all will be
+examined at the day of Judgment as to their words and actions in this
+life.
+
+“Their time, as to how they spent it; their wealth, by what means they
+acquired it, and how they employed it; their bodies, wherein they
+exercised them; their knowledge and learning, what use they made of
+them,” &c. “They enter Paradise, however, not by their own good works,
+but by the mercy of God. At that day each person will make his defence
+in the best manner he can, endeavouring to find excuses for his own
+conduct by casting blame on others; so much so, that disputes shall
+even arise between the Soul and Body. The Soul saying, “Lord, I was
+created without a hand to lay hold with, a foot to walk with, an eye to
+see with, or an understanding to apprehend with, until I came and
+entered the Body: therefore punish it, but deliver me.” The Body, on
+the other side, will make this apology, “Lord, thou createdst me like a
+stock of wood, being neither able to hold with my hand, nor to walk
+with my feet, till this Soul, like a ray of light, entered into me, and
+my tongue began to speak, my eye to see, and my foot to walk: therefore
+punish it, but deliver me.” Then shall the following parable be
+propounded:—“A certain king having a pleasant garden, in which were
+ripe fruits, set two persons to keep it, one of whom was blind, and the
+other lame—the former not being able to see the fruit, nor the latter
+to gather it. The lame man, however, seeing the fruit, persuaded the
+blind man to take him on his shoulders; and by that means he easily
+gathered the fruits, which they divided between them. The lord of the
+garden coming some time after, and inquiring after the fruit, each
+began to excuse himself; the blind man said he had no eyes to see it
+with, and the lame man that he had no feet to approach the trees. Then
+the king, ordering the lame man to be set on the blind, passed sentence
+on them both, and punished them together.
+
+“In like manner shall be judged the Body and the Soul.”
+
+Such are some few of the religious tenets of those among whom one’s lot
+is cast while wandering in the East. Sunk for the most part in
+ignorance, and held as infidels for wanting faith in what they never
+heard, they nevertheless attract attention chiefly by their Faith, and
+by their zealous worship of the Being, whom, although in darkest
+ignorance as to His attributes and laws, their original creed would
+teach them to believe the one Eternal God.
+
+Some idea of the number represented by these different sects may be
+derived from the following table:—
+
+
+                        {   Buddhists           369,000,000
+    Asiatic Religions   {   Hindoos             231,000,000
+                        {   Mussulmen           160,000,000
+
+                        {   Roman Catholics     170,000,000
+    Christians          {   Protestants          80,000,000
+                        {   Greek Church         76,000,000
+
+    Jews                                          5,000,000
+    Other Religions                             200,000,000 [40]
+
+
+And when we reflect how great is the proportion of those who sit in
+darkness, and that “even all who tread the earth are but a handful to
+the tribes that slumber in its bosom,” it is but natural to consider
+what our own belief would bid us hold as to the future destiny of so
+large a portion of the human family.
+
+At the same time, the question, “Are there few that be saved?” not
+having been answered eighteen centuries ago, would appear to be one to
+which no definite reply was intended to be rendered, and which might
+well be left till now unanswered, by those who hold the religion of
+Faith, Hope, and Charity. When, however, the Church to which we belong
+boldly affirms, in words which as the public profession of its faith,
+should be beyond all doubt or misconception by either friend or foe,
+that none can be saved but those who hold the Catholic Faith, as she
+would have them hold it, then, at least, we may fairly consider the
+matter so far as to doubt whether the answer thus forced upon us is one
+which, even on such high authority, we are bound to accept. Before, at
+least, concurring in a solution of the question which, thus virtually
+bringing it within the limits of a simple arithmetical calculation,
+would summarily dispose of so many millions of the human race, we may
+remember that some things have been taught as possible which men, and
+even saints, may deem impossible; and, before attempting to reduce
+“goodwill toward men” to human and determinable proportions, we may
+also remember that “good tidings of great joy” were promised to all
+people, and that they may possibly prove therefore to have in some way
+benefited even those who have never heard them with their mortal ears.
+
+Meanwhile, in the matter of “Turks and Infidels,” we may perhaps learn
+something even from an Infidel creed, and, borrowing a definition from
+the religion of Islam, may be allowed to hold with it, that
+
+
+    “Truly to despair of the goodness of God—this is ‘Infidelity.’”
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX A.
+
+THE TEMPLES OF CASHMERE.
+
+
+    Extract from “An Essay on the Arian Order of Architecture, as
+    exhibited in the Temples of Kashmír,” by Capt. A. Cunningham.
+    “Journal of the Asiatic Society,” Vol. XVII.
+
+
+The architectural remains of Kashmír are perhaps the most remarkable of
+the existing monuments of India, as they exhibit undoubted traces of
+the influence of Grecian art. The Hindú temple is generally a sort of
+architectural pasty, a huge collection of ornamental fritters, huddled
+together with or without keeping; while the “Jain” temple is usually a
+vast forest of pillars, made to look as unlike one another as possible,
+by some paltry differences in their petty details.
+
+On the other hand, the Kashmirian fanes are distinguished by the
+graceful elegance of their outlines, by the massive boldness of their
+parts, and by the happy propriety of their decorations.
+
+They cannot, indeed, vie with the severe simplicity of the Parthenon,
+but they possess great beauty—different, indeed, yet quite their own.
+
+The characteristic features of the Kashmirian architecture are its
+lofty pyramidal roofs, its trefoiled doorways, covered by pyramidal
+pediments, and the great width of the intercolumniations.
+
+Most of the Kashmirian temples are more or less injured, but more
+particularly those at Wantipúr, which are mere heaps of ruins. Speaking
+of these temples, Trebeck says: “It is scarcely possible to imagine
+that the state of ruin to which they have been reduced has been the
+work of time, or even of man, as their solidity is fully equal to that
+of the most massive monuments of Egypt. Earthquakes must have been the
+cause of their overthrow.” In my opinion, their overthrow is too
+complete to have been the result of an earthquake, which would have
+simply prostrated the buildings in large masses. But the whole of the
+superstructure of these temples is now lying in one confused heap of
+stones, totally disjointed from one another.
+
+I believe, therefore, that I am fully justified in saying, from my own
+experience, that such a complete and disruptive overturn could only
+have been produced by gunpowder.
+
+The destruction of the Kashmirian temples is universally attributed,
+both by history and by tradition, to the bigoted Sikander. (A.D. 1396.)
+He was reigning at the period of Timúr’s invasion of India, with whom
+he exchanged friendly presents, and from whom, I suppose, he may have
+received a present of the villainous saltpetre.
+
+As it would appear that the Turks had metal cannon at the siege of
+Constantinople in 1422, I think it no great stretch of probability to
+suppose that gunpowder itself had been carried into the East, even as
+far as Kashmír, at least ten or twenty years earlier—that is, about
+A.D. 1400 to 1420, or certainly during the reign of Sikander, who died
+in 1416.
+
+Even if this be not admitted, I still adhere to my opinion, that the
+complete ruin of the Wantipúr temples could only have been effected by
+gunpowder; and I would, then, ascribe their overthrow to the bigoted
+“Aurungzíb.”
+
+“Ferishta” attributed to Sikander the demolition of all the Kashmirian
+temples save one, which was dedicated to Mahadeo, and which only
+escaped “in consequence of its foundations being below the surface of
+the neighbouring water.”
+
+In A.D. 1580, “Abul Fazl” mentions that some of the idolatrous temples
+were in “perfect preservation;” and Ferishta describes many of these
+temples as having been in existence in his own time, or about A.D.
+1600.
+
+As several are still standing, though more or less injured, it is
+certain that Sikander could not have destroyed them all. He most likely
+gave orders that they should be overturned; and I have no doubt that
+many of the principal temples were thrown down during his reign.
+
+But, besides the ruthless hand of the destroyer, another agency, less
+immediate, but equally certain in its ultimate effects, must have been
+at work upon the large temples of Kashmír. The silent ravages of the
+destroyer, who carries away pillars and stone, for the erection of
+other edifices, has been going on for centuries. Pillars, from which
+the architraves have been thus removed, have been thrown down by
+earthquakes, ready to be set up again for the decoration of the first
+Musjid that might be erected in the neighbourhood. Thus every Mahomedan
+building in Kashmír is constructed either entirely or in part of the
+ruins of Hindú temples.
+
+
+
+
+TAKT I SULÍMAN.
+
+The oldest temple in Kashmír, both in appearance and according to
+tradition, is that upon the hill of “Takt i Sulíman,” or Solomon’s
+Throne. It stands 1,000 feet above the plain, and commands a view of
+the greater part of Kashmír.
+
+The situation is a noble one, and must have been amongst the first
+throughout the whole valley which was selected as the position of a
+temple. Its erection is ascribed to Jaloka, the son of Asoka, who
+reigned about 220 B.C.
+
+The plan of the temple is octagonal, each side being fifteen feet in
+length. It is approached by a flight of eighteen steps, eight feet in
+width, and inclosed between two sloping walls. Its height cannot now be
+ascertained, as the present roof is a modern plastered dome, which was
+probably built since the occupation of the country by the Sikhs. The
+walls are eight feet thick, which I consider one of the strongest
+proofs of the great antiquity of the building.
+
+
+
+
+PÁNDRETHÁN.
+
+This name means the old capital, or ancient chief town. The name has,
+however, been spelt by different travellers in many different ways.
+“Moorcroft” calls it Pándenthán, “Vigne” Pandrenton, and “Hugel”
+Pandriton.
+
+The building of this temple is recorded between A.D. 913 and 921; and
+it is afterwards mentioned between the years 958 and 972, as having
+escaped destruction when the King Abhimanyú—Nero-like—set fire to his
+own capital.
+
+As this is the only temple situated in the old capital, there can be
+very little, if any, doubt that it is the very same building which now
+exists. For as it is surrounded by water, it was, of course, quite safe
+amid the fire, which reduced the other buildings to mere masses of
+quicklime.
+
+Baron Hugel calls the Pándrethán edifice a “Buddhist temple,” and
+states that there are some well-preserved Buddhist figures in the
+interior. But he is doubly mistaken, for the temple was dedicated to
+Vishnú, and the figures in the inside have no connexion with Buddhism.
+
+Trebeck swam into the interior, and could discover no figures of any
+kind; but as the whole ceiling was formerly hidden by a coating of
+plaster, his statement was, at that time, perfectly correct.
+
+The object of erecting the temples in the midst of water must have been
+to place them more immediately under the protection of the Nágas, or
+human-bodied and snake-tailed gods, who were zealously worshipped for
+ages through Kashmír.
+
+
+
+
+MÁRTTAND.
+
+Of all the existing remains of Kashmirian grandeur, the most striking
+in size and situation is the noble ruin of Márttand.
+
+This majestic temple stands at the northern end of the elevated
+table-land of “Matan,” about three miles to the eastward of Islámabád.
+
+This is undoubtedly the finest position in Kashmír. The temple itself
+is not now (1848) more than forty feet in height, but its solid walls
+and bold outlines towering over the fluted pillars of the surrounding
+colonnade give it a most imposing appearance.
+
+There are no petty confused details; but all are distinct and massive,
+and most admirably suited to the general character of the building.
+
+Many vain speculations have been hazarded regarding the date of the
+erection of this temple and the worship to which it was appropriated.
+
+It is usually called the “House of the Pandús” by the Brahmins, and by
+the people “Mattan.”
+
+The true appellation appears to be preserved in the latter, Matan being
+only a corruption of the Sanscrit Márttand मार्त्तण्ड, or the sun, to which
+the temple was dedicated.
+
+The true date of the erection of this temple—the wonder of Kashmír—is a
+disputed point of chronology; but the period of its foundation can be
+determined within the limits of one century, or between A.D. 370 and
+500.
+
+The mass of building now known by the name of Matan, or Márttand,
+consists of one lofty central edifice, with a small detached wing on
+each side of the entrance, the whole standing on a large quadrangle
+surrounded by a colonnade of fluted pillars, with intervening
+trefoil-headed recesses. The central building is sixty-three feet in
+length, by thirty-six in width.
+
+As the main building is at present entirely uncovered, the original
+form of the roof can only be determined by a reference to other
+temples, and to the general form and character of the various parts of
+the Márttand temple itself.
+
+The angle of the roof in the Temple of Pándrethán, and in other
+instances, is obtained by making the sides of the pyramid which forms
+it parallel to the sides of the doorway pediment, and in restoring the
+Temples of Patrun and Márttand I have followed the same rule.
+
+The height of the Pándrethán temple—of the cloistered recesses, porch
+pediments, and niches of Márttand itself—were all just double their
+respective widths. This agreement in the relative proportions of my
+restored roof of Márttand with those deduced from other examples, is a
+presumptive proof of the correctness of my restoration. The
+entrance-chamber and the wings I suppose to have been also covered by
+similar pyramidal roofs. There would thus have been four distinct
+pyramids, of which that over the inner chamber must have been the
+loftiest, the height of its pinnacle above the ground being about
+seventy-five feet.
+
+The interior must have been as imposing as the exterior. On ascending
+the flight of steps—now covered by ruins—the votary of the sun entered
+a highly-decorated chamber, with a doorway on each side covered by a
+pediment, with a trefoil-headed niche containing a bust of the Hindú
+triad, and on the flanks of the main entrance, as well as on those of
+the side doorways, were pointed and trefoil niches, each of which held
+a statue of a Hindú divinity.
+
+The interior decorations of the roof can only be conjecturally
+determined, as I was unable to discover any ornamented stones that
+could with certainty be assigned to it. Baron Hugel doubts that
+Márttand ever had a roof; but, as the walls of the temple are still
+standing, the numerous heaps of large stones that are scattered about
+on all sides can only have belonged to the roof.
+
+I can almost fancy that the erection of this sun-temple was suggested
+by the magnificent sunny prospect which its position commands. It
+overlooks the finest view in Kashmír, and perhaps in the known world,
+Beneath it lies the paradise of the East, with its sacred streams and
+cedarn glens, its brown orchards and green fields, surrounded on all
+sides by vast snowy mountains, whose lofty peaks seem to smile upon the
+beautiful valley below. The vast extent of the scene makes it sublime;
+for this magnificent view of Kashmír is no petty peep into a half-mile
+glen, but the full display of a valley sixty miles in breadth and
+upwards of a hundred miles in length, the whole of which lies beneath
+“the ken of the wonderful Márttand.”
+
+The principal buildings that still exist in Kashmír are entirely
+composed of a blue limestone, which is capable of taking the highest
+polish—a property to which I mainly attribute the beautiful state of
+preservation in which some of them at present exist.
+
+Even at first sight one is immediately struck by the strong resemblance
+which the Kashmirian colonnades bear to the classic peristyles of
+Greece. Even the temples themselves, with their porches and pediments,
+remind one more of Greece than of India; and it is difficult to believe
+that a style of architecture which differs so much from all Indian
+examples, and which has so much in common with those of Greece, could
+have been indebted to chance alone for this striking resemblance.
+
+One great similarity between the Kashmirian architecture and that of
+the various Greek orders is its stereotyped style, which, during the
+long flourishing period of several centuries, remained unchanged. In
+this respect it is so widely different from the ever-varying forms and
+plastic vagaries of the Hindú architecture that it is impossible to
+conceive their evolution from a common origin.
+
+I feel convinced myself that several of the Kashmirian forms, and many
+of the details, were borrowed from the temples of the Kabúlian Greeks,
+while the arrangements of the interior and the relative proportions of
+the different parts were of Hindú origin. Such, in fact, must
+necessarily have been the case with imitations by Indian workmen, which
+would naturally have been engrafted upon the indigenous architecture.
+The general arrangements would still remain Indian, while many of the
+details, and even some of the larger forms, might be of foreign origin.
+
+As a whole, I think that the Kashmirian architecture, with its noble
+fluted pillars, its vast colonnades, its lofty pediments, and its
+elegant trefoiled arches, is fully entitled to be classed as a distinct
+style. I have therefore ventured to call it the Arian order—a name to
+which it has a double right; first, because it was the style of the
+Aryas, or Arians, of Kashmír; and, secondly, because its
+intercolumniations are always of four diameters—an interval which the
+Greeks called Araiostyle.
+
+
+
+
+EXTRACT FROM VIGNE’S “TRAVELS IN KASHMÍR.”
+
+The Hindú temple of Márttand is commonly called the House of the
+Pandús. Of the Pandús it is only necessary to say that they are the
+Cyclopes of the East. Every old building, of whose origin the poorer
+class of Hindús in general have no information, is believed to have
+been the work of the Pandús. As an isolated ruin, this deserves, on
+account of its solitary and massive grandeur, to be ranked not only as
+the first ruin of the kind in Kashmír, but as one of the noblest among
+the architectural relics of antiquity that are to be seen in any
+country. Its noble and exposed situation at the foot of the hills
+reminded me of that of the Escurial. It has no forest of cork-trees and
+evergreen-oaks before it, nor is it to be compared, in point of size,
+with that stupendous building; but it is visible from as great a
+distance. And the Spanish sierra cannot for a moment be placed in
+competition with the verdant magnificence of the mountain-scenery of
+Kashmír.
+
+Few of the Kashmirian temples, if any, I should say, were Buddhist.
+Those in or upon the edge of the water were rather, I should suppose,
+referable to the worship of the Nágas, or snake-gods. The figures in
+all the temples are almost always in an erect position, and I have
+never been able to discover any inscription in those now remaining.
+
+I had been struck with the great general resemblance which the temple
+bore to the recorded disposition of the Ark and its surrounding
+curtains, in imitation of which the Temple at Jerusalem was built; and
+it became for a moment a question whether the Kashmirian temples had
+not been built by Jewish architects, who had recommended them to be
+constructed on the same plan for the sake of convenience merely. It is,
+however, a curious fact, that in Abyssinia, the ancient Ethiopia, which
+was also called “Kush,” the ancient Christian churches are not unlike
+those of Kashmír, and that they were originally built in imitation of
+the temple, by the Israelites who followed the Queen of Sheba, whose
+son took possession of the throne of Kush, where his descendants are at
+this moment Kings of Abyssinia.
+
+Without being able to boast, either in extent or magnificence, of an
+approach to equality with the temple of the sun at Palmyra, or the
+ruins of the palace at Persepolis, Márttand is not without pretensions
+to a locality of scarcely inferior interest, and deserves to be ranked
+with them as the leading specimen of a gigantic style of architecture
+that has decayed with the religion it was intended to cherish, and the
+prosperity of a country it could not but adorn.
+
+In situation it is far superior to either. Palmyra is surrounded by an
+ocean of sand, and Persepolis overlooks a marsh; but the temple of the
+sun in Márttand is built upon a natural platform at the foot of some of
+the noblest mountains, and beneath its ken lies what is undoubtedly the
+finest and the most prononcé valley in the known world.
+
+We are not looking upon the monuments of the dead. We step not aside to
+inspect a tomb, or pause to be saddened by an elegy. The noble pile in
+the foreground is rather an emblem of age than of mortality; and the
+interest with which we perambulate its ruins is not the less
+pleasurable because we do not know much that is certain of its
+antiquity, its founders, or its original use.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX B.
+
+THE MYSTIC SENTENCE OF THIBET.
+
+
+Explication et origine de la formule bouddhique:—“Om mani padmè hoûm”
+Par M. Klaproth. “Nouveau Journal Asiatique.”
+
+Les Tubétains et les Mongols ont perpétuellement cette prière dans la
+bouche. Les mots de cette inscription sont Sanscrits, et donnent un
+sens complet dans cette langue. En voici la transcription en
+devanagri:—
+
+
+            ओं मणि पद्मे हुं
+
+
+“Om” est, chez les Hindous, le nom mystique de la divinité, par lequel
+toutes les prières commencent. Cette particule mystique équivaut à
+l’interjection, oh! prononcée avec emphase et avec une entière
+conviction religieuse. Mani signifie le joyau; Padma le lotus. Enfin
+Hoûm est une particule qui équivaut à notre “Amen.” Le sens de la
+phrase est très clair; “Om mani padmè hoûm” signifie “Oh! le joyau dans
+le lotus, Amen.” Malgré ce sens indubitable, les Bouddhistes du Tubet
+se sont évertués à chercher un sens mystique à chacune des six syllabes
+qui composent cette phrase. Ils ont rempli des livres entiers de ces
+explications imaginaires.
+
+Cette formule est particulière aux Bouddhistes du Tubet.
+
+Selon l’histoire de ce pays la formule Om mani padmè hoûm, y a été
+apportée de l’Inde vers la moitié du 7e siècle de notre ère.
+
+La legende suivante traduite du Mongol contient des détails sur la
+conversion du Tubet par le dieu Padmá pani, [41] et sur l’origine des
+six syllabes sacrées, Om mani padmè hoûm. Ce dieu est appelé en
+Sanscrit “Avalokites’ vara” ou “le maître qui contemple avec amour;” ce
+que les Tubétains ont rendu par “le tout-voyant aux mille mains et aux
+mille yeux:” Les Chinois on traduit le nom par “celui qui contemple les
+sous du inonde.”
+
+“Autrefois, quand le ‘glorieux-accompli’ (Sakya mouni ou Buddh)
+séjournait dans la forêt ‘d’Odma,’ il advint un jour, qu’étant entouré
+de ses nombreux disciples un rayon de lumière de cinq couleurs sortit
+tout-à-coup entre ses deux sourcils, forma un arc-en-ciel, et se
+dirigea du côté de l’Empire septentrional de neige (Thibet). Les
+regards du Bouddha suivaient ce rayon, et sa figure montra un sourire
+de joie inexprimable. Un de ses disciples lui demanda de lui en
+expliquer la raison, et sur sa prière le glorieux-accompli lui dit:
+
+“‘Fils d’illustre origine! dans le pays qu’aucun Bouddha des trois
+âges n’a pu convertir, et qui est rempli d’une foule d’êtres
+malfaisans, la loi se lèvera comme le soleil et s’y répandra dans les
+temps futurs.
+
+“‘L’apôtre de cet Empire de neige âpre et sauvage, sera le
+Khoutoukhtou’ (Padmá páni).
+
+“Après que ‘Sakya mouni’ eut prononcé ces paroles, un rayon de lumière,
+éclatant comme un lotus blanc, sortit de son coeur et illumina toutes
+les régions du monde et se plongea dans le coeur du Bouddha infiniment
+resplendissant. Alors un autre éclat de lumière sortit du Bouddha
+resplendissant et se plongea dans la mer des fleurs de Padmá (lotus),
+et y transmit cette pensée du Bouddha, qu’il s’en élèverait et qu’il en
+naitrait un Khoubilkhan [42] divin, destiné à la conversion de l’Empire
+de neige.
+
+“Le Roi Dehdou qui était parvenu à participer à la béatitude de
+l’empire de Soukhawatee, voulant un jour offrir au Bouddha un sacrifice
+des fleurs, dépêcha quelques-uns des siens aux bords de la mer des
+Padmá (Lotus), pour y cueillir de ces fleurs. Ses envoyés aperçurent
+dans la mer une très grande tige de Lotus au milieu de laquelle il y
+avait un bouton colossal entouré d’une foule de grandes feuilles, et
+jetant des rayons de lumière de différentes couleurs. Les envoyés en
+firent leur rapport au roi, qui, rempli d’étonnement, se rendit avec sa
+cour sur un grand radeau à la place de la mer où se trouvait cette tige
+merveilleuse.
+
+“Y’étant arrivé, il présenta ses offrandes et prononça la bénédiction;
+le bouton s’ouvrit alors des quatre cotés, et au milieu apparut
+l’apôtre de l’empire de neige, né comme ‘Khoubilkhan.’ Il y était
+assis, les jambes croisées, avait mi visage et quatre mains; les deux
+mains antérieures étaient jointes devant le cœur, la troisième de
+droite tenait un rosaire de cristal, et la quatrième à gauche une fleur
+de Lotus blanche, qui penchait vers l’oreille.
+
+“Sur sa figure, dont l’éclat se répandait vers les dix régions du
+monde, se montrait un sourire qui pénétra dans tous les cœurs.
+
+“Le roi et sa suite portèrent le ‘Khoubilkhan’ au palais, en poussant
+des cris de joie et entonnant des hymnes. Le roi se rendit devant le
+Bouddha éternel et lui demanda la permission d’adopter pour fils, le
+‘Khoubilkhan’ né dans la mer de lotus. Mais sa demande ne fut pas agréé
+et il apprit, la véritable origine de ce ‘Khoubilkhan.’ Le Bouddha
+infiniment resplendissant posa alors sa main sur la tête de celui-ci et
+dit ‘Fils d’illustre origine! Les êtres qui habitent l’âpre empire de
+la neige, qu’aucun Bouddha des temps passés n’a pu convertir, qu’aucun
+du temps futurs ne convertira, et qu’aucun du temps présent n’a
+converti, le seront par la force et la bénédiction de ton vœu. C’est
+excellant; c’est excellant! Khoutoukhtou! [43]
+
+“‘Aussitôt que les habitans de l’âpre empire de neige te verront et
+qu’ils entendront le son des six syllabes (Om mani padmè hoûm) ils
+seront délivrés des trois naissances de mauvaise nature, et trouveront
+la béatitude par la renaissance comme êtres d’une nature supérieure.
+Les esprits malfaisans de l’âpre empire de neige, ainsi que tous les
+êtres donnant des maladies ou la mort, aussitôt, Khoutoukhtou, qu’ils
+te verront et qu’ils entendront le son des six syllabes, ils quitteront
+la fureur et la méchanceté qui les anime, et deviendront compatissans.
+
+“‘Les tigres, les panthères, les loups, les ours et autres animaux
+féroces, aussitôt, O Khoutoukhtou! qu’ils te verront et entendront le
+son des six syllabes ils adouciront leurs hurlemens, et leur fureur
+sanguinaire se changera en douceur bienveillante. Khoutoukhtou! ta
+figure et le son des six syllabes rassaiseront les affamés et calmeront
+la soif des altérés; il tombera comme une pluie d’eau bénite, et elle
+remplira tous leurs desirs. Khoutoukhtou! tu es l’être gracieux destiné
+à annoncer la volonté du Bouddha à cet empire de neige.
+
+“‘Selon ton example, un grand nombre de Bouddhas s’y montreront, dans
+les temps futurs, et y répandront la foi.
+
+“‘Les six syllabes sont le sommaire de toute doctrine et l’âpre empire
+de neige, sera rempli de cette doctrine par la force de ces six
+syllabes—
+
+
+            Om ma ni pad me houm.’
+
+
+“Après cette consécration, le Khoutoukhtou s’agenouilla devant le
+Bouddha, joignit les mains et prononça le vœu suivant: ‘Puissé-je être
+en état de pouvoir faire parvenir à la béatitude les six espèces
+d’êtres vivans dans les trois royaumes! Puissé-je, avant tout, conduire
+sur le chemin du bonheur, les êtres vivans de l’empire de neige
+(Thibet).
+
+“‘Loin de moi le désir de retourner dans mon Empire de joie, avant
+d’avoir achevé l’œuvre si difficile de la conversion de ces êtres. Si
+une telle pensée, produite par le dégoût et la mauvaise humeur,
+s’empare de moi, que ma tête se fende en dix parties, et mon corps,
+comme cette fleur de lotus, en mille.’
+
+“Après ces mots, il se rendit dans le royaume de l’enfer, prononça les
+six syllabes et détruisit les peines des enfers frois et chauds. De là
+il s’éleva au royaume des animaux, prononça les six syllabes et
+détruisit la peine que leur produit la chasse. Puis il se rendit dans
+l’empire des hommes, prononça les six syllabes et détruisit la peine de
+la naissance, de l’âge, des maladies et de la mort. Il s’éleva après à
+l’empire des génies du ciel, prononça les six syllabes et détruisit
+l’envie qui les tourmente pour se disputer et se combattre. Enfin, il
+aborda le grand Royaume de neige (le Tubet).
+
+“Ici, il aperçut la mer d’ ‘Otang’ comme un enfer terrible, et il vit
+que derechef, plusieurs millions d’êtres y’étaient, bouillis, brûlés,
+et martyrisés.
+
+“Le Khoutouktou se rendit au bord de la mer et dit: ‘Oh! que tant de
+milliers d’êtres qui se trouvent dans cette mer, où ils souffrent des
+tourmens inexprimables par la chaleur, le froid, la faim, et la soif,
+puissent rejeter loin d’eux leur enveloppe funeste et renaître dans mon
+paradis commes êtres supérieures. Om mani padme houm!’
+
+“A peine le ‘Khoutoukhtou’ avait-il prononcé ces mots que les tourmens
+des damnés cessèrent; leur esprit fut tranquillisé, et ils se virent
+transportés sur le chemin du Bouddha. Le Khoutoukhtou ayant ainsi rendu
+propres à la délivrance les six espèces des êtres vivans dans les trois
+royaumes du monde, se trouva fatigué, se reposa et tomba dans un état
+de contemplation intérieure!
+
+“Après quelques temps il vit qu’à peine la centième partie des habitans
+de l’empire de neige avaient été conduits sur le chemin de la
+délivrance. Son âme en fut si douloureusement affectée qu’il eut le
+désir de retourner dans son paradis. A peine l’avait-il conçu,
+qu’ensuite de ce vœu, sa tête se fendit en dix et son corps en mille
+pièces.
+
+“Le Bouddha infiniment resplendissant lui apparût dans le même moment,
+guérit la tête et le corps fendus du Khoutoukhtou, le prit par la main
+et lui dit: “Fils d’illustre origine! Vois les suites inévitables de
+ton vœu; mais parce que tu l’avais fait pour l’illustration de tous les
+Bouddhas, tu as été guéri sur-le-champ. Ne sois donc plus triste, car
+quoique ta tête se soit fendue en dix pièces, chacune aura, par ma
+bénédiction, une face particulière, et au-dessus d’elles sera placé mon
+propre visage rayonnant. Cet onzième visage de l’infiniment
+resplendissant, placé au-dessus de tes dix autres, te rendra l’objet de
+l’adoration.
+
+“‘Quoique ton corps se soit fendu en mille morceaux, ils deviendront,
+par ma bénédiction, mille mains qui représenteront les mille Bouddhas
+d’un âge complet du monde (en sanscrit Kalpa), [44] et qui te rendront
+l’objet le plus digne d’adoration.’”
+
+Cette légende nous explique, non seulement l’extrême importance que les
+Bouddhistes du Tubet attachent à la formule “Om mani padmè hoûm,” mais
+elle nous démontre aussi que son véritable sens est celui que j’ai
+donné plus haut: Oh! le joyau dans le lotus; Amen! Il est évident
+qu’elle se rapporte à “Avalokites’ vara” ou “Padma pani” lui-même, qui
+naquit dans une fleur de lotus. [45]
+
+
+
+ÛM MANI PANEE.
+
+As will be seen by the foregoing extract from M. Klaproth’s
+explanation, the mystic sentence, instead of being as I have
+represented it, is in reality, “Om mani padme houm,” or, in a form of
+spelling more English, if not more intelligible, “Om muni pudmay hoom,”
+and the meaning, supposing its derivation from the Sanscrit to be
+beyond doubt, would, as therein translated, be, “Oh the jewel in the
+Lotus, Amen!” Almost every traveller who has mentioned the inscription
+in question appears to have followed M. Klaproth’s pronunciation as
+above; but this, although the one actually given by the value of the
+Thibetian letters, is certainly not that in use by the people among
+whom it is chiefly, if not alone, to be found. This I can vouch for, as
+the words were so incessantly in the mouths of all to whom I applied
+for information, that I had ample opportunity of hearing and
+remembering their sound; and having written them on the spot in the
+Persian character, the pronunciation would not be open to the
+misapprehension or uncertainty to which, after the sounds themselves
+had been forgotten, the English form of spelling might have rendered
+them liable. [46]
+
+A form, however, different from both these, is given by one who, with
+the exception perhaps of M. Hue, had better opportunities than most
+others for ascertaining the meaning of the words and hearing their
+actual pronunciation: this was Captain Turner, who was nominated by
+Warren Hastings, in the year 1783, to undertake an embassy to the Court
+of Thibet, at Lassa.
+
+He, however, makes no mention of the Sanscrit translation above given,
+and confesses his inability to obtain, even at the head-quarters of
+Thibetian Buddhism, a satisfactory explanation of the origin or import
+of the sentence. The following account, taken from Captain Turner’s
+Report on his Mission, may be of interest, as it explains the
+circumstances under which an event so unusual as an embassy to the
+Court of Thibet was agreed to by the Grand Lama.
+
+In 1772, a frontier warfare having broken out between the “Booteas,”
+dependants of Thibet, and the English Government, in consequence of the
+aggression of the former, Teshoo Lama, at the time regent of Thibet and
+guardian of the Delai Lama, his superior in religious rank, united in
+his own person the political authority and the spiritual hierarchy of
+the country, subservient only to the Emperor of China. The Lama,
+interested for the safety of Bootan, sent a deputation to Calcutta,
+with a letter addressed to the governor, of which the following is a
+translation:—“The affairs of this quarter in every respect flourish. I
+am, night and day, employed in prayers for the increase of your
+happiness and prosperity. Having been informed, by travellers from your
+country, of your exalted fame and reputation, my heart, like the
+blossoms of spring, abounds with satisfaction, gladness, and joy.
+
+“Praise be to God that the star of your fortune is in its ascension!
+Praise be to Him that happiness and ease are the surrounding attendants
+of myself and family! Neither to molest, nor persecute, is my aim. It
+is even the characteristic of our sect to deprive ourselves of the
+necessary refreshment of sleep, should an injury be done to a single
+individual; but in justice and humanity, I am informed, you far surpass
+us.
+
+“May you ever adorn the seat of justice and power, that mankind may, in
+the shadow of your bosom, enjoy the blessings of peace and affluence.”
+
+The Lama then enters into the subject of the disturbances between his
+dependants and the British Government, and concludes:—“As to my part, I
+am but a Fakeer; and it is the custom of my sect, with the rosary in
+our hands, to pray for the welfare of all mankind, and especially for
+the peace and happiness of the inhabitants of this country; and I do
+now, with my head uncovered, intreat that you will cease from all
+hostilities in future. In this country the worship of the Almighty is
+the profession of all. We poor creatures are in nothing equal to you.
+Having, however, a few things in hand, I send them to you as tokens of
+remembrance, and hope for your acceptance of them.” [47]
+
+The Lama being in this unusually agreeable frame of mind, the British
+Government yielded without hesitation to his intercession.
+
+The governor himself readily embraced the opportunity, which he thought
+the occurrence afforded, of extending the British influence to a
+quarter of the world but little known, and with which we possessed
+hardly any commercial connexion.
+
+In 1774 a deputation was sent to carry back an answer to the Lama, and
+to offer him suitable presents. It was furnished also with a variety of
+articles of English manufacture, to be produced as specimens of the
+trade in which the subjects of the Lama might be invited to
+participate. The result was, that in 1779, when the Lama visited the
+Emperor of China at Pekin, desirous of improving his connexion with the
+Government of Bengal, he desired the British envoy to go round by sea
+to Canton, promising to join him at the capital. The Emperor’s promise
+was at the same time obtained to permit the first openings of an
+intercourse between that country and Bengal, through the intermediate
+channel furnished by the Lama.
+
+The death of both the Lama and the envoy, however, which happened
+nearly at the same time, destroyed the plans thus formed.
+
+Soon after the receipt of the letters announcing the Lama’s death,
+intelligence arrived of his reappearance in Thibet! His soul, according
+to the doctrines of their faith, had passed into and animated the body
+of an infant, who, on the discovery of his identity by such testimony
+as their religion prescribes, was proclaimed by the same title as his
+predecessor.
+
+Warren Hastings then proposed a second deputation to Thibet, and
+Captain Turner was accordingly nominated on the 9th January, 1783.
+
+His mention of the sculptured stones and inscription is as follows:—
+
+“Another sort of monument is a long wall, on both faces of which near
+the top are inserted large tablets with the words ‘Oom maunee paimee
+oom’ carved in relief. This is the sacred sentence repeated upon the
+rosaries of the Lamas, and in general use in Tibet. Of the form of
+words to which ideas of peculiar sanctity are annexed by the
+inhabitants, I could never obtain a satisfactory explanation. It is
+frequently engraven on the rocks in large and deep characters, and
+sometimes I have seen it on the sides of hills; the letters, which are
+formed by means of stones fixed in the earth, are of so vast a
+magnitude as to be visible at a very considerable distance.”
+
+M. Hue’s account of an explanation of the formula, which he received
+from the highest authority at Lassa, is as follows:—“Living beings are
+divided into six classes—angels, demons, men, quadrupeds, birds, and
+reptiles. These six classes of beings correspond to the syllables of
+the formula, ‘Om mani padmè houm.’ Living beings by continual
+transformations, and according to their merit or demerit, pass about in
+these six classes until they have attained the apex of perfection, when
+they are absorbed and lost in the grand essence of Buddha. Living
+beings have, according to the class to which they belong, particular
+means of sanctifying themselves, of rising to a superior class, of
+obtaining perfection, and of arriving in process of time at the period
+of their absorption. Men who repeat very frequently and devotedly ‘Om
+mani padmè houm,’ escape falling after death into the six classes of
+animate creatures, corresponding to the six syllables of the formula,
+and obtain the plenitude of being, by their absorption into the eternal
+and universal soul of Buddha.”
+
+One traveller only I have been able to find who mentions the sentence
+as I have done. M. Jacquemont writes, in his “Letters from Cashmere and
+Thibet,” in 1830:—“I am returned from afar; I have often been very
+cold; I have had a hundred and eighteen very bad dinners: but I think
+myself amply recompensed for these trans-Himalayan miseries by the
+interesting observations and vast collections which I have been able to
+make in a country perfectly new. The Tartars are a very good sort of
+people. It is true that to please them I made myself a little heathen
+after their fashion, and joined without scruple in the national chorus,
+‘Houm mâni pani houm.’ ”
+
+Judging by the system of spelling he has adopted in other instances in
+his letters, this would be nearly—as regards the two main words—the
+same pronunciation as I have given. He however, in another part,
+follows it still more closely, and at the same time shows that he is
+aware of a translation which, although probably the true one, has no
+connexion whatever with the words as he himself actually represents
+them.
+
+He says—“In Thibet they sing a good deal also—that is, one or two
+inhabitants per square league—but only a single song of three
+words—‘Oum mani pani;’ which means, in the learned language, ‘Oh,
+diamond water-lily!’ and leads the singers direct into Buddha’s
+paradise.
+
+“But, though composed of three Thibetian words, it is evidently of
+Indian origin, and I have proved it botanically. The lotus is a plant
+peculiar to the lukewarm and temperate waters of India and Egypt. There
+is not one of its genus, or even of its family, in Thibet.”
+
+The words, however, are not, as M. Jacquemont says, Thibetian, but
+Sanscrit; and, although one of the characters in which they are clothed
+is the current Thibetian, it would appear that neither their true
+pronunciation nor actual meaning is known to the people who thus make
+such frequent use of them.
+
+The sentence itself is in the mouths of all. In the monastery of Hemis
+alone, probably as many as a hundred wheels are in continual motion,
+bearing it within their folds not less than 1,700,000 times. The very
+stones by the wayside present its well-known characters in countless
+numbers, and the hills repeat it, and yet to those into whose daily
+religious observances it thus so largely enters, it comes but as a vain
+and empty sound, without either sense or signification. The Lamas
+themselves, no doubt, believe that the doctrine contained in these
+marvellous words is immense, and the higher dignitaries of the Church
+may know their derivation; but, to the great majority, even the mystic
+meaning and dim legendary history which the true pronunciation and
+rightful origin of the words would bring to their minds, are unknown,
+and they are thus deprived of that large amount of comfort and
+consolation which they would otherwise derive from the glowing and
+all-powerful sentence—
+
+“Oh, the jewel in the lotus, Amen!”
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX C.
+
+A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF CASHMERE.
+
+
+A Mahomedan Writer, “Noor ul deen,” who begins the history of Cashmere
+with the Creation, affirms that the valley was visited by Adam after
+the Fall; that the descendants of Seth reigned over the country for
+1,110 years; and that, after the deluge, it became peopled by a tribe
+from Turkistan.
+
+The Hindoo historians add, that, after the line of Seth became extinct,
+the Hindoos conquered the country, and ruled it until the period of the
+deluge; and that the Cashmerians were afterwards taught the worship of
+one God by “Moses;” but, relapsing into Hindoo idolatry, were punished
+by the local inundation of the province, and the conversion of the
+valley into a vast lake.
+
+It would appear, from chronicles actually existing, that Cashmere has
+been a regular kingdom for a period far beyond the limits of history in
+general. From the year B.C. 2666 to A.D. 1024 it seems to have been
+governed (according to these authorities) by Princes of Hindoo and
+Tartar dynasties, and their names, to the number of about a hundred,
+have been duly handed down to posterity. Of the titles of these
+worthies, “Durlabhaverddhana” and “Bikrumajeet” will perhaps be
+sufficient as specimens. During these years, the religion seems at
+first to have been the worship of snakes, and afterwards Hindooism.
+
+In the reign of Asoca, about the 4th century before Christ, Buddhism
+was introduced, and after remaining for some time, under Tartar
+princes, the religion of the country, was again succeeded by Hindooism.
+
+The first Mahomedan king of Cashmere is believed to be “Shahmar,” who
+came to the throne in A.D. 1341, and during the succeeding reigns
+Thibet appears to have been first subdued, and was annexed for a time
+to the kingdom.
+
+The next monarch, who appears notably on the stage, was “Sikunder,”
+who, influenced by a certain Syud Alee Humudanee and other religious
+fanatics recently arrived in the country, began to destroy the Hindoo
+temples and images by fire, and to force the people to abjure idolatry.
+Previous to this influx of zealots, the country was in a transition
+state as regards religion and Mahomedanism then began to make some head
+in the valley.
+
+After this period nothing of very great importance occurred in the
+kingdom of Cashmere until the year 1584, when the great Akbar summoned
+the then king “Yûsûf Shah” to present himself in person at the court of
+Lahore. Finding his orders not complied with, he despatched an army of
+50,000 men to enforce obedience, and Yûsûf Shah, preferring apparently
+to die than fight, delivered himself up, and was sent to Lahore.
+
+The imperial army was afterwards, however, repulsed in attempting to
+subdue the country, and it was not finally conquered for two years,
+when Akbar, overcoming all resistance, took possession of the province.
+
+The purity of the emperor’s motives in annexing the territory, and his
+opinion of his conquest, are amusingly shown in the following letter to
+his minister Abdûllah Khan:—
+
+“On the mirror of your mind, which bears the stamp of Divine
+illumination, be it manifest and evident, that at the time when my
+imperial army happened to be in the territories of the Punjab, although
+I at first had no other views than to amuse myself with sports and
+hunting in this country, yet the conquest of the enchanting kingdom of
+Cashmere, which has never yet been subdued by monarchs of the age,
+which for natural strength and inaccessibility is unrivalled, and
+which, for beauty and pleasantness, is a proverb among the most
+sagacious beholders, became secretly an object of my wishes, because I
+received constantly accounts of the tyranny of the rulers of that
+region. Accordingly, in a very short time, my brave warriors annexed
+that kingdom to my dominions. Though the princes of that country were
+not remiss in their exertions, yet, as my intentions were established
+on the basis of equity, it was completely conquered.
+
+“I myself also visited that happy spot, the possession of which is a
+fresh instance of the Divine favour, and offered up my praise and
+thanksgiving to the supreme Lord of all things. As I found myself
+delighted with the romantic bowers of Cashmere, the residence of
+pleasure, I made an excursion to the mountains of that country and
+Thibet, and beheld, with the eyes of astonishment, the wonders of the
+picture of Nature.”
+
+This visit was in A.D. 1588.
+
+The emperor then appears to have entered the valley by the Peer Punjal
+Pass, and to have been received with every demonstration of joy by the
+people in whom he took such a fatherly interest. The loyalty of his
+children, however, was but short-lived, for about the year 1591 he
+again writes to Abdûllah:—
+
+“I must acquaint your Highness, that just at this time certain persons,
+under the predominance of an unlucky destiny, raised an insurrection in
+Cashmere and breathed the air of rebellion and dissatisfaction at the
+bounty of Providence.
+
+“As soon as the intelligence of this tumult arrived, regardless of
+deluges of rain, I hastened away by forced marches, but before the
+troops could get through the passes and enter into that kingdom,
+certain Omrahs, attached to my interests, who had been obliged by
+compulsion to join in that rash enterprise, availing themselves of an
+opportunity, brought me the head of the rebel commander.
+
+“As my forces were near, I visited a second time that ever-verdant
+garden, and gratified my mind and senses with the beauties of that
+luxuriant spot.”
+
+With a view to keeping the capital in order, the Fort of Huree Purbut
+was built, about A.D. 1597, at a cost of over 1,000,000l.
+
+Means were at the same time adopted of rendering the Cashmerians less
+warlike, and of breaking their independent spirit. To effect this, it
+is generally believed in Cashmere that the Emperor Akbar caused a
+change to be made in the dress of the people. Instead of the ancient,
+well-girdled tunic, adapted to activity and exercise, he introduced the
+effeminate long gown of the present day, a change which may have led to
+the introduction of the kangree, or pot of charcoal, now used in the
+valley.
+
+During Akbar’s reign much was done towards the improvement of the
+province. The country was adorned with palaces and gardens, and various
+trees and shrubs were introduced and cultivated.
+
+About the beginning of the seventeenth century, Akbar visited Cashmere
+for the third and last time, being succeeded, after a reign of
+fifty-two years, by his son Selim, or Jehangeer, A.D. 1605.
+
+Jehangeer, during the early part of his reign, visited Cashmere many
+times, and the valley having been surveyed and brought to order by
+Akbar, nothing remained for his successor but to enjoy the delights of
+the country in company with his empress, the famous Noor Jehan. In
+1621, and in 1624, he repeated his visit, when he built many
+summer-houses and palaces at Atchabull, Shalimar, &c., and in A.D. 1627
+he visited the valley for the last time. He was succeeded in that year
+by Shah Jehan, who, in 1634, also visited his territories; and, besides
+improving the country by the introduction of fruit-trees, flowers, &c.
+from Cabul, he invaded Thibet, and taking the Fort of Ladak, annexed
+the country to Cashmere.
+
+In 1645 he again visited the valley, and also in the following years,
+being accompanied by many poets and savants; among the former was a
+certain Hajee Mahomet Jan, a Persian, who composed a poem on the
+country; but the difficulties of the road appear to have impressed his
+mind rather more than the beauties of the scenery. He compares the
+sharpness of the passes to “the swords of the Feringees,” and their
+tortuous ascents to “the curls of a blackamoor’s hair!”
+
+In 1657, Shah Jehan, being deposed by his son Aurungzib, was confined
+in the Fort of Agra for life; and in the year 1664 the new emperor also
+paid a visit to his Cashmerian dominions. Of this magnificent
+expedition, M. Bernier, the monarch’s state physician, gives an amusing
+and detailed description, purporting to be
+
+“A relation of a voyage made in the year 1664, when the Great Mogul,
+Aureng-Zebe, went with his army from, Dehly to Lahor, from Lahor to
+Bember, and from thence to that small kingdom of Kachemere, or
+Cassimere, called by the Mogols the Paradise of the Indies, concerning
+which the author affirms that he hath a particular history of it, in
+the Persian tongue.”
+
+“The weighty occasion and cause of this voyage of the Emperor’s,
+together with an account of the state and posture of his army, and some
+curious particulars observable in voyages of the Indies,” are thus
+given by M. Bernier:—“Since that Aureng-Zebe began to find himself in
+better health, it hath been constantly reported that he would make a
+voyage to Kachemere, to be out of the way of the approaching summer
+heats, though the more intelligent sort of men would hardly be
+persuaded, that as long as he kept his father, Chah-Jean (Shah Jehan),
+prisoner in the Fort of Agra, he would think it safe to be at such a
+distance. Yet, notwithstanding, we have found that reason of State hath
+given place to that of health, or rather, to the intrigues of
+Rauchenara Begum, who was wild to breathe a more free air than that of
+the Seraglio, and to have her turn in showing herself to a gallant and
+magnificent army, as her sister had formerly done during the reign of
+Chah-Jean.”
+
+The Emperor appears to have made preparations on this occasion for a
+voyage of a year and a half.
+
+He had with him, not only thirty-five thousand horse, or thereabouts,
+and ten thousand foot, but also “both his artilleries, the great or
+heavy, and the small or lighter.
+
+For the carriage of the Emperor’s baggage and stores, no less than
+30,000 coolies were required, although, for fear of starving that
+little kingdom of Kachemere,” he only carried with him the least number
+of ladies and cavaliers he could manage, and as few elephants and mules
+as would suffice for the convenience of the former.
+
+Crossing the Peer Punjal, some of the ladies of the Seraglio
+unfortunately paid the penalty of their too ardent desires to show
+themselves off to “a gallant and magnificent army,” for “one of the
+elephants fell back upon him that was next, and he upon the next, and
+so on to the fifteenth, so that they did all tumble to the bottom of
+the precipice. It was the good fortune of those poor women, however,
+that there were but three or four of them killed; but the fifteen
+elephants remained upon the place.” The historian rather ungallantly
+adds, “When these bulky masses do once fall under those vast burdens
+they never rise again, though the way be ever so fair.”
+
+On reaching the summit of the pass after this accident, the expedition
+appears to have encountered more misfortunes, for “there blew a wind so
+cold that all people shook and ran away, especially the silly Indians,
+who never had seen ice or snow, or felt such cold.”
+
+Aurungzib appears to have remained three months in the valley on this
+occasion.
+
+After his death there is no mention of his successors having visited
+Cashmere, and the local governors became in consequence, in common with
+those of other provinces of the tottering Mogul throne, little short of
+independent rulers. Under the tender mercies of most of these, the
+unfortunate Cashmeeries appear to have fared but badly.
+
+In 1745, however, a series of misfortunes from another source burst
+forth upon the inhabitants of the happy valley. A dreadful famine first
+broke out, during which it is said that slaves sold for four pice
+(three half-pence) each. The famine produced its natural result, a
+pestilence, which swept away many thousands of the people; an eclipse
+also added to their terror, and storms of rain followed by floods
+carried away all the bridges.
+
+In the year 1752, the country passed from the possession of the Mogul
+throne, and fell under the rule of the Dûranees, and during many years
+was convulsed by a series of wars and rebellions, and subject to
+numerous different governors. In A.D. 1801, Runjeet Singh began to come
+into notice, and, having consolidated the nation of the Sikhs, had, in
+the year 1813 become one of the recognised princes of India. In that
+year Futteh Shah entered into a treaty with him for a subsidiary force
+for the invasion of Cashmere. The price of this accommodation was fixed
+at 80,000l. yearly; but, before the expiration of the second year, the
+Lion of the Punjab, on pretence of the non-fulfilment of the treaty,
+invaded the valley on his own account at the head of a considerable
+army. He was repulsed, however, and forced to retreat to Lahore with
+the loss of his entire baggage. In A.D. 1819, encouraged by recent
+successes against Moultan, Runjeet Singh collected an army “as numerous
+as ants and locusts,” and invaded the valley a second time, and being
+successful, the country again fell under the sway of a Hindoo
+Sovereign.
+
+It, however, remained for some time afterwards in a disturbed state;
+and for signal services against the rebellious frontier chiefs, who
+were averse to Runjeet Singh’s rule, Gûlab Singh (the late Maharajah)
+obtained possession of the territory of Jumoo, now included in the
+kingdom of Cashmere.
+
+Runjeet Singh, dying in 1839, was succeeded by his son and grandson,
+successively, both of whom died shortly after their accession; and the
+state of anarchy and confusion which ensued among the Sikh Sirdars was
+terminated by Shere Singh being installed as Maharajah of Lahore.
+
+Under his rule, in 1842, Gûlab Singh further brought himself into
+notice by reducing the kingdom of little Thibet with the army under
+Zorawur Singh, and on the termination of the Sikh Campaign of the
+Sutlej—Duleep Singh being established on the throne of Lahore—he was
+admitted, “in consideration of his good conduct,” to the privileges of
+a separate treaty with the British Government.
+
+The result of these privileges was, that he was shortly afterwards put
+in possession, for “a consideration,” of the entire kingdom of
+Cashmere.
+
+As indemnification for the expenses of the Sikh Campaign, the British
+Government had demanded from the Lahore State the sum of a crore and a
+half of rupees, or 1,500,000l. The whole of this amount, however, was
+not forthcoming, and it was agreed by Article 4 of the treaty of 9th
+March, 1846, with the Maharajah Duleep Singh, that all the hill-country
+between the rivers Indus and Beas, including the province of Cashmere,
+should be ceded to the Honourable East India Company, in perpetual
+sovereignty, as an equivalent for one million sterling.
+
+Article 12 of the same treaty guaranteed to Gûlab Singh, in consequence
+of his services to the Lahore State, its recognition of his
+independence in such territories as might afterwards be agreed upon;
+and on the 16th March, 1846, the British Government, by special treaty,
+made over for ever, in independent possession to Maharajah Gûlab Singh
+and the heirs male of his body, the greater part of the territories
+previously mentioned in Article 4. In consideration of this transfer,
+the Maharajah was to pay to the British Government, within the year,
+the sum of seventy-five lakhs of rupees (750,000l.). To acknowledge the
+supremacy of that Government, and, in token of such supremacy, to
+present it annually the following tribute, viz.:—One horse, twelve
+perfect shawl goats of approved breed (six male and six female), and
+three pairs of Cashmere shawls.
+
+Thus, “on the 16th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1846,
+corresponding with the 17th day of Rubbeeoolawul, 1262, Hijree, was
+done at Umritsur,” the treaty of ten articles, by which Gûlab Singh was
+raised to the rank and dignity of an independent ruler.
+
+For seventy-five lakhs of rupees the unfortunate Cashmeeries were
+handed over to the tender mercies of “the most thorough ruffian that
+ever was created—a villain from a kingdom down to a half-penny,” and
+the “Paradise of the Indies,” after remaining rather less than a week a
+British possession, was relinquished by England for ever.
+
+
+
+                            THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NOTES
+
+
+[1] Vide Appendix A.
+
+[2] ROADS—I. There are four authorized routes for European visitors to
+Cashmere.
+
+First. The principal road from the plains by Bimbhur and Rajâoree. This
+road over the “Peer Punjal” range is not open until May, and is closed
+by snow at the beginning of November: it is the old imperial route, and
+the stages are marked by the remains of serais.
+
+[3] A hill conveyance something similar to a hammock, suspended from a
+pole, with straps for the feet and back, and carried by two bearers.
+
+[4] M. Jacquemont, in his “Letters from Kashmir and Thibet,” carried
+away no doubt by the ardour of Botanical research, mentions having made
+a similar discovery, in the following glowing terms:—“The mountains
+here produce rhubarb; celestial happiness!”
+
+[5] The Pass of the Peer Punjal is 13,000 feet above the level of the
+sea; the highest peak of the range being 15,000.
+
+[6] Supposed to designate “The City of the Sun;” Sûrya meaning in
+Sanscrit “the Sun,” and Nugger “a City.”
+
+[7] Cashmere seems to have been regarded for many ages merely as a
+source of wealth to its absentee lords or present governors, and to
+have suffered more than ever, since falling under the dominion of
+Hindoo rulers.
+
+Of the first of this dynasty, who subdued and took possession of the
+valley in the year 1819, Vigne remarks, in his Travels, “Runjeet Singh
+assuredly well knew that the greater the prosperity of Kashmīr, the
+stronger would be the inducement to invasion by the East India Company.
+‘Après moi le déluge’ has been his motto, and its ruin has been
+accelerated not less by his rapacity than by his political jealousy,
+which suggested to him at any cost the merciless removal of its wealth
+and the reckless havoc he has made in its resources.”
+
+[8] The Tukt-i-Suliman, an old Hindoo temple, the throne of Solomon the
+magnificent, the prophet, the mighty magician, whom all pious
+Mussulmans believe to have been carried through the air on a throne
+supported by Dives or Afrites, whom the Almighty had made subservient
+to His will.—Vigne. The summit stands 1,000 feet above the level of the
+plain, and the date of its erection is believed to be 220 B.C. Vide
+Appendix A.
+
+[9] “There is no God but God;” “In the name of God.”
+
+[10] This was written without being aware that the native name of
+Mutton is a corruption of Martund, by which name the temple is also
+designated.
+
+The meaning of Martund being in Sanscrit “the Sun,” additional grounds
+have thus been furnished for determining the origin of the ruin. Vide
+Appendix A.
+
+[11] On this subject a good deal of difference of opinion seems to
+exist, and from Moore’s descriptions of the furniture of his
+terrestrial paradise, which have added so much to the fame of the
+valley, it appears probable that his “muse,” thinking it useless to
+search abroad for materials which existed in abundance at home,
+supplied him with what he supposed to be Eastern celestial creations,
+entirely from his native shores. Vigne, however, says, “I do not think
+that the beauty of the Kashmirian women has been overrated. They are,
+of course, wholly deficient in the graces and fascinations derivable
+from cultivation and accomplishment; but for mere uneducated eyes, I
+know of none that surpass those of Kashmir.” On the other hand, M.
+Jacquemont, who found “celestial happiness” in a plant of rhubarb, is
+unable to discover any beauty whatever in the Cashmerian ladies, and
+has no patience with his neighbour’s little flights of fancy in
+depicting their perfections. “Moore,” he writes, in his “Letters from
+India,” “is a perfumer, and a liar to boot. Know that I have never seen
+anywhere such hideous witches as in Cashmere. The female race is
+remarkably ugly.” Instead of adding to such conflicting evidence, I
+have endeavoured to subpœna a credible witness to speak for herself;
+and the right of private judgment being thus reserved to the reader,
+Gûlabie will no doubt be charitably dealt with, and will find her
+proper position somewhere within the limits of a “hideous witch” and a
+“celestial being.”
+
+[12] This place is mentioned in the “Tûzûk Jehangeery,” or “Precepts of
+Jehangeer,” in a way which shows that the Conqueror of the World had
+not included himself among his victories.
+
+The name appears on a Persian inscription as Wurnagh, but is called by
+the natives Vernagh, and is mentioned by Jehangeer in his journal as
+Tirnagh:—
+
+“The source of the river Bhet (Jhelum) ((The Jhelum is called in
+Cashmere, Behat—a contraction of the Sanscrit Vedasta, which the Greeks
+slightly altered to Hydaspes.))  lies in a fountain in Cashmeer, named
+Tirnagh, which, in the language, of Hindostan, signifies a
+snake—probably some large snake had been seen there. During the
+lifetime of my father (Akbar) I went twice to this fountain, which is
+about twenty kos from the city of Cashmere. Its form is octagonal, and
+the sides of it are about twenty yards in length.
+
+“I accompanied my father to this spot during the season of flowers. In
+some places the beds of saffron-flowers extend to a kos. Their
+appearance is best at a distance, and when they are plucked they emit a
+strong smell. My attendants were all seized with a headache, and though
+I was myself at the time intoxicated with liquor, I felt also my head
+affected. I inquired of the brutal Cashmeerians who were employed in
+plucking them, what was their condition, and they replied that they
+never had a headache in their lifetime.”
+
+[13] The title of Noor-ûl-deen is also mentioned by Jehangeer in his
+Journal from Lahore to Cabul, and its origin is thus accounted for in
+his own words:
+
+   “Now that I had become a king, it occurred to me that I ought to
+    change my name, which was liable to be confounded with that of the
+    Cæsars, of Rome.
+
+   “The Secret Inspirer of thoughts suggested to me that, as the
+    business of kings is the conquest of the world, I ought to assume
+    the name of Jehangeer, or Conqueror of the World; and that as my
+    accession to the throne had taken place, about sunrise, I ought
+    therefore to take the title of Noor-ûl-deen, or the Light of
+    Religion. I had heard during the time of my youth from several
+    learned Hindoos, that after the expiration of the reign of Akbar,
+    the throne would be filled by a kin, named Noor-ûl-deen. This
+    circumstance made an impression on me, and I therefore assumed the
+    name and title of Jehangeer Badshah.”
+
+[14] These ruins appear to be in the greatest dilapidation of any in
+the valley. The date of their erection is believed to be A.D. 852.
+
+[15] See Appendix A.
+
+[16] Vide Appendix A.
+
+[17] These monuments would appear to be of the kind designated
+Chod-tens and Dung-tens, which have been thus described:—“In the
+monuments which are dedicated to the celestial Buddha, the invisible
+being who pervades all space, no deposit was made; but the Divine
+Spirit, who was light, was supposed to occupy the interim. Such are the
+numerous Chod-tens in Tibet dedicated to the celestial Buddha, in
+contradistinction to the Dung-tens, which are built in honour of the
+mortal Buddhas, and which ought to contain some portion of their
+relies, real or supposed. The first means an offering to the Deity, the
+latter a bone or relic receptacle. In the Sanscrit these are termed
+Chaitya and Dagoba.”—Cunningham.
+
+[18] This appears to have been one of the Dagobas or bone-holders,
+which are erected either over the corse of a Lama or the ashes of some
+person of consequence. “The tribute of respect is paid in Tibet to the
+manes of the dead in various ways. It is the custom to preserve entire
+the mortal remains of the sovereign Lamas only. As soon as life has
+left the body of a Lama, it is placed upright, sitting in an attitude
+of devotion, his legs being folded before him, with the instep resting
+on each thigh, and the sides of the feet turned upwards. The right hand
+is rested with its back upon the thigh, with the thumb bent across the
+palm. The left arm is bent and held close to the body, the hand being
+open and the thumb touching the point of the shoulder. This is the
+attitude of abstracted meditation.
+
+“The bodies of inferior Lamas are usually burnt, and their ashes
+preserved with the greatest care, and the monuments in which they are
+contained are ever after looked upon as sacred, and visited with
+religious awe.”—Turner.
+
+[19] جو خُدا كريگا سو كويِ نہين كريگا‎
+
+[20] “Tibet may be considered the head-quarters of Buddhism in the
+present age, and immense volumes are still to be found in that country
+(faithful translations of the Sanskrit text), which refer to the
+manners, customs, opinions, knowledge, ignorance, superstition, hopes
+and fears of a great part of Asia, especially of India in former
+ages.”—Csoma de Kőrös, Preface to Tibetan Grammar.
+
+[21] These stones would appear to be peculiar to Thibet, although the
+sentence inscribed upon them has been occasionally discovered
+elsewhere. Mention of it is thus made in the Journal of the Asiatic
+Society of Bengal:—“On the main road from the Valley of Nipal to Tibet
+stands a diminutive stone, ‘Chaitya.’ Upon this is inscribed a variety
+of texts from the Buddha Scriptures, and amongst others the celebrated
+Mantra, or charmed sentence of Tibet. The system of letters called
+Lantzá in Tibet, and there considered foreign and Indian, though
+nowhere extant in the Plains of India, is the common vehicle of
+Sanscrit language among the Buddhists of Nipal Proper, by whom it is
+denominated Ranjá, in Devanagri रंजा.
+
+“Ranjá, therefore, and not, according to a barbarian metamorphosis,
+Lántzá, it should be called by us, and by way of further and clearer
+distinction, the Nipalese variety of Devánágrí. Obviously deducible as
+this form is from the Indian standard, it is interesting to observe it
+in practical collocation with the ordinary Thibetan form, and when it
+is considered that Lántzá or Ranjá is the common extant vehicle of
+those original Sanscrit works of which the Thibetan books are
+translations, the interest of an inscription traced on one slab in both
+characters cannot but be allowed to be considerable. The habit of
+promulgation of the doctrines of their faith by inscriptions patent on
+the face of religious edifices, stones, &c., is peculiar to the
+Buddhists of Thibet. The Mantrá is also quite unknown to the Buddhists
+of Ceylon and the Eastern peninsula, and forms the peculiar feature of
+Thibetan Buddhism.”
+
+[22] This was the only explanation of the mounds of inscribed stones
+which I was able to obtain from a native source; and some foundation
+for the story may be traced in the legend—which will be found in
+Appendix B—upon which M. Klaproth has founded the only explanation of
+the mystic inscription, which I have been as yet able to discover.
+
+By the Lamas themselves I never heard these mounds alluded to otherwise
+than by the words “Mani panee.” Cunningham, however, who had ample
+opportunity of ascertaining their meaning and origin, terms them
+“Manís” (in another form of spelling, “Munees”), and thus describes
+them:—“The Maní—a word naturalized from the Sanscrit—is a stone dyke,
+from four to five feet high, and from six to twelve in breadth; length
+from ten or twenty feet to half a mile The surface of the Maní is
+always covered with inscribed slabs; these are votive offerings from
+all classes of people for the attainment of some particular object.
+Does a childless man wish for a son, or a merchant about to travel hope
+for a safe return; each goes to a Lama and purchases a slate, which he
+deposits carefully on the village ‘Maní,’ and returns to his home in
+full confidence that his prayers will be heard.”
+
+[23] This was in all probability intended to represent the form of the
+lotus. Vide Appendix B.
+
+[24] Of this custom Turner remarks, alluding to Thibet Proper:—“Here we
+find a practice at once different from the modes of Europe, and
+opposite to those of Asia. That of one female associating her fate and
+fortune with all the brothers of a family, without any restriction of
+age or numbers. The choice of a wife is the privilege of the elder
+brother; and singular as it may seem, a Thibetan wife is as jealous of
+her connubial rites as ever the despot of an Indian Zenana is of the
+favours of his imprisoned fair.”
+
+[25] “As the inscription of course begins at opposite ends on each
+side, the Thibetans are careful in passing that they do not trace the
+words backwards.”—Turner.
+
+[26] This is Mount “Everest,” which has been called, the King of the
+South. The King of the North, “Nunga Purbut,” is 26,629 feet above the
+level of the sea.
+
+[27] Vide illustration, Hemis Monastery.
+
+[28] The only information I here again received was “Ûm mani panee!”
+The wheel consisted of a roll of the thinnest paper, six inches in
+diameter, and five and a half in width, closely printed throughout with
+the eternally recurring words, which all appeared so ready to pronounce
+and none seemed able to explain. The roll was sixty yards long, and was
+composed of a succession of strips, one foot nine inches in length, and
+all joined together. The whole was inclosed in a coarse canvas cover,
+open at both ends, and marked with what was no doubt the official seal
+of the particular society for the diffusion of ignorance at Lassa, from
+which it had originally emanated. Each of the strips contained the
+mystic sentence, one hundred and seventy times, so that I was thus at
+once put into possession of all the valuable intelligence to be derived
+from “Ûm mani panee,” repeated between seventeen and eighteen thousand
+times. Vide Appendix B.
+
+[29] The origin of this divinity is probably derived from the legend of
+Khoutoukhtou, which will be found in Appendix B.
+
+[30] The most remarkable of these were “Ser” and “Mer,” otherwise
+called “Nanoo” and “Kanoo;” respectively 23,407 and 23,264 feet above
+the level of the sea.
+
+[31] The true version of the story appears to be that Gûlab Singh had
+quarrelled with the Rajah of Cashmere, his rightful master, and entered
+into the service of the Rajah of Kushtwar. After about three years,
+hearing that Runjeet Singh was preparing an expedition against
+Cashmere, he went to him and offered his services. Being accepted, he
+was successful against his old enemy, and took possession of the
+country for Runjeet Singh; after which he wrote to the Rajah of
+Kushtwar, falsely telling him that the Maharajah was going to send a
+force against him also. The Rajah and his people prepared for
+resistance, and Gûlab Singh then forged a paper containing an
+invitation from the chief men in the army of Kushtwar to the Maharajah,
+encouraging him to come forward and invade the country.
+
+This paper Gûlab then forwarded to the Rajah himself, with a note, in
+which he told him that it was folly to talk of resistance when the
+chief men of his country were opposed to him. The Rajah, who had been
+in possession of Kushtwar for twenty-seven years, was completely
+deceived, and repaired, by invitation, with only a few followers to
+Gûlab’s camp. Here he was kept for three months upon an allowance of
+10l. a-day, which was afterwards reduced to 10s., and Gûlab Singh in
+the meantime took possession of Kushtwar without opposition.
+
+[32] The value which a Kashmirian sets upon his Kangrí may be known by
+the following distich:—
+
+           “Oh Kangrí! Oh Kangrí!
+            You are the gift of Houris and Fairies;
+            When I take you under my arm
+            You drive away fear from my heart.”
+
+                                                —Vigne.
+
+[33] “Won’t the old bearers get something, your honour?”
+
+[34] According to M. Voysey, in his Asiatic Researches, “A single
+flower in the screen contains a hundred stones, each cut to the exact
+shape necessary, and highly polished; and, although everything is
+finished like an ornament for a drawing-room chimney-piece, the general
+effect produced is rather solemn and impressive than gaudy.
+
+“In the minute beauties of execution, the flowers are by no means equal
+to those on tables and other small works in Pietra dura at Florence. It
+is the taste displayed in outline and application of this ornament,
+combined with the lightness and simplicity of the building, which gives
+it an advantage so prodigious over the gloomy portals of the chapel of
+the Medici. The graceful flow, the harmonious colours, combined with
+the mild lustre of the marble on which the ornamentation is displayed,
+form the peculiar charm of the building, and distinguish it from any
+other in the world. The materials are Lapis Lazuli, Jasper, Heliotrope
+or blood stone, Chalcedony, and other agates, Cornelian, Jade, &c.”
+
+[35] A coin of the value of thirty-two shillings.
+
+[36] Hardy’s “Eastern Monachisms.”
+
+[37] Csoma de Kőrös.
+
+[38] Vide page 202.
+
+[39] Muir’s “Life of Mahomet.”
+
+[40] M. Dietrici.
+
+[41] Padmà pâni, fils céleste du Bouddha divin du monde actuel, est,
+dans cette qualité, entré en fonction depuis la mort du Bouddha
+terrestre Sakya mouni, comme son remplaçant, chargé d’être après lui le
+protecteur constant, le gardien et le propagateur de la foi bouddhique
+renouvelée par Sakya. C’est pour cette raison qu’il ne se borne pas à
+une apparition unique comme les Bouddhas, mais qu’il se soumet presque
+sans interruption à une série de naissances qui dureront jusqu’à
+l’avénement de Maitreya, le futur Bouddha.
+
+On croit aussi qu’il est incarné dans la personne du “Dalai Lama,” et
+qu’il paraîtra en qualité de Bouddha, le millième de la période
+actuelle du monde.
+
+Le Tibet est sa terra de prédilection; il est le père de ses habitants,
+et la formule célèbre: Om mani padmè hom, est un de ses
+bienfaits.—Rélation des Royaumes Bouddhiques, par Chy Fa Hian, traduit
+par M. Remusat.
+
+[42] Le mot Khoubilkhan, en Mongol, désigne l’incarnation d’une âme
+supérieure.
+
+[43] Khoutoukhtou, en Mongol, signifie “Un Saint Maître.”
+
+[44] Le plus petit “Kalpa” est de seize millions huit cent mille ans,
+et le grand “Kalpa” est d’un milliard trois cents quarante-quatre
+millions d’années.
+
+[45] Je ne l’ai encore trouvée cette phrase dans aucun ouvrage chinois
+ou japonais, et notre savant collègue M. Bournouf, m’a dit aussi qu’il
+ne l’a jamais rencontrée dans les livres palis, birmans et siamois.
+
+[46] اُم مانِپانِي‎
+
+[47] Amongst these were sheets of gilt leather, stamped with the black
+eagle of the Russian armorial; talents of gold and silver, bags of
+genuine musk, narrow cloths of woollen the manufacture of Thibet, and
+silks of China.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DIARY OF A PEDESTRIAN IN CASHMERE
+AND THIBET ***
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+<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Diary of a pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet, by William Henry Knight</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+
+<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Diary of a pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet</p>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: William Henry Knight</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July 7, 2021 [eBook #3639]</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Jeroen Hellingman</div>
+
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DIARY OF A PEDESTRIAN IN CASHMERE AND THIBET ***</div>
+<div class="front">
+<div class="div1 cover"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody">
+<p class="first"></p>
+<div class="figure cover-imagewidth"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Newly Designed Front Cover." width="480" height="720" /></div><p>
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 frontispiece"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody">
+<p class="first"></p>
+<div class="figure frontispiecewidth" id="frontispiece"><img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="Ladak." width="443" height="720" /><div class="figAnnotation frontispiecewidth"><span class="figBottomLeft">W.H.K. <abbr title="Delineavit">Delt.</abbr></span><span class="figTop">&nbsp;</span><span class="figBottomRight">Hanhart, <abbr title="Lithography">Lith.</abbr></span></div>
+<p class="figureHead">Ladak.</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="titlepage" class="div1 page"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody">
+<p class="first"></p>
+<div class="figure titlepage-imagewidth"><img src="images/titlepage.png" alt="Original titlepage." width="411" height="720" /></div><p>
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="titlePage">
+<div class="docTitle">
+<div class="mainTitle">Diary of a Pedestrian<br/>
+in<br/>
+Cashmere and Thibet.</div>
+<div class="mainTitle"></div>
+</div>
+<div class="byline">By
+<span class="docAuthor">Captain Knight</span>, Forty-eighth Regiment.</div>
+<div class="docImprint">London:<br/>
+Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street.<br/>
+Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.<br/>
+<span class="docDate">1863.</span></div>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pageNum" id="xd30e156">[<a href="#xd30e156">v</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="div1 dedication"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody">
+<p class="first xd30e158">To<br/>
+those for whose perusal<br/>
+the following pages were originally written<br/>
+they are affectionately<br/>
+dedicated.
+<span class="pageNum" id="xd30e168">[<a href="#xd30e168">vii</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 preface"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main">Preface.</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">With the fullest sense of the responsibility incurred by the addition of another volume
+to the countless numbers already existing, and daily appearing in the world, the following
+Diary has been committed to the press, trusting that, as it was not written <i>with intent</i> to publication, the unpremeditated nature of the offence may be its extenuation,
+and that as a faithful picture of travel in regions where excursion trains are still
+unknown, and Travellers’ Guides unpublished, the book may not be found altogether
+devoid of interest or amusement. Its object is simply to bring before the reader’s
+imagination those scenes and incidents of travel which have already been a source
+of enjoyment to the writer, <span class="pageNum" id="xd30e175">[<a href="#xd30e175">viii</a>]</span>and to impart, perhaps, by their description, some portion of the gratification which
+has been derived from their reality. With this view, the original Diary has undergone
+as little alteration of form or matter as possible, and is laid before the reader
+as it was sketched and written during the leisure moments of a wandering life, hoping
+that faithfulness of detail may atone in it for faults and failings in a literary
+and artistic point of view.
+</p>
+<p>Although the journey it describes was written without the advantages of a previous
+acquaintance with the writings of those who had already gone over the same ground,
+subsequent research has added much to the interest of the narrative, and information
+thus obtained has been added either in the form of Notes or Appendix. Under the latter
+head, acknowledgment is principally due to an able and interesting essay on the architecture
+of Cashmere, by <abbr title="Captain">Capt.</abbr> Cunningham, and also to a paper by M. Klaproth, both of whom appear to have treated
+more fully than any other writers the subjects to which they refer.
+<span class="pageNum" id="xd30e182">[<a href="#xd30e182">ix</a>]</span></p>
+<p>As differences will be found to occur in the names of places, &amp;c. between the parts
+thus added and the remainder of the book, it may be well to explain that in the former
+only are they spelt according to the usually received method of rendering words of
+Eastern origin in the Roman character. By this system the letters <i>ā, e, ī, o,</i> and <i>ū,</i> are given the sounds of the corresponding Italian vowels; <i>i</i> and <i>u</i> are pronounced as in “hit” and “put;” and the letter <i>a</i> is made to represent the short <i>u</i> in the word “cut.” In this way it is that Cashmere, correctly pronounced Cushmere,
+comes to be written Kashmīr, and Mutun, pronounced as the English word “mutton,”<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e198src" href="#xd30e198">1</a> is written Matan, both of which, to the initiated, represent the true sound of the
+words. Those who have adopted the system, however, have not always employed it throughout,
+nor given with it the key by which it alone becomes intelligible; and the result has
+been that in many ways, but principally from the un-English use made of the letter
+<i>a,</i> it has tended quite as much to mislead and confuse, as to direct.
+<span class="pageNum" id="xd30e207">[<a href="#xd30e207">x</a>]</span></p>
+<p>In the narrative, therefore, wherever custom has not already established a particular
+form of spelling, the explanation of the sound has been attempted in the manner which
+seemed least liable to misconception, and, except as regards the letters <i>a</i> and <i>u</i> no particular system has been followed. These have been invariably given the sounds
+they possess in the words “path” and “cut” respectively, a circumflex being placed
+over the latter to denote the short <i>u</i> in the word “put.”
+</p>
+<p>Such names, therefore, as Cushmere, Tibbut, Muhummud, Hijra, &amp;c. have been left as
+custom has ruled them, and will appear in their more well-known costume of Cashmere,
+Thibet, Mahomet, and Hegira.
+</p>
+<p>The concluding sketch was originally intended to accompany a series of brightly-coloured
+Cashmerian designs illustrative of the life of “Krishna;” and the reproduction of
+these, in their integrity, not having been found feasible, the sketch itself may appear
+<i>de trop.</i>
+<span class="pageNum" id="xd30e221">[<a href="#xd30e221">xi</a>]</span></p>
+<p>It has, however, been retained on the possibility of the translations which occur
+in it being of interest to those who may not be acquainted with the style of Eastern
+religious literature; while the outline it presents of some of the religions of the
+East, bare and simple as it is, may be acceptable to such as are not inclined to search
+out and study for themselves the necessarily voluminous and complicated details.
+</p>
+<p class="dateline"><span class="sc">London.</span>
+<br/><i>June,</i> 1863.
+<span class="pageNum" id="xd30e230">[<a href="#xd30e230">xiii</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep" />
+<div class="footnote-body">
+<div id="xd30e198">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e198src">1</a></span> <i>Vide</i> <a href="#appa">Appendix A</a>.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e198src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="toc" class="div1 contents"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main">Contents.</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first tocChapter">Preface. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">vii</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#intro" id="xd30e239">Introduction</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">3</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter">Part I.
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#pt1">The Pleasures of the Plains</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">9</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter">Part II.
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#pt2">Cashmere</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">39</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter">Part III.
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#pt3">A Halt in the Valley</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">78</span>
+<span class="pageNum" id="xd30e272">[<a href="#xd30e272">xiv</a>]</span></p>
+<p class="tocChapter">Part IV.
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#pt4">Little Thibet</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">129</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter">Part V.
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#pt5">Ladak and the Monastery of Hemis</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">181</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter">Part VI.
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#pt6">A Retreat to the Valley</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">205</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter">Part VII.
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#pt7">Last Days of Travel</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">261</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#religions">The Religions of Cashmere and Thibet</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">305</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter">Appendix A.
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#appa" id="xd30e320">The Temples of Cashmere</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">347</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter">Appendix B.
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#appb" id="xd30e329">The Mystic Sentence of Thibet</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">362</span>
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter">Appendix C.
+</p>
+<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#appc" id="xd30e339">A Sketch of the History of Cashmere</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="tocPageNum">376</span>
+<span class="pageNum" id="xd30e345">[<a href="#xd30e345">xv</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 contents"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main">Illustrations.</h2>
+<table class="tocList">
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">1.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#frontispiece">Ladak</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><i>frontispiece.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">2.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p084">View in Sirinugger</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><i>To face p.</i> 84</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">3.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p090">Solomon’s Throne</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">90</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">4.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p092">Hurree Purbut</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">92</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">5.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p108">Martund</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">108</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">6.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p122">Pandreton</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">122</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">7.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p164-2">Lamieroo</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">164</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">8.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p176-2">Road to Egnemo</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">176</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">9.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p182">Rajah’s Palace, Ladak</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">182</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">10.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p192">Monastery of Hemis</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">192</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">11.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p268">Seventh Bridge, Sirinugger</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">268</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">12.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p306">Hindoo Temple in the Himalayas</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">306</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">13.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p311">Gunesh</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">311</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">14.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p312">Birth of Krishna</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">312</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">15.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p318">Temple Decoration, Himalayas</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">318</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">16.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p336">Ancient Jain Temple</a> </td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">336</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<table class="tocList xd30e510">
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">17.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#titlepage">Chubootra, or Resting-place in the Himalayas</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum"><i>Vignette Title.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">18.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p003">The Head of Affairs</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">3</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">19.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p027">An Unpropitious Moment</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">27</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">20.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p029">Kismut</a>
+<span class="pageNum" id="xd30e551">[<a href="#xd30e551">xvi</a>]</span></td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">29</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">21.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p030">Crossing the Sutlej</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">30</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">22.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p074">A Halting-place in Cashmere</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">74</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">23.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p102">Latticed Window, Sirinugger</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">102</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">24.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p104">Sacred Tank, Islamabad</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">104</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">25.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p111">Painting <i>versus</i> Poetry</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">111</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">26.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p112">Love-lighted Eyes</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">112</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">27.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p115">Vernagh</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">115</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">28.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p121">Cashmerian Temple Sculpture</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">121</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">29.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p126">Patrun</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">126</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">30.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p152">Roadside Monument, Thibet</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">152</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">31.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p155">Road to Moulwee</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">155</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">32.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p156">Rock Sculpture</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">156</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">33.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p159">Thibetian Monument</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">159</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">34.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p164">Natives and Lama</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">164</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">35.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p167">Thibetian Religious Literature</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">167</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">36.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p170-1">Inscribed Stones</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">170</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">37.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p176">Inscribed <span class="corr" id="xd30e721" title="Source: Stones">Stone</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">176</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">38.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p190">Monument at Hemis</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">190</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">39.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p199">Painted Stone</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">199</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">40.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p202">Buddha</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">202</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">41.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p241">Snow Bridge</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">241</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">42.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p266">Kangree</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">266</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">43.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p305">Ancient Hindoo Temple</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">305</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tocDivNum">44.</td>
+<td class="tocDivTitle" colspan="7"> <a href="#p322">Fukeer of Solomon’s Throne</a> </td>
+<td class="tocPageNum">322</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 errata"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main">Erratum.</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first xd30e799">Page 116, line 5, <i>for</i> <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1612, <i>read</i> <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1619.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb2">[<a href="#pb2">2</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div1 epigraph"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<div class="lgouter">
+<p class="line">“Who has not heard of the Vale of Cashmere,
+</p>
+<p class="line xd30e815">With its roses the brightest that earth ever gave,
+</p>
+<p class="line">Its temples, and grottoes, and fountains as clear
+</p>
+<p class="line xd30e815">As the love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave?”</p>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pageNum" id="pb3">[<a href="#pb3">3</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="intro" class="div1 introduction"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd30e239">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="main">Introduction.</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">More than a year and a half had been spent in the hottest parts of the plains of India,
+and another dreaded hot season was rapidly making its approach, when, together with
+a brother officer, I applied for and obtained six months’ leave of <span class="pageNum" id="pb4">[<a href="#pb4">4</a>]</span>absence for the purpose of travelling in Cashmere and the Himalayas, otherwise called
+by Anglo-Indians “The Hills.”
+</p>
+<div class="figure p003width" id="p003"><img src="images/p003.jpg" alt="The Head of Affairs." width="508" height="489" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>We had been long enough in the country to have discovered that the gorgeous East of
+our imagination, as shadowed forth in the delectable pages of the “Arabian Nights,”
+had little or no connexion with the East of our experience—the dry and dusty East
+called India, as it appeared, wasted and dilapidated, in its first convalescence from
+the fever into which it had been thrown by the Mutiny of 1857–58. We were not long,
+therefore, in making our arrangements for escaping from Allahabad, with the prospect
+before us of exchanging the discomforts of another hot season in the plains, for the
+pleasures of a sojourn in the far-famed valley of Cashmere, and a tramp through the
+mountains of the Himalayas—the mountains, whose very name breathes of comfort and
+consolation to the parched up dweller in the plains. The mountains of “the abode of
+snow!”
+</p>
+<p>Our expeditionary force consisted at starting of but one besides the brother officer
+above alluded to—the F. of the following pages—and myself. This was my Hindoo bearer,
+Mr. Rajoo, whose duty it was to make all the necessary arrangements for our transport
+and general welfare, and upon whose shoulders devolved the <span class="pageNum" id="pb5">[<a href="#pb5">5</a>]</span>entire management of our affairs. He acted to the expedition in the capacity of quartermaster-general,
+adjutant-general, commissary-general, and paymaster to the forces; and, as he will
+figure largely in the following pages, under the title of the “<abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr>,” and comes, moreover, under the head of “a naturally dark subject,” a few words
+devoted to his especial description and illumination may not be out of place.
+</p>
+<p>With the highest admiration for England, and a respect for the Englishman, which extended
+to the very lining of their pockets, Mr. Rajoo possessed, together with many of the
+faults of his race, a certain humour, and an amount of energy most unusual among the
+family of the mild Hindoo. He had, moreover, travelled much with various masters,
+in what are, in his own country, deemed “far lands;” and having been wounded before
+Delhi, he had become among the rest of his people an authority, and to the Englishman
+in India an invaluable medium for their coercion and general management.
+</p>
+<p>To us he proved a most efficient incumbent of the several offices we selected him
+to fill. His administration no doubt did display an occasional weakness; and his conduct
+as paymaster to the forces was decidedly open to animadversion; for, in this capacity,
+he seemed to be under the impression <span class="pageNum" id="pb6">[<a href="#pb6">6</a>]</span>that payments, like charity, began at home, and he also laboured under a constitutional
+and hereditary infirmity, which prevented him in small matters from discerning any
+difference between <i lang="la">meum</i> and <i lang="la">tuum.</i>
+</p>
+<p>Having been employed collectively, however, it would be unfair to judge of his performances
+in detail; and from his satisfactory management of the expedition, occasionally under
+such trying circumstances as a break-down in the land transport, or an utter failure
+in his tobacco supply, we had every reason to be satisfied with our choice. The latter
+misfortune was the only one which really interfered at any time with his efficiency,
+or upset his equanimity, and it unfortunately occurred always at the most inopportune
+seasons, and at a time when he was undergoing his greatest hardships.
+</p>
+<p>As long as the supply lasted, the mysterious gurglings of his “Hubble Bubble,” or
+cocoa-nut water-pipe, might be heard at almost any hour of the day or night. “Hubble
+bubble, toil and trouble,” was the natural order of his existence; and when in some
+peculiarly uncivilised region of our wanderings, the compound of dirt, sugar, and
+tobacco, in which his soul delighted, was not forthcoming, he and his pipe seemed
+at once to lose their vitality, and to become useless together. <span class="pageNum" id="pb7">[<a href="#pb7">7</a>]</span>The temporary separation which ensued, being in its way a <i lang="la">mensa et thoro,</i> was a source of trouble and inconvenience to all concerned, and we had, more than
+once, cause to regret not having given the tobacco question that forethought and consideration
+to which it would be well entitled by any one undertaking a similar expedition.
+</p>
+<p>Overlooking these weaknesses, Mr. Rajoo’s character was beyond reproach, and for the
+particular work he had to perform, his combination of efficiency, portability, and
+rascality, rendered him in every respect “the right man in the right place.”
+</p>
+<p>Such was our “head of affairs,” and such the small force he had at first to provide
+for. As we passed out of India, and got further from regions of comparative <span class="corr" id="xd30e861" title="Source: civilisation">civilization</span>, his cares increased: cellar, kitchen, larder, farm-yard, tents, &amp;c. had then to
+accompany our wandering steps, and the expedition gradually increased in size, until
+it attained its maximum of nearly forty. From this it again as gradually decreased,
+and as one by one our retainers disappeared, it dwindled in dimensions until it finally
+reached its original limited proportions, and then “we three met again,” once more
+upon the plains of India.
+</p>
+<p>All our necessary preparations having been completed, and a sacrifice of three precious
+weeks <span class="pageNum" id="pb8">[<a href="#pb8">8</a>]</span>having been duly offered to the inexorable genius who presides over public correspondence,
+we reduced our impedimenta to the smallest possible compass, and with about a hundred
+pounds to commence life with, all in two shilling pieces, that being the only available
+coin of the realm in this our second century of British administration, we took our
+departure by railway for Cawnpore. Here we found ourselves located and hospitably
+entertained in the house in which our unfortunate fellow-countrywomen were confined
+on their recapture from the river by the Nana Sahib, one of the few mementos of the
+mutiny still left standing at Cawnpore.
+</p>
+<p>Next day we laid our dâk for Simla, and about six o’clock in the evening, with the
+<abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr> on the roof, and ourselves and our possessions stowed away in the innumerable holes
+and corners of the rude wooden construction called a “Dâk garee,” or post coach, we
+took our departure. After a few mishaps with our steed, involving the necessity of
+getting out to shove behind, we entered upon the Grand Trunk Road, and with a refreshing
+sense of freedom and relief, soon left Cawnpore in all its native dust and dreariness
+behind us.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb9">[<a href="#pb9">9</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="body">
+<div id="pt1" class="div0 part">
+<h2 class="label">Part I.</h2>
+<h2 class="main">The Pleasures of the Plains.</h2>
+<p class="first"><i>May 21, 1860.</i>—Being fairly under weigh, our first attention was directed towards the machine which
+was to be, in a great measure, our home for many days to come. Not overburdened with
+springs, and not much to look at, though decidedly an extraordinary one to go, our
+conveyance was by no means uncomfortable; and, stretched upon a mattress extending
+its entire length, F. and I chatted over our plans and projects, and star-gazed, and
+soon fell asleep, in spite of the ruts on the road and the wild discordant bugling
+of our ragged coachman, who seemed to consider that, however inferior in other respects,
+in a matter of music we were not to be <span class="pageNum" id="pb10">[<a href="#pb10">10</a>]</span>outdone, not even by Her Majesty’s own royal mail. At first sight, the necessity of
+trying to clear such lonely roads as we were travelling was not altogether apparent;
+but a slight acquaintance with the general principles and laws of progression of the
+national Indian institution called a bullock-cart, or “beil-garee,” soon clears up
+the difficulty. Built entirely of wood, and held together by scraps of ropes and cord,
+a more hopeless-looking machine cannot exist; and drivers and bullocks alike share
+in the general woodenness and impassibility of the structure. The animals, too, having probably lost all the better feelings
+of their nature in such a service, are appealed to entirely through the medium of
+their tails, and the operation occasionally results in the whole creaking mass being
+safely deposited in some capacious rut, there to remain until “the Fates”—assuming,
+perhaps, the appearance of three additional bullocks—arrive to draw it out again.
+Occasionally, too, the institution comes to a halt for the night, comfortably drawn
+up in the centre of the line of traffic, with a delightful disregard for aught but
+the present, and an air of supreme contempt for the most eloquent music of all the
+ragged coachmen on the Grand Trunk Road.
+</p>
+<p>Every five miles we stopped to change <span class="pageNum" id="pb11">[<a href="#pb11">11</a>]</span>our horse, and miserable indeed was the raw-boned little animal that made his appearance
+on every occasion. Still the pace was kept up in spite of appearances, and at seven
+<span class="asc">A.M.</span> we reached “Ghoorsahagunge”—more generally known as <i>Gooseygunge</i>—sixty miles from Cawnpore, and 197 from Delhi.
+</p>
+<p>Here we slept in peace until eleven o’clock, and awoke from dreams of Cashmere to
+the unpleasant realities of a violent dust-storm. The usual “Khus-khus tatties,” or
+screens of fragrant grass, which are kept in a continual state of moisture at door
+and window, and convert the dust-charged scorching blast into a comparative coolness,
+were not forthcoming, and our halt was not a pleasant one by any means: still our
+faces were towards the mountains, and the pleasures of hope enabled us to take our
+misfortunes with entire philosophy. We started again about five <span class="asc">P.M.</span>, when the power of the sun was somewhat abated, and encountered the usual difficulties
+with refractory horses at every change. A start was in no case effected without much
+management and exertion. A half-naked black generally attaches himself to each wheel;
+the driver, from a post of vantage, belabours the miserable horse with all his might
+and main; the <abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr> takes a firm hold of the rails on the roof; and all <span class="pageNum" id="pb12">[<a href="#pb12">12</a>]</span>shouting, grunting, and using bad language together, away we go at full gallop, if
+we are in unusual luck, for about 300 yards. Then comes a dead stop: the same operation
+commences again, and so on, until the animal is sufficiently far from his last stable
+to be able to look forward with some confidence to the one ahead, and resigns himself
+to circumstances accordingly. One peculiarity in this peculiar country we found to
+be, that in putting our steed-to, the English custom is reversed. The cart is “put-to,” not the horse; and the latter
+being left standing anywhere on the road, the lumbering “garee” is dragged up to his
+tail, and fastened up with a combination of straps and ropes, marvellous to behold.
+</p>
+<p><i>May 23.</i>—To-day we arrived at “Etawah,” where we found a very comfortable little staging bungalow,
+but no supplies of either beer or butter procurable. On the road in the early morning
+there were herds of deer and antelope in sight, but time being precious we left them
+unmolested.
+</p>
+<p>As yet very little change makes its appearance in the character of the country. Level
+plains, with patches of trees, mango and palm, as far as the eye can reach, and everywhere
+dust, dust, dust! The palm-trees, however, with toddy parties scattered about among
+them, serve to make the scene look cheerful, and, for an eastern <span class="pageNum" id="pb13">[<a href="#pb13">13</a>]</span>one, comparatively lively. In the evening we again took the road, with a hot wind
+blowing strongly and steadily, and before long we were overtaken by a dust-storm,
+which completely enveloped us in its murky folds, and interfered with our happiness
+a good deal. Got through the night much as usual, with the addition of a midnight
+vocal entertainment, which some hundreds of wolves and jackals treated us to, while
+the “authorities” were looking to our welfare, by taking off and greasing our wheels.
+Of travellers we meet but few, generally bullock-train parties, with soldiers, &amp;c.,
+return dâks, and an occasional old Mussulman, or other native, taking advantage of
+the early morning for his journey, and wrapped and swaddled up as if afraid of being
+congealed by the coolness of the morning air.
+</p>
+<p>Every day’s journey leaves one more and more at a loss to discover the sources of
+the wealth of this enormous country. The soil, for miles and miles a dead flat, is
+now barren as a desert, and we meet hardly a sign of active traffic. During the night
+we certainly did encounter a long train of heavily-laden bullock-waggons; but the
+merchandize was gunpowder, and its destination was up, instead of down the road.
+</p>
+<p><i>May 24.</i>—Arrived at “Kurga,” where we <span class="pageNum" id="pb14">[<a href="#pb14">14</a>]</span>found neither bread nor butter forthcoming—nothing but—“plenty fowl, Sahib!” In the
+evening we again encountered a heavy dust-storm, the worst of the season; the whole
+night it continued to blow in our teeth; and between the fierce dryness of the wind
+and the searching particles of dust, which visited us without ceremony, we spent anything
+but an agreeable night. At three <span class="asc">A.M.</span> we reached the “Hingus Nuddee,” or river; and changing our solitary horse for two
+fat bullocks, we crossed its sandy bed, and over a bridge of boats—not so genteelly,
+perhaps, but much more securely, than we could have otherwise done. There were the
+remains here of a handsome suspension bridge; but the chains had been cut by the rebel
+Sepoys, and nothing but the pillars now remained.
+</p>
+<p><i>May 25.</i>—At four <span class="asc">A.M.</span> we crossed the bridge of boats over the Jumna, and found ourselves under the gloomy
+battlements of the Fort of Delhi.
+</p>
+<p>Entering by the Calcutta Gate, we drove through large suburbs, lighted up with rows
+of oil lamps, reminding one, in the dim light, a good deal of Cairo. Arriving at the
+dâk bungalow, we found it such a dirty looking deserted building, and the interior
+so much of a piece with the exterior, that we mounted again, <span class="pageNum" id="pb15">[<a href="#pb15">15</a>]</span>and set off to try the Hotel, or “Pahunch Ghur,”—a name originally intended to convey
+the meaning “An arriving house,” but neatly and appropriately corrupted into the term
+“Punch Gur,” which speaks for itself, and troubles no one much about its derivation.
+We were rather disappointed with the general appearance of the city: dirt and grandeur
+were closely combined, and the combination gave the usual impression of shabby genteelness
+in general, not at first sight prepossessing. After driving through what might have
+been an Eastern Sebastopol, from the amount of ruin about, we reached a cut-throat-looking
+archway; and the coachman, here pointing to a dirty board, above his head, triumphantly
+announced the “Punch Gur!” Hot and thirsty, we got out, with visions of rest and cooling
+sherbets, too soon to be dispelled. Passing through long dirty halls, and up unsavoury
+steps, we at last reached a sort of court, with beds of sickly flowers, never known
+to bloom, and from thence issued to a suite of musty hot Moorish-looking rooms, with
+gold-inlaid dust-covered tables, and a heavily-draped four-post bedstead, the very
+sight of which, in such a climate, was almost enough to deprive one of sleep for ever.
+Our speech forsook us, and without waiting to remark whether the lady of the house
+was an <span class="pageNum" id="pb16">[<a href="#pb16">16</a>]</span>ogress, or possessed of a “rose-coloured body” and face like the full moon, we fairly
+turned tail, and drove in all haste to our despised dâk bungalow, where, meekly and
+with softened feelings towards that edifice, we were glad to deposit ourselves on
+a couple of charpoys, or “four-legs,” as the bedstead of India is called, and endeavour
+to sleep the best way we could. “Delhi,” we found, quite kept up its reputation of
+being the hottest place in India. All idea of sight-seeing was out of the question,
+and the whole of our energies we were obliged to expend in endeavouring to keep moderately
+cool.
+</p>
+<p>After enjoying the two first of blessings in a hot climate—viz. a plentiful supply
+of cold water and a change of raiment, we felt ourselves able to undergo the exertion
+of meeting the traditional grilled fowl at breakfast, and of inspecting the curiosities
+from the bazaars. At the first wish on the latter subject, we were invaded by a crowd
+of bundle-carrying, yellow-turbaned, rascally merchants, who, in half a minute, had
+the whole of their goods on the floor—rings, brooches, ivory ornaments, and inutilities
+of all sorts and kinds, all of them exorbitantly dear, and none of any real value.
+</p>
+<p>We left Delhi again at about six <span class="asc">P.M.</span>, after loitering about the city for a short time, among <span class="pageNum" id="pb17">[<a href="#pb17">17</a>]</span>the teeming bazaars, some parts of which were picturesque and “Eastern” enough. Outside
+the city walls, the country was ruined and dilapidated in the extreme; demolished
+houses and wasted gardens telling their tale of the loss of Delhi, and our struggle
+for its recapture.
+</p>
+<p><i>May 26.</i>—During the night, we got over seventy-three miles, and reached “Kurnaul” at seven
+<span class="asc">A.M.</span> The bungalow we found unusually comfortable, being a remnant of the old régime, and
+one of the few which escaped from the hands of the rebels during the mutiny.
+</p>
+<p>The country here begins to improve in appearance—more trees and cultivation on all
+sides; and the natives appear finer specimens than their more southern relations.
+The irrigation, too, seems to be carried on with more systematic appliances than further
+south—the water being raised by the Persian wheel, and bullock-power introduced in
+aid of manual labour.
+</p>
+<p><i>May 27.</i>—Arrived at Umballa at three <span class="asc">A.M.</span>, and found the staging bungalow full. The only available accommodation being a spare
+charpoy in the verandah, F. took a lease of it, while I revelled in the unaccustomed
+roominess of the entire carriage, and slept till six, when we got into our lodgings.
+Although so near the foot of the Himalayas, the weather was so oppressive <span class="pageNum" id="pb18">[<a href="#pb18">18</a>]</span>here that exploring was out of the question; and at six <span class="asc">P.M.</span>, changing our carriage for palankeens, or <span class="corr" id="xd30e964" title="Source: dolies">doolies</span>, we commenced a tedious and dusty journey to the village of “Kalka,” the veritable
+“foot of the hills,” where we were met by a string of deputies from the different
+“<i>dry-lodgings</i>” in the neighbourhood, soliciting custom. The first house we came to was guarded
+by an unmistakeable English hotel-keeper, of some eighteen stone; and so terrible
+was the appearance she presented, with her arms akimbo, rejoicing in her mountain
+air, that in our down-country and dilapidated condition, we felt quite unequal to
+the exertion of stepping into <i>her</i> little parlour; and passing her establishment—something in the small bathingplace-style
+of architecture—we went on to the next, very much of the same order, and called the
+“Brahminee Bull.” Here, to my dismay however, standing in the selfsame position, weighing
+the same number of stone, and equally confident in the purity of her air as her neighbour,
+stood another female “Briton,” with the come-into-my-parlour expression of countenance,
+regarding us as prey. Under the circumstances, exhausted nature gave in; though saved
+from Scylla, our destiny was Charybdis, and we accordingly surrendered ourselves to
+a wash, breakfast, and the <span class="pageNum" id="pb19">[<a href="#pb19">19</a>]</span>Brahminee Bull. During the day, we had a visit from a friend and ex-brother officer,
+whom we had promised to stay with, at “Kussowlie,” on our road up. Kalka was not <i>hot,</i> but <i>grilling,</i> so that a speedy ascent to the station was soon agreed upon. Not caring to risk a
+sun-stroke, I resigned myself to the traditional conveyance of the country, a “jhampan,”
+while the other two rode up; but here, for the second time, it was “out of the fryingpan
+into the fire.” Such an infernal machine as my new conveyance turned out never could
+have existed in the palmiest days of the Inquisition. It was a sort of child’s cradle,
+long enough for a creature of some five or six summers, made like a tray, and hung
+after the fashion of a miniature four-post bedstead, with goat’s-hair curtains. The
+structure is suspended, something in the fashion of a sedan-chair which has been stunted
+in its growth, between two poles; between the projections of these again, before and
+behind, connected by a stout strap, are two shorter bars, each supported, when in
+travelling order, on the shoulders of two bearers. When the machine is in motion,
+therefore, there are four men in line between the shafts.
+</p>
+<p>The pace is always rather fast, and down a declivity the torturers go at a run; the
+result is, that prominent parts of one’s body are continually <span class="pageNum" id="pb20">[<a href="#pb20">20</a>]</span>in collision with the seat or sides of the machine, coming down from various altitudes,
+according to the nature of the ground and the humour of the inquisitors. After getting
+over about six miles in this graceful and pleasing manner, we reached the first of
+the fir-trees, and as we rose still higher a delicious breeze came over the hills,
+as precious to the parched and travel-stained pilgrim from the plains as a drop of
+water to the thirstiest wanderer in the desert. Kussowlie appeared a picturesque little
+station, perched at the summit of one of the first of the hilly ranges, and here I
+found my two companions, burnt and red in the face as if they, too, had had their
+sufferings on the road, occupied in looking over the goods of a strolling Cashmere
+merchant; luckily for themselves, however, it was under the protecting superintendence
+of our hostess. Our friends were living on a miniature estate commanding a magnificent
+view of the mountain ranges on one side, and, on the other, the plains of the Punjab,
+the scorching country from which we had just made our escape lying stretched out before
+us like an enormous map in relief. Towards the mountains were the military stations
+of “Dugshai” and “Subathoo,” and the boys’ asylum of “Senore,” the latter rather marring
+the face of nature by the workhouse order <span class="pageNum" id="pb21">[<a href="#pb21">21</a>]</span>of its architecture. “Simla” we could just distinguish, nestled among the blue mountains
+in the far distance.
+</p>
+<p>Here we spent a couple of days very pleasantly with our hospitable entertainers, and
+satisfactorily pulled up all arrears of sleep—a luxury none can really appreciate
+who have not travelled for six days and nights in the different local conveniences
+I have mentioned.
+</p>
+<p>Before leaving we had an opportunity of seeing how England in the Himalayas makes
+its morning calls. Walking, which amounts almost to an impossibility in “the plains,”
+seems to be voted <i>infra dig.</i> in “the hills,” and Mrs. Kussowlie according made her appearance seated in state
+in a jhampan, and borne on the shoulders of four of her slaves.
+</p>
+<p>These were active, wiry-looking natives, dressed in long green coats, bound with broad,
+red, tight-fitting pantaloons, and with small turbans of red and green on their heads.
+Altogether, a more startling-looking apparition to the uninitiated than this Himalayan
+morning visitor could hardly be imagined, even in a tour through the remotest regions
+of the earth.
+</p>
+<p><i>May 29.</i>—About six o’clock in the evening we remounted our instruments of torture and took
+the road to Simla. For about seven miles <span class="pageNum" id="pb22">[<a href="#pb22">22</a>]</span>the path was down hill, and the bearers being fresh, they huddled us along at a pace
+calculated to outrage our feelings most considerably, and, at the same time, with
+no more consideration for our welfare than if we were so many sacks of coal. In spite
+of the sufferings of the principal performers, the procession was most amusing; and
+as we jolted, bumped, and bundled along, it was impossible to keep from laughing,
+although crying, perhaps, would, under the circumstances, have been more appropriate.
+My machine led the way, four of the inquisition being in the shafts, and four in waiting,
+running along at the side with pipes, bundles, sticks, &amp;c. Then came F. similarly
+attended, and finally the <abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr>, hubble bubble in hand, and attired in a gold embroidered cap, surrounded by a lilac
+turban: seated in a sort of tray, and reclining at his case in full enjoyment of his
+high position, he looked the priest of the procession, and managed to retain his dignity
+in spite of the rapid and unceremonious way in which he was being whirled along. As
+the moon went down we had the additional effect of torchlight to the scene, three
+bearers having the special duty of running along to show the pathway to the rest.
+This seemed a service of some danger, and our torch-bearers at times verged upon places
+where a stumble would <span class="pageNum" id="pb23">[<a href="#pb23">23</a>]</span>have apparently extinguished both themselves and their torches for ever. About half
+way we stopped for about an hour for the bearers to partake of a light entertainment
+of “ghee and chupatties”—otherwise, rancid butter and cakes of flour and water. This
+was their only rest and only meal, from the time they left Kussowlie at six <span class="asc">P.M.</span> until they reached Simla at eight <span class="asc">A.M.</span> The same set of bearers took us the entire distance, about thirty-five miles; and
+the four men who were not actually in the shafts used to rest themselves by running,
+ahead and up precipitous short cuts, so as to insure a few minutes’ pull at the pipe
+of consolation before their turn arrived again. To us, supposed to be the <i>otium cum dig.</i> part of the procession, the road seemed perfectly endless. No sooner were we up one
+ascent than we were down again on the other side; and when we thought Simla must be
+in sight round the next turn, it seemed suddenly to become more hid than ever. In
+one of these ups and downs of life my machine, during a heavy lurch, fairly gave way
+to its feelings, and with a loud crash the pole broke, and down we both came, much
+to my temporary satisfaction and relief. A supply of ropes and lashings, however,
+formed part of the inquisitors’ stores, and we were soon under weigh again to fulfil
+the remainder of our destiny.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb24">[<a href="#pb24">24</a>]</span></p>
+<p>The entrance to Simla led us through a fine forest of oaks, firs, cedars, and other
+large trees; and winding along through these we could, every now and then, discern,
+towering over the backs of endless ranges of blue and hazy mountains, ridge upon ridge
+of glittering snow, which cast its icy breath upon us even where we were, helping
+us to forget the horrors of the night, and giving us a renewal of our lease of existence.
+Simla itself soon opened on our view, a scattered and picturesque settlement of houses
+of the most varied patterns perched about over the mountain top, just as an eligible
+spot presented itself for building purposes. It is situated 8,000 feet above the level
+of the sea and 7,000 over the average level of “the plains,” Umballa, which is near
+the foot of the range, being 1,000 above the sea-level. From our halting-place we
+could discern the scene of our night’s journey, with Kussowlie looking like a mere
+speck in the distance, and we felt a proud sort of consciousness of having accomplished
+a desperate undertaking in very good style. Passive endurance was, under the circumstances
+quite as worthy of praise as the more active virtues displayed by those who were the
+cause of our sufferings. After the first good breakfast I had eaten for three months,
+we pulled up arrears of sleep till <span class="pageNum" id="pb25">[<a href="#pb25">25</a>]</span>four <span class="asc">P.M.</span> and found, on awaking, that our much expected letters had arrived from the post,
+and among them the necessary permission from the Punjab Government to travel in Cashmere,
+and instructions for our guidance while in the territory. From among the routes laid
+down in the latter we chose No. 1.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1016src" href="#xd30e1016">1</a> The direct line across the mountains from Simla would have entailed additional delay
+and permission, and as time was precious we decided upon descending again to the plains
+and making our way through Lahore, not, however, without a severe pang at leaving
+so soon the terrestrial paradise of which we had got a glimpse. After arranging our
+movements with the “authorities,” we sallied out to see fashionable Simla airing itself,
+which, as far as dress is concerned, it appeared to do very much in the fashionable
+watering-place style at home. The jhampans, palkies, dandies,<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1022src" href="#xd30e1022">2</a> &amp;c. which took up the entire road, however, loudly proclaimed India, Simla being
+much too dainty to touch the <span class="pageNum" id="pb26">[<a href="#pb26">26</a>]</span>ground with its pretty feet, and too lazy to use its own legs for purposes of out-door
+locomotion. The station seems a curious combination of many styles and places; the
+scenery and houses, Swiss; the people Anglo Indians, Affghans, Cashmeeries, &amp;c.; the
+conveyances, Inquisito-Spanish; and the bazaars, in their native dirt, pure Indian.
+</p>
+<p><i>May 31.</i>—After making our leave secure, we made up our minds for a plunge into the plains
+again and a forced march to Lahore, being rather expedited in the determination by
+hearing that several travellers had been recalled from leave in consequence of there
+being a scarcity of officers with their regiments.
+</p>
+<p>With a fine moonlight night in our favour we again took the road; and practice slightly
+assuaging our sufferings, we got on smoothly enough till within a few hours from Hureepore
+Bungalow, when my machine again broke with a crash, and the nature of the fracture
+being compound, I walked on and left the executioners to repair the instrument at
+their leisure.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 1.</i>—Reached Hureepore at four <span class="asc">A.M.</span>, and found the place in possession of a crowd of monkeys of all sorts and sizes,
+taking an early breakfast. Here, chicken and eggs being again written in our destiny,
+we halted for an hour or <span class="pageNum" id="pb27">[<a href="#pb27">27</a>]</span>two, and at eleven again took the road with our cast-iron bearers, and hurried along
+in the noonday sun, up hill and down dale, through Kussowlie, and on and on till we
+were once more fairly deposited at the feet of “Mrs. Charybdis.” A slight dinner here,
+and at 8.30 <span class="asc">P.M.</span> we were again in train, shuffling along through several feet of dust, which the bearers,
+and torch-carriers, and the rest of our numerous train, kicked up about us, in clouds
+nearly dense enough to cause suffocation.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p027width" id="p027"><img src="images/p027.jpg" alt="An Unpropitious Moment." width="488" height="289" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p><i>June 2.</i>—At 8.30 <span class="asc">A.M.</span> we arrived again at Umballa, and with nothing to comfort us in our dusty and worried
+condition but the reflection that our start from Simla was a magnificent triumph of
+stern determination over present enjoyment and unwonted luxury, we again resumed <span class="pageNum" id="pb28">[<a href="#pb28">28</a>]</span>our forced march. At six <span class="asc">P.M.</span> we took our departure, in a very magnificent coach, but in an “unpropitious moment,”
+for the horse was unusually averse to an advance of any sort, and when we did get
+clear of the station his opinions were borne out by a terrific storm of dust, with
+a thunder, lightning, and rain accompaniment, which effectually put a stop to all
+further progress. The horse for once had his wish, and was brought to a regular stand.
+The wind howled about us, and the dusty atmosphere assumed a dull red appearance,
+such as I had only once before seen at Cawnpore, and the like of which might possibly
+have prevailed during the last days of Pompeii. After getting through the worst of
+the storm, we pushed along, and had reached the twentieth mile-stone, when, catching
+a flavour of burning wood, I looked out and found the wheel at an angle of some 30
+degrees, and rubbing against the side preparatory to taking its leave altogether.
+Here was another effect of starting in an unpropitious moment. The interruption in
+the great forced march preyed heavily upon our minds, but, on the principle of doing
+as “Rome does,” we took a lesson from the religion of “Islam,” and concurring in the
+views expressed by our attendant blacks, viz. that “whatever is written in a man’s
+destiny <span class="pageNum" id="pb29">[<a href="#pb29">29</a>]</span>that will be accomplished,” we ejaculated “Kismut” with the rest, and resignedly adapted
+ourselves to the writings in our own particular page of fate. Having sent back to
+Umballa the news of our distress, a new conveyance in a few hours made its appearance;
+and hauling it alongside the wreck, we unshipped the stores, reloaded, and eventually
+reached “Thikanmajura” at eight <span class="asc">A.M.</span>
+</p>
+<p><i>June 3.</i>—Starting at about three o’clock <span class="asc">P.M.</span>, we found the unpropitious moment still hanging over us: first a violent dust-storm,
+and then a <span class="pageNum" id="pb30">[<a href="#pb30">30</a>]</span>refractory horse, which bolted completely off the road, and nearly upset us down a
+steep bank, proved to demonstration that our star was still obscured.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p029width" id="p029"><img src="images/p029.jpg" alt="Kismut." width="487" height="420" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>About midnight we reached the river “Sutlej,” and exchanged our horse for four fat
+and humpy bullocks, who managed, with very great labour and difficulty, to drag us
+through the heavy sands of the river-bed down to the edge of the water. Here we were
+shipped on board a flat-bottomed boat, with a high peaked bow; and, after an immensity
+of hauling and grunting, we were fairly launched into the stream, and poled across
+to the opposite shore. The water appeared quite shallow, and the coolies were most
+of the time in the water; but its width, including the sands forming its bed, could
+not have been less <span class="pageNum" id="pb31">[<a href="#pb31">31</a>]</span>than two miles and a half. It was altogether a wild and dreary-looking scene, as we
+paddled along—the wild ducks and jackals, &amp;c. keeping up a concert on their own account,
+and the patient old bullocks ruminating quietly on their prospects at our feet.
+</p>
+<p>On arriving at what appeared to be the opposite bank, we were taken out, and again
+pulled and hauled through the deep sand, only to be reshipped again on what seemed
+a respectable river in its own right; and here, getting out of patience with a stream
+that had no opposite bank, I fell asleep, and left the bullocks to their sorrows and
+their destiny.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 4.</i>—Arrived at Jullundur, where we had to share the bungalow with another traveller and
+a rising family, who kept us alive by howling vigorously all day. The road from this
+being “Kucha,” literally <i>uncooked,</i> but here meant to express “unmetalled,” we had yet another form of conveyance to
+make acquaintance with. It was a palkee, rudely strapped upon the body of a worn-out
+“Dâk garee;” and although a more unpromising-looking locomotive perhaps never was
+placed upon wheels, the actual reality proved even worse than the appearance foreboded.
+</p>
+<p>Anybody who has happened to have been run <span class="pageNum" id="pb32">[<a href="#pb32">32</a>]</span>away with in a dust-cart through Fenchurch Street, or some other London pavement,
+the gas pipes being up at the time, might form some idea of our sensations as we pounded
+along, at full gallop, over some thirty miles of uneven, <i>uncooked</i> road; but to anybody who has not had this advantage, description would be impossible.
+About half way, it appeared that it was written in my miserable destiny that the off
+fore-wheel of my shay was to come off, and off it came accordingly; so that once more
+I became an involuntary disciple of Islam, and went to sleep among the ruins, with
+rather a feeling of gratitude for the respite than otherwise. On awaking, I found
+myself again under way; and effecting a junction with my companion, we had a light
+supper off half a water-melon; and, after crossing the River Beas by a bridge of boats,
+and being lugged through another waste of sand by bullocks, we once again reached
+a “cooked” road, and arrived at “Umritsur” at six <span class="asc">A.M.</span>
+</p>
+<p><i>June 5.</i>—Found the heat so great here that we were unable to stir out.
+</p>
+<p>As a consolation, we received a visit from four “Sikh Padres,” who rushed in and squatted
+themselves down without ceremony, previously placing a small ball of candied sugar
+on the <span class="pageNum" id="pb33">[<a href="#pb33">33</a>]</span>table as a votive and suggestive offering. The spokesman, a lively little rascal,
+with a black beard tied up under his red turban, immediately opened fire, by hurling
+at us all the names of all the officers he had ever met or read of. The volley was
+in this style: First, the number of the regiment, then Brown Sahib, Jones Sahib, Robinson
+Sahib, Smith Sahib, Tomkins Sahib, Green Sahib, and so on, regiment after regiment
+and name after name, his brother Padres occasionally chiming in in corroboration of
+their friend’s veracity and in admiration of his vast stock of military information.
+After much trouble, we got rid of the pack, at the price of one rupee, which was cheap
+for the amount of relief afforded by their departure.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 6.</i>—Reached Lahore at ten <span class="asc">P.M.</span> and had a night in bed, for the third time only since leaving Cawnpore. The <abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr> being at once set to work to make the necessary arrangements for our final start
+for Cashmere, we paid a hurried visit to the Tomb of Runjeet <span class="corr" id="xd30e1108" title="Source: Sing">Singh</span> and the Fort and City of Lahore. These were worth seeing, but they abounded in sights
+and perfumes, which rendered the operation rather a trying one, considering the very
+high temperature of the weather.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 7.</i>—Drove out in a dilapidated buggy, <span class="pageNum" id="pb34">[<a href="#pb34">34</a>]</span>and with an incorrigible horse, to Mean Meer, the cantonments of Lahore. The place
+looked burnt up and glaring like its fellows, and a fierce hot wind swept over it,
+which made us glad enough to turn our backs on it and hurry home again as fast as
+our obstinate animal would take us. The <abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr>, we found, had collected our staff of servants together, and was otherwise pushing
+on our preparations as fast as the dignity and importance of the undertaking would
+admit.
+</p>
+<p>The staff consisted of khidmutgar, bawurchie, bhistie, dhobie, and mihtar; or, in
+plain English, butler, cook, water-carrier, washerman, and sweeper.
+</p>
+<p>Of these, the washing department only brought with it its insignia and badge of office.
+This was an enormous smoothing-iron, highly ornamented with brass, decorated with
+Gothic apertures, and made to contain an amount of charcoal that would have kept an
+entire family warm in the coldest depths of winter. Being of great weight, we rather
+objected to such an addition to our stores—the more so as our linen was not likely
+to require much <i>getting-up.</i> The <i>dhobie,</i> however, declared himself unable to get on without it, and it accordingly had to
+be engaged with its master.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb35">[<a href="#pb35">35</a>]</span></p>
+<p><i>June 8.</i>—To-day Rajoo is still hard at work laying in stores from the bazaars and arranging
+means of transport for them; the weather hot beyond measure; and as neither our food
+nor quarters are very good, we begin to forget our lessons of resignation, more especially
+as the mosquitoes begin to form a very aggravating item in our destiny.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 9.</i>—About four <span class="asc">P.M.</span> the <abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr> came in triumphantly with about sixteen tall baskets covered with leather, which
+he called “khiltas;” and having ranged them about the room like the oil-jars of “Ali
+Baba,” he proceeded to cram them with potatoes, tea, clothes, brandy, and the whole
+stock of our earthly goods, in a marvellous and miscellaneous manner, very trying
+to contemplate, and suggestive of their entire separation from us and our heirs for
+ever.
+</p>
+<p>Coolies not being procurable in sufficient numbers to carry away all our stores together,
+F. and I agreed to start in the morning, leaving the head of affairs with the rearguard
+to follow at his leisure. Got away at last in two “palkees,” with four “banghy wallahs,”
+or baggage-bearers, carrying our immediate possessions, guns, &amp;c. Spent the night
+wretchedly enough, the roads being of the worst, and covered nearly a foot deep everywhere
+with fine dust, which our <span class="pageNum" id="pb36">[<a href="#pb36">36</a>]</span>bearers very soon stirred up into an impenetrable cloud, enveloping us in its folds
+to the verge of suffocation.
+</p>
+<p>The sensation is strange enough, travelling in this way along a lonely road at dead
+of night, closely shut up in an oblong box, and surrounded by some twenty or more
+dusky savages, who could quietly tap one on the head at any time, and appropriate
+the bag of rupees—inseparable from Indian travelling—without the slightest difficulty.
+That they do not do so is probably from the knowledge they possess that with the bag
+of rupees there is generally to be found a revolver, and that an English traveller
+is of so generous a disposition that he seldom parts from his money without giving
+a little lead in with the silver.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 10.</i>—After a dusty jolt of forty miles, we reached “Gugerwalla” at eight <span class="asc">A.M.</span>, and felt the change from Lahore most refreshing. The village seemed a quiet little
+settlement, very little visited by Englishmen, and the inhabitants, probably on that
+account, appeared of a different stamp from those we had hitherto met. The women,
+in particular, were more gaily dressed, and not so frightened at a white face as more
+south. The rearguard not having come up at six <span class="asc">P.M.</span> we started off without it. Crossed the Chenab <span class="pageNum" id="pb37">[<a href="#pb37">37</a>]</span>during the night. The fords, by torchlight, were most picturesque, and rather exciting,
+in consequence of the water at times taking it into its head to see what was inside
+the “palkee.” The Chenab makes the fourth out of the “five waters” from which the
+“Punjab” takes its name. The Jhelum only remains—the ancient Hydaspes of Alexandrian
+notoriety.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 11.</i>—Reached “Goojerat” at five <span class="asc">A.M.</span> and enjoyed a few hours of quiet sleep in a very comfortable bungalow. The “khiltas”
+not making their appearance, we halt here for the night. In the evening we explored
+the city—a straggling rabbit-barrow settlement, inclosed by a mud wall, and boasting
+the narrowest streets I had ever seen. In an open space we came upon a marvellously-ornamented
+“mundir,” or Hindoo temple, painted in the most florid style, with effigies of dark
+gentlemen in coloured pants riding on peacocks, antelopes, and other beasts of burden
+common in the country. It seemed the centre of attraction to a numerous concourse
+of strangers from the north; among others, a bevy of young ladies with loose trousers
+and fair complexions, evidently “Cashmeeries,” who seemed to regard the “heathen temple”
+as one of the wonders of the world. In the middle of the night the rearguard came
+in with the supplies, <span class="pageNum" id="pb38">[<a href="#pb38">38</a>]</span>and we at once turned it into an advanced-guard, and packed it off to make preparations
+for our arrival at “Bimber.”
+</p>
+<p><i>June 12.</i>—Spent a very hot day at Goojerat, and amused ourselves by inspecting the gold-inlaid
+work for which the place is famous. At 5.30 <span class="asc">P.M.</span> we started for our last night’s journey in British territory; and thus terminated,
+for the present, our experiences of all the hot and dusty “pleasure of the Plains.”
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb39">[<a href="#pb39">39</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep" />
+<div id="xd30e1016">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1016src">1</a></span> ROADS—I. There are four authorized routes for European visitors to Cashmere.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont"><i>First.</i> The principal road from the plains by Bimbhur and Rajâoree. This road over the “Peer
+Punjal” range is not open until May, and is closed by snow at the beginning of November:
+it is the old imperial route, and the stages are marked by the remains of serais.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1016src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e1022">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1022src">2</a></span> A hill conveyance something similar to a hammock, suspended from a pole, with straps
+for the feet and back, and carried by two bearers.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1022src" title="Return to note 2 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="pt2" class="div0 part">
+<h2 class="label">Part II.</h2>
+<h2 class="main">Cashmere.</h2>
+<p class="first"><i>June 13.</i>—About two <span class="asc">A.M.</span> we passed out of India into the territory of His Highness the Maharajah of Cashmere,
+and halted at Bimber. The accommodation here turned out to be most indifferent, although
+in our route the edifice for travellers was called a “Baraduree,” which sounded grandly.
+It means a summer-house with twelve doors; but beyond the facilities it afforded of
+rapid egress, we found it to possess but few advantages.
+</p>
+<p>Putting a couple of charpoys outside, we managed a few hours’ sleep <i>al fresco,</i> in spite of the flies and mosquitoes innumerable, who lost no time in taking possession
+of their new property. <span class="pageNum" id="pb40">[<a href="#pb40">40</a>]</span>On being able to discern the face of the country, we found ourselves at the foot of
+a range of hills of no great height, but still veritable hills; and although the sun
+was nearly as hot as in the plains, we felt that we were emancipated from India, and
+that all our real travelling troubles were over. In the evening we inspected the Maharajah’s
+troops, consisting of eight curiously-dressed and mysteriously-accoutred sepoys under
+a serjeant. These same troops had rather astonished us in the morning by filing up
+in stage style in front of our two charpoys just as we awoke, and delivering a “Present
+arms” with great unction as we sat up in a half-sleepy and dishevelled condition,
+rubbing our eyes, and not exactly in the style of costume in which such a salute is
+usually received. We now found the “army” in the domestic employment of cooking their
+victuals, so that we were unable to have much of a review. However, we looked at their
+arms and accoutrements; ammunition they had none; and saw them perform the “manual
+and platoon.” Their arms had been matchlocks, but had been converted, these stirring
+times, into flintlocks! In addition to these, which were about as long as a respectable
+spear, they had each a sword and shield, together with a belt and powder-horn, all
+clumsy in the extreme. <span class="pageNum" id="pb41">[<a href="#pb41">41</a>]</span>In loading, we found an improvement on the English fashion, for, after putting the
+imaginary charge in with the hand, they <i>blew</i> playfully down the muzzle to obviate the difficulty of the powder sticking to the
+sides. After presenting the troops with “bukhshish,” we strolled through the village
+and met the “thanadar,” or head man, coming out to meet us, arrayed in glorious apparel
+and very tight inexpressibles, and mounted on a caparisoned steed. Dismounting, he
+advanced towards us salaaming, and holding out a piece of money in the palm of his
+hand; and not exactly knowing the etiquette of the proceeding, we touched it and left
+it where we found it, which appeared to be a relief to his mind, for he immediately
+put it in his pocket again.
+</p>
+<p>His chief conversation was on the subject of the Maharajah and the delights of Cashmere,
+and anxiety as to our having got all supplies, &amp;c. which we required, as he had been
+appointed expressly for the purpose of looking after the comfort of the English visitors.
+What with our friend and his train, and the detachment of “<i>the army</i>” which had accompanied us, our retinue began to assume the appearance of a procession;
+and it was with great difficulty that we induced them all to leave us, which they
+did at last after <span class="pageNum" id="pb42">[<a href="#pb42">42</a>]</span>we had expressed our full satisfaction at the courtesy displayed by the Maharajah’s
+very intelligent selection of a “thanadar.”
+</p>
+<p><i>June 14.</i>—Broke up our camp about three <span class="asc">A.M.</span> and started our possessions at four o’clock, after some difficulty in prevailing
+upon the coolies to walk off with their loads. On mustering our forces, we found that
+they numbered thirty-seven, including ourselves. Of these twenty-four were coolies,
+carrying our possessions—beer, brandy, potatoes, &amp;c.; our servants were six more;
+then there were four ponies, entailing a native each to look after them; and, last
+of all, one of the redoubtable “army” as a guard, who paraded in the light marching
+order of a sword, shield, bag of melons, and an umbrella. F. and I travelled on “yaboos,”
+or native ponies—unlikely to look at, but wonderful to go. Mine was more like a hatchet
+than anything else, and yet the places he went over and the rate he travelled up smooth
+faces of rock was marvellous to behold.
+</p>
+<p>About eight o’clock we found ourselves once more among the pine-trees; and, although
+the sun was very powerful, we had enough of the freshness of the mountain air to take
+away the remembrance of the dusty plains from our minds. No rain having fallen as
+yet, the springs and rivers were all nearly dry; but we saw several <span class="pageNum" id="pb43">[<a href="#pb43">43</a>]</span>rocky beds, which gave good promise of fly-fishing, should they receive a further
+supply of water.
+</p>
+<p>About nine <span class="asc">A.M.</span> we reached our halting-place, “Serai Saidabad,” a ruined old place, with a mud tenement
+overlooking, at some elevation, the banks of a river.
+</p>
+<p>Here we were again received with a salute, by a detachment of warriors drawn up in
+full dress—viz. red and yellow turbans, and blue trousers with a red stripe.
+</p>
+<p>After undergoing a refreshing bath of a skin of water, taken in our drawing-room,
+we got our artist to work at breakfast, and shortly after found, with considerable
+satisfaction, that we were in for the first of the rains. This welcome fact first
+proclaimed itself by the reverberation of distant thunder from among the mountains
+to the north; then an ominous black cloud gradually spread itself over us, and, with
+a storm of dust, down came the rain in torrents, making the air, in a few minutes,
+cool and delicious as possible, and entirely altering the sultry temperature which
+had previously prevailed. The thirsty ground soaked up the moisture as if it had never
+tasted rain, and the trees came out as if retouched by Nature’s brush; while as, for
+F. and myself, we turned the unwonted coolness to the <span class="pageNum" id="pb44">[<a href="#pb44">44</a>]</span>best account we could, by setting ourselves to work to pull up all arrears of sleep
+forthwith.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 15.</i>—Started at four <span class="asc">A.M.</span>, with our numerous train, and found the road all the pleasanter for the rain of the
+previous evening, and all things looking green and fresh after the storm. Our path
+led us up a rocky valley, with its accompanying dashing stream, in the bed of which
+we could see traces of what the brawler had been in his wilder days, in huge and polished
+boulders and water-worn rocks, which had been hurled about in all directions. We afterwards
+went straight up a precipitous mountain, wooded with pine, which was no light work
+for the coolies, heavily laden as they were. No sooner, however, were we on the top
+of this than down we went on the other side; and how the ponies managed their ups-and-downs
+of life was best known to themselves; certainly, nothing but a cat or a Cashmere pony
+could have got over the ground. About nine <span class="asc">A.M.</span> we reached “Nowshera,” under another salute, where we found an indifferent-looking
+“Baraduree,” completely suffocated among the trees of a garden called the “Bauli Bagh,”
+or “Reservoir Garden,” from a deep stone well in the centre of it. Here we got on
+indifferently well, the weather being close after the rain, and the place thickly
+inhabited by crowds of sparrows, <span class="pageNum" id="pb45">[<a href="#pb45">45</a>]</span>all with large families, who made an incessant uproar all day long; besides an army
+of occupation of small game, which interfered sadly with our sleeping arrangements
+at night. In the evening we made the acquaintance of a loquacious and free-and-easy
+gardener, entirely innocent of clothes, who came and seated himself between F. and
+myself, as we were perched upon a rock enjoying the prospect. According to his account,
+the Maharajah’s tenants pay about seven rupees, or fourteen shillings, per annum for
+some five acres of land. In the middle of the night we came in for another storm of
+thunder and lightning, which took a good many liberties with our house, but cooled
+the air; and only for the mosquitoes, and other holders of the property, whose excessive
+attentions were rather embarrassing, we would have got on very well. As it was, however,
+I hardly closed an eye all night, and spent the greater part of it in meandering about
+the Bauli Bagh, <i>vestito da notte</i>—in which operation I rejoice to think that, like the Russians at the burning of Moscow,
+I at least put the enemy to very considerable inconvenience, even at the expense of
+my own comfort.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 16.</i>—About half-past four <span class="asc">A.M.</span> we got under weigh again, heartily delighted to leave <span class="pageNum" id="pb46">[<a href="#pb46">46</a>]</span>the sparrows and their allies in undisputed possession of their property.
+</p>
+<p>The “kotwal,” and other authorities, who had been extremely civil in providing supplies,
+coolies, &amp;c., according to the Maharajah’s order, took very good care not to let us
+depart without a due sense of the fact, for they bothered us for “bukhshish” just
+as keenly as the lowest muleteer; and when I gave the kotwal twelve annas, or one
+shilling and sixpence, as all the change I had, he assured me that the khidmutgar
+had more, and ran back to prove it by bringing me two rupees. I gave the scoundrel
+one, and regretted it for three miles, for he had robbed the coolies in the morning,
+either on his own or his master’s account, of one anna, or three-halfpence each, out
+of their hardly-earned wages. To-day we find ourselves once more among the rocks and
+pines, and as we progressed nothing could exceed the beauty of the views which opened
+upon us right and left. A mountain stream attended our steps the whole way sometimes
+smoothly and placidly, sometimes dancing about like a mad thing, and teasing the sturdy
+old battered rocks and stones which long ago had settled down in life along its path,
+and which, from the amount of polish they displayed, must themselves have been finely
+knocked about the world in their <span class="pageNum" id="pb47">[<a href="#pb47">47</a>]</span>day. Rounding a turn of the river, where it ran deeply under its rocky bank, we came
+suddenly upon the ghastly figure of a man carefully suspended in chains from a prominent
+tree. His feet had been torn off by the wolves and jackals, but the upper part of
+the body remained together, and there he swung to and fro in the breeze, a ghastly
+warning to all evildoers, and a not very pleasing monument of the justice of the country.
+He was a sepoy of the Maharajah’s army, who had drowned his comrade in the stream
+below the place where he thus had expiated his crime. Not far from this spot we discovered
+traces of another marauder, in the shape of a fresh footprint of a tiger or a leopard,
+just as he had prowled shortly before along the very path we were pursuing.
+</p>
+<p>From this we gradually got into a region of fruit-trees, interspersed with pines;
+and sometimes we came upon a group of scented palms, which looked strangely enough
+in such unusual company. Through clustering pomegranates, figs, plums, peach-trees,
+wild but bearing fruit, we journeyed on and on; and, as new beauties arose around
+us, we could not help indulging in castles in the air, and forming visions of earthly
+paradises, where, with the addition only of such importations as are inseparable from
+all ideas of paradise, either in Cashmere or elsewhere, one <span class="pageNum" id="pb48">[<a href="#pb48">48</a>]</span>might live in uninterrupted enjoyment of existence, and, at least, bury in oblivion
+all remembrance of such regions as the “Plains of India.”
+</p>
+<p>About ten <span class="asc">A.M.</span>, after a continuous series of ups-and-downs of varied scenery, we arrived at “Chungas,”
+a picturesque old serai, perched upon a hill over the river. It was marked off in
+our route as having no accommodation, but, located among the mouldering remnants of
+grandeur of an old temple in the centre of the serai, we managed to make ourselves
+very comfortable, and thought our “accommodation” a most decided improvement upon
+our late fashionable but rather overcrowded halting-place. From the serai we can see,
+for the first time, the snowy range of the Himalayas, trending northwards, towards
+the Peer Punjal Pass, through which our route leads into the Valley of Cashmere.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 17.</i>—Another ride through hill and dale to “Rajaori,” or “Rampore,” a most picturesque-looking
+town, built in every possible style of architecture, and flanked at one extremity
+by a ruined castle. Our halting-place was in an ancient serai, with a dilapidated
+garden, containing the remains of some rather handsome fountains. It was situated
+on a rock, several hundred feet above the river which separated us <span class="pageNum" id="pb49">[<a href="#pb49">49</a>]</span>from the town; and, from our elevated position, we had a fine view of the whole place,
+and got an insight into the manners and customs of the inhabitants, without their
+being at all aware of our proximity.
+</p>
+<p>The women and children appeared to be dressed quite in the Tartar style: the women
+with little red square-cornered fez caps, with a long strip of cloth thrown gracefully
+over them, and either pyjamas of blue stuff with a red stripe, or a long loose toga
+of greyish cloth, reaching nearly to the feet. The little girls were quite of the
+bullet-headed Tartar pattern, of Crimean recollection, but wore rather less decoration.
+The Crimean young ladies generally had a three cornered charm suspended round their
+necks, while the youthful fashion of Rajaori, scorning all artificial adornment, selected
+nature only as their mantua-maker, and wore their dresses strictly according to her
+book of patterns. After enjoying a delightfully cool night in our elevated bedroom,
+we started for “Thanna.”
+</p>
+<p>Our path led through a gradually ascending valley, cultivated, for the rice crop,
+in terraces, and irrigated by a complicated net-work of channels, cut off from the
+mountain streams, and branching off in every direction to the different elevations.
+The ground was so saturated <span class="pageNum" id="pb50">[<a href="#pb50">50</a>]</span>in these terraces that ploughing was carried on by means of a large scraper, like
+a fender, which was dragged along by bullocks, the ploughman standing up in the machine
+as it floundered and wallowed about, and guiding it through the sea of mud.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 18.</i>—Reached Thanna at nine <span class="asc">A.M.</span> and came to a halt in a shady spot outside the village. There was an old serai about
+half a mile off, but it was full of merchants and their belongings, and savoured so
+strongly of fleas and dirt, that we gave it up as impracticable.
+</p>
+<p>This was the first instance of our finding no shelter; and, as ill luck would have
+it, our tents took the opportunity of pitching themselves on the road, a number of
+coolies broke down, and one abandoned our property and took himself off altogether.
+Under these interesting circumstances, we were obliged to spend the day completely
+<i>al fresco,</i> and to wait patiently for breakfast until the fashionable hour of half-past two <span class="asc">P.M.</span> The inhabitants took our misfortunes very philosophically, and stopped to stare at
+us to their heart’s content as they went by for water, wondering, no doubt, at that
+restless nature of the crazy Englishman, which drives him out of his own country for
+the sole purpose, apparently, of being uncomfortable in other people’s. Our <span class="pageNum" id="pb51">[<a href="#pb51">51</a>]</span>position, although at the foot of the grander range of mountains, we found very hot,
+and a good deal of ingenuity was required in order to find continued shelter from
+the scorching rays of the sun. The natives here, seemed to suffer to a great extent
+from goitre, and one of our coolies in particular had three enormous swellings on
+his neck, horrible to look at. During the night, Rajoo came in with the missing baggage,
+except two khiltas, for which no carriage could be procured, and which he was in consequence
+obliged to abandon on the road until assistance could be sent to them.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 19.</i>—Started at daybreak from our unsatisfactory quarters, and enjoyed some of the finest
+scenery we had yet encountered. The road ascended pretty sharply into what might be
+called the <i>real</i> mountains, and finding our spirits rise with the ground, we abandoned our ponies
+and resolved to perform the remainder of our wanderings on foot. As we reached the
+summit of our first ascent, and our range of view enlarged, mountain upon mountain
+rose before us, richly clothed with forest trees; while, overtopping all, peeped up
+the glistening summits of the snowy range, everything around <span class="corr" id="xd30e1279" title="Source: seem">seems</span> cool and pleasant, in spite of the hot sun’s rays, which still poured down upon us.
+Our road from this, <span class="pageNum" id="pb52">[<a href="#pb52">52</a>]</span>descending, lay among the nooks and dells of the shady side of the mountain; and the
+wild rose and the heliotrope perfumed the air at every step as we walked along in
+full enjoyment of the morning breeze. Our sepoy guide of to-day was not of the educated
+branch of the army. He was the stupidest specimen of his race I had ever met; and
+as his language was such a jargon as to be nearly unintelligible, we failed signally
+in obtaining much information from him.
+</p>
+<p>Among other questions, I made inquiries as to woodcock, the cover being just suited
+to them, and after a great deal of difficulty in explaining the bird to him, he declared
+that he knew the kind of creature perfectly, and that there were plenty of them. By
+way of convincing us, however, of his sporting knowledge, he added that they were
+in the habit of living entirely on fruit; and he was sadly put out when F. and I both
+burst into laughter at the idea of an old woodcock with his bill stuck into a juicy
+pear, or perhaps enjoying a pomegranate for breakfast. Shortly after, we came suddenly
+upon quite a new feature in the scene—a strange innovation of liveliness in the midst
+of solitude.
+</p>
+<p>At a bend in the road, what should appear almost over our heads but a troop of about
+a hundred monkeys, crashing through the firs and <span class="pageNum" id="pb53">[<a href="#pb53">53</a>]</span>chestnuts, and bounding in eager haste from tree to tree, in their desire to escape
+from a party of natives coming from the opposite direction. They were large brown
+monkeys, of the kind called lungoors, standing, some of them, three feet high, and
+having tails considerably longer than themselves. Their faces were jet black, fringed
+with light grey whiskers, which gave them a most comical appearance; and as they jumped
+along from tree to tree, sometimes thirty and forty feet, through the air, with their
+small families following as best they could, they made the whole forest resound with
+the crashing of the branches, and amused us not a little by their aërial line of march.
+</p>
+<p>After crossing a dashing mountain-torrent by a rude bridge of trees thrown across
+it, we arrived at the village of Burrumgulla. Here our guide wanted us to halt in
+a mud-built native serai, but, with the recollection of past experience fresh upon
+us, we declined, preferring to choose our own ground and pitch our first encampment.
+The ground we selected was almost at the foot of a noble waterfall, formed by a huge
+cleft in a mass of rugged rock. The water, dashing headlong down, was hidden in the
+recess of rock below, but the spray, as it rose up like vapour and again fell around
+us, plainly told the history of <span class="pageNum" id="pb54">[<a href="#pb54">54</a>]</span>its birth and education. Even had we not seen the snowy peaks before us from the mountain
+top, there was no mistaking, from its icy breath, the nursery in which its infant
+form had been cradled. Just at our feet was one of the frail and picturesque-looking
+pine bridges spanning the torrent; while just below it another mountain river came
+tumbling down, and, joining with its dashing friend, they both rolled on in life together.
+As soon as our traps arrived, F. and I had a souse in the quietest pool we could find,
+and anything so cold I never felt; it was almost as if one was turned into stone,
+and stopping in it more than a second was out of the question. After breakfast and
+a <i>siesta,</i> we sallied out to try and explore the head of the cataract above us. After rather
+a perilous ascent over loose moss and mould, and clutching at roots of shrubs and
+trees, we were brought to a stand by a huge mass of perpendicular rock, which effectually
+barred us from the spot through which the water took its final leap. The upper course
+of the torrent, however, amply repaid us for our labour, for it ran through the most
+lovely dell I ever saw; and as it bounded down from rock to rock, and roared and splashed
+along, it seemed to know what there was before it, and to be rejoicing at the prospect
+of its mighty jump. Torrent <span class="pageNum" id="pb55">[<a href="#pb55">55</a>]</span>as it seemed, it was evidently nothing to what it could swell to when in a rage, for
+here and there, far out of its present reach, and scattered all about, were torn and
+tattered corpses of forest trees, which had evidently been sucked up and carried along
+until some rock more abrupt than its neighbours, had brought them to a stand and left
+them, bleached and rotting, in the summer’s sun. At night we found ourselves glad
+to exchange our usual covering of a single sheet for a heavy complement of blankets,
+and found our encampment not the least too warm. The authorities here were particularly
+civil and obliging, and supplied us with the best of butter, eggs, and milk. The latter
+was particularly good, and, not having often tasted cow’s milk in the Plains, we did
+it ample justice here.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 20.</i>—Found it rather hard to turn out this morning, in consequence of the great change
+in the temperature, but got under weigh very well considering. Our path led us up
+the main torrent towards the snow, and in the first three miles we crossed about twenty
+pine-tree bridges thrown across the stream, some of them consisting of a single tree,
+and all in the rudest style of manufacture. Near one of these, under an immense mass
+of rock, we passed our first snow. It looked, however, so strange and unexpected,
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb56">[<a href="#pb56">56</a>]</span>that we both took it for a block of stone; and being thatched, as it were, with leaves
+and small sticks, &amp;c., and discoloured on all sides, it certainly bore no outward
+resemblance to what it really was.
+</p>
+<p>After an almost perpendicular ascent up natural flights of steps, we reached our next
+stage, Poshana—a little mud-built, flat-roofed settlement on the mountain-side. Here
+we engaged a couple of “shikàrees,” or native sportsmen, and made preparations for
+a <i>détour</i> into the snows of the Peer Punjal in search of game.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 21.</i>—Having made a division of our property, and sent the <abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr> with an advanced guard two stages on to Heerpore, F. and I started at daybreak for
+a five-days’ shooting expedition in the mountains.
+</p>
+<p>We took with us a khidmutgar and bhistie—both capital servants, but unfortunately
+not accustomed to cold, much less to snow. Besides these, we had ten coolies to carry
+our baggage, consisting of two small tents, bedding, guns, and cooking utensils, &amp;c.;
+and our two shikàrees with their two assistants. The two former wore named Khandàri
+Khan and Baz Khan,—both bare-legged, lightly clothed, sharp-eyed, hardy-looking mountaineers,
+and well acquainted <span class="pageNum" id="pb57">[<a href="#pb57">57</a>]</span>with the haunts of game, and passes through the snow.
+</p>
+<p>For the first time we had now to put on grass shoes or sandals; and though they felt
+strange at first, we soon found that they were absolutely necessary for the work we
+had before us. Our shoemaker charged us six annas, or ninepence, for eight pairs,
+and that was thirty per cent. over the proper price. However, as one good day’s work
+runs through a new pair, they are all the better for being rather cheap. Along the
+road in all directions one comes across cast-off remains of shoes, where the wearer
+has thrown off his worn-out ones and refitted from his travelling stock; and in this
+way the needy proprietor of a very indifferent pair of shoes may, perchance, make
+a favourable exchange with the cast-off pair of a more affluent pedestrian; but, to
+judge from the specimens we saw, he must be very needy indeed in order to benefit
+by the transaction. On leaving Poshana, we immediately wound up the precipitous side
+of a mountain above us, and soon found that, from the rarification of the air, and
+the want of practice, we felt the necessity of calling a halt very frequently, for
+the purpose, of course, of admiring the scenery and expatiating upon the beauties
+of nature. About two miles on the <span class="pageNum" id="pb58">[<a href="#pb58">58</a>]</span>way we came to a slip in the mountain-side, and just as we scrambled, with some difficulty,
+across this, our foremost shikàree suddenly dropped down like a stone, and motioning
+us to follow his example, he stealthily pointed us out four little animals, which
+he called “markore,” grazing at the bottom of a ravine. Putting our sights to about
+250 yards, we fired both together, with the best intentions, but indifferent results;
+for they all scampered off apparently untouched, and we again resumed our march.
+</p>
+<p>Our encamping ground we found situated among a shady grove of fir-trees, with a mountain-torrent
+running beneath, bridged over, as far as we could see, with dingy-looking fields of
+snow and ice. Here, in the middle of June; with snow at our feet, above us, and around
+us, we pitched our tent, and had breakfast, and laid our plans for a search for game
+to-morrow. Though the wind blew cold and chilly off the snows, we soon found that
+the midday sun still asserted his supremacy, and our faces and hands soon bore witness
+to the fierceness of the trial of strength between the two. Our camp, although so
+high up, was not more than six miles from Poshana, and from thence we drew all our
+supplies, such as milk, eggs, and fowls, &amp;c., the coolies’ and shikàrees’ subsistence
+being deducted <span class="pageNum" id="pb59">[<a href="#pb59">59</a>]</span>from their pay. Our own living was not expensive: fowls, threepence each for large,
+three-halfpence small; milk, three-halfpence per quart, and eggs, twelve for the like
+amount, or one anna. For the rest, we lived upon chupatties, or unleavened cakes of
+flour—very good hot, but “gutta-percha” cold—potatoes from Lahore, and, in the liquid
+line, tea and brandy. At night we slept upon the ground—pretty hard it was while one
+was awake to feel it—and not having any lamp, we turned in shortly after dark, while
+in the morning we were up and dressed before the nightingales had cleared their voices.
+These latter abounded all about us, and formed a most agreeable addition to our establishment.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 22.</i>—Left our camp before sunrise, and crossing a large field of snow over the main torrent,
+we clambered up the precipitous side of our opposite mountain. The snow at first felt
+piercingly cold as it penetrated our snow-shoes, but before we reached the top, we
+had little to complain of in the way of chilliness. Our sharp-sighted guides soon
+detected game on the rocks above us, and off we went on a stalk, over rocks and chasms
+of snow—now running, now crawling along, more like serpents than respectable Christians,
+and all in a style that would have <span class="pageNum" id="pb60">[<a href="#pb60">60</a>]</span>astonished nobody more than ourselves, could we have regarded the performance in the
+cool light of reason, and not influenced by the excitement of chasing horned cattle
+of such rare and curious proportions.
+</p>
+<p>The markore, however, were quite as interested in the sport as we were, and after
+an arduous and protracted stalk, they finally gave us the slip, and we called a halt
+at the summit of a hill for breakfast and a rest during the heat of the day. The former
+we enjoyed as we deserved, but for the latter I can’t say much: occasionally a cold
+blast from off the snow would run right through us, while the sun bore down upon our
+heads with scorching power, making havoc with whatever part of us it found exposed
+to its rays, and blistering our hands and legs. The guides helped us out by building
+up a most ricketty-looking shanty with sticks and pieces of their garments and our
+own, and under this apology for shelter, with our feet almost in the snow, we passed
+the day, until it was cool enough again to look for game. In the evening we came suddenly
+upon a kustura, a sort of half goat, half sheep, with long teeth like a wolf. He was,
+however, in such thick cover, that we were unable to get a shot at him.
+</p>
+<p>Our camp, we found, moved, according to <span class="pageNum" id="pb61">[<a href="#pb61">61</a>]</span>order, some three miles higher up, to facilitate the shooting on that side: it was
+still, however, among the firs and nightingales.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 23.</i>—Up again before sunrise, and off to the tops of the mountains in search of game.
+The pull-up took us about an hour and a half, and on reaching the summit, we found
+ourselves above the pass of the Peer Punjal, the rocky and snow-covered ranges of
+mountain around us gradually trending off on all sides, and losing themselves in pine-covered
+slopes, till they finally blended with the blue outlines of the ranges of Pills we
+had crossed on our route from Bimber. While taking a sharp look around us for a herd
+of some twenty animals which we had seen the day previously, we suddenly found ourselves
+close to a party of five markore, but they scampered off so fast over rock and snowdrift,
+that they gave us no opportunity of getting a shot.
+</p>
+<p>Following them up, we came, while clinging to an overhanging ledge of rock, upon one
+solitary gentleman standing about 150 yards below. We both fired together, but the
+pace we had come, and the ground we had crossed, had unsteadied our aim, and though
+my second bullet parted the wool on his back, it was not written that our first markore
+was to fall so easily. <span class="pageNum" id="pb62">[<a href="#pb62">62</a>]</span>After this we tracked the first herd for a long distance over the snow, until they
+scampered down an almost perpendicular face of snow and ice, and here we gave them
+up, halting on a spur of the mountain for a repast of chicken, eggs, chupatties, and
+cold tea. During our morning’s work we had come across some most break-neck places,
+and had one or two narrow escapes, which, at the time, one was hardly conscious of.
+The snow was wedged into the ravines like sheets of ice, and being most precipitous,
+and continuing to the very foot of the mountains, terminating in the numerous torrents
+which they fed, a single false step in crossing would have sent one rolling down,
+without a chance of stopping, to be dashed to pieces at the bottom. In this way, a
+couple of years before, two coolies and a shikàree had been killed, while shooting
+with an officer. F. and I generally crossed these places in the footsteps of the guides,
+or in holes cut by them for our feet with a hatchet; but the men themselves passed
+them with a dash, which only long practice and complete confidence could have imitated.
+During our halt we suffered a good deal from the sun, although the snow was only six
+inches off. In spite of the shade which our guides constructed for us out of mysterious
+portions of their dress, both our wrists and ankles were completely <span class="pageNum" id="pb63">[<a href="#pb63">63</a>]</span>swollen and blistered before evening, while our faces and noses in particular began
+to assume the appearance so generally suggestive of Port wine and good living.
+</p>
+<p>Our descent to the camp was a good march in itself, and we arrived there about five
+<span class="asc">P.M.</span> hot and tired, ‘but quite ready for our mountain fare. On our road, we luckily discovered
+a quantity of young rhubarb, growing in nature’s kitchen-garden, and pouncing on it,
+we devoted it to the celebration of our Sunday dinner.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1349src" href="#xd30e1349">1</a> We also saw a number of minaur, or jungle-fowl, something of the pheasant tribe;
+but they were so wild that nothing but slugs would secure them, and they entirely
+declined the honour of an invitation to our Sunday entertainment.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 24.</i>—We were not at all sorry to remember this morning, as the sun rose, that it was a
+day of rest, for after our last few days of work we were fully able to enjoy it. Amused
+ourselves exploring all about us, and picking wild flowers in memory of our camp.
+The commonest were wild pansy and forget-me-not, and the rhododendron grew in quantities.
+In the afternoon we made a muster of our standing provisions, <span class="pageNum" id="pb64">[<a href="#pb64">64</a>]</span>having only brought four days’ supply, and seeing little chance of getting back for
+ten. The result was., that tea was reported low, potatoes on their last legs, and
+brandy in a declining state. Under these melancholy circumstances, we agreed to stop
+another day for shooting, and then march over the snows for Aliabad and Heerpore,
+to join our main body at the latter place. A road by Cheta Panee was declared impracticable
+for coolies, in consequence of the hardness of the snow; so we gave it up.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 25.</i>—All over the mountains again this morning before daybreak, and up to breakfast-time
+without seeing game. However, one of our sharp-sighted guides then detected markore,
+grazing at a long distance up the mountains; even through the glasses they were mere
+specks, and, to our unpractised eyes, very like the tufts and stones around them;
+but in all faith that our guides were right, off we started in pursuit. The first
+step was to lose all our morning’s toil by plunging for a mile or so down a steep
+descent. After that being accomplished, up we went again, up and up an apparently
+interminable bank of snow, at an angle of about sixty degrees, and slippery as glass.
+At the summit, exhausted and completely out of breath, we did at last arrive, and
+from this our friends of the morning were <span class="pageNum" id="pb65">[<a href="#pb65">65</a>]</span>expected to be within shot. Not a sign of a living creature appeared, however, to
+enliven the solitude around us, and we began to think that our guides were a little
+<i>too</i> clear-sighted this time, when what should suddenly come upon us but a solitary old
+markore, slowly and leisurely rounding a rugged point of rock below. We were all squatted
+in a bunch upon a space about as large as a good-sized towel; but, hidden as we thought
+ourselves, I could discern that our friend had evidently caught a glimpse of something
+which displeased him in his morning cogitations. Still, on he came, and just as he
+crossed a small field of snow, F. opened fire at him across the ravine: the ball struck
+just below his body, and, as he plunged forward, I followed with both barrels. On
+he went, however, and before another shot could be fired he was coolly looking down
+upon us from a terrace of inaccessible rocks, completely out of range. Nothing remained
+but to descend again, and this we accomplished very much more speedily, though perhaps
+not quite in such a graceful style as we had ascended. The shikàrees merely sat down
+on the inclined plane, and with a hatchet or a stick firmly pressed under the arm
+as a lever to regulate the pace, or a rudder to steer clear of rocks as occasion might
+require, down they went at a tremendous pace, <span class="pageNum" id="pb66">[<a href="#pb66">66</a>]</span>until the slope was not sufficient to propel them further.
+</p>
+<p>Our own wardrobe being limited in dimensions we declined adopting this mode of locomotion,
+and slipping and sliding along, soon accomplished the descent, in a less business-like
+but equally satisfactory manner. While taking the direction of our camp, we espied
+seven more animals, perched apparently upon a smooth face of rock; and after a short
+council of war off we started on a fresh stalk, down another descent, over more fields
+of snow, and up a place where a cat would have found walking difficult.
+</p>
+<p>While accomplishing this latter movement, our guides detected two huge red bears,
+an enormous distance off, enjoying themselves in the evening air, and feeding and
+scratching themselves alternately, as they sauntered about in the breeze. Abandoning
+our present stalk, which was not promising, down we went again, and crossing about
+a mile and a half of broken ground, snow, rocks, &amp;c., we reached a wood close to the
+whereabouts of our new game. F. and I, separating, had made the place by different
+routes, and just as I had caught sight of one enormous monster, F. and the shikàree
+appeared, just on the point of walking into his jaws. Having, by great exertion, prevented
+this <span class="pageNum" id="pb67">[<a href="#pb67">67</a>]</span>catastrophe, we massed our forces, and taking off our hats, just as if we were stalking
+an unpopular landed proprietor in Tipperary, we crept up to within sixty yards of
+the unsuspicious monster, and fired both together. With a howl and a grunt, the huge
+mass doubled himself up, and rolled into the cover badly wounded. Being too dangerous
+a looking customer to follow directly, we reloaded and made a circuit above him; and
+after a short search, discovered him with his paws firmly clasped round a young tree.
+By way of finishing him, I gave him the contents of my rifle behind the ear, and we
+then rolled him down a ravine on to the snow beneath, where, a heavy storm of rain,
+hail, and thunder coming on, we left him alone in his glory. Putting our best legs
+foremost, we made for our camp, amid a pelting shower of hail like bullets and an
+incessant play of lightning around us, as we pushed our way along the frozen torrent.
+About five <span class="asc">P.M.</span><span class="corr" id="xd30e1373" title="Not in source">,</span> tired and drenched, we reached the camp, when we discovered that our tents, though
+extremely handy for mountain work, were not intended to keep out much rain, and that
+all our rugs, and other comforts, were almost in as moist a state as ourselves. During
+the entire night it continued to hail, rain, thunder, and lighten; and with the exception
+of the exact <span class="pageNum" id="pb68">[<a href="#pb68">68</a>]</span>spots we were each lying on, there was not a dry place in the tent to take refuge
+in.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 26.</i>—After an exceedingly moist night, we made the most of a little sunshine by turning
+out all our property, and hanging it around us on stones and bushes to dry. After
+we had distinguished ourselves in this way, for a couple of hours, down came the rain
+again; and after stowing our half-dried goods, we assembled under a tree, and held
+a council of war as to our future movements. The rain had swelled the mountain torrents
+considerably, and the hail, lying on the old snow, had made it slippery as glass,
+so that we were obliged to give up the mountain pass we had agreed upon, and decided
+on a retreat to “Poshana,” our present ground being fairly untenable. Sending off
+our tents and traps, and half-drowned servants, who were completely out of their element,
+we remained behind under the pines till the rain a little abated, and having secured
+the bear-skin for curing, we started off with our rear-guard for Poshana. The road
+was so slippery, that even with grass-shoes we could hardly keep from falling; and
+the snow we found as hard as ice, and proportionately difficult to cross. The consequence
+was, that in passing a steep incline with the guide, he slipped, and I followed his
+example, and down we both <span class="pageNum" id="pb69">[<a href="#pb69">69</a>]</span>went like an engine and tender, the guide fishing about with his legs for obstacles,
+and I above him, endeavouring to use my pole as an anchor to bring us to.
+</p>
+<p>Luckily, we both reached <i>terra firma</i> safely, after a perilous run, though at the same side we started from, and a long
+distance from our point of previous departure. On at length reaching the opposite
+side, we found a disconsolate coolie bemoaning himself and reckoning his bones, having
+also fallen down the snow, while a little further on we came upon the bhistie lamenting
+over a similar disaster. The latter functionary had also lost a valuable pot of virgin
+honey, which had only come up from Poshana the day before, and which we had not had
+time to see the inside of even, ere it was thus lost to us for ever, and made over
+as a poetical reparation to the bears of the country for the ruthless murder we had
+committed on one of their number. Found the hut at Poshana empty, and were glad to
+get into its shelter again. The rain seeming quite set in, we determined to discharge
+our shikàrees, and after paying them three rupees each for their week’s work, we sent
+them away perfectly happy, with a few copper caps and a good character apiece.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 27.</i>—Left Poshana at five <span class="asc">A.M.</span>, and <span class="pageNum" id="pb70">[<a href="#pb70">70</a>]</span>made for the Peer Punjal pass. A sharp struggle brought us to the summit, where we
+found a polygon tower erected, apparently as a landmark and also a resting-place for
+travellers to recover themselves after their exertions.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1394src" href="#xd30e1394">2</a> At the Cashmere side of the pass I had expected to see something of the far-famed
+valley, but nothing met the eye but a wild waste of land, bounded on all sides by
+snow, while a few straggling coolies toiled up towards us with some itinerant Englishman’s
+baggage like our own.
+</p>
+<p>This turned out to belong to a party returning to Sealkote, and we were rather elated
+by seeing among their possessions several enormous antlers, which promised well for
+sport at the other side of the valley. They turned out, however, to have been bought,
+and, as their owners informed us, there was no chance of meeting such game until October
+or November. About two miles down the pass we reached the old serai of Aliabad, and
+found the only habitable part of it in possession of a clergyman and a young Bengal
+artilleryman bound for the shooting-grounds we had just left. With much difficulty
+we obtained a few eggs, and a little milk with which we washed down the chupatties
+we had <span class="pageNum" id="pb71">[<a href="#pb71">71</a>]</span>brought with us; but the coolies were so long getting over the path, that no signs
+of breakfast made their appearance until about two o’clock. At mid-day it came on
+to rain heavily, and we took up our quarters in a miserable den, with a flooring of
+damp rubbish and a finely carved stone window not very much in keeping with the rest
+of the establishment. Here we spent the day drearily enough, the prospect being confined
+to a green pool of water in the middle of the serai, around which the Pariah dogs
+contended with the crows for the dainties of offal scattered about. As soon as it
+was dark, we were glad enough to spread our waterproof sheets on the ground, and sleep
+as well as the thousands of tenants already in possession would allow us.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 28.</i>—Up at sunrise, and packed off our things down the mountain for Heerpore, where the
+main body of our possessions were concentrated.
+</p>
+<p>Shortly after their departure it began to rain an Irish and Scotch combined mist,
+and after warming our toes and blinding our eyes over a wood fire for about three
+hours, in hopes of its clearing, we donned grass-shoes and, putting our best legs
+foremost, accomplished about thirteen miles of a most slippery path without a halt,
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb72">[<a href="#pb72">72</a>]</span>except for the occasional purpose of adjusting our dilapidated shoes.
+</p>
+<p>After the first five or six miles the path entered a beautifully-wooded valley, and
+at one spot, where two torrents joined their foaming waters at the foot of a picturesque
+old ivy-grown serai, the landscape was almost perfection. Passing this, we entered
+a thickly-shaded wood, studded with roses and jessamine, and peopled with wood-pigeons
+and nightingales, who favoured us with a morning concert as we passed. Crossing a
+wooden bridge over the torrent, we reached a fine grass country, and here the presence
+of a herd of cows told us we were near our destination. At Heerpore we found Mr. Rajoo
+located with all our belongings in a little wooden sort of squatter’s cabin, where
+we were glad to take shelter out of the dripping rain. It reminded one strongly of
+Captain Cuttle’s habitation and a ship’s cabin together, and made one feel inclined
+to go on deck occasionally. It was on the whole, however, very comfortable, and seemed,
+after our late indifferent quarters, to be a perfect palace. After breakfast, we made
+inquiries as to our worldly affairs, and found that all were thriving with the exception
+of the potatoes, which had been taken worse on the road, and were already decimated
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb73">[<a href="#pb73">73</a>]</span>by sickness. We added a sheep to our stock, for which we paid three shillings, and
+laid in a welcome supply of butter. The khidmutgar and bhistie, we found, had retailed
+the history of their many sorrows to the other servants, and, having expatiated most
+fully on the horrors they had endured among the snows and thunderstorms of the mountains,
+were promising themselves a speedy end to all their woes among the peace and plenty
+of the promised land of Cashmere.
+</p>
+<p><i>June 29.</i>—After some trouble in procuring coolies, we started at eleven in a shower of rain,
+and found ourselves gradually passing into the valley, and exchanging rocks and firs
+for groves of walnut; and moss and fern for the more civilized strawberry and the
+wild carnation. The strawberries, though small, had a delicious flavour, and we whiled
+away the time by gathering them as we passed. About two o’clock we reached the village
+of Shupayon, and here began to perceive a considerable change in the style of architecture
+from what we had been accustomed to; the flat mudden roof giving place to the sharply-pitched
+wooden one, thatched with straw, or coarsely <i>tiled</i> with wood.
+</p>
+<p>Our halting-place we found, for the first time, to possess a staircase and upper story.
+A little <span class="pageNum" id="pb74">[<a href="#pb74">74</a>]</span>square habitation it was, with a verandah all round it, and built entirely of wood.
+From this, as the clouds lifted from the mountain-tops around, a most lovely view
+opened out before us.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p074width" id="p074"><img src="images/p074.jpg" alt="A Halting-place in Cashmere." width="493" height="315" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>Wherever the eye rested toward the mountains, the snow-capped peaks raised themselves
+up into the clear blue sky; while at our feet lay the far-famed valley, reaching towards
+the north, to the very base of the mountain range, and rising gradually and by a gentle
+slope to our halting-place, and so back to the pass from which we had just descended.
+</p>
+<p>As the sun appeared to have come out again permanently, we took the opportunity of
+getting our tents and other property which had suffered from the wet out for a general
+airing.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb75">[<a href="#pb75">75</a>]</span></p>
+<p><i>June 30.</i>—Marched about nine miles through fertile slopes of rice-fields, shaded by walnuts
+and sycamores, and found our halting-place situated in a serai, shrouded in mulberry
+and cherry trees, and with a charming little rivulet running through it, discoursing
+sweet music night and day. Our habitation was a baraduree, or summer-house, of wood,
+and having an upper room with trellised windows, where we spent the day very pleasantly.
+At dinner we had the first instalment of the land of promise, in the shape of a roly-poly
+pudding of fresh cherries, a thing to date from in our hitherto puddingless circumstances.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 1.</i>—Started at daybreak for our last march into the capital. The first appearance of
+the low part of the valley was rather disappointing, for there was nothing striking
+in the view; still, the country was extremely fertile, and its tameness was redeemed
+by the glorious mountain range, which bounded the valley in every direction, with
+its pure unsullied fringe of snow. Our path was occasionally studded with the most
+superb sycamores and lime-trees; and as we approached the town we entered a long avenue
+of poplars, planted as closely together as possible, and completely hiding all the
+buildings until close upon them. Passing through the <span class="pageNum" id="pb76">[<a href="#pb76">76</a>]</span>grand parade-ground, we found a bustling throng of about four hundred Cashmeeries,
+with heavy packs beside them, waiting for an escort to take out supplies to the Maharajah’s
+army, now on active service at a place called Girgit, in the mountains. The said army
+seemed to be fighting with nobody knew who, about nobody knew what; but report says
+that his Highness, having a number of troops wanting arrears of pay, sends them out
+periodically to contend with the hill tribes, by way of settlement in full of all
+demands.
+</p>
+<p>Having engaged a boat’s crew at Ramoon, we were, on arriving at the River Jhelum,
+which runs through the city, immediately inducted to the manners and customs of the
+place; and being safely deposited in a long flat-bottomed boat, with a mat roof and
+a prow about twelve feet out of the water, we were paddled across by our six new servants,
+and landed among a number of bungalows on the right bank, which were erected by the
+Maharajah for the reception of his English visitors. These are entirely of wood, of
+the rudest construction, and are built along the very edge of the river, which is
+here about a hundred yards broad.
+</p>
+<p>We were received on landing by the Baboo and Moonshee, the native authorities retained
+by the <span class="pageNum" id="pb77">[<a href="#pb77">77</a>]</span>Maharajah for the convenience of his visitors; and learning from them that there were
+no bungalows vacant, we pitched our little camp under a shady grove of trees close
+by; and thus, in the capital of the land of poetry and promise, the far-famed paradise
+of the Hindoo, we brought our wanderings to an end for the present, and gave ourselves
+and our retainers a rest from all the toils and troubles of the road.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb78">[<a href="#pb78">78</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep" />
+<div id="xd30e1349">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1349src">1</a></span> M. Jacquemont, in his “Letters from Kashmir and Thibet,” carried away no doubt by
+the ardour of Botanical research, mentions having made a similar discovery, in the
+following glowing terms:—“The mountains here produce rhubarb; celestial happiness!”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1349src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e1394">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1394src">2</a></span> The Pass of the Peer Punjal is 13,000 feet above the level of the sea; the highest
+peak of the range being 15,000.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1394src" title="Return to note 2 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="pt3" class="div0 part">
+<h2 class="label">Part III.</h2>
+<h2 class="main">A Halt in the Valley.</h2>
+<p class="first">Being fairly settled in our quarters, we were not long in putting our new staff of
+dependants into requisition; and, taking to our boat, sallied forth to get a general
+view of the city of Sirinugger.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1449src" href="#xd30e1449">1</a> Finding, however, a review of the army going on, we stopped at the parade-ground
+to witness the interesting ceremony. The troops we found drawn up in lines, forming
+the sides of a large square, and dressed in what his Highness Rumbeer Singh believes
+confidently to be the <i>English costume.</i> As far as one could see, however, the sole foundation for this belief lay in the
+fact of their <span class="pageNum" id="pb79">[<a href="#pb79">79</a>]</span>all wearing trousers! These were certainly the only articles of their equipment that
+could in any way be called English in style; and they bore, after all, but a slender
+resemblance to the corresponding habiliments of the true Briton.
+</p>
+<p>The head-dress, generally speaking, was a turban. One regiment, however, had actually
+perpetrated a parody on the English shako—a feat which I had always hitherto considered
+absolutely impossible.
+</p>
+<p>The cavalry were mounted upon tattoos, or native ponies, and wore white trousers,
+with tight straps, which rendered them for the time being the most miserable of their
+race.
+</p>
+<p>A few of them had imitations of Lancer caps, some had boots, some slippers, some spurs,
+others none; some had wondrous straps of tape and cord, others wore their trousers
+up to their knees; but one and all were entirely uniform in looking completely ill
+at ease and out of their element in their borrowed would-be-English plumage. Just
+as we had finished taking a general view of the army, the Maharajah appeared upon
+the stage, dressed in a green-and-gold embroidered gown and turban and tight silk
+pantaloons, mounted on a grey caparisoned Arab steed. After riding round the lines
+with his retinue, he came up, and we were presented in due form; and after asking
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb80">[<a href="#pb80">80</a>]</span>us if we had come from Allahabad, and expressing his opinion that it was a long way
+off, in which we entirely concurred with him, he shook hands in English style; and,
+taking his seat in a chair which was placed for him, we collected ourselves around,
+and, similarly seated, prepared to inspect the marching past of his highness’s redoubtables.
+Before this began, however, the Maharajah’s little son made his appearance, dressed
+in all respects like his papa, with miniature sword and embroidered raiment; and to
+him we were also introduced in form. During the marching past, I congratulated myself
+upon being several seats distant from his highness’s chair, for the effect was so
+absurd that it was almost impossible to preserve that dignity and composure which
+the occasion demanded.
+</p>
+<p>The marching was in slow time, and the step being fully thirty-six inches the fat
+little dumpy officers nearly upset themselves in their efforts to keep time, and at
+the same time prevent their slippers from deserting on the line of march; while, in
+bringing their swords to the salute, they did it with a swing which was suggestive
+of their throwing away their arms altogether. Besides artillery, five regiments of
+infantry and two of cavalry marched past—in all, little over 2,000 men—colours flying
+and bands playing <span class="pageNum" id="pb81">[<a href="#pb81">81</a>]</span>“Home, sweet home!” After this the irregulars began to appear; and although the first
+part of the army might have almost deserved the name, these put them completely in
+the shade. One colonel had a pair of enormous English gold epaulettes and a turban;
+another a black embroidered suit, with white tape straps, and slippers; and as for
+the men, there were no two of them dressed alike, while in the way of arms, each pleased
+his own particular fancy also. A long gun over the shoulder was the most popular weapon;
+but each had, in addition, a perfect armoury fastened in his girdle: pistols with
+stocks like guns, daggers and even blunderbusses made their appearance; and the general
+effect, as the crowd galloped independently past, dressed in their many-coloured turbans,
+and flowing apparel, was most picturesque. As soon as the last of the flags and banners
+and prancing horses had gone past, the Maharajah set us the example of rising, and
+mounting his grey steed, cantered off in state, surrounded by the crowd of dusky parasites,
+arrayed in gold and jewels, who formed his court.
+</p>
+<p>His Highness appeared to be about thirty-eight years old, and was as handsome a specimen
+of a native as I had ever seen. He wore a short, jet-black beard, and mustachios,
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb82">[<a href="#pb82">82</a>]</span>turned up from the corners of his mouth, and reaching, in two long twists, nearly
+to his eyes. He appeared absent and thoughtful which, considering the low state of
+his exchequer, was perhaps not to be wondered at.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1470src" href="#xd30e1470">2</a> His English visitors spend a good deal of money every summer in his kingdom; and
+for this reason alone, he is anxious enough to cultivate their acquaintance, and gives
+naches, or native dances, and <span class="corr" id="xd30e1478" title="Source: champaigne">champagne</span> dinners periodically to amuse them. He presents, also, an offering to each traveller
+that arrives, and we in due course received two sheep, two fowls, and about fourteen
+little earthen dishes containing rice, butter, spices, eggs, flour, fruit, honey,
+sugar, tea, &amp;c., all of which were laid at the door of our tent, with great pomp and
+ceremony, by a host of attendants.
+</p>
+<p>After the review, we took boat again and <span class="pageNum" id="pb83">[<a href="#pb83">83</a>]</span>paddled down the stream to look at the town, and a quainter and more picturesque-looking
+old place it would be hard to conceive. The houses are built entirely of wood, of
+five and six stories, and overhanging the river, and are as close as possible to each
+other, except where here and there interspersed with trees. Communication is kept
+up between the banks by means of wooden rustic bridges, built on enormous piles of
+timber, laid in entire trees, crossing each other at equal distances. Not a single
+straight line is to be seen in any direction—the houses being dilapidated and generally
+out of the perpendicular; and everywhere the river view is bounded by the snow-capped
+ranges of mountain, which, towards the north, appear to rise almost from the very
+water’s edge.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 2.</i>—Taking the <abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr> as a guide, we sallied out immediately after breakfast to explore the land part of
+this Eastern Venice. Entering at the city gate, on the left bank of the river, near
+the Maharajah’s palace, we walked past a row of trumpery pop-guns, on green and red
+carriages, and so through the most filthy and odoriferous bazaar I ever met with,
+till we reached the residence of Saifula Baba, the great shawl merchant of Sirinugger.
+Here we found a noted shawl fancier inspecting the stock, and were <span class="pageNum" id="pb84">[<a href="#pb84">84</a>]</span>inducted to the mysteries of the different fabrics. Some that we saw were of beautiful
+workmanship, but dangerous to an uninitiated purchaser. They ranged from 300 to 1,000
+rupees generally, but could be ordered to an almost unlimited extent of price. After
+inspecting a quantity of Pushmeena and other local manufactures, Mr. Saifula Baba
+handed us tea and sweetmeats, after the fashion of his country; and we adjourned to
+the abode of a worker in papier maché, where we underwent a second edition of tea
+and sweetmeats, and inspected a number of curiosities. The chief and only beauty of
+the work was in the strangeness of the design; and some of the shawl patterns, reproduced
+on boxes, &amp;c., were pretty in their way, but as manufacturers of papier maché simply,
+the Cashmeeries were a long way behind the age.
+</p>
+<p>On reaching home, we found that the Maharajah had sent his salaam, together with the
+information that he was going to give a nach and dinner, to which we were invited.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p084width" id="p084"><img src="images/p084.jpg" alt="View in Sirinugger." width="720" height="448" /><div class="figAnnotation p084width"><span class="figBottomLeft">W.H.K. Delt.</span><span class="figTop">&nbsp;</span><span class="figBottomRight">Hanhart, Lith.</span></div>
+<p class="figureHead">View in Sirinugger.</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p><i>July 3.</i>—After continuing our explorations of Sirinugger, we repaired, about seven o’clock,
+to the Maharajah’s palace, where we were received by a guard of honour of sixty men
+and four officers, the latter in gold embroidered dresses, <span class="pageNum" id="pb85">[<a href="#pb85">85</a>]</span>and hung all over with ear-rings and finery of divers sorts and kinds.
+</p>
+<p>Ascending the stairs, we were met by the <i>Deewan,</i> or prime minister, who conducted us into an open sort of terrace over the river,
+where we found the Maharajah with the few English officers already arrived seated
+on either side of him, and the nach-girls, about twenty in number, squatted in a semicircle
+opposite them. Standing behind his Highness were colonels of regiments and native
+dignitaries of all sorts, dressed in cloth of gold and jewels, and in every variety
+and hue of turban and appointments. A number of these were Sikhs; and magnificent-looking
+men they were, with their flowing dress and fiercely-twisted whiskers and mustachios.
+The nach-girls, too—a motley group—were attired in all the hues of the rainbow, and
+with the white-robed musicians behind them, awaited in patience the signal to commence.
+In singular contrast to this glittering throng, which formed the court, were the guests
+whom the Maharajah, on this occasion, delighted to honour. The British officer appeared
+generally in the national but uncourtly costume of a shooting jacket! and though some
+few had donned their uniform, and one rejoiced in the traditional swallow-tail of
+unmistakeable civilization, neither <span class="pageNum" id="pb86">[<a href="#pb86">86</a>]</span>the one nor the other contrasted favourably in point of grace with the Cashmerian
+rank and fashion.
+</p>
+<p>After shaking hands with his Highness, who prides himself upon his English way of
+accomplishing that ceremony, and does it by slipping into one’s hand what might be
+taken for a dying flat fish, we took our seats, and the dancing began shortly afterwards.
+Though on a more magnificent scale than anything I had seen of the kind before, the
+programme was flat and insipid enough. The ladies came out two and two, and went through
+a monotonous die-away movement, acting, dancing, and singing all at the same time,
+and showing off their red-stained palms and the soles of their feet to the best advantage.
+Some of the women were very pretty, but very properly they modified their charms by
+dressing in the most unbecoming manner possible. Their head-dress was a little cloth
+of gold and silver cap hung all round with pendent ornaments, and these were becoming
+enough, but the remainder of the dress was much more trying. A short body of shot
+silk was separated by a natural border from a gauze skirt, which hung down perfectly
+straight and innocent of fulness, and allowed a pair of white pyjamas to appear beneath.
+These were fastened <span class="pageNum" id="pb87">[<a href="#pb87">87</a>]</span>tightly round the ancles, which were encircled by little bunches of the tinkling bells,
+which the ladies make such use of in the dance. Round the shoulders comes a filmy
+scarf of various colours, which also plays a prominent part in all their movements,
+and answers in its way to the fan of more accomplished Western belles.
+</p>
+<p>After each couple had gone through the whole of their performances, they used to squat
+themselves down suddenly in the most ungraceful style imaginable, and were then relieved
+by another pair of artistes from the group.
+</p>
+<p>One lady, in addition to the dance, favoured us with “the Marseillaise” with the French
+words, being occasionally prompted by the head of the orchestra, who nearly worked
+himself into a frenzy while accompanying the dancers with both vocal and instrumental
+music at the same time. The Maharajah himself was plainly dressed in white robes,
+with a pair of pale-green striped silk pantaloons fitting his legs like stockings
+from the knee down, and terminating in a pair of English socks, of which he seemed
+immensely proud. His turban was of the palest shade of green, and (in strong contrast
+to the rest of his court) without any ornament whatever. The little heir to the throne—a
+nice little blackamoor of about eight years of age—was, <span class="pageNum" id="pb88">[<a href="#pb88">88</a>]</span>like his father, perched upon a chair, and arrayed in a green and gold turban, pants,
+and socks, with the addition of a velvet gold-embroidered coat, while round his neck
+were three or four valuable necklaces, one of pear-shaped emeralds of great size and
+beauty. After a few dances the doors of the banqueting-room were thrown open, and
+his Highness led the way into dinner with the commissioner. On entering, we found
+a capital dinner laid out English fashion, and with a formidable army of black bottles
+ranged along the table. The Maharajah, however, had disappeared, and we were left
+to feed without a host. The grandees, meanwhile, remained outside, and still enjoyed
+the dances, ranging themselves upon their haunches in front of the rows of chairs
+which not one among them would have dared to trust himself in for either love or money.
+Considering that our entertainer was a Hindoo, and that his dinner-giving appliances
+were limited, each person having to bring his own knife, fork, spoon, and chair, we
+fared very well, and after having drunk his health, again assembled in the court,
+where we found Rumbeer Singh still occupied with the wearisome nach, and reattired
+in a gorgeous dress of green velvet and gold. After a short stay he got up, and we
+all followed his example, glad enough <span class="pageNum" id="pb89">[<a href="#pb89">89</a>]</span>to bring the entertainment to an end, and betake ourselves to our boats. At the stairs
+there was a desperate encounter with innumerable boatmen, each boat having six, eight,
+or ten sailors, and all being equally anxious to uphold the credit of their craft
+by being the first to land their masters safe, at home. We were fortunate enough to
+reach our own at once, and, with a shouting crew, away we dashed up the river, leaving
+the others struggling, fighting, and flourishing their paddles in the air, in a way
+which was more suggestive of an insurrection scene in Masaniello than the departure
+of guests from a peaceable gentleman’s own hall door on the night of an evening party.
+</p>
+<p>On the stairs there was an extraordinary assemblage of slippers, which seemed to hold
+the same relative position that hats and cloaks do in more enlightened communities—that
+is, the good ones were taken by the owners of the bad, and the proprietors of the
+bad ones were fain to make the best of the exchange. Next morning our khidmutgar came
+up with a most doleful countenance and presented to our notice a pair of certainly
+most ill-favoured slippers, which a fellow true-believer had <i>inadvertently</i> substituted for a pair of later date. The lost ones had, in fact, only recently been
+received from the boot-maker; <span class="pageNum" id="pb90">[<a href="#pb90">90</a>]</span>and the blow was difficult to bear with resignation, even by the saintliest follower
+of Islam—a reputation which our retainer came short of by a very long way indeed.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 4.</i>—Having an accumulation of letters to answer, we devoted the day to writing—merely
+enjoying a little <i>otium cum dig.</i>—in the evening, reclining in our boat while serenaded by the crew of boatmen.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 5.</i>—Walked up, before daybreak, to the Tukht e Sûleeman, or Solomon’s throne, “the mountainous
+Portal,” which Moore speaks of in <i>Lalla Rookh,</i> and which forms the most striking landmark in the valley.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1540src" href="#xd30e1540">3</a>
+</p>
+<div class="figure p090width" id="p090"><img src="images/p090.jpg" alt="Solomon’s Throne." width="476" height="720" /><p class="figureHead">Solomon’s Throne<span class="corr" id="xd30e1554" title="Not in source">.</span></p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>From the summit there was a curious view of the multitudinous wooden houses and the
+sinuous windings of the river, which could alone be obtained from such a bird’s-eye
+point of inspection. An old temple at the top was in the hands of the Hindoo faction,
+being dedicated to the goddess Mahadewee, and in charge of it I found two of the dirtiest
+fukeers, or religious mendicants, <span class="pageNum" id="pb91">[<a href="#pb91">91</a>]</span>I ever had the pleasure of meeting. One was lying asleep, with his feet in a heap
+of dust and ashes, and the other was listlessly sitting, without moving a muscle,
+warming himself in the morning sun. Both were almost naked, and had their bodies and
+faces smeared with ashes and their hair long and matted. They appeared to have arrived
+at a state of almost entire abstraction, and neither of them even raised his eyes
+or seemed to be in the slightest degree aware of my presence, although I took a sketch
+of one of them, and stared at both, very much as I would have done at some new arrival
+of animals in the Zoological Gardens.
+</p>
+<p>In the evening we went again to Saifula Baba’s and visited the workrooms, where we
+were much astonished by the quickness with which the people worked the intricate shawl
+patterns with a simple needle, and no copy to guide them.
+</p>
+<p>The first stages of the work are not very promising, but the finished result, when
+pressed and rolled and duly exhibited by that true believer Saifula Baba, in his snowy
+gown and turban, was certainly in every way worthy of its reputation.
+</p>
+<p>Returning home, we visited a garden where any of the English visitors who die in the
+valley are buried—the Maharajah presenting a Cashmere shawl, in some instances, to
+wrap the body <span class="pageNum" id="pb92">[<a href="#pb92">92</a>]</span>in. There were about eight or ten monuments built of plaster, with small square slabs
+for inscriptions. One of these was turned topsy-turvey, which was not to be wondered
+at, for a native almost always holds English characters upside-down when either trying
+to decipher them himself or when holding them to be read by others.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p092width" id="p092"><img src="images/p092.jpg" alt="Hurree Purbut." width="720" height="425" /><p class="figureHead">Hurree Purbut.</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p><i>July 6.</i>—In the early morning I ascended to the throne of Solomon, in order to get a sketch
+of the Fort of Hurree Purbut, and in the afternoon we repaired to the lake behind
+the town, where there was a grand Mela or fair, on the water, to which the Maharajah
+and all his court went in state. The lake is beautifully situated at the foot of the
+mountains, and was covered so densely in many parts with weed and water-plants that
+it bore quite the appearance of a floating garden; and as the innumerable boats paddled
+about, with their bright and sunny cargoes, talking and laughing and enjoying themselves
+to their heart’s content, the scene began to identify itself in some measure with
+Moore’s description of the “Sunny lake of cool Cashmere,” and its “Plane-tree isle
+reflected clear,” although the poet’s eyes had never rested on either lake or isle.
+Putting poetry on one side, however, for the present, we made our way to the extremity
+of the lake, in order to pay a <span class="pageNum" id="pb93">[<a href="#pb93">93</a>]</span>visit to his Highness’s gaol, where we were received by a very civil gaoler, equipped
+with a massive sword and dilapidated shield. We found 110 prisoners in the place,
+employed generally in converting dhan into chawul, or, in other words, clearing the
+rice-crop. There was also a mill for mustard oil, and the most primitive machine for
+boring fire-arms ever invented, both worked by water-power. The prison dress was uniform
+in the extreme: it consisted simply of a suit of heavy leg-irons and nothing more!
+</p>
+<p>After seeing the fair, we paddled across through a perfect water-meadow to the Shalimar
+gardens, where we found the Rajah and his suite just taking their departure. The vista
+on entering the gardens was extremely pretty: four waterfalls appear at the same moment,
+sending a clear sheet of crystal water over a broad stone slab, and gradually receding
+from sight in the wooded distance. A broad canal runs right through the gardens, bridged
+at intervals by summer-houses and crossed by carved and quaintly-fashioned stepping
+stones. At the extremity there is a magnificent baradurree of black marble, which
+looks as if it had been many centuries in existence, and had originally figured in
+some very different situation. The pillars were entire to a length of seven feet,
+and <span class="pageNum" id="pb94">[<a href="#pb94">94</a>]</span>were highly polished from the people leaning against them. Around this, in reservoirs
+of water, were about two hundred fountains, all spouting away together, and on one
+side a sheet of the most perfectly still water I ever saw. It appeared exactly like
+a large looking-glass, and it was impossible to discern where the artificial bank
+which inclosed it either began or terminated.
+</p>
+<p>In these gardens it was that Selim, or Jehangeer the son of Akbar, used to spend so
+many of his days with the far-famed Noor Jehan in the beginning of the seventeenth
+century, and here was the scene of their reconciliation, as related by Feramorz to
+Lalla Rookh ere he revealed himself to her as her future lord, the king of Bucharia.
+From these founts and streams it was that the fair Persian sought to entice her lord,
+with “Fly to the desert, fly with me!”
+</p>
+<div class="lgouter">
+<p class="line">“When breathing, as she did, a tone
+</p>
+<p class="line">To earthly lutes and lips unknown;
+</p>
+<p class="line">With every chord fresh from the touch
+</p>
+<p class="line">Of Music’s spirit,—<span class="corr" id="xd30e1586" title="Source: t’was">’twas</span> too much!”</p>
+</div>
+<p class="first">“The light of the universe” overcomes even the “conqueror of the world.” Thinking
+it, after all, wiser to kiss and be friends than be sulky, he surrenders at discretion:—
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb95">[<a href="#pb95">95</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="lgouter">
+<p class="line">“And, happier now for all their sighs,
+</p>
+<p class="line">As on his arm her head reposes,
+</p>
+<p class="line">She whispers him with laughing eyes,
+</p>
+<p class="line">‘Remember, love, the Feast of Roses!’ ”</p>
+</div>
+<p class="first">Leaving the favourite haunts of the “magnificent son of Akbar,” we crossed the lake
+again to see the Maharajah inspect a party of about 2,000 soldiers, who were departing
+for the war at Girgit. Nothing in the way of supplies being procurable near the scene
+of action, the greater part of the review was taken up by the marching past of a horde
+of Cashmeree and mountain porters, heavily laden with the sinews of war. According
+to report, the pay of the army here is about five shillings per mensem, with a ration
+of two pounds of rice per diem.
+</p>
+<p>In the evening, the number of boats congregated on the lake was marvellous. All were
+perfectly crammed with Cashmerian pleasure-seekers; but the turbaned faithful, in
+spite of the pressure, in no way lost their dignity, but with pipes and coffee enjoyed
+themselves in apparently entire unconsciousness of there being a soul on the lake
+beside themselves. The most wonderful sight, however, was the immense crowd of many-coloured
+turbans congregated on shore, witnessing the departure of the Cashmerian Guards; and
+as they thronged the green <span class="pageNum" id="pb96">[<a href="#pb96">96</a>]</span>slopes in thousands, they gave one quite the idea of a mass of very violent-coloured
+flowers blooming together in a garden. On our way home we had great jostling, and
+even fighting, in order to maintain our position among the crowds of boats, the result
+of which was that our crew managed to break two paddles in upholding the dignity and
+respectability of their masters. The Maharajah himself, however, gave us the go-by
+in great style, in a long quaint boat, propelled by thirty-six boatmen, and built
+with a broad seat towards the bows, in shape like the overgrown body of a gig in indifferent
+circumstances, on which his Highness reclined. By his side was the little prince,
+in glorious apparel, while half a dozen of his court, arrayed in spotless white, appeared
+like so many snow-drifts lying at his feet.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 7.</i>—Made our arrangements to-day for a trip by water to the Wûler Lake, and spent the
+afternoon in inspecting the jeweller’s and other shops in the city. The native workmen
+appear to engrave cleverly both on stone and metal, and some of their performances
+would bear comparison with any European workmanship of a similar kind. They also work
+in filagree silver, charging about sixpence in every two shillings’ worth of silver
+for their labour. <span class="pageNum" id="pb97">[<a href="#pb97">97</a>]</span>About nine <span class="asc">P.M.</span> we took to our boats; F. and I occupying one together, in which we stowed bedding,
+dressing-things, &amp;c. while the cooking apparatus and servants occupied the other.
+Passed the night very comfortably, and found the situation most conducive to sleep,
+as we glided gently along with the stream.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 8.</i>—Awoke to find an innumerable swarm of mosquitoes buzzing about our habitation, and
+apparently endeavouring to carry it off bodily. Letting down, however, the muslin
+curtains, which the foreknowledge of the faithful <abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr> had provided us with, we succeeded in puzzling the enemy for the time being. About
+eight o’clock, the fleet came to an anchor at a luxuriant little island at the entrance
+of the great lake; to all appearance, however, it might have been situated in a meadow,
+for we had to force our way to it through a perfect plain of green water-plants, whose
+slimy verdure covered the face of the lake for miles around. It was wooded by mulberry
+trees, very prettily entwined with wild vines, and in the midst were the remains of
+an old Musjid, in which we discovered a slab of black marble, covered with a beautifully
+carved inscription in Arabic, and appearing as if it had not always held the ignoble
+position which it now occupied. Scattered <span class="pageNum" id="pb98">[<a href="#pb98">98</a>]</span>about the island, also, were many scraps of columns and carved stones, which gave
+evidence of having belonged to some ancient temple or palace. While thus surveying
+our island, we were pestered to death by swarms of prodigious mosquitoes, for which
+the Wûler Lake is justly celebrated, and during breakfast the eating was quite as
+much on their side as ours; so that we were glad to weigh anchor, and with our curtains
+tightly tucked in around us, we floated away, in lazy enjoyment of climate and scenery,
+towards the centre of the lake. As we cleared the margin of the water-plants, we found
+ourselves on a glassy surface, extending away towards the west as far as the eye could
+see, and bordered on all sides by gorgeous mountains and ranges of snow. Around the
+edges of the lake a sunny mirage was playing tricks with the cattle and the objects
+on the banks, and as we glided lazily on with the stream, and the splashing paddles,
+and even the foiled mosquitoes, made music about us, we began to enter more into the
+spirit of our situation, and to appreciate the peculiar beauties of the “sunny lake
+of cool Cashmere,” with the <i>dolce far niente</i> existence which of right belongs to it. About one o’clock we reached Sompoor, at
+the Baramoula extremity of the lake, and as it <span class="pageNum" id="pb99">[<a href="#pb99">99</a>]</span>came on to blow a little, it was not too soon: our boats were totally unadapted for
+anything rougher than a mill-pond, and in the ripple excited by the small puffs of
+wind, I had the misfortune to ship what was, under the circumstances, a heavy sea,
+and so sacrificed the prospects of a dry lodging for the night. Sompoor we found a
+picturesque but dirty village, with promise of good fishing, in the river below it.
+We unfortunately had no tackle, but the boatmen succeeded in catching five or six
+good fish with a hook baited with a mulberry only: a very favourite article of consumption,
+apparently, among the Cashmerian little fishes.
+</p>
+<p>Dropping down the river, we dined on the bank among the mulberry trees, and I afterwards
+essayed to take a sketch of the village; such a firm and determined body of mosquitoes,
+however, immediately fell upon me, that, after a short but unsuccessful combat, I
+was fairly put to flight, and Sompoor remained undrawn. We passed the night above
+the town, ready for an early start in the morning.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 9.</i>—Left our moorings before sunrise, and halted about eight <span class="asc">A.M.</span> at a little island stacked with elephant-grass, where, after as good a swim as the
+tangled weeds would permit, we breakfasted pleasantly under the trees.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb100">[<a href="#pb100">100</a>]</span></p>
+<p>From this point we adopted a new mode of progression, the boatmen towing us from the
+bank; and the motion was a great improvement on the paddling system, except that it
+had a tendency to set one to sleep altogether. Reached Sirinugger, and our camp again,
+at four <span class="asc">P.M.</span>
+</p>
+<p><i>July 10.</i>—Paid Saifula Baba, the shawl merchant, a visit to-day, in order to get a bill of
+exchange on Umritsur cashed. Found him just going out to Mosque, in his snow-white
+robe and turban, cleanly-shaved pate, and golden slippers. Not having any money, he
+promised us a hundred rupees of the Maharajah’s coinage to go on with. These nominal
+rupees are each value 10 annas, or 1<i>s.</i> 3<i>d.,</i> the most chipped and mutilated objects imaginable. On one face of the coin are the
+letters <abbr title="XX">I.H.S.</abbr> stamped, a strange enough device for a heathen or any other mint to have adopted.
+While floating about the Eastern Venice, we discovered a number of finely-cut old
+blocks of stone in the built-up wall which bounded the river; and on inspecting the
+place, we came upon an ancient Mussulman cemetery and ruined Musjid, in which there
+were some very antique-looking carvings, which apparently had commenced life elsewhere
+than on Mussulman ground. The graveyard, however, was itself extremely old, although
+many of the <span class="pageNum" id="pb101">[<a href="#pb101">101</a>]</span>turbaned and lettered tombstones of the faithful were in perfect preservation. All
+began with the “La Ulah ila Ullah,” or “B’ism Ullah,”<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1646src" href="#xd30e1646">4</a> with which everything connected with a Mussulman does commence, either in life or
+death.
+</p>
+<p>All through the city one can trace the remains of some much more ancient structure
+in the huge blocks of carved stone which are scattered about among their more plebeian
+brethren, and serve to form with them, in humble forgetfulness of past grandeur, the
+foundations of the lofty rattletrap but picturesque wooden structures which line both
+sides of the river and form the city of Cashmere in the year of grace 1860.
+</p>
+<p>Some of these houses, as one looks into the narrow lanes leading to the river and
+sees them in profile, are apparently in the last stage of dissolution, leaning out
+of the perpendicular and overtopping their lower stories and foundations in a way
+that would put even the leaning tower of Pisa to shame. One six-storied house, of
+long experience in this crooked world, had made the most wonderful efforts to redeem
+his character and to recover his equilibrium by leaning the contrary way aloft from
+what he did below. Poor fellow! he had been but badly conducted in his youth, and
+was nobly endeavouring to <span class="pageNum" id="pb102">[<a href="#pb102">102</a>]</span>correct his ways in a mossy and dilapidated old age. The tracery of much of the wood-work
+carvings, and particularly of the windows, varies greatly, and in some places is so
+minute that it requires close inspection to find out the design. <span class="pageNum" id="pb103">[<a href="#pb103">103</a>]</span>Of these the Zenana windows of the Maharajah’s palace are about the finest specimens;
+but as there is no way of approaching them closely, it is impossible to make out their
+details.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p102width" id="p102"><img src="images/p102.jpg" alt="Latticed Window, Sirinugger." width="439" height="685" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p><i>July 11.</i>—Started this evening by water for Islamabad, the ancient capital of Cashmere.
+</p>
+<p>We made a slight change in our arrangements, rather for the better, by hiring a large
+boat for ourselves and handing our own over to the servants and culinary department
+in general.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 12.</i>—Found ourselves not very far on our road on awakening this morning, the night having
+been very dark, the current strong against us, and the sailors lazy.
+</p>
+<p>Another cause of delay also, if these were insufficient, was, that the proprietor
+of the boat dropped his turban overboard, with two rupees in the folds of it, and
+the old lady his spouse had stopped the fleet for at least an hour to cry over the
+misfortune. Before breakfast we had a swim, and found ourselves only just able to
+make way against the stream. Breakfasted on the river bank, under the trees, and surrounded
+by rocky snow-capped mountains. Reading, scribbling, and eating apricots brought us
+to about an hour before sunset, when F. and I landed and went ahead to pick out a
+spot for a dining-room for ourselves. In the search, we passed through <span class="pageNum" id="pb104">[<a href="#pb104">104</a>]</span>orchards and gardens innumerable, and finally decided upon a grove of magnificent
+sycamores on the river bank, where we laid out our table just as the sun went down.
+Within view was a picturesque old wooden bridge, on the mossy tree-formed piles of
+which the bushes were growing, as if quite at home, and hanging gracefully over the
+flowing river.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p104width" id="p104"><img src="images/p104.jpg" alt="Sacred Tank, Islamabad." width="493" height="335" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p><i>July 13.</i>—Found ourselves at sunrise at the end of our boat journey, bathed in the river, and
+started for Islamabad, about half a kos off.
+</p>
+<p>On the bank we found three other travellers encamped, and leaving them fast asleep,
+we pushed ahead and took possession of the baraduree. This we found a charming little
+place in a garden, full of ponds of sacred fish, with old <span class="pageNum" id="pb105">[<a href="#pb105">105</a>]</span>carved stones scattered about, belonging to the Hindoo mythology. Through one corner
+of an upper tank a stream of crystal water flowed in from the mountain which rose
+perpendicularly behind it—the water welling up from below in a constant and abundant
+stream. Round this corner were some most grotesque stones; and here the sacred fish
+were assembled in such shoals as to jostle each other almost out of the water; but
+whether they were attracted by the fresh supply of water or the sacred images covered
+as they were with votive offerings of milk and rice, flowers, &amp;c., the fish or the
+Brahmins alone can tell.
+</p>
+<p>Tradition states that an infidel Christian officer once killed three of these fish,
+and having eaten one of them, died shortly after. Putting their sanctity out of the
+question, however, the little creatures are so tame and so numerous that few people
+would be inclined either to kill or to eat them. While feeding them with bread, I
+could have caught any number with my hand; and holding a piece of tough crust under
+water, it was amusing to feel them tugging and hauling at it, making occasional snaps
+at one’s fingers in their efforts. They were generally about half a pound in weight.
+</p>
+<p>Our baraduree was built of wood, in the usual <span class="pageNum" id="pb106">[<a href="#pb106">106</a>]</span>style, with latticed windows of various designs, and having one room overhanging the
+stream which ran through the centre of the house from the sacred tanks. Directly below
+the place we occupied was a little waterfall, which conversed pleasantly day and night;
+and by taking-up a loose plank in the floor we could see as well as hear it. Learning
+that there were some ruins in the neighbourhood, supposed to have existed from before
+the birth of our Saviour, we started in the afternoon for a place called Bowūn, or
+more popularly Mutton, about two and a half kos off.
+</p>
+<p>The sun to-day we found very hot in this same valley of coolness, its rays coming
+down on the backs of our heads in a very searching and inquisitive manner. Along the
+entire path there were running streams in every direction: and what with these and
+the magnificent sycamores and walnut-trees which shaded us as we walked, our opinions
+of the beauty of the country got a considerable rise. The path from the Peer Punjal
+Pass by which we entered appears to be the worst point of view from which to see the
+valley. From either the Peshawur or Murree roads the effect is much finer; and from
+the north-east, from which direction it is perhaps seldomer seen than any other, it
+looks greener <span class="pageNum" id="pb107">[<a href="#pb107">107</a>]</span>and more beautiful than from either of the other points.
+</p>
+<p>At Mutton we found our three lazy friends of the morning, encamped under the trees
+reading green railway-novels, and evidently very much puzzled how to kill time. Beyond
+a tank teeming with sacred fishes, there appeared nothing whatever to be seen here.
+Taking warning from this, we thought it not worth while proceeding to Bamazoo, where
+we were told there were caves; but, treating the fishes to a small coin’s worth of
+Indian maize, we retraced our steps and diverged about a kos off the Islamabad road
+to Pandau. Here we were rewarded by coming suddenly upon a magnificent old Cyclopeian
+ruin of grey stone, bearing, from a little distance, the appearance rather of an ancient
+Christian Church—such as may be seen occasionally in Ireland—than of a heathen place
+of worship. On entering, we found a number of ancient carvings on the massive stone
+walls, but they were much worn, and the designs to us were unintelligible. Some of
+them were like the Hindoo divinities, while others were more like Christian devices,
+such as cherubims, &amp;c. Altogether, it puzzled us completely as to its origin; but
+there was no doubt whatever as to its having existed from an extremely ancient date;
+and from its general style, as well as the <span class="pageNum" id="pb108">[<a href="#pb108">108</a>]</span>absence of any similitude to any other place of heathen worship we have met, we set
+it down in our own minds as most probably a temple to the Sun.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1694src" href="#xd30e1694">5</a> Most of the figures, as far as their worn state would allow one to judge, appeared
+to be female; and there was an entire absence of any symbol at all resembling a cross.
+Many of the huge pillars had been eaten away as if they were of wood, by the combined
+effects of wind and weather; but hands had also been at work, as pieces of the decorations
+and figures appeared scattered about in every direction.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p108width" id="p108"><img src="images/p108.jpg" alt="Martund." width="720" height="449" /><div class="figAnnotation p108width"><span class="figBottomLeft">W.H.K. Delt.</span><span class="figTop">&nbsp;</span><span class="figBottomRight">Hanhart, Lith.</span></div>
+<p class="figureHead">Martund.</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>Passing through the town of Islamabad on our return, we went into some of the houses
+to see the people at work at the loom-made shawls. Very hard-working and intricate
+business it seemed to be, and very hard and <i>Manchestery</i> the production looked to my eye, far inferior to the hand-made, shawl, though not
+generally considered so.
+</p>
+<p>I tried to negotiate a shawl with the overseer, but he assured me that the pieces
+were all made separately, and were sent in to the merchant at <span class="pageNum" id="pb109">[<a href="#pb109">109</a>]</span>Sirinugger to be put together, and that he in fact had nothing whatever to do with
+the sale of them.
+</p>
+<p>In the evening we dined at a fashionably late hour, and were lulled to sleep by the
+simple music of our domesticated waterfall.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 14.</i>—Started at daybreak for Atchabull, three and a half kos off towards the north-east.
+The baraduree we found situated in the middle of a large reservoir, in a beautiful
+but half-ruined garden; and here, the commissariat being unusually late in arriving,
+we took the edge off our appetites with a quantity of small apricots, red plums, cherries,
+&amp;c.
+</p>
+<p>While exploring the gardens, we found, among other remains of grandeur, a Humaam,
+or hot-bath room, which was in very good preservation, and had probably in its day
+been honoured by the fair presence of Noor Jehan, with whom Atchabull was a favourite
+resort, and who has been, at one time or another, over all these gardens, during her
+lord’s visit to the valley.
+</p>
+<p>About thirty yards from the house, at the base of an almost perpendicular hill, were
+the great sources of interest which the place possesses—viz., a number of springs
+of ice-cold water, bubbling up to a height of two or three feet above the surrounding
+water level, and forming three <span class="pageNum" id="pb110">[<a href="#pb110">110</a>]</span>separate rivers: one in the centre which expanded round our house, and one on either
+side. Around were fruit-trees of all sorts and kinds, and from every quarter came
+the gurgling sound of rushing water mingled with the singing of innumerable birds.
+Here sweetly indeed do the “founts of the valley fall;” and their number and beauty,
+as well as the purity of the clear and crystal streams which they pour over the length
+and breadth of the land, it is which forms one of its chief and pleasantest features,
+and has, no doubt, mainly contributed to its reputation as a terrestrial paradise.
+To the abundance of these streams the inhabitants are indebted for the crops of waving
+rice which spread their delicately-green carpetting over the entire valley; the purity
+of the waters give to the silks the brightness of their dyes and to their shawls their
+fame; and from its virtues also the love-lighted eyes are supposed to derive their
+far-famed lustre. No wonder, therefore, that to the Hindoo at least, “Cashmere is
+all holy land.” From his sun-burnt plains and his home by the muddy banks of his sacred
+Ganges, he can form but a small conception of these cooling streams and shady pleasures.
+Should he happen to read the glowing descriptions of Lalla Rookh, and be perhaps led
+to reflect that—
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb111">[<a href="#pb111">111</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="lgouter">
+<p class="line">“If woman can make the worst wilderness dear,
+</p>
+<p class="line">What a heaven she must make of Cashmere!”</p>
+</div>
+<p class="first"></p>
+<div class="figure p111width" id="p111"><img src="images/p111.jpg" alt="Painting versus Poetry." width="453" height="431" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>He no doubt ejaculates “Wa, wa!” in admiration of the poetry of the West, and thinks
+complacently of the partner of his joys as all his fancy painted her. His highest
+flights of imagination, however, probably fail to transplant him very far beyond the
+actual wilderness which bounds his mortal vision, while Pudmawutee and Oonmadinee,
+as here depicted by his own artistic skill, present, in all their loveliness of form
+and feature, his best conceptions <span class="pageNum" id="pb112">[<a href="#pb112">112</a>]</span>of ideal worth and beauty. No wonder, therefore, that the reality of
+</p>
+<div class="lgouter">
+<p class="line">“Those roses, the brightest that earth ever gave,
+</p>
+<p class="line">Those grottoes and gardens and fountains so clear!”</p>
+</div>
+<p class="first">and above all of—
+</p>
+<p></p>
+<div class="figure p112width" id="p112"><img src="images/p112.jpg" alt="Love-lighted Eyes." width="423" height="497" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<div class="lgouter">
+<p class="line">“Those love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave,”<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1756src" href="#xd30e1756">6</a></p>
+</div>
+<p class="first">should shed its influence largely on his imagination, and that, in contrast to his
+own dry and <span class="pageNum" id="pb113">[<a href="#pb113">113</a>]</span>dusty native plains, Cashmere should well be called the Hindoo’s Paradise.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 15.</i>—Marched at dawn for Vernagh, a distance of eight kos, rather over a Sabbath-day’s
+journey. Here we had to wait a considerable time for our breakfast, the cook being
+an indifferent pedestrian and the day a very hot one. The baradurree was curiously
+built, close to an octagon tank, the water from which ran at a great pace through
+an arch in the middle of the house.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1767src" href="#xd30e1767">7</a> The tank was supplied with water in <span class="pageNum" id="pb114">[<a href="#pb114">114</a>]</span>great volume, but from no apparent source, and was filled with fine fish, all sacred,
+and as fat as butter, from the plentiful support they receive from the devout among
+the Hindoos, not to mention the unbelieving travellers, who also supply them for amusement.
+The tank itself, the natives informed us, was bottomless, and it really appeared to
+be so; for from the windows of the baradurree, some fifty feet over the water, we
+could see the sides stretching back as they descended, <span class="pageNum" id="pb115">[<a href="#pb115">115</a>]</span>and losing themselves in the clear water, which looked, from the intensity of its
+blue, both deep and treacherous to an unlimited extent. The water, too, was so intensely,
+icily cold, that an attempt to swim across it would have been a dangerous undertaking,
+and neither F. nor I could summon courage to jump in. We, however, bathed in the stream
+which ran out of the inexhaustible reservoir, and its effect we found very similar
+to that of hot water, so that a little of it went a very long way with us. As for
+the fish, they swarmed in such numbers that they jostled each other fairly out of
+the water in a dense living mass, while striving for grains of rice and bread.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p115width" id="p115"><img src="images/p115.jpg" alt="Vernagh." width="489" height="312" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>This also was a favourite resort of Jehangeer <span class="pageNum" id="pb116">[<a href="#pb116">116</a>]</span>and Noor Jehan; and I found an inscription in the Persian character which, in a sentence
+according to Eastern custom, fixed the date of the erection of the building attached
+to the tank as <span class="asc">A.H.</span> 1029, or, about <span class="asc">A.D.</span> <span class="corr" id="xd30e1799" title="Corrected by author from: 1612">1619</span>. The inscription runs thus:—
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p class="first">“The king of seven climes, the spreader of justice, Abdool, Mûzuffer, Noor-ûl-deen<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1805src" href="#xd30e1805">9</a> Jehangeer Badshah, son of Akbar, conqueror of kings, on the day of the 11th year
+of his reign paid a visit to this fountain of favour, and by his order this building
+has been completed. By means of Jehangeer Shah, son of Akbar Shah, this building has
+raised its head to the heavens.”
+</p>
+<p>“The ‘Inventor of Wisdom’ has fixed its date in this line, viz:—‘Aqsirabad o Chushma
+Wurnak.’ ”</p>
+</blockquote><p>
+</p>
+<p>The fountain or reservoir, and the canal, &amp;c. seem to have been the work of Shah Jehan,
+Noor <span class="pageNum" id="pb117">[<a href="#pb117">117</a>]</span>Jehan’s son, or were probably remodelled in his reign. The inscription referring to
+them runs also in the Persian character on a slab of copper:
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p class="first">“Hyan, by order of Shah Jahan, King, thanks be to God, built this fountain and canal.
+From these have the country of Cashmere become renowned, and the fountains aye as
+the fountains of Paradise.”
+</p>
+<p>“The poet Survashi Ghaib has written the date in this sentence, viz:—‘From the waters
+of Paradise have these fountains flowed.’ ”</p>
+</blockquote><p>
+</p>
+<p><i>July 16.</i>—On the road again at daybreak, with the intention of going to a place called Kûkûnath,
+where there were more springs, and which, from information obtained from the sepoy
+who accompanied us, was on our road to Islamabad. However, like most information relative
+to either direction or to distance in this country, it turned out to be wrong, and
+we accordingly altered our course and made for our old quarters. Breakfasted under
+a huge walnut-tree, at a village about six kos off, and reached Islamabad about one
+<span class="asc">P.M.</span>, after a very hot tramp of ten kos, through groves of sycamore and walnuts, and hundreds
+and hundreds of acres of rice-fields, immersed in water, and tenanted by whole armies
+of croaking frogs. The people were principally employed in weeding their rice-crops,
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb118">[<a href="#pb118">118</a>]</span>standing up to their knees in mud and water, and grubbing about, with their heads
+in a position admirably adapted to give anybody but a native, apoplexy in such a hot
+sun.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 17.</i>—In the middle of the night we were awoke by a tremendous uproar in our wooden habitation,
+as if some one was crashing about the boards and panels with a big stick; immediately
+afterwards something jumped upon my bed, and with a whisk and a rush, clattered through
+the room to F.’s side, over the table, and back again to my quarter. Half asleep and
+half awake, I hit out energetically, without encountering anything of our uninvited
+guest; and the faithful Rajoo coming in with a light, I found F. brandishing a stick
+valiantly in the air, everything knocked about the room; an earthenware vessel of
+milk spilt upon the floor, a tumbler broken, and a plate of biscuits on the table
+with marks of teeth in them. This latter discovery was quite a relief to my mind,
+for the visitation had a most diabolic savour about it, and we were just beginning
+to fancy that there was a slight smell of sulphur. However, the milk and the biscuits
+being such innocent food, we were enabled to fancy that the intruder might have been
+no worse than a wild cat, which had frightened itself by breaking, our <span class="pageNum" id="pb119">[<a href="#pb119">119</a>]</span>tumbler, and had eventually jumped through the window and made its escape. This interpretation,
+however satisfactory to ourselves, was apparently not so to the <abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr>, and to his dying day he will probably remain rather doubtful of the kind of company
+we kept that night.
+</p>
+<p>At sunrise I paid another visit to the ruins of Pandau, or Martund, and sketched it
+from the north-east; a view which took in the only columns of any perfection that
+remained standing.
+</p>
+<p>Islamabad being, as its name implies, the “abode of Mahomedanism,” I had set the kotwal
+to work to procure me a good copy of the Koran.
+</p>
+<p>On returning, however, I found that he had collected together a bundle of the common
+editions printed in the Arabic alone, without interlineations. He assured me, however,
+that they were rare and valuable specimens; and I was amused by the old gentleman
+reading out a passage in a sonorous voice, following each word with his finger, and
+astonishing the bystanders by the display of his erudition; but at the same time holding
+the precious volume upside down, and thus failing in impressing at least one of his
+audience. In the evening we started again for Sirinugger.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb120">[<a href="#pb120">120</a>]</span></p>
+<p><i>July 18.</i>—Found ourselves, according to sailing directions, at anchor this morning, or in other
+words, tied to an upright stick, at Wentipore, on the left bank of the river, where
+there were some old ruins to be seen.
+</p>
+<p>The architecture we found very similar to the Pandau temple. One column, however,
+was left standing, which was more perfect than any we had seen before.
+</p>
+<p>The ruins consisted of a large quadrangle, with cloisters all round, and the remains
+of a temple in the centre; both these were completely decayed, but the enormous stones
+piled together in grand confusion showed that the buildings had been of considerable
+extent.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1847src" href="#xd30e1847">10</a> The corner stones here alone pointed out the position of the cloisters, which at
+Pandau had been in very fair preservation.
+</p>
+<p>About fifty yards from the entrance there were three columns of different form, sunk
+in the ground, their capitals just reaching a little below the surface, and connected
+by trefoil arches, all in pretty good preservation.
+</p>
+<p>A few hundred yards down the river we found another large ruin, but in a more dilapidated
+state than either of the others. In both, the <span class="pageNum" id="pb121">[<a href="#pb121">121</a>]</span>designs carved in the huge stones were something similar in pattern—viz. a female
+figure, with what appeared to be a long strip of drapery passing round either arm
+and descending to the ancles. It was impossible to decipher the exact device, but
+the breast and <span class="pageNum" id="pb122">[<a href="#pb122">122</a>]</span>head, in most instances, were plainly distinguishable.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p121width" id="p121"><img src="images/p121.jpg" alt="Cashmerian Temple Sculpture." width="493" height="645" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>About three kos from Sirinugger, we stopped at another very extensive site of Cyclopeian
+ruins, at a place called Pandreton. Here we found the most perfect building of any
+we had met; and for a considerable distance around were traces of what must have been,
+in ages past, a city of some extent.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p122width" id="p122"><img src="images/p122.jpg" alt="Pandreton." width="487" height="720" /><div class="figAnnotation p122width"><span class="figBottomLeft">W.H.K. Delt.</span><span class="figTop">&nbsp;</span><span class="figBottomRight">Hanhart, Lith.</span></div>
+<p class="figureHead">Pandreton.</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>Among other interesting remains, there was the base of a colossal figure standing
+in the midst of a field of cut corn. Only from the knees down remained, but this block
+alone was over seven feet high; the toes were mutilated a good deal, but the legs
+were in wonderful preservation. There was also, about half a mile off, an enormous
+base of a column, resting on its side, at the summit of a little eminence, where a
+considerable amount of mechanical power must have been required to place it. Its diameter
+was about six feet; and at some distance we found the remainder of the column, split
+into three pieces. It was about twelve feet long, the lower part polygon, the upper
+round, and the top a cone similar in form to the stones dedicated to Mahadeö in the
+temples of the Hindoos. The building which alone remained in at all a perfect state
+was situated in a sort of pond or tank of slimy <span class="pageNum" id="pb123">[<a href="#pb123">123</a>]</span>green, and was quite inaccessible without a boat.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1877src" href="#xd30e1877">11</a> Sending on the cooking apparatus and servants, I remained with the smaller boat;
+and with a rug and a supply of biscuits, set to work to sketch the ruins. The operation,
+however, was not performed without very great difficulty. Innumerable mosquitoes made
+the spot their home, and at critical moments they persisted in settling themselves
+in the most uncomfortable positions. The ants, too, took a fancy to my paint-box,
+and even endeavoured to carry off some of the colours; so that between the two I was
+soon fairly put to flight, and obliged to evacuate the territory.
+</p>
+<p>On consulting my Hindoo authority, Rajoo, on the subject of Cyclopeian ruins, he tells
+me that they were built, not by man but by “the gods,” in the Sut Jûg, or golden age,
+an epoch which existed no less than 2,165,000 years ago, or thereabouts!
+</p>
+<p>This view of the matter increases the interest of the ruins immensely, besides being
+very complimentary to the style of building practised by “<span class="sc">the gods</span>” in that age.
+</p>
+<p>The Hindoo ages are four, and we are believed to be at present in the last of the
+four, of which 5,000 years have been already accomplished. <span class="pageNum" id="pb124">[<a href="#pb124">124</a>]</span>The names and duration are as follows, viz:—Sut Jûg, 1,728,000 years; Treth Jûg, 1,296,000
+years; Dûapûr Jûg, 864,000 years; and Kul Jûg. 432,000 years. This makes the present
+age of the world to be about 3,893,000 years!
+</p>
+<p>About five P.&nbsp;M. I reached Sirinugger, and found the advanced guard in possession
+of one of the bungalows. Spent the night in a succession of skirmishes with innumerable
+fleas, who appeared to have been out of society for a considerable time previous to
+our arrival. Up to this moment I fancied that I knew something of the natural history
+of the race, having studied them and fought with them and slept with them in their
+happiest hunting grounds. Greek fleas, Albanian fleas, Tartar fleas, Russian fleas,
+I had combated on their own soil, but never before was I put to such utter confusion.
+All night long the enemy poured in upon me, and several times during the action was
+I forced to leave the field and recruit my shattered forces outside in the moonlight.
+As day dawned, however, I fell upon the foe at a certain advantage, and managed at
+last to get a few hours of sleep.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 19.</i>—Made an expedition to the small lake to see a building which we were informed was
+built by the Puree, or fairies—the Peri of poetical licence.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb125">[<a href="#pb125">125</a>]</span></p>
+<p>After a sharp struggle up a steep hill, under a hot sun, we reached the building;
+but, to all appearance, the fairies had less to do with the edifice than a race of
+very indifferent engineers. It was evidently the remains of a hill fort, built of
+stones and mortar, and with nothing wonderful in its construction whatever. It was
+tenanted by buffaloes and a few natives; and having seen specimens of both before,
+we took our departure again rather in a bad humour with both the fairies and their
+partisans.
+</p>
+<p>In the plain below we found the remains of Cyclopeian ruins in an enormous block of
+stone, part of a column.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 22.</i>—Started this evening in the direction of the water-lake in further search of ancient
+ruins.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 23.</i>—Found ourselves at daybreak among the mosquitoes in a little stream about two kos
+from Patrun. After breakfasting, we started for the vicinity of the ruins. As usual,
+in the villages we passed through, we found traces of cut stone doing duty as washing-stones,
+or corners of walls, &amp;c; and at Patrun we found rather a fine old ruined temple, something
+similar in style to those towards Islamabad.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1906src" href="#xd30e1906">12</a> It was surrounded at some distance by trees, which had <span class="pageNum" id="pb126">[<a href="#pb126">126</a>]</span>tended apparently to preserve the building, for the stone carvings were clearer and
+less decayed by time than any others we had seen. Being caught here in a heavy rain,
+we had a scamper for our boats, and after a wet journey, reached Sirinugger about
+eight <span class="asc">P.M.</span>
+</p>
+<div class="figure p126width" id="p126"><img src="images/p126.jpg" alt="Patrun." width="503" height="423" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p><i>July 26.</i>—Finding ourselves rather tired of Sirinugger, and with no other books than Hindostanee
+to beguile the time, we resolved upon an expedition across the mountains into the
+regions of Little Thibet. Began preparations by hiring twelve coolies, at thirteen
+shillings <span class="pageNum" id="pb127">[<a href="#pb127">127</a>]</span>each per mensem, and a mate or head man to look after them. Increased our stock of
+ducks to twelve, and otherwise added to our necessary stores, and completed the arrangements
+for a move.
+</p>
+<p>To-day a number of arrivals and departures took place, and the whole settlement was
+in a state of excitement and confusion. Boatmen swarmed about in rival application
+for employment, while all the rascals in the place seemed to have assembled together
+for the occasion: those who had bills, wanting to get them paid; and those who were
+either lucky or unfortunate enough to have none, wanting to open them as soon as possible with
+the new comers. What with these and pistol practice and rifle shooting from upper
+casements across the river, in order to expend spare ammunition, the European quarter
+was a very Babel all day long, and we were not sorry to escape the turmoil and get
+under weigh to new scenes as soon as possible.
+</p>
+<p>About dusk we embarked in two large boats with Rajoo, the cook, and the bhistie, the
+other servants remaining behind, much to their delight, to take charge of spare baggage,
+&amp;c. left in the bungalow. One of the Maharajah’s army also accompanied us, a rough-and-ready-looking
+sepoy irregular, whose duty it was to <span class="pageNum" id="pb128">[<a href="#pb128">128</a>]</span>ferret out supplies and coolies, &amp;c. during our march, and at the same time, perhaps,
+to keep a watch over our own movements and desperate designs. Passed the night under
+gauze fortifications, the disappointed mosquitoes buzzing about outside in myriads,
+and striving hard to take a fond farewell of their much-loved foreign guests.
+</p>
+<p>By strange sounds from the direction of my companion’s quarters, as if of smacking
+of hands, &amp;c., I was led to infer that they had partially succeeded in bidding him
+good-bye. I, however, luckily escaped without receiving even as much as a deputation
+from the enemy, and slept in happy unconsciousness of their vicinity.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb129">[<a href="#pb129">129</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep" />
+<div id="xd30e1449">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1449src">1</a></span> Supposed to designate “The City of the Sun;” Sûrya meaning in Sanscrit “the Sun,”
+and Nugger “a City.”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1449src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e1470">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1470src">2</a></span> Cashmere seems to have been regarded for many ages merely as a source of wealth to
+its absentee lords or present governors, and to have suffered more than ever, since
+falling under the dominion of Hindoo rulers.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">Of the first of this dynasty, who subdued and took possession of the valley in the
+year 1819, Vigne remarks, in his Travels, “Runjeet Singh assuredly well knew that
+the greater the prosperity of Kashmīr, the stronger would be the inducement to invasion
+by the East India Company. ‘<span lang="fr">Après moi le déluge</span>’ has been his motto, and its ruin has been accelerated not less by his rapacity than
+by his political jealousy, which suggested to him at any cost the merciless removal
+of its wealth and the reckless havoc he has made in its resources.”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1470src" title="Return to note 2 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e1540">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1540src">3</a></span> The Tukt-i-Suliman, an old Hindoo temple, the throne of Solomon the magnificent, the
+prophet, the mighty magician, whom all pious Mussulmans believe to have been carried
+through the air on a throne supported by Dives or Afrites, whom the Almighty had made
+subservient to His will.—<span class="sc">Vigne</span>. The summit stands 1,000 feet above the level of the plain, and the date of its erection
+is believed to be 220 B.C. <i>Vide</i> <a href="#appa">Appendix A</a>.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1540src" title="Return to note 3 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e1646">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1646src">4</a></span> “There is no God but God;” “In the name of God.”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1646src" title="Return to note 4 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e1694">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1694src">5</a></span> This was written without being aware that the native name of Mutton is a corruption
+of Martund, by which name the temple is also designated.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">The meaning of Martund being in Sanscrit “the Sun,” additional grounds have thus been
+furnished for determining the origin of the ruin. <i>Vide</i> <a href="#appa">Appendix A</a>.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1694src" title="Return to note 5 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e1756">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1756src">6</a></span> On this subject a good deal of difference of opinion seems to exist, and from Moore’s
+descriptions of the furniture of his terrestrial paradise, which have added so much
+to the fame of the valley, <span class="pageNum" id="pb113n">[<a href="#pb113n">113</a>]</span>it appears probable that his “muse,” thinking it useless to search abroad for materials
+which existed in abundance at home, supplied him with what he supposed to be Eastern
+celestial creations, entirely from his native shores. Vigne, however, says, “I do
+not think that the beauty of the Kashmirian women has been overrated. They are, of
+course, wholly deficient in the graces and fascinations derivable from cultivation
+and accomplishment; but for mere uneducated eyes, I know of none that surpass those
+of Kashmir.” On the other hand, M. Jacquemont, who found “celestial happiness” in
+a plant of rhubarb, is unable to discover any beauty whatever in the Cashmerian ladies,
+and has no patience with his neighbour’s little flights of fancy in depicting their
+perfections. “Moore,” he writes, in his “Letters from India,” “is a perfumer, and
+a liar to boot. Know that I have never seen anywhere such hideous witches as in Cashmere.
+The female race is remarkably ugly.” Instead of adding to such conflicting evidence,
+I have endeavoured to subpœna a credible witness to speak for herself; and the right
+of private judgment being thus reserved to the reader, Gûlabie will no doubt be charitably
+dealt with, and will find her proper position somewhere within the limits of a “hideous
+witch” and a “celestial being.”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1756src" title="Return to note 6 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e1767">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1767src">7</a></span> This place is mentioned in the “Tûzûk Jehangeery,” or “Precepts <span class="pageNum" id="pb114n">[<a href="#pb114n">114</a>]</span>of Jehangeer,” in a way which shows that the Conqueror of the World had not included
+himself among his victories.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">The name appears on a Persian inscription as Wurnagh, but is called by the natives
+Vernagh, and is mentioned by Jehangeer in his journal as Tirnagh:—
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">“The source of the river Bhet (Jhelum)<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e1775src" href="#xd30e1775">8</a> lies in a fountain in Cashmeer, named Tirnagh, which, in the language, of Hindostan,
+signifies a snake—probably some large snake had been seen there. During the lifetime
+of my father (Akbar) I went twice to this fountain, which is about twenty kos from
+the city of Cashmere. Its form is octagonal, and the sides of it are about twenty
+yards in length.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">“I accompanied my father to this spot during the season of flowers. In some places
+the beds of saffron-flowers extend to a kos. Their appearance is best at a distance,
+and when they are plucked they emit a strong smell. My attendants were all seized
+with a headache, and though I was myself at the time intoxicated with liquor, I felt
+also my head affected. I inquired of the brutal Cashmeerians who were employed in
+plucking them, what was their condition, and they replied that they never had a headache
+in their lifetime.”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1767src" title="Return to note 7 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e1775">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1775src">8</a></span> The Jhelum is called in Cashmere, Behat—a contraction of the Sanscrit <i>Vedasta,</i> which the Greeks slightly altered to Hydaspes.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1775src" title="Return to note 8 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e1805">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1805src">9</a></span> The title of Noor-ûl-deen is also mentioned by Jehangeer in his Journal from Lahore
+to Cabul, and its origin is thus accounted for in his own words:
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">“Now that I had become a king, it occurred to me that I ought to change my name, which
+was liable to be confounded with that of the Cæsars, of Rome.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">“The Secret Inspirer of thoughts suggested to me that, as the business of kings is
+the conquest of the world, I ought to assume the name of Jehangeer, or Conqueror of
+the World; and that as my accession to the throne had taken place, about sunrise,
+I ought therefore to take the title of Noor-ûl-deen, or the Light of Religion. I had
+heard during the time of my youth from several learned Hindoos, that after the expiration
+of the reign of Akbar, the throne would be filled by a kin, named Noor-ûl-deen. This
+circumstance made an impression on me, and I therefore assumed the name and title
+of Jehangeer Badshah.”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1805src" title="Return to note 9 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e1847">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1847src">10</a></span> These ruins appear to be in the greatest dilapidation of any in the valley. The date
+of their erection is believed to be <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 852.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1847src" title="Return to note 10 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e1877">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1877src">11</a></span> See <a href="#appa">Appendix A</a>.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1877src" title="Return to note 11 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e1906">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e1906src">12</a></span> <i>Vide</i> <a href="#appa">Appendix A</a>.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e1906src" title="Return to note 12 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="pt4" class="div0 part">
+<h2 class="label">Part IV.</h2>
+<h2 class="main">Little Thibet.</h2>
+<p class="first"><i>July 27.</i>—About six o’clock this morning we found ourselves at anchor under the mountains at
+the northern extremity of the lake, and at the mouth of a dashing river of ice-cold
+water, into which we lost no time in plunging. On mustering our forces after breakfast,
+we found that our possessions required fourteen coolies for their transport. Our own
+immediate effects took four, viz. bedding two, guns one, and clothes, &amp;c. one; the
+kitchen required four more; tent one, charpoys one, servants’ reserve supply of food
+one, brandy, one, plank for table and tent poles one, and last though not least, the
+twelve ducks took up the services of the fourteenth all to <span class="pageNum" id="pb130">[<a href="#pb130">130</a>]</span>themselves. The rest of our train consisted of the faithful Rajoo, who came entirely
+at his own request to see a new country, the two servants, the sepoy, and the coolie’s
+mate, who was to act as guide, carry small matters, and make himself generally useful.
+After a most affectionate parting with our boatmen, Messrs. Suttarah, Ramzan, Guffard,
+and Co., we started on our new travels at about ten <span class="asc">A.M.</span> under a broiling sun. After several halts under shady chestnuts, groves of mulberry,
+&amp;c., and passing by a gentle ascent through a lovely country, we came to our first
+encamping ground, at Kungur, and pitched our tent under a chestnut grove, considerably
+hot and tired by our first march, after all the ease and comparative idleness we had
+of late been enjoying in the valley. Here we saw the first of the system of extortion
+which goes on among the government authorities and the people; for after the paymaster
+to the forces had settled with the seven coolies who were not in our permanent employ,
+not being able to take all as we had originally intended, they assembled round us,
+and complained most dolefully of the smallness of their pay. The sepoy, who appeared
+a most pugnacious customer, cuffed some of them, and made desperate flourishes at
+others with a big stick, and seemed altogether so anxious <span class="pageNum" id="pb131">[<a href="#pb131">131</a>]</span>to prevent, as he said, the “cherishers of the poor,” from being inconvenienced by
+the “scum of the earth,” that we suspected something wrong, and on inquiring, ascertained,
+that out of the amount due to the seven, viz. one rupee five annas, or about two shillings
+and eightpence, the organ of government had actually stopped eight annas, or one shilling.
+The mistake we soon rectified, much to the delight of the “scum of the earth,”—who
+had certainly earned their three annas, or fourpence halfpenny per man, by carrying
+our impedimenta eight kos under a hot sun,—and equally to the disgust of “the organ”
+who handed over the difference with a very bad grace indeed, and was rather out of
+tune for the rest of the day. Our hearts being expanded by this administration of
+justice, we proceeded to a further act of charity, and emancipated our twelve ducks
+from their basket, into a temporary pond constructed for them by the bhistie, where
+they dabbled about to their hearts’ content, and soon forgot the sorrows of the road
+in a repast of meal and rice.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 28.</i>—Marched at six <span class="asc">A.M.</span>, and after proceeding about a kos found that we were in for a regular wetting. Our
+path lay through a beautifully wooded ravine with precipitous mountain peaks appearing
+ahead in every direction: these, however, were soon shrouded in impenetrable <span class="pageNum" id="pb132">[<a href="#pb132">132</a>]</span>mist, which gradually gathered in about us, and proceeded to inspect us in a most
+searching and uncomfortable way.
+</p>
+<p>The road however, though beautiful, was by no means a good one, and it was in many
+places difficult work to keep one’s feet in the wet slush, over wooden bridges, or
+along the side of a dashing torrent which kept us company, and which seemed to be
+labouring just now under an unusual degree of temporary excitement, in consequence
+of having had too much to drink. We had arranged to breakfast on the road, but the
+rain made us push on, and on reaching the vicinity of our halting-place, we stopped
+to inspect the condition of our garments, and to satisfy ourselves as to our future
+prospects in the matter of dry changes of raiment. On opening our small reserve, of
+which the mate had charge, I found that sad havoc had been made in the precious articles
+we had been so hopefully depending upon for comfort and consolation at the end of
+our soaking march. The last efforts of our generally rather useless dhobie had been
+brought to bear upon our present equipment. The massive brass smoothing-iron and its
+owner had alike done their best to start us creditably in life with the only clean
+linen we were likely to behold for many weeks, and now nothing remained of the <span class="pageNum" id="pb133">[<a href="#pb133">133</a>]</span>first instalment of these spotless results, but a wringing mass of wet and dirty linen.
+The sun, however, coming out opportunely to our assistance, we made the best of our
+misfortune by spreading out our small wardrobe to the greatest advantage in its rays.
+Our guide, who by the way appeared to know nothing whatever about the path, proceeded
+to unroll his turban, and divesting himself of his other garments, took to waving
+his entire drapery to and fro in the breeze, with a view to getting rid of the superfluous
+moisture. Leaving him to this little amusement, in which he looked like a forlorn
+and shipwrecked mariner making signals of distress, I repaired to a torrent close
+by, and after a satisfactory bathe in the cold snow water, and very nearly losing
+the whole of my personal property in the rushing stream, donned the few dry articles
+I was possessed of, and proceeded to pick out our camping ground. We fixed it among
+the scattered cottages of the little village of Gûndisursing, and while waiting for
+the main body, stayed our appetites with the few apricots we managed to discover on
+the already rather closely picked trees.
+</p>
+<p>Got breakfast at two <span class="asc">P.M.</span> just as the rain began to come down upon us again. The supplies procurable here were
+flour, milk, fowls, and eggs; butter, however, was not forthcoming.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb134">[<a href="#pb134">134</a>]</span></p>
+<p><i>July 29.</i>—Marched early after enjoying a drier night than I had anticipated from the look of
+the evening and the fine-drawn condition of our tent.
+</p>
+<p>Our road continued up a beautifully wooded and watered valley, and reaching a gorge
+in the mountains, about five kos from our start, we halted at a log hut a little way
+beyond a wooden settlement dignified by the name of Gûgenigiera.
+</p>
+<p>Here we had a bathe in the rushing snow torrent, a curious combination of pain and
+pleasure, but the latter considerably predominating, particularly when it was all
+over.
+</p>
+<p>After breakfast we sent the coolies on again, intending to halt three kos off; however,
+on reaching the ground, they unanimously requested to be allowed to go on to the village
+of Soonamurg, the halting-place shown on our route. It was altogether considerably
+over a Sabbath-day’s journey, being nine kos of a bad mountain-path; but as no supplies
+whatever were procurable short of it, we held on our course. After leaving our halt,
+the path led us close to the torrent’s edge, and the gorge narrowing very much, we
+were completely towered over in our march by gigantic peaks of rock, blocks of which
+had come down from their high estate at some remote period of their existence, and
+now occupied <span class="pageNum" id="pb135">[<a href="#pb135">135</a>]</span>equally prominent though humbler positions in the torrent’s bed below. Occasionally
+they presented themselves in our actual path, and at one place we found that our course
+was blocked completely, the inaccessible mountain side descending precipitously to
+the torrent, and leaving us no option but to take to the water, roaring and boiling
+as it was. Our guide went first with great deliberation and groping his way with a
+stick, and after an ineffectual attempt to scale the rock above, F. and I also unwillingly
+followed his example. The water was piercingly cold as it swept against us, and the
+pain was so great that we were glad to blunder over as quickly as possible, without
+taking very much trouble about picking our steps. After passing this in safety we
+came suddenly upon a band of hill-men with their loads, from Thibet; they were the
+first natives we had encountered, and wild and weird-looking savages they appeared
+as they congregated about us, gibbering to each other in their astonishment at our
+sudden appearance. With them, was a strange-looking bullock, with long black mane
+and tail, and hind quarters like a horse, which they apparently used for carrying
+their merchandize. To-day we passed the first snow since leaving the valley, although
+in the distance there was plenty of it to be seen.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb136">[<a href="#pb136">136</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Nothing could exceed the beauty of the view as we approached our intended halting-place.
+Having crossed the torrent by a wooden bridge, the mountains we had been winding through
+showed out in all their grandeur, while above us, <span class="corr" id="xd30e1982" title="Source: inaccesible">inaccessible</span> peaks, with sharp and fanciful projections, nestled their mighty heads among the
+fleecy clouds, which hung about after the recent rains. In advance again, other mountain
+ranges rose behind each other, clothed on their southern faces with delicate grass
+up to the point where the snow lay lightly on their rocky top-knots and hid itself
+among the clouds. From the bridge, a rustic structure of entire pine-trees, we passed
+through an upper valley carpeted with the brightest soft green pasturage, until we
+reached the usual little cluster of dilapidated wooden tenements which constitute
+a village in these mountains. This was Soonamurg, and crossing another bridge, formed
+of two single giant pines, we came to a halt and pitched our camp close to a huge
+bank of snow on the river’s brink. What with our halt, and the badness of the path,
+we did not arrive until five <span class="asc">P.M.</span>, and as the sun set, the spray from our snowy neighbour began to wrap its chilling
+influence about us, and we were glad enough to invest ourselves in some thick cashmere
+wraps of native manufacture, <span class="pageNum" id="pb137">[<a href="#pb137">137</a>]</span>which we had hitherto considered merely as standbyes in case of extraordinary cold
+on mountain tops.
+</p>
+<p>According to general report, however, we only reach <i>the foot of the mountains</i> to-morrow. This sounds well, considering that we have been ascending steadily for
+three days, and have left huge avalanches of snow beneath us, not to mention the mountains
+which we traversed on the Peer Punjal side before even entering the Valley of Cashmere
+at all.
+</p>
+<p>At Soonamurg, where we had been warned that there were no supplies, we found large
+herds of sheep and goats. The people, however, were not at all inclined to sell them,
+and we had some trouble in getting hold of a couple of fine fat sheep from them, for
+which we paid, what was here considered a high price, viz. two rupees, or four shillings
+each. We also enlisted the temporary services of two hairy, horny goats, which are
+to accompany us for the next three marches as portable dairies, no supplies being
+procurable on the road. Butter and milk are both forthcoming here in abundance, and
+occasionally rice is to be got. Penetrated with the freshness of the mountain air
+and the freedom of our vagabond life, we came unanimously to the conclusion that we
+had made a wise exchange from the <span class="pageNum" id="pb138">[<a href="#pb138">138</a>]</span><i lang="it">far niente dolces</i> of Sirinugger, and passed a vote of general confidence in the expedition.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 30.</i>—The wind this morning blew bitterly cold over the snow and into our tent, rendering
+the operation of turning out rather more unpopular than usual.
+</p>
+<p>Got off, however, about six, and had a fine bracing march over a grassy valley among
+the mountains. After about four kos, the sun began again to assert his supremacy,
+and, in conjunction with the cold of the morning, rather took liberties with our faces
+and hands. About half-way we came upon the merry ring of axes among the trees, and
+found a party of natives constructing a log-house for the benefit of travellers towards
+Ladak. Pitched our camp in a wild spot at the foot of the mountains, bathed in the
+snow water, and had a sheep killed for breakfast.
+</p>
+<p>One of the live stock died this morning: an unfortunate hen had been sat upon by the
+ducks, and the result was asphyxia, and consignment to the torrent.
+</p>
+<p><i>July 31.</i>—Finished up the month by a difficult march of four and twenty miles, encamping at
+Pandras about eight <span class="asc">P.M.</span> and no longer at the <i>foot</i> of the mountains. Immediately on leaving our halting-place we commenced the ascent
+of a steep glacier, and for upwards of four miles our <span class="pageNum" id="pb139">[<a href="#pb139">139</a>]</span>path lay entirely over the snow: so dense and accumulated was it, that even when the
+sun came out and burned fiercely into our faces and hands, there was no impression
+whatever made on its icy surface.
+</p>
+<p>The glacier was surrounded on all sides by peaks of perpetual snow, while parts of
+it were of such ancient date that, ingrained as it was with bits of stick and stones
+&amp;c., it bore quite the appearance of rock. The path was in some places so indistinct,
+that on one occasion I found myself far ahead of the rest of the party, and approximating
+to the clouds instead of to the direction of Ladak. About five kos on our journey
+we halted to let the kitchen come up, and had our breakfast on the snow in the company
+of a select party of marmots. The little creatures appeared to live in great peace
+and seclusion here, for they let us up, in their ignorance of fire-arms, to within
+thirty yards of them before scuttling into their habitations. They were all dressed
+in blackish brown suits of long thick fur, and considering that they live in snow
+for at least eight months out of twelve, they appeared not the least too warmly clothed.
+As we went by they used to come out and sit up on their hind legs, with their fore
+paws hanging helplessly over their paunches, while, with a shrill discordant cry,
+they bid us <span class="pageNum" id="pb140">[<a href="#pb140">140</a>]</span>good-morning and then hurried back to their houses again. Not having our rifles handy
+they escaped scot free, otherwise we might have borrowed a coat from one of them as
+a reminiscence of the country. After another kos or two we began to get clear of the
+glacier; but occasionally we came upon enormous masses of snow jammed up on either
+side of the torrent, the action of the water having worn away the centre. The path
+gradually led us through rocky passes, over torrents spanned by snow among the magnificent
+mountain range; and although the march was, rather long for a hill country, we found
+no fault with it until about the last three kos, when it was getting late in the day,
+and although fast becoming hungry, we saw no immediate prospect of getting anything
+to eat.
+</p>
+<p>The last few kos we find invariably longer than their fellows; one kos by <i>description,</i> at this stage of the proceedings, being generally equal to two in reality. Asking
+a native, how far we are from a halting-place, is invariably answered in one of two
+ways: either <i>thoree door,</i> not very far, or <i>nuzdeek,</i> close. <i>Thoree door</i> means generally about four miles, while <i>nuzdeek</i> may be translated five at least. A kos too, which ought to be from one and a half
+to two miles, means here anything between one mile and seven. Delaying as much <span class="pageNum" id="pb141">[<a href="#pb141">141</a>]</span>as possible, to let our servants up, we reached Pandras at last, and found all the inhabitants turned out to see our
+arrival; they were dressed in long woollen coats and sheepskins, and looked something
+between Russians and Tartars, with a strong flavour of the Esquimaux, as depicted
+by Polar voyagers. As the sun went down it became bitterly cold, and we found the
+natives even, shuddering under the influences of the snowy wind, which, setting in
+from the mountains, appeared to blow from all points of the compass at one and the
+same time. What the village of Pandras must be in mid-winter it is hard to imagine,
+so covered with snow as the mountains around it are even in August, and so bleak and
+so barren the valley in which it is situated.
+</p>
+<p>In spite of the cold, we astonished the entire swaddled population by taking off our
+clothes, and bathing in a little crystal stream close by: two operations, in all probability,
+which they themselves had never perpetrated within the memory of the oldest inhabitant,
+This feat accomplished, we were much astonished by the arrival of a <i lang="la">rara avis,</i> in the shape of a British traveller, from the direction of Ladak. He turned out to
+be an officer of the Government survey, now being carried on in the mountains, and
+we took the opportunity of deriving from <span class="pageNum" id="pb142">[<a href="#pb142">142</a>]</span>him all the information we could, relative to the prospect before us. He strongly
+recommended us to go to the monastery of Hemis, beyond Ladak, and also to the Lakes,
+but the latter would appear to be beyond the limits of our time. The only natives
+we had met during our unusually long march to-day, were four hairy-looking savages
+from the interior, from whom, after much difficulty, I succeeded in purchasing an
+aboriginal tobacco-pouch, flint, and steel, all combined in one, paying for the same
+about three times its actual and local value, viz. two rupees. They were dressed in
+long woollen coats, with thick bands of stuff rolled round their waists; and all four
+had bunches of yellow flowers stuck in their caps, and pipes, knives, tobacco-pouches,
+&amp;c. hung round their girdles. Their shoes were of the Esquimaux pattern, the soles
+sheepskin, coming up all round the front of the foot, where they were joined by woollen
+continuations—shoes, socks, and leggings, being thus conveniently amalgamated into
+one article of apparel.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 1.</i>—On the road a little later than usual, all hands being tired after yesterday’s exertions.
+The path to-day lay among huge boulders of rock, which had come down as specimens
+from the mountains above, and after a <span class="pageNum" id="pb143">[<a href="#pb143">143</a>]</span>short march of five kos, we reached Dras, a little assemblage of flat-roofed houses,
+with a mud fort about half a mile from it, in the valley. This was built with four
+bastions and a ditch scarped with paving-stones, which surrounded it on all sides
+except one, where it was naturally defended by the torrent. On the road we passed
+a curious bridge, built entirely of rope manufactured from twigs of trees. The cables
+thus formed were swung across the torrent, from piles of loose stones, in a most scientific
+way, though not one calculated to inspire confidence in any traveller with weak nerves
+who might have to trust himself to its support. It appeared, nevertheless, a most
+serviceable structure, and was decidedly picturesque. At Dras we were able to get
+all supplies except fowls.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 2.</i>—Having a long and up-hill march before us, we were up and dressed by moonlight. Outside
+the village, we came upon two curious old stones, standing about six feet high, upright,
+and carved in the way we had already seen at the ruins of Pandau and elsewhere. These
+stones were of irregular form, and carved on three sides, and the designs, though
+much worn, were distinctly traceable. They represented, apparently, a male and female
+figure, standing about <span class="pageNum" id="pb144">[<a href="#pb144">144</a>]</span>five feet high, and surrounded by three smaller figures each. Like all the other sculptured
+figures we had seen, they were innocent of clothes, with the exception of the rope,
+or very scant drapery, which ran across their ancles and up either side to the shoulders.
+</p>
+<p>Leaving these, we passed through a wild and rugged valley among the mountains, cultivated
+in patches, and watered by numerous little sparkling crystal streams. At short intervals,
+there were little settlements of mud huts, built, Tartar fashion, one on top of another,
+and peopled by a few miserable-looking natives, who appeared, in their woollen rags,
+to be cold, even in the middle of this summer’s day. The few travellers we met during
+our march were flat nosed, heavy-looking creatures, with Chinese skull-caps and pig-tails,
+and were employed in conveying salt to Cashmere, packed in bags of woven hair, and
+laden on cows and asses as weird and strange-looking as their owners. About five kos
+off, we called a halt for breakfast, and reached Tusgam about four <span class="asc">P.M.</span>
+</p>
+<p>Here we found a few <i>Arbor Vitæ,</i> and other shrubs, in bad health, the first of the tree species we had encountered
+since ascending the glacier.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 3.</i>—Struck our camp at sunrise, and crossing the torrent, which still accompanied us,
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb145">[<a href="#pb145">145</a>]</span>descended the Pass by a slight decline. During the day we passed through numerous
+gorges, studded with giant masses of rock, and bounded on all sides by rugged and
+inhospitable mountains. We only saw one village, and that some way off the road—Kurroo,
+the guide called it. Breakfasted under an overhanging rock on the mountain side, just
+where our path was, hemmed in by the torrent, and were disturbed during our repast
+by several volleys of stones which rattled down over us from above. They were set
+free by the melting of some large masses of snow, which, being covered with sticks
+and dirt, we had not noticed when we chose our breakfast parlour so close to their
+uncomfortable proximity. To-day we met more salt-carrying parties—uncouth-looking
+savages in pig-tails, speaking a language that not one of our party could understand.
+We also encountered an original-looking gold-washing association of five, who were
+wending their way towards the snow with their wooden implements. They were all also
+weighted with bags of grain, to keep them alive during their search. Their labour
+consists in sifting the fine sand which comes down in the snow-torrents, charged with
+minute particles of gold; and the proceeds, from the appearance of “the trade,” would
+not seem to <span class="pageNum" id="pb146">[<a href="#pb146">146</a>]</span>be very great. They say it amounts only to a few annas a day, but would probably not
+allow to the full amount for fear of being taxed.
+</p>
+<p>At our breakfast-halt we saw the most primitive specimen of a smoking apparatus probably
+ever invented. It consisted of a dab of mud stuck in a hole of a tree, about five
+feet from the ground. Two small sticks, inserted in this from above and below and
+then withdrawn, had evidently served to form the smoke passage; while the bowl as
+evidently had been fashioned by the simple impression of a Thibetian thumb, the whole
+forming, for the use of needy travellers, as permanent and satisfactory a public pipe
+as could well have been devised. It had just been in requisition before we passed,
+for a small quantity of newly-burned tobacco lay in the bowl; and a fresh patch of
+clay on the mouthpiece had probably been added, either in the way of general repairs
+or by some extra-fastidious traveller, who preferred having a private mouthpiece of
+his own. After rather a severe march through rocky mountain gorges, we reached Chungun,
+a little oasis of about five acres of standing barley, with three or four flat-roofed
+houses dotted about it in the usual Tartar style of architecture. It also boasted
+four poplar-trees, standing in a stiff and reserved little row, evidently <span class="pageNum" id="pb147">[<a href="#pb147">147</a>]</span>in proud consciousness of their family importance among such rugged, treeless, iron
+mountains.
+</p>
+<p>It was altogether a refreshing little spot for a halt, after the savage scenery we
+had marched through; and pitching our camp in it, we were not long in introducing
+ourselves to the little brawling stream of clear cold water to which it owed its existence.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 4.</i>—Started this morning in a mountain mist. Just outside the village we passed the scene
+of the fall of an avalanche, which gave one some faint idea of the enormous forces
+occasionally at work among these mountains. It had taken a small village in its path,
+and over the place where it had stood we now took our way, among a perfect chaos of
+masses of rock, and uptorn earth, trees, &amp;c. The whole ground was torn and rent, as
+by the eruption of volcanoes or the explosion of enormous magazines of powder. Passing
+this, our path continued to descend the gorge until about two kos from Chungun, when
+another torrent came down to join its forces to the one we were accompanying; and
+leaving our old companion to roar its way down to join the Indus, we proceeded up
+the valley in the society of our new friend. Passing a series of little villages nestled
+among the <span class="pageNum" id="pb148">[<a href="#pb148">148</a>]</span>rugged rocks, we crossed the stream by a tree bridge and causeway, to the Fort of
+Kurgil, where, after a long consultation, we breakfasted. The differences of opinion
+between the guide and the rest of the natives as to the distance of a village ahead,
+where milk and supplies were forthcoming, were so wide, some saying three kos, others
+six, &amp;c., that we finally determined upon getting some breakfast before deciding the
+true distance for ourselves. The village Hundas was another most perfect little oasis.
+It was only about five or six acres in extent, under the frowning mountain, and was
+terraced and planted in the neatest and most economical way imaginable. The fields
+were beautifully clean, and were quaintly adorned in many instances by huge blocks
+of rock from the mountain above, bigger considerably than the whole of the houses
+of the village put together. Leaving Kurgil, we made a sharp ascent, and crossed a
+plateau bounded by some extremely curious formations of rock and sandstone.
+</p>
+<p>The mountains appeared to have been reared on end and cut with a knife, as if for
+the especial benefit of geologists in general, although the hues of their many-coloured
+strata were calculated to attract even the most ungeological mind by their brightness.
+Descending from this plateau, <span class="pageNum" id="pb149">[<a href="#pb149">149</a>]</span>we came to a pass dotted with three or four little villages, wooded with poplars,
+and adorned with a few shrubs of different kinds. Here every available inch of ground
+which the grudging rocks bestowed was cultivated, although all around, the mud-built
+native huts were broken down and deserted, in such numbers as to give the idea of
+an Irish settlement whose inhabitants had transplanted themselves to America. At the
+last of these little villages, called Pushkoom, we pitched our camp, the retainers
+taking a fancy to the place from the promise it gave of abundant supplies.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 5.</i>—Made our first day’s halt, and enjoyed it considerably—not the least of its advantages
+being the immunity it gave us from being torn out of bed at grey hours in the morning.
+The rest of the force also appreciated the day of rest, and made themselves comfortable
+after their fashion under our grove of trees.
+</p>
+<p>In the afternoon I ascended the mountain opposite to reconnoitre and inspect the curious
+formation of strata, which formed the principal feature of the place.
+</p>
+<p>The ascent I found at first to be over a soft crumbling small stone, resembling ashes,
+but of various colours, and in distinctly-marked strata. These were generally of pinkish
+red and grey, <span class="pageNum" id="pb150">[<a href="#pb150">150</a>]</span>and from them in large masses, rose enormous blocks of concrete, in all manner of
+forms and shapes, some like towers and fortifications, and others standing out boldly
+by themselves, worn by the weather into holes and ridges. After a considerably difficult
+ascent, from the crumbling nature of the stones, I reached the summit of the mountain,
+and climbing a concrete monster which capped it, had a magnificent survey of the mountain
+ranges and country around. In every direction the eye rested on snowy summits, and
+the wind from them fell coolly and refreshingly after the toil of ascent under a hot
+sun.
+</p>
+<p>Returning through the village, I found the natives hard at work collecting their crops
+of wheat and barley, and stowing them away, generally upon the flat tops of their
+houses. They seemed altogether a peaceful, primitive race; but, although their ground
+appears in first-rate order, they themselves are uncultivated and dirty in the extreme.
+The ladies, I am sorry to say, are even rather worse in this matter than the gentlemen.
+The female costume consists generally of robes of sheep and goat skins thrown across
+the shoulders; while a long tail of twisted worsted plaits, looking like a collection
+of old-fashioned bell-ropes, forms the chief decoration. This is attached to the back
+hair, and <span class="pageNum" id="pb151">[<a href="#pb151">151</a>]</span>hangs down quite to the heels, where it terminates in a large tuft, with tassels and
+divers balls of worsted attached to it. On a hill overhanging the village were the
+remains of a mud fort, which had been pulled down by Gûlab Singh in one of his excursions
+to Thibet, with a view to bringing the inhabitants to a proper sense of their position,
+and enforcing the payment of his tribute.
+</p>
+<p>The number of battered and deserted huts about the village is accounted for by the
+erratic habits of the people, which induce them never to stay long in one set of houses,
+but to flit from one side of the valley and from one settlement to another as the
+fancy strikes them. That the large increase of the flea population among such a race,
+however, may have something to do with their restlessness, seems more than probable.
+</p>
+<p>Except when impressed for government employ, they seldom leave the vicinity of their
+villages, and one old gentleman told me he had never been even as far as a place called
+Lotzûm, which is only two kos off! The religion seems to be a mixture of Buddhism
+and Mahomedanism—the latter on the decrease as we get farther into the country.
+</p>
+<p>The dress assimilates to the Chinese—pig-tails and little skull-caps being the order
+of the day. We obtained here good supplies of cow’s milk, <span class="pageNum" id="pb152">[<a href="#pb152">152</a>]</span>butter, &amp;c., and among other things, some peas. These enabled us to celebrate our
+Sunday’s dinner by a “duck and green peas,” and never since the first invention of
+ducks could a similar luxury have been so thoroughly appreciated.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p152width" id="p152"><img src="images/p152.jpg" alt="Roadside Monument, Thibet." width="513" height="471" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p><i>August 6.</i>—Started early again, and marched five kos, through the little half-deserted settlement
+of Lotzûm to the village of Shergol, where we halted for breakfast. Here we found
+ourselves fairly among the Buddhists, and saw an entirely new description of monuments
+connected with religion, from anything we had yet encountered. <span class="pageNum" id="pb153">[<a href="#pb153">153</a>]</span>The most striking objects were a series of tomb-like buildings, without entrances,
+and adorned on all sides by the most hideous effigies, rudely executed in coloured
+mud.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2112src" href="#xd30e2112">1</a>
+</p>
+<p>Some of these were men, depicted in bright red on a yellow ground, with horrible staring
+countenances; others women, adorned with numberless necklaces and other ornaments;
+besides these, there were peacocks, griffins with human arms, deer, &amp;c., and all in
+the most flaring colours and the very rudest designs.
+</p>
+<p>In the perpendicular face of a rock beyond was a very curious monastery, or abode
+of the Lamas. It was built completely <i>in</i> the rock, and was reached by a natural cavity on the face of the stone.
+</p>
+<p>Jutting out from the upper part, balconies had been erected overhanging the precipice,
+and these were decorated with red copings, spotted <span class="pageNum" id="pb154">[<a href="#pb154">154</a>]</span>with white. From the fact of only one of our party knowing the language, it was difficult
+to ascertain from the natives the history of this curious abode, but they gave us
+to understand that it was the home of their Lamas, or spiritual preceptors. Here we
+met another of the race of wandering Englishmen, who was wending his way back to the
+valley. He was returning from a shooting tour, was all alone, and appeared to have
+had very hard work indeed of it, if his face and hands and generally dilapidated appearance
+might taken as a criterion. Not being quite in such light marching order ourselves,
+we were able to ask him to breakfast, and from his ready acceptance and the entire
+justice he did to our offer, I don’t think he could have had anything to eat for a
+week.
+</p>
+<p>He appeared to be a thorough sportsman, and had bagged several head of large game,
+which he showed us. They were principally a kind of wild sheep with enormous heads
+and horns, each of his trophies being almost a coolie load in itself. Leaving Shergol,
+we entered a curious valley with rocks of concrete standing out like towers and fortifications,
+and on the summits of these again, airy-looking habitations with red streaks adorning
+them, and entered, as that at Shergol, by holes in the face of the rock. These were,
+or had <span class="pageNum" id="pb155">[<a href="#pb155">155</a>]</span>been, the abodes of the Lamas; numbers of them now however, as well as the mud settlements
+at their feet, appeared in ruins, and gave no sign of habitation, beyond having about
+them a number of little flags stuck on long poles, which fluttered about in the breeze.
+According to the account of our interpreter, which had to pass from Thibetian into
+Hindostanee before it could clothe itself in English, the cause of this dilapidation
+was the state of wealth and ambition at which the Lamas had arrived, and the consequent
+interposition of Gûlab Singh to take down their pride and ease them of a little of
+their wealth, both of which <span class="pageNum" id="pb156">[<a href="#pb156">156</a>]</span>he accomplished in the style to which he was so partial, by slaughtering some hundreds
+of them and reducing their airy habitations to ruins.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p155width" id="p155"><img src="images/p155.jpg" alt="Road to Moulwee." width="511" height="403" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>At a place called Moulwee we came to a curious block of massive rock standing close
+beside the path, with one of the red-topped houses built into its side. Above this
+was a colossal figure with four arms, rudely cut on the face of the rock, and above
+all was perched an implement, something after the fashion of a Mrs. Gamp’s umbrella
+of large proportions, together with sundry sticks and rags, which seem to be <span class="pageNum" id="pb157">[<a href="#pb157">157</a>]</span>the common style of religious decoration in these parts.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p156width" id="p156"><img src="images/p156.jpg" alt="Rock Sculpture." width="347" height="439" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>The figure was about eighteen feet high, the lower extremities being hidden behind
+the building at the base of the rock. It resembled in some measure the sculptures
+occasionally seen among Hindoo temples, but no one appeared to know anything whatever
+of its origin or history.
+</p>
+<p>Close to this there were an immense number of stones collected together, bearing inscriptions
+in two different characters, one of which resembled slightly the Devanagree or Sanscrit.
+Seeing such a profusion about, I appropriated one which happened to be conveniently
+small, and carried it off in my pocket.
+</p>
+<p>The sun being intensely powerful, we called a halt at a village named Waka, perched
+among the rocks, where we found a rattletrap of a baradurree, which saved us the trouble
+of pitching our tents. Opposite to us was a curiously worn mass of concrete mountain,
+which might easily have been mistaken for artificial lines of fortification, had not
+the scale been so large as to preclude the possibility of any but giants or fairies
+having been the engineers. At the head of the valley there was a fine snow-covered
+mountain, which helped to keep us cool in an otherwise excessively hot position. The
+cook having been rather <span class="pageNum" id="pb158">[<a href="#pb158">158</a>]</span>overcome by his exertions to-day, we got our dinner at the fashionable hour of nine
+<span class="asc">P.M.</span>
+</p>
+<p><i>August 7.</i>—Starting from Waka at cock-crow, we marched up a steep ascent, through a bleak-looking
+range of hills, to Khurboo, where we bivouacked under a tree and got breakfast about
+noon.
+</p>
+<p>Afterwards, I examined more minutely the inscription on the stones, which, as we advanced
+into the country, appeared to increase considerably in number. They consisted in almost
+every case of the same word, containing five letters in one character and six in the
+other, though I occasionally there were additional letters, and sometimes, though
+very rarely, a stone with a different inscription altogether. After a good deal of
+difficulty I succeeded in unearthing a Lama from the village to help me in my researches,
+and a strange-looking dignitary of the Church he turned out to be when he did make
+his appearance. He was a bloated and fat old gentleman, dressed in a yellowish red
+garment of no particular shape, and looked altogether more like a moving bundle of
+red rags than anything else, human or divine.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p159width" id="p159"><img src="images/p159.jpg" alt="Thibetian Monument." width="451" height="544" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>Finding that nothing was required of him more expensive than information, he appeared
+delighted to show off his learning, and by means <span class="pageNum" id="pb159">[<a href="#pb159">159</a>]</span>of the sepoy, who was the only one of our party acquainted with both Thibetan and
+Hindoostanee, I ascertained that the words carved upon the stones were “Ûm mani panee,”
+and meant, as far as I could make out, “the Supreme Being.” As the old gentleman repeated
+the mystic syllables, he bobbed and scraped towards a strange-looking monument close
+by, in an <span class="pageNum" id="pb160">[<a href="#pb160">160</a>]</span>abject, deprecatory way, as if in extreme awe of its presence.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2166src" href="#xd30e2166">2</a>
+</p>
+<p>On inquiring the origin of this new structure, which was built of stones and plaster,
+and decorated with red ochre, all we could get out of him was a fresh string of “Ûm
+mani panees,” and a further series of moppings and mowings, accompanied by a sagacious
+expression of his fat countenance, indicative of the most entire satisfaction at the
+clearness of his explanations, and a sense of his own importance as a Lama and an
+expositor of the doctrines of Bûddh.
+</p>
+<p>He also explained the only other inscription which I had seen; and according to the
+interpretation <span class="pageNum" id="pb161">[<a href="#pb161">161</a>]</span>of the sepoy, it ran thus:—“As God can do so none other can.”<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2178src" href="#xd30e2178">3</a>
+</p>
+<p>Not another piece of information could I elicit relative to the religion beyond the
+continual “Ûm mani panee, Ûm mani panee!” which our friend seemed never tired of mumbling;
+and although the sepoy was, I believe, considerably more adapted for the extraction
+of reluctant supplies of food for our kitchen than for eliciting such information
+on the subject of theology as I was in search of, the real cause of failure was more
+to be attributed to the extreme ignorance of the particular pillar of the Church that
+we had got hold of, than to any little literary failings of the interpreter. Such
+were the quantities of the inscribed stones about this place, that in one long wall
+I estimated there must have been upwards of 3,000, and this in a country where inhabitants
+of any sort are few and far between, and where none appear who seem at all capable
+of executing such inscriptions.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 8<span class="corr" id="xd30e2186" title="Not in source">.</span></i>—Having suffered a good deal yesterday from the heat of the sun, we started this morning
+by a bright moonlight, at about half-past four <span class="asc">A.M.</span>
+</p>
+<div class="figure p164width" id="p164"><img src="images/p164.jpg" alt="Natives and Lama." width="516" height="389" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>Entering the Pass of Fotoola, we ascended <span class="pageNum" id="pb162">[<a href="#pb162">162</a>]</span>gradually for some five kos, and reached a considerable elevation, with a good deal
+of snow lying about on the mountains. A peak on the right was 19,000 feet above the
+sea level, and few of those in our immediate vicinity were under 17,000 feet. From
+the summit of this pass we descended about three kos to Lamieroo, without passing
+a single hut or village on the entire road. The only natives we encountered were a
+party of three from Ladak, on their way to Cashmere, with a couple of fine native
+dogs, as a present from the Thanadar to some of his visitors. The pedestrians one
+generally meets now are old ladies, carrying conical baskets filled with sulphur or
+saltpetre, in the direction of Cashmere, and so shy are they, that on beholding “the
+white face” they drop their loads as if shot, and scuttle away among the mountains,
+so that, if inclined, we could seize upon the Maharajah’s munitions of war and carry
+them off without difficulty. On reaching the vicinity of Lamieroo, the inscribed stones
+became more frequent than ever. They were placed generally upon long broad walls,
+the tops of which sloped slightly outwards, like the roof of a house. Supplies of
+uncut stones were also in many instances collected together in their vicinity, as
+if for the benefit of any pedestrian who might feel inclined <span class="pageNum" id="pb163">[<a href="#pb163">163</a>]</span>to carve out his future happiness by adding to the collection. Lamieroo, as its name
+would seem to imply, appears to have been a headquarters of the Lamas and their religion.
+It contains a curious monastery, or Lamaserai, built upon the extreme top ledge of
+a precipice of concrete stone, and at its base (some hundred feet below) the habitations
+which constitute the village are also perched on pinnacles of rock, and scattered
+about, often in the most unlikely spots imaginable. Entering the bason formed by the
+valley in which this curious settlement is situated, one opens suddenly by an ascending
+turn upon the whole scene, and anything more startlingly picturesque it would be hard
+to conceive. As the view appears, the first objects presented are a host of little
+monument-like buildings, which line the path and are dotted about in groups of from
+three to twelve or fourteen together. They stand about seven feet high, and, as far
+as we could make out from the natives, are erected over the defunct Lamas and other
+saints of the Buddhist religion, after which they become sacred in the eyes of the
+living, and are referred to with scrapings and bowings and “Ûm mani panees” innumerable.
+In the monastery we found twenty Lamas at present domiciled—fat, comfortable-looking
+gentlemen <span class="pageNum" id="pb164">[<a href="#pb164">164</a>]</span>they all were, dressed in orange-yellow garments, and not a bit cleaner than the rest
+of the natives, nor looking by any means more learned. Mounting the side of the bill,
+and passing under one of the red-ring pillared monuments, we entered the precincts
+of the monastery, and threading some very steep and dark passages in the interior
+of the rock, were received by a deputation of Lamas, with the salutation of “Joo,
+Joo!”
+</p>
+<div class="figure p164-2width" id="p164-2"><img src="images/p164-2.jpg" alt="Lamieroo." width="720" height="439" /><p class="figureHead">Lamieroo.</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>We were then ushered with great ceremony into their temple, much to the awe and consternation
+of our guides, who apparently expected to see us as much overcome by the sanctity
+of the <span class="pageNum" id="pb165">[<a href="#pb165">165</a>]</span>place as they themselves were. The temple we found a small square room with a gallery
+round it, from which were suspended dingy-looking Chinese banners, flowers, &amp;c., and
+at one end were about twenty idols of various designs, seated in a row staring straight
+before them, and covered with offerings of Indian corn, yellow flowers, butter, &amp;c.
+They were for the most part dressed in Chinese fashion, and in the dusky light had
+certainly a queer weird-looking appearance about them, which was quite enough to overawe
+our village guide; not being accustomed to such saintly society, he could hardly raise
+his eyes or speak above his breath, but stood with hands joined together and in a
+supplicating posture, enough to melt the heart of even the very ugliest of idols.
+The service (by particular desire) began by three of the most unctuous of the Lamas
+squatting down on some planked spaces before the divinities, and raising a not unmusical
+chaunt, accompanying themselves at the same time with a pair of cymbals, while two
+large double-sided tom-toms or drums gradually insinuated themselves into the melody.
+These were each fixed on one long leg and were beaten with a curved stick, muffled
+at the end. The performance of the cymbals was particularly good, and the changes
+of time they introduced formed the <span class="pageNum" id="pb166">[<a href="#pb166">166</a>]</span>chief feature of the music, and was rather pleasing than otherwise. The service as
+it drew to a close, was joined by a duett upon two enormous brass instruments like
+speaking-trumpets grown out of all decent proportions; they were about five feet long,
+and were placed on the ground during the performance, and as two of the fattest of
+the Lamas operated and nearly suffocated themselves in their desperate exertions,
+the result was the most diabolical uproar that ever could have been produced since
+the first invention of music.
+</p>
+<p>Not being able to trust the sepoy in such a delicate undertaking, I was unable to
+get any information from the Lamas on religious subjects; and all signs and suggestive
+pointings, &amp;c. were immediately and invariably answered by “Ûm mani panee,” so that
+we left about as wise as we entered. The most interesting object in the place was
+a library of Thibetian books. It consisted of an upright frame divided into square
+compartments, each with a word cut deeply into the wood over it, and containing the
+volumes. These were merely long narrow sheets, collected between two boards, also
+carved on the outside with a name similar to the one on the shelf. The characters
+were beautifully formed, and I tried to purchase a small volume, if a thing about
+two feet long could <span class="pageNum" id="pb167">[<a href="#pb167">167</a>]</span>be called so, but without effect. There were about thirty of these books in the place,
+ponderous tomes, carefully covered up, and little read, to judge by the quantity of
+dust collected on them. They read us, however, a small portion of one, in a drawling,
+sonorous tone, and with no very great facility.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p167width" id="p167"><img src="images/p167.png" alt="Thibetian Religious Literature." width="443" height="553" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>These books, together with a number of rudely-printed papers, of the nature of tracts,
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb168">[<a href="#pb168">168</a>]</span>one of which I carried away, containing some of the characters similar to that on
+the inscribed stones, appear to have been printed at Lassa,<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2223src" href="#xd30e2223">4</a> the capital of Thibet Proper, and from there, the head-quarters of the religion in
+these parts, all the musical instruments and other paraphernalia belonging to the
+temples are also sent. One exception, however, I discovered; this was an empty brandy-bottle,
+bearing a magnificent coloured label, which certainly could not have been issued from
+the Grand Lama’s religious stores. To the English eye, or rather nose, it had but
+little of the odour of sanctity about it; but here it evidently held a high position,
+and was prominently placed among the temporal possessions of “the Gods.”
+</p>
+<p>The women here, and those we met on the road during the last two marches, wore a curious
+head-dress, differing from anything of the kind we had before seen. It consisted of
+a broad band extending from the forehead to the waist behind, and studded thickly
+with large coarse turquoises. These generally decrease in size <span class="pageNum" id="pb169">[<a href="#pb169">169</a>]</span>from the forehead, where there is a larger turquoise than the others, down to the
+waist, and where the hair ends, it is joined into a long worsted tail terminating
+at the heels. Some of these bands must be of considerable value, but the proprietors,
+although otherwise in complete rags, will not part with them for any consideration.
+One lady whom I accosted on the subject, thought I was going to murder her, and took
+to her heels forthwith. In general, however, the fair sex here carefully hide both
+their charms and their turquoises behind the nearest rock or the most convenient cover
+that presents itself, and vanish like phantoms whenever they discern a white man in
+the distance.
+</p>
+<p>The cooking department being delayed by the ascent, we got no breakfast to-day until
+one o’clock, unless a drink of milk and a biscuit on arrival could be called by courtesy
+a breakfast.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 9.</i>—Descended from Lamieroo through a precipitous pass for about three kos and a half,
+to Kulchee, a tidy little village of fifteen huts, situated in an oasis of apricot
+and walnut-trees, the first we had encountered since leaving Cashmere.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p170-1width" id="p170-1"><img src="images/p170-1.jpg" alt="Inscribed Stone with Tibetan text: ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུཾ་." width="478" height="232" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>The people here seemed particularly simple and happy among their waving corn-fields
+and wild fruit-trees, and they were most anxious to <span class="pageNum" id="pb170">[<a href="#pb170">170</a>]</span>supply us with apricots and milk, and whatever they could produce. The Gopa, or head-man
+of the village, could speak a little Hindostanee, besides being able to read and write
+his own language in two characters, and as he seemed unusually sharp and intelligent,
+I was very glad to have a chat with him while waiting for the commissariat to come
+up. The character most common on the inscribed stones, and one of those now in actual
+use, he told me was Romeeque; the other, the square character on the <span class="pageNum" id="pb171">[<a href="#pb171">171</a>]</span>stones, is obsolete, and is called Lantza;<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2254src" href="#xd30e2254">5</a> while a third character, which was the one he was most conversant with, but which
+did not appear upon any of the stones, he called Tyeeque.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p170-2width"><img src="images/p170-2.jpg" alt="Inscribed Stone with Ranjána text ओंमनिपद्मेहूं." width="498" height="234" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>His explanation of the stones was, that at the last day a certain recording angel,
+whom he called Khurjidal, would pass through the land, and inspecting these mounds
+of inscribed stones, <span class="pageNum" id="pb172">[<a href="#pb172">172</a>]</span>would write down the names of all those who had contributed to the heap. What the
+inscription was he seemed unable clearly to explain, but believed it to refer in some
+manner to the Supreme Being. Whatever it was, all those who had contributed their
+share towards its dissemination, by adding stones to the mounds, were certain of future
+rewards, while those who had omitted to do so were as equally certain of punishment.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2273src" href="#xd30e2273">6</a>
+</p>
+<p>This explanation of the difficulty caused me some qualms of conscience on account
+of the future prospects of the unfortunate writer whose <span class="pageNum" id="pb173">[<a href="#pb173">173</a>]</span>particular stone I had appropriated; but for fear the Gopa himself might be the sufferer,
+I thought it better not to confide my emotions to him, but to leave the case in the
+hands of Khurjidal.
+</p>
+<p>Regarding the state of the people here, he told me that each house paid a tax of seven
+rupees per annum to the Maharajah. This, for the entire village, would only give 105
+rupees per annum towards the enrichment of the Treasury.
+</p>
+<p>The Lamas, who have no ground of their own, appear to be a further burden on the population.
+They are supplied gratuitously with food, and appear to be somewhat similar to the
+Hindoo Fukeer, devoting themselves to religion and remaining unmarried. They, however,
+are not so violent in their opinions, and are more conversable, to say nothing of
+being decidedly cleaner.
+</p>
+<p>We breakfasted under the spreading walnuts, among an audience composed of the entire
+village, who seemed much edified and amused by our novel manners and customs. Some
+of our English possessions took their fancy immensely. A cut-glass lantern and the
+label of a bottle of cherry-brandy in particular, seemed to them the very essence
+of the rare and curious, and they <span class="pageNum" id="pb174">[<a href="#pb174">174</a>]</span>seemed never tired of admiring them. After breakfast we again took the road, and marched
+three kos to another little wooded settlement, called Nûrila, situated, like Kulchee,
+upon the Indus, or, as it is here called, the Attock. The noisy, dirty torrent, as
+it here appears, however, gives little promise of becoming, as it does in after life,
+one of the largest of the stately Indian rivers.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 10.</i>—From Nûrila we travelled along the Indus bank to Suspûl, a distance of seven kos
+or thereabouts, stopping for breakfast at a village whose entire population consisted
+of one woman! The river being shut in by high and rocky mountains, our path took several
+most abrupt turns and startling ascents and descents in its meanderings, and proved
+altogether the worst for coolies to travel that we had as yet encountered. The greater
+part of our march, too, was under a burning sun, whose rays the rocks on either side
+of us reflected in anything but an agreeable way, giving thereby a considerable addition
+of colour to our already well-bronzed countenances. Near Suspûl we had to take to
+the water, as a mass of overhanging rock jutted into the river and completely obstructed
+the path; and here one of our coolies, stumbling, dropped his load into the torrent.
+It was a <span class="pageNum" id="pb175">[<a href="#pb175">175</a>]</span>particularly precious part of our expeditionary stores, containing, among other things,
+the small stock of brandy which was to last us back to Sirinugger. However, on inspecting
+the contents of the basket, the precious liquid was safe and sound, and the only damage
+was the conversion, <i>pro tem.</i> of our stock of best lump sugar into <i>moist.</i> Suspûl we found situated in a half-moon shaped break of fertility among the barren
+mountains. The snow was within half an hour’s climb, while at the same time the sun
+shone with such power as to blister our faces, and even to affect the black part of
+the expedition, rendered somewhat tender, no doubt, by the unusual mixture of heat
+and cold to which they had already been exposed. We encamped here under a grove of
+apricot and apple-trees, which resulted in the production of an apple-dumpling for
+dinner.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 11.</i>—Leaving Suspûl, we ascended considerably to the village of Buzgo, another of the
+cloud-built little settlements so dear to the Lamas. The tenements were most picturesquely
+pitched upon the extreme tips of almost perpendicular rocks, and to many of them access
+seemed apparently impossible. Leaving this, we entered upon a desert of shifting sand
+and stones, in the midst of which there was an unusually <span class="pageNum" id="pb176">[<a href="#pb176">176</a>]</span>long wall of the inscribed stones, one of which, although containing the same inscription,
+was of a different pattern from any I had hitherto discovered.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2306src" href="#xd30e2306">7</a>
+</p>
+<div class="figure p176width" id="p176"><img src="images/p176.jpg" alt="Inscribed Stone." width="391" height="410" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>The next oasis was Egnemo, formed, like all the others, by the existence of numerous
+little springs of crystal water, which enabled the waving corn to raise its golden
+head, and the apricot and the apple-tree to flourish in refreshing contrast to the
+general barrenness and sterility which reigned around.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p176-2width" id="p176-2"><img src="images/p176-2.jpg" alt="Thibetian Monuments and Wall of Inscribed Stones.&#xA;Road to Egnemo." width="720" height="439" /><p class="figureHead">Thibetian Monuments and Wall of Inscribed Stones.<br/>
+Road to Egnemo.</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>After a grilling march, we enjoyed the delights <span class="pageNum" id="pb177">[<a href="#pb177">177</a>]</span>of a bathe under a waterfall of clear cold water, and got our breakfast by eleven
+o’clock.
+</p>
+<p>To-day, some of our brigade of coolies begin to complain of sickness, which sounds
+alarming, not only to themselves, but to us, for none others are now procurable. This
+results from their making too free with unripe apricots, and drinking too many gallons
+of cold water on the road; also, however, from the fact of my having doctored the
+first patient who had presented himself, with a couple of pills and some tea—a piece
+of generosity which drove all the others nearly mad with jealousy and envy, and set
+them thinking how they also might be participators in similar luxuries. The pills,
+although in this instance selected promiscuously from a varied stock, were the great
+objects of desire, and such was their confidence in the virtuous properties of the
+remedy, that the character of the particular bolus that fell to their share was to
+them a matter of no consequence whatever. So great a rage is there for medicine among
+people who have never known the luxury of paying for it, that even the blind and deformed
+continually applied to us for it on the road.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 12.</i>—Halted to-day, and gave all hands a day of rest, which was rather required after
+our <span class="pageNum" id="pb178">[<a href="#pb178">178</a>]</span>incessant marching. In the afternoon we explored the village, and enjoyed a magnificent
+sunset behind the ranges of distant snowy mountains. The crops here were more backward
+than those met hitherto, although the power of the sun was rather on the increase<span id="xd30e2335"></span> than otherwise, as we advanced. Some of the fields were occupied by beans, peas,
+and wheat, all growing like a happy family together.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 13.</i>—Made an unusually early start, this morning, for our final march into Ladak. The
+first part of the journey was up a precipitous ascent, and over shifting gravel, which
+was very trying to our already well-worn boots; and it was a relief when, on arriving
+at the summit, we found a long and gradual descent before us, with an entirely new
+panorama of snow-clad mountains extending away towards Ladak.
+</p>
+<p>In the distance, close to the river Indus, which here branched out into several small
+and separate streams, there was a high mound, topped with buildings, which we made
+for, under the full impression that it was our journey’s end: however, on reaching
+it, and turning confidently round the corner, we found nothing but a deserted-looking
+building, surrounded by an immense number of the monuments which the natives call
+Permessur; while, stretched out at <span class="pageNum" id="pb179">[<a href="#pb179">179</a>]</span>our feet, and forming, as it were, the bottom of a large basin among the mountains,
+was a dreary desert of glaring, burning sand. The place altogether looked like a city
+of the dead: not a soul appeared in sight, except one solitary old woman, who was
+slowly traversing the weary waste of sands, and all around was still and silent as
+the grave. In order to gain some intelligence of our whereabouts, I was obliged to
+give chase to this only inhabitant, and from her I discovered, that to reach Ladak—a
+green-looking speck which she pointed out in the far distance—we had to cross the
+desert sands, and still hold on our course for several miles. The sun was by this
+time high in the heavens, and we had already come a longish march, so that by the
+time I had traversed the arid plain under the blinding glare, and reached the green
+fields beyond, it was nearly twelve o’clock, and I had had nearly enough of the journey.
+It was, however, a couple of miles farther to the grove of trees, where, under very
+indifferent shade, travellers are in the habit of halting to pitch their camps; and
+on reaching this, I was glad to throw myself down on the grass, and, after a drink
+of milk, and the slight refreshment afforded by a leathery chupattie, to go to sleep
+on the grass, until the arrival of our servants and baggage <span class="pageNum" id="pb180">[<a href="#pb180">180</a>]</span>should give us a prospect of breakfast. These made their appearance about two <span class="asc">P.M.</span>, and all hands requiring a little rest from the toils of the road, we pitched our
+camp under the trees, and set ourselves to the enjoyment of a few days’ halt in the
+city of Ladak.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb181">[<a href="#pb181">181</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep" />
+<div id="xd30e2112">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2112src">1</a></span> These monuments would appear to be of the kind designated Chod-tens and Dung-tens,
+which have been thus described:—“In the monuments which are dedicated to the celestial
+Buddha, the invisible being who pervades all space, no deposit was made; but the Divine
+Spirit, who was light, was supposed to occupy the interim. Such are the numerous Chod-tens
+in Tibet dedicated to the celestial Buddha, in contradistinction to the Dung-tens,
+which are built in honour of the mortal Buddhas, and which ought to contain some portion
+of their relies, real or supposed. The first means an offering to the Deity, the latter
+a bone or relic receptacle. In the Sanscrit these are termed Chaitya and Dagoba.”—<span class="sc">Cunningham.</span>&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2112src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e2166">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2166src">2</a></span> This appears to have been one of the Dagobas or bone-holders, which are erected either
+over the corse of a Lama or the ashes of some person of consequence. “The tribute
+of respect is paid in Tibet to the manes of the dead in various ways. It is the custom
+to preserve entire the mortal remains of the sovereign Lamas only. As soon as life
+has left the body of a Lama, it is placed upright, sitting in an attitude of devotion,
+his legs being folded before him, with the instep resting on each thigh, and the sides
+of the feet turned upwards. The right hand is rested with its back upon the thigh,
+with the thumb bent across the palm. The left arm is bent and held close to the body,
+the hand being open and the thumb touching the point of the shoulder. This is the
+attitude of abstracted meditation.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">“The bodies of inferior Lamas are usually burnt, and their ashes preserved with the
+greatest care, and the monuments in which they are contained are ever after looked
+upon as sacred, and visited with religious awe.”—<span class="sc">Turner.</span>&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2166src" title="Return to note 2 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e2178">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2178src">3</a></span> <span lang="ur" class="aran">جو خُدا كريگا سو كويِ نہين كريگا‎</span>&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2178src" title="Return to note 3 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e2223">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2223src">4</a></span> “Tibet may be considered the head-quarters of Buddhism in the present age, and immense
+volumes are still to be found in that country (faithful translations of the Sanskrit
+text), which refer to the manners, customs, opinions, knowledge, ignorance, superstition,
+hopes and fears of a great part of Asia, especially of India in former ages.”—<span class="sc">Csoma de <span class="corr" id="xd30e2227" title="Source: Koros">Kőrös</span>,</span> <i>Preface to Tibetan Grammar.</i>&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2223src" title="Return to note 4 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e2254">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2254src">5</a></span> These stones would appear to be peculiar to Thibet, although the sentence inscribed
+upon them has been occasionally discovered elsewhere. Mention of it is thus made in
+the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal:—“On the main road from the Valley of
+Nipal to Tibet stands a diminutive stone, ‘Chaitya.’ Upon this is inscribed a variety
+of texts from the Buddha Scriptures, and amongst others the celebrated Mantra, or
+charmed sentence of Tibet. The system of letters called Lantzá in Tibet, and there
+considered foreign and Indian, though nowhere extant in the Plains of India, is the
+common vehicle of Sanscrit language among the Buddhists of Nipal Proper, by whom it
+is denominated Ranjá, in Devanagri <span lang="sa" class="deva">रंजा</span>.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">“Ranjá, therefore, and not, according to a barbarian metamorphosis, Lántzá, it should
+be called by us, and by way of further and clearer distinction, the Nipalese variety
+of Devánágrí. Obviously deducible as this form is from the Indian standard, it is
+interesting to observe it in practical collocation with the ordinary Thibetan form,
+and when it is considered that Lántzá or Ranjá is the common extant vehicle of those
+original Sanscrit works of which the Thibetan books are translations, the interest
+of an inscription traced on one slab in both characters cannot but be allowed to be
+considerable. The habit of promulgation of the doctrines of their faith by inscriptions
+patent on the face of religious edifices, stones, &amp;c., is peculiar to the Buddhists
+of Thibet. The Mantrá is also quite unknown to the Buddhists of Ceylon and the Eastern
+peninsula, and forms the peculiar feature of Thibetan Buddhism.”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2254src" title="Return to note 5 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e2273">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2273src">6</a></span> This was the only explanation of the mounds of inscribed stones which I was able to
+obtain from a native source; and some foundation for the story may be traced in the
+legend—which will be found in <a href="#appb">Appendix B</a>—upon which M. Klaproth has founded the only explanation of the mystic inscription,
+which I have been as yet able to discover.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">By the Lamas themselves I never heard these mounds alluded to otherwise than by the
+words “Mani panee.” Cunningham, however, who had ample opportunity of ascertaining
+their meaning and origin, terms them “Manís” (in another form of spelling, “Munees”),
+and thus describes them:—“The Maní—a word naturalized from the Sanscrit—is a stone
+dyke, from four to five feet high, and from six to twelve in breadth; length from
+ten or twenty feet to half a mile The surface of the Maní is always covered with inscribed
+slabs; these are votive offerings from all classes of people for the attainment of
+some particular object. Does a childless man wish for a son, or a merchant about to
+travel hope for a safe return; each goes to a Lama and purchases a slate, which he
+deposits carefully on the village ‘Maní,’ and returns to his home in full confidence
+that his prayers will be heard.”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2273src" title="Return to note 6 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e2306">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2306src">7</a></span> This was in all probability intended to represent the form of the lotus. <i>Vide</i> <a href="#appb">Appendix B</a>.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2306src" title="Return to note 7 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="pt5" class="div0 part">
+<h2 class="label">Part V.</h2>
+<h2 class="main">Ladak and the Monastery of Hemis.</h2>
+<p class="first">The first event after being settled in our new quarters was the arrival of a sheep,
+presented to us by the Kardar, or chief dignitary of the town, as a mark of affection
+and distinction. This, according to the strict letter of the law, we should have refused
+to accept; twenty days marching, however, while it had sharpened our appetites, had
+rather diminished our stores. Sheep were not to be got every day, and an ill-looking
+animal which we had succeeded in purchasing at Egnemo, had been overcome by the heat
+of the weather and taken itself off on the road. Other supplies, also, were a good
+deal weakened by successive attacks; potatoes had been extinct many days, and the
+stock of ducks, <span class="pageNum" id="pb182">[<a href="#pb182">182</a>]</span>which formed our main stay in case of future difficulties, was rapidly succumbing
+to the knife of the assassin. Under these circumstances we felt that we would be in
+no way justified in hurting the Kardar’s feelings at the expense of our own, by refusing
+his present, and believing ourselves to be in this instance fit subjects for out-door
+relief, the new arrival was soon swinging about in the breeze, a welcome addition
+to our unfurnished larder.
+</p>
+<p>Having thus ended the struggle between our duty and our feelings, we turned our attention
+to the exploration of the surrounding country.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p182width" id="p182"><img src="images/p182.jpg" alt="Rajah’s Palace, Ladak." width="720" height="444" /><div class="figAnnotation p182width"><span class="figBottomLeft">W.H.K. Delt.</span><span class="figTop">&nbsp;</span><span class="figBottomRight">Hanhart, Lith.</span></div>
+<p class="figureHead">Rajah’s Palace, Ladak.</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>The town of Ladak, although in a commercial point of view by no means a flourishing-looking
+settlement, was, as far as picturesqueness was concerned, everything that could be
+desired. It was built in the style so popular throughout the country—on pinnacles
+of rock, and such out of the way positions as seemed, of all others, the least adapted
+for building purposes—immediately outside the town, occupying a sort of bason among
+the surrounding mountains, <span class="corr" id="xd30e2369" title="Not in source">and</span> was what might fairly be called a “city of the dead.” It was of considerable extent,
+and was formed of groups of the numerous monumental buildings which I have described,
+and which in a country where the habitations of the living appear so <span class="pageNum" id="pb183">[<a href="#pb183">183</a>]</span>few in proportion to those of the dead, form so curious and remarkable a feature.
+These tombs, although by no means of very modern date, bear traces, in many instances,
+of the more recently departed of the Buddhist population. Burnt fragments of bone,
+hair, &amp;c., were scattered about in various directions, while, collected together in
+one corner, were the little mounds of mud with a rise at one extremity, where the
+sculptured turban ought to rest, which denoted the last resting-place of the Moslem
+faithful. Meeting with the Kardar’s chupprassie, I entered into conversation with
+him about the manners and customs of the Thibetians, a subject on which he seemed
+to have very hazy ideas indeed, although not on that account at all the less inclined
+to impart them to one more ignorant than himself. His opinion of the inscribed stones
+was that they were all written by the Lamas, but he failed completely in explaining
+for what reason they were collected together. He was aware, however, of Khurjidal,
+who was to inspect them at the last day. The tomb-like erections, he said, were considered
+in the light of gods; the bones and ashes of departed Lamas having been pounded up
+together and deposited beneath them, together with such valuables as turquoises, Pushmeena,
+rupees, &amp;c. This fact would perhaps <span class="pageNum" id="pb184">[<a href="#pb184">184</a>]</span>account for their being so often in a ruined state—Gûlab <span class="corr" id="xd30e2375" title="Source: Sing">Singh</span> having, probably, taken a look at their foundations in search of such valuable pickings.
+The reason my informant gave me for the unwillingness of the people, however poor,
+to sell their superabundant ornaments, was that they regarded them as sacred, and
+held them as their own property during their lifetime only; on decease the jewels
+reverted to the possessions of the Church. The Lamas are provided, by the custom of
+dedicating in every family of two or more, one to that office; should there be a number
+of girls in a family, all those that do not marry become nuns, and adopt the male
+attire of red and yellow. The nuns, however, seem to be by no means kept in confinement;
+they work in the fields, and one of them enlisted with us as a coolie, and brought
+her load into camp before any of her male coadjutors. Among other curious information
+my friend told me, that the Thibetians by no means consider that each man is entitled
+to the luxury of a wife all to himself; but that a family of four or five brothers
+frequently have but one between them, and that the system is productive of no ill-feeling
+whatever among the different members.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2378src" href="#xd30e2378">1</a> He also <span class="pageNum" id="pb185">[<a href="#pb185">185</a>]</span>pointed out a fact which I had not before noticed, viz., that the Thibetians invariably
+pass to the right hand of these piles of stones and other monuments, but for what
+reason he was unable to inform me.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2386src" href="#xd30e2386">2</a> Having finished his stock of information, which I received thank-fully in default
+of better, he told me, with delightful coolness, that it was the proper thing for
+me to give him a bottle of brandy for the Kardar, and that it would be necessary to
+send also a corkscrew with the bottle, to enable him to get at it! The impudence of
+the request was almost worth the bottle, but brandy was too scarce and precious a
+commodity to justify us in pleasing the Kardar, so that all I could do was politely
+to decline sending the corkscrew or the bottle either. In the afternoon we explored
+the Bazaar, where we found abundance of dogs, dirt, and idlers, but little else. What
+little there was in the way of merchandise the proprietors seemed utterly indifferent
+about disposing of, and after visiting a <span class="pageNum" id="pb186">[<a href="#pb186">186</a>]</span>few shops we went away in disgust. The people were a mixture of Cashmeeries, Chinese,
+Tartars, Bengalees, and Indians of all sorts and sects, and more idle, good-for-nothing
+looking scoundrels I never laid eyes on. One most amusing group of Mahomedan exquisites
+reminded one forcibly of <i>Punch’s</i> Noah’s ark costumes and Bond Street specimens of fashion. They were dressed in exaggerated
+turbans and long white Chogas, or loose coats, which reached down to their heels;
+and, as arm in arm, with gentle swagger, they sauntered through the bazaar, they had,
+in addition to their heavy swellishness, an air of Eastern listlessness to which the
+most exquisite of their European prototypes could never hope to attain. On reaching
+our camp we found another traveller had added his little canvas to the scene; it was
+one of the Government Survey, whom the natives invariably designate by the comprehensive
+title of “the Compass Wallahs.” Wallah is, in Hindostanee, as nearly as possible an
+equivalent to “fellow,” and in explaining the character of this particular order of
+Wallah, the accent is always strong on the second syllable of the compass. The Compáss
+Wallah in question we found quite a wild man of the mountains; his face, from changes
+of heat and cold and long exposure, was burnt and blistered into all sorts of colours,
+and, <span class="pageNum" id="pb187">[<a href="#pb187">187</a>]</span>to make his appearance more generally striking, he wore as head-dress, a flyaway, puggery, or turban of blue cotton, of the most voluminous dimensions and wonderful
+construction imaginable. He gave us an amusing account of his operations among the
+clouds; how he always rode a cow! and was so much alone that he at times began to
+doubt the existence of other white men in creation besides himself; how he was <i>sea</i> sick at first, and unable to sleep at night from the great rarification of the atmosphere,
+&amp;c. He joined us during dinner, just in time for a triumph of a plum pudding which
+our cook had unexpectedly produced, and his heart was so gladdened and expanded by
+either the suet, the raisins, or the brandy, that he chatted away until the dissipated
+mountain hour of eleven o’clock, when we sent him off to bed, much pleased with his
+entertainment, and again reassured, at least for a time, of the continued existence,
+not only of white men in the world, but of their plum puddings. Among other statistics
+he gave us the height of Ladak, as 11,000 feet, and that of the recently discovered
+monarch of the mountains, now set at rest as belonging to the Himalayan range, as
+being 29,003 feet above the level of the sea.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2402src" href="#xd30e2402">3</a>
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb188">[<a href="#pb188">188</a>]</span></p>
+<p><i>August 15.</i>—Employed all the morning in endeavouring to procure supplies of tea, and after unearthing
+a queer-looking package containing seven pounds and a half, we differed about the
+price, the proprietor demanding twenty-four shillings, or about twice its local value.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 16.</i>—There being no tidings of the arrival of expected caravans, we marched for the monastery
+of Hemis, crossing the Indus immediately after leaving Ladak, and following it up
+towards its source. Outside the town we passed a mound of the inscribed stones, which
+must have been nearly a quarter of a mile in length, and probably contained as many
+as 30,000. The left bank of the river, which thus formed our path, was a continuation
+of detached huts, forming no regular villages, and affording very little shade or
+apparent prospect of shelter for man or beast. The right bank, however, was studded
+with picturesque-looking little villages, built generally on rocky summits, and surrounded
+by tombs and Mani panees, to an extent almost to rival the towns themselves in size
+and importance. About nine miles on the road we halted for breakfast, on the confines
+of a desert <span class="pageNum" id="pb189">[<a href="#pb189">189</a>]</span>of smooth stones, from which the heat ascended like vapour, and made our eye-balls
+ache again. There was no shade in sight, however, and milk was here forthcoming, so we made the best of a bad situation, and, after our repast, lost no time in getting
+again under weigh. After a hot tramp over a perfect desert, we reached the wooded
+little village of Chunga, where, as it was getting late, we called a halt and pitched
+our camp. All hands being tired by their march, we got our dinner at nine o’clock.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 17.</i>—Started early for Hemis. From the formation of the mountains in which it is situated,
+the entrance to the village opens upon the traveller suddenly and as if by magic;
+and as we tramped this morning along the parched and sandy desert, welcome indeed
+was the unexpected vision of trees and rushing water which the sharp turn presented
+to our astonished gaze.
+</p>
+<p>The entrance to the gorge in which the monastery is situated was, as usual, quite
+covered with Mani panees and walls of inscribed stones; one of the former was studded
+with human skulls, and otherwise ornamented, in a way that proved the vicinity of
+some stronghold of Lama talent, though not perhaps of the very highest order.
+</p>
+<p>The monastery we found situated in a beautifully-wooded <span class="pageNum" id="pb190">[<a href="#pb190">190</a>]</span>valley, thickly planted, and having a dashing little torrent foaming through the centre.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p190width" id="p190"><img src="images/p190.jpg" alt="Monument at Hemis." width="443" height="560" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>It was built as usual, on the very face of the rock, and towering above it was an
+airy fort, ensconced among a number of crows’-nest habitations, perched about apparently
+with more regard to effect than comfort.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb191">[<a href="#pb191">191</a>]</span></p>
+<p>While waiting for the kitchen to come up, we inspected the monastery, and were waited
+upon by half-a-dozen Lamas, who showed us through the various temples of the gods.
+Originally containing some two hundred Lamas, its numbers had now dwindled down, by
+their account, to fifteen or sixteen. We, however, saw actually more than that number
+ourselves while wandering through the building.
+</p>
+<p>They owned to having treasure in the monastery to the amount of three lakhs of rupees
+(£30,000), but of this we saw small signs during our inspection.
+</p>
+<p>Some of the divinities were, however, provided with vestments of cloth of gold, and
+were seated upon thrones, studded with would-be precious stones. Others were accommodated
+with large silver bowls, placed on pedestals, filled to the brim with “ghee,” or rancid
+butter, and unless blest with inordinate appetites, these, from their enormous size,
+might fairly last them all till doomsday. We were altogether conducted through four
+temples, each inhabited by a number of Chinese figures, seated in state, with offerings
+of corn, flour, rice and ghee, &amp;c. before them, and these were generally served in
+valuable cups of china, and precious metals. Hanging from the ceiling and the walls
+around <span class="pageNum" id="pb192">[<a href="#pb192">192</a>]</span>were scrolls, decorated in the Chinese fashion, with figures of tightly-robed, narrow-eyed
+ladies and gentlemen, scattered about with the usual perspective results.
+</p>
+<p>Some of these scrolls were decorated with scenes which it would take hours to decipher
+and appreciate. One, in particular, of the last day, was covered with innumerable
+little figures, and appeared well worthy of a close inspection.
+</p>
+<p>The bad people might here be seen, falling into the hands of some of the most disrespectable
+looking monsters I have ever beheld; while the good were sitting up in a bunch, looking
+on at the dreadful scene, in a satisfied and undisturbed way, beautiful to behold.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p192width" id="p192"><img src="images/p192.jpg" alt="Monastery of Hemis." width="431" height="720" /><p class="figureHead">Monastery of Hemis.</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>The most curious things in the place, however, were the praying wheels, which I here
+saw for the first time. They were little wooden drums, covered round the sides with
+leather, and fitted vertically in niches in the walls.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2447src" href="#xd30e2447">4</a> A spindle running through the centre, enabled them to revolve at the slightest push.
+They were generally in rows of eight and ten, and well thumbed and worn they looked,
+but others of larger dimensions were placed by themselves, decorated with the words
+“Ûm mani panee,” in the Lanza character, all round the barrel.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb193">[<a href="#pb193">193</a>]</span></p>
+<p>In the vicinity of the monasteries were various small temples, probably chapels of
+ease, rudely decorated with grotesque figures, in red and yellow, and having queer-looking
+structures fastened on the top of them, generally a trident, with tufts of hair attached,
+or strips of coloured calico, horns of animals, and other rude devices.
+</p>
+<p>In one place we came upon a praying-wheel, turned by water, but I was unable to ascertain
+whether the benefit accrued to the water, or to the possessor of the stream, or to
+the public generally. Sometimes the people carry portable wheels, and one old gentleman
+we met was provided with a huge brass one, with a wooden handle. It was suspended
+from his neck, in company with a collection of square leather charms, fastened by
+a string to his coat.
+</p>
+<p>On my asking him what the structure meant, he immediately begun to set it in motion,
+and piously ejaculating “Ûm mani panee,” passed on without another word, but in evident
+pity for my benighted spiritual condition.
+</p>
+<p>Among other curious sights, we saw one of the Lamas sitting at a chapel door, having,
+before him seven little brass pots. In each of these there was a letter of the words
+“Ûm <span class="pageNum" id="pb194">[<a href="#pb194">194</a>]</span>mani panee,” and the pots being filled with water, he was employed in strewing each
+with a few grains of corn from a heap at his side, keeping up at the same time a loud
+mournful chant, and swaying himself to and fro, in time with the music. To have inquired
+the meaning of this would only have again resulted in the comprehensive information
+contained in “Ûm mani panee,” so we rested in our ignorance, and passed on, much to
+the relief of the chaunter. After going all through this curious monastery, we repaired
+to our tents, which had arrived in the interim, and which we found pitched pleasantly
+among the trees, within a few yards of the torrent. After a bathe and breakfast, we
+came unanimously to the conclusion that the water was so cold, and the air so cool
+and refreshing, we could not do better than halt for a couple of days, under the protection
+of the Church, before again taking the road on our homeward route.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 18.</i>—Out early for a day’s stalk over the mountains, after deer, or anything there might
+be forthcoming. One of the coolies being a “shikaree,” or what they call in Ireland
+a “sportsman,” I took him with me, and with another to carry some breakfast, off we
+started at about five <span class="asc">A.M.</span> The ascent at first was so <span class="pageNum" id="pb195">[<a href="#pb195">195</a>]</span>abrupt, that, although in pretty good walking condition by this time, I found myself
+halting very frequently to admire the prospect. Having attained the greatest height
+actually attainable, we spied quietly grazing, about half a mile off, some half dozen
+little animals, which my “sportsman” declared to be Ibex, and down Aye went again,
+best pace, with a view to making a circumbendibus, to get behind them. With a view
+to accomplish this, we had to pass across some very difficult ground, and at last
+came to a smooth face of rock, with nothing whatever about it to hold on by, and,
+moreover, an overhanging ledge, which fairly seemed to bar all further progress.
+</p>
+<p>The coolie, however, whose every toe was as useful to him as a finger, managed to
+scramble up; and not to be outdone, I also attained some height, when, holding on
+fly-fashion, and clinging to the rock with my fingers and grass shoes, suddenly the
+pole which partly supported me slipped away, and my whole attention had to be directed
+to again reaching the ground in as soft and comfortable a manner as possible. In this
+I succeeded beyond my expectations, and, a second attempt being more successful, finally
+reached the top. On attaining our hardly-earned post of vantage, however, there was
+no <span class="pageNum" id="pb196">[<a href="#pb196">196</a>]</span>sign of our friends, but, suddenly, on the mountain below us a herd of about five-and-twenty
+more appeared to our delighted view. They were standing gazing up at us in astonishment,
+and for some moments we remained fixed and motionless, hoping to be taken for the
+stones we were habited in imitation of. Then, crouching down and crawling along as
+if on velvet, down we went again, and after another long and trying stalk, over broken
+ground formed apparently of small slates placed edgeways, and crumbling rocks, whose
+slightest fall would have been destruction to our plans, we attained a rock about
+two hundred yards from the herd, and paused for breath once more. They were lying
+about sunning themselves, with an outlying sentinel posted here and there on either
+side of them on the look-out; and seeing an eligible spot some fifty yards nearer,
+we stole along to reach it. We were not, however, destined to take this unfair advantage
+of the enemy. Just as we had half crossed the distance, an ill-fated, abominable little
+fragment of rock suddenly broke off, and at its first bound away went the herd like
+lightning over the precipitous rocks, and with a little chirrupping noise like sparrows,
+were in a few seconds well out of range of bullets. As the natives express it, “they
+became wind,” and we <span class="pageNum" id="pb197">[<a href="#pb197">197</a>]</span>were left behind our rock, looking, after all our toils, to say the least of it, extremely
+foolish. A shot which I took at some 250 yards was more to relieve ourselves by making
+a noise than with any hopes of bringing down one of the light-heeled little creatures,
+for their bounding powers put all correctness of aim at that range out of the question.
+</p>
+<p>The next part of the programme was breakfast, but alas! there were no signs in any
+direction of the bearer of our supplies, and I now recollected that the rock which
+had so puzzled us would be quite inaccessible to the coolie and his precious charge,
+without which he himself was useless. All we could do was to ascend a high peak of
+mountain, in hopes that the breakfast would ascend another, and that we could then
+exchange signals of distress and obtain relief. However, after reaching our look-out
+station, which took us some climbing, we could discern nothing around us bearing the
+slightest resemblance to a coolie, and our hopes began to descend below zero.
+</p>
+<p>It was now about twelve o’clock, and taking advantage of the produce of the country,
+I made a light breakfast off two stalks of rhubarb, and tying a handkerchief to the
+top of my pole as a signal, lay down in the very minute portion of <span class="pageNum" id="pb198">[<a href="#pb198">198</a>]</span>shade procurable under a midday sun, and indulged in the pleasures of imagination,
+conjured up by absent chicken legs and cold chupatties. After a long wait, I came
+to the conclusion that the two pieces of rhubarb were entirely insufficient to continue
+the day’s work upon, so I reluctantly gave the order to retreat upon our camp, and
+turned from thoughts of breakfast to those of dinner. My grass shoes were by this
+time completely worn out by the pointed rocks and flinty ground we had traversed,
+and my spare ones were in the society of the cold chicken and the chupatties, so that
+I was soon walking in nothing but socks. Before long, this portion of my property
+was also run through, and I was finally obliged to borrow the sportsman’s pointed
+slippers, in which I managed to get along over the ruggedest piece of creation I ever
+traversed, and reached our camp about three <span class="asc">P.M.</span> Tired, hungry, and burnt by the sun, a bathe in the rushing torrent and a visit to
+the kitchen were soon accomplished, and I then learnt that the coolie, being stopped
+by the rock, had come back at once, and, having been again immediately packed off
+by F. to search for us, had not been since heard of.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 19.</i>—Found the <abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr> to-day laid up with fever and influenza, and administered <span class="pageNum" id="pb199">[<a href="#pb199">199</a>]</span>some quinine pills to him, besides ordering a steed to carry him on to Ladak to-morrow.
+</p>
+<p>Explored the Lama’s habitations and temples, and saw some very curious carvings and
+paintings on stones, some of them not altogether in the Church order of design.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p199width" id="p199"><img src="images/p199.jpg" alt="Painted Stone." width="389" height="455" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>Some of the ceilings were beautifully decorated, and must have cost a good deal of
+money in their day, but they were now rapidly falling into decay.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb200">[<a href="#pb200">200</a>]</span></p>
+<p>During the day we had a good opportunity of seeing the Lamas go through their private
+devotions. The operation appeared simple enough. Each as he entered the court and
+passed along the rows of wheels, by simply stretching out his arm set the whole of
+them in motion, at the same time repeating “Ûm mani panee” in a dolorous voice to
+himself. Coming then to the large wheel with painted characters, he gave it an extra
+energetic spin, which sufficed to keep it in motion for several minutes, and having
+thus expended his energies for the time being, he again disappeared as he had come.
+One of the smaller wheels I found in a state of neglect and dilapidation as to its
+outer case, and thinking it a good opportunity to discover something as to the meaning
+of the system in general and of “Ûm mani panee” in particular, I quietly abstracted
+the inner contents, in full assurance that it would never be missed; that the wheel
+itself would go round as merrily as ever, and that, as far as the prayers were concerned,
+there were still sufficient left behind, considering the reduced state of the monasteries,
+to satisfy the conscience even of the devoutest of Lamas.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2499src" href="#xd30e2499">5</a>
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb201">[<a href="#pb201">201</a>]</span></p>
+<p>As I passed out, however, a huge black dog, which was chained up in the yard, seemed,
+by the rabid manner in which he made feints at my legs, to be quite aware of what
+I had done, and he snapped and howled, and strained and tore at his chain as I went
+by, just as if he detected the holy bundle sticking out of my pocket, and thoroughly
+understood my consequent guilty appearance. The principal designs upon the stones
+here—some of which, in colour, were in wonderful preservation—appear to be cross-legged
+effigies of Buddha, seated in that state of entire abstraction from all passions and
+desires, which seem to be the end and object of Buddhists’ aspirations.
+</p>
+<p>A certain rotundity of form, however, and appearance of <i>comfortableness,</i> rather tend to suggest that the pleasures of the table at least <span class="pageNum" id="pb202">[<a href="#pb202">202</a>]</span>have not quite been renounced among the other pomps and vanities of Buddhist life.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p202width" id="p202"><img src="images/p202.jpg" alt="Buddha." width="553" height="496" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p><i>August 20.</i>—Started for Ladak again, nominally at some desperately early hour of the morning,
+but in reality at about half-past five, the sun not shining upon our position until
+late, in consequence of our proximity to the mountains. Mr. Rajoo being still indisposed,
+and, in his own belief, dying, we mounted him upon a hill <span class="pageNum" id="pb203">[<a href="#pb203">203</a>]</span>horse, where he looked like a fly on a dromedary. Halted for breakfast half way, and
+had a hot wearisome march afterwards into Ladak, the sun being intensely powerful,
+and the greater part of the journey over a glaring desert of shifting sand and loose
+stones. So deep was this in some places, that it was with difficulty we could drag
+our steps along. The latter part seemed perfectly interminable, and not until four
+o’clock, burnt, tired, and parched with thirst, did we reach our old halting place.
+Since our departure, the Thanadar had changed his fancy as to brandy, and now requested
+a bottle of vinegar. This we promised in the event of his procuring us some tea, our
+stock being low, and none other procurable without government assistance. By this
+means we obtained a decorated bundle of pale-looking tea for thirteen rupees, or 1<i>l.</i> 6<i>s.</i> The bundle contained 7½ lbs., so that the price was heavy enough, considering our
+proximity to the land of tea.
+</p>
+<p>My shoe-leather being in a doubtful state, I invested in a pair of the sheepskin Chino-Esquimaux
+ones of local manufacture, but soon found that the old saw of “nothing like leather”
+was quite a fallacy, when the leather savoured so strongly of mutton as that composing
+my new boots did. In the morning they were <span class="pageNum" id="pb204">[<a href="#pb204">204</a>]</span>absent, and it was not until after much search that the mutilated remains of one foot
+was discovered, gnawed and sucked out of all semblance to Blucher, Wellington, or
+any other known order of shoe or boot, while the other appeared irretrievably to have
+gone to the dogs. Our lantern here was also carried off by some of the canine race,
+and left beautifully cleaned, but unbroken, not far from our tent door.
+</p>
+<p>Finding that there was no news of caravans, or probability of their arriving, we determined
+upon striking our camp, and retiring again towards Cashmere, having attained the furthermost
+point which the limits of our leave allowed.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb205">[<a href="#pb205">205</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep" />
+<div id="xd30e2378">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2378src">1</a></span> Of this custom Turner remarks, alluding to Thibet Proper:—“Here we find a practice
+at once different from the modes of <span class="pageNum" id="pb185n">[<a href="#pb185n">185</a>]</span>Europe, and opposite to those of Asia. That of one female associating her fate and
+fortune with all the brothers of a family, without any restriction of age or numbers.
+The choice of a wife is the privilege of the elder brother; and singular as it may
+seem, a Thibetan wife is as jealous of her connubial rites as ever the despot of an
+Indian Zenana is of the favours of his imprisoned fair.”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2378src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e2386">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2386src">2</a></span> “As the inscription of course begins at opposite ends on each side, the Thibetans
+are careful in passing that they do not trace the words backwards.”—<span class="sc">Turner.</span>&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2386src" title="Return to note 2 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e2402">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2402src">3</a></span> This is Mount “Everest,” which has been called, the King of <span class="pageNum" id="pb188n">[<a href="#pb188n">188</a>]</span>the South. The King of the North, “Nunga Purbut,” is 26,629 feet above the level of
+the sea.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2402src" title="Return to note 3 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e2447">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2447src">4</a></span> <i>Vide</i> illustration, Hemis Monastery.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2447src" title="Return to note 4 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e2499">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2499src">5</a></span> The only information I here again received was “Ûm mani panee!” The wheel consisted
+of a roll of the thinnest paper, six inches in diameter, and five and a half in width,
+closely printed <span class="pageNum" id="pb201n">[<a href="#pb201n">201</a>]</span>throughout with the eternally recurring words, which all appeared so ready to pronounce
+and none seemed able to explain. The roll was sixty yards long, and was composed of
+a succession of strips, one foot nine inches in length, and all joined together. The
+whole was inclosed in a coarse canvas cover, open at both ends, and marked with what
+was no doubt the official seal of the particular society for the diffusion of ignorance
+at Lassa, from which it had originally emanated. Each of the strips contained the
+mystic sentence, one hundred and seventy times, so that I was thus at once put into
+possession of all the valuable intelligence to be derived from “Ûm mani panee,” repeated
+between seventeen and eighteen thousand times. <i>Vide</i> <a href="#appb">Appendix B</a>.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2499src" title="Return to note 5 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="pt6" class="div0 part">
+<h2 class="label">Part VI.</h2>
+<h2 class="main">A Retreat to the Valley.</h2>
+<p class="first"><i>August 21.</i>—Left Ladak about four <span class="asc">P.M.</span> and halted for the night on the confines of the desert-plain at Pitok. On the road
+I succeeded—much to my astonishment—in getting a necklace of bits of amber, and a
+turquoise, from an old lady, whom I found at her cottage-door weaving goat’s-hair
+cloth. She took two rupees for the family jewels, and, when the bargain was struck,
+seemed in a desperate fright at what she had done, looking about in every direction
+to see that no avaricious old Lama was near, nor any of her gossiping acquaintance,
+who would be likely to tell <i>the minister</i> of what she had done.
+</p>
+<p>For the first time during our travels, the retainers turned a little rusty to-day.
+The scarcity of the tobacco supply and dislike to <span class="pageNum" id="pb206">[<a href="#pb206">206</a>]</span>quit the amusements of city life were the chief causes, and the consequence was that
+the cook, who was sent off at two o’clock to have dinner ready for us on arrival,
+made his appearance about sunset and gave us dinner at nine <span class="asc">P.M.</span> The <abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr> and the Sipahee sauntered in afterwards at their leisure, having left the coolies
+and ourselves to pitch the camp how and where we liked. Smarting under these indignities,
+and knowing that the Sipahee was the head and front of the offending, I, in a weak
+moment, committed an assault upon that ferocious warrior. The consequence was that
+the representative of “The Army,” feeling its dignity insulted in the face of the
+populace, immediately set to work upon the unfortunate natives, and assaulted even
+the gopa, or kotwal, of the village; and so severely was one of the coolies handled,
+that I was obliged to interfere in the cause of peace, and not without difficulty
+succeeded in stopping the stone I had thus so unwittingly set rolling.
+</p>
+<p>This same Sipahee rejoiced in the name of Dilour Khan, which might be loosely translated
+the “Invincible One,” and such we always called him. He was a fierce-looking soldier
+beyond measure to look at, and very terrible among the miserable Thibetians, making
+desperate <span class="pageNum" id="pb207">[<a href="#pb207">207</a>]</span>onslaughts upon the unfortunate boors, to obtain supplies fit, as he said, for the
+Grandees, the Cherishers of the Poor, the Protection of the World, &amp;c.
+</p>
+<p>The style of head-dress generally worn among the natives facilitated his efforts immensely
+in these matters; for, throwing aloft his sword, and relinquishing his umbrella, he
+used to seize suddenly upon a pig-tail, and, handling it after the fashion of a bell-rope,
+proceed to insist upon the production of impossible mutton and other delicacies in
+a way that was almost always successful, even under circumstances apparently the most
+hopeless.
+</p>
+<p>He had a sharp, detonating way, too, of delivering a volley of Thibetian, at the same
+time curling up his fierce-looking moustaches and whiskers, and gesticulating with
+both arms, which always had a great effect, the more so that the expletives were generally
+in Hindostanee, and not being understood, were all the more terrible to the unfortunate
+pig-tails on that account.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 22.</i>—Left for Egnemo, over our old ground, which, wanting the attraction of novelty, appeared
+to us rather longer than on first acquaintance. The sun, too, was more powerful than
+ever and the deep soft sand more trying, <span class="pageNum" id="pb208">[<a href="#pb208">208</a>]</span>so that we were glad enough to get under shelter at our journey’s end. Here we found
+the apricot trees, which were teeming with fruit when we passed, completely stripped
+and bare, and it was with difficulty we got a few from the houses for preserving purposes.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 23.</i>—Made an early start, and arrived at Suspûl after a pleasant march, a cool breeze
+from the mountains fanning our faces the entire way. Here we pitched upon a cool and
+shady camping-ground, close to a rushing torrent, where we were soon immersed in ice-cold
+water. While making a short cut back to breakfast up a precipitous face of concrete
+stone, I very nearly finished my wanderings in Thibet with an unpleasantly abrupt
+full stop. I had nearly reached the top, which was higher than I had imagined, when
+the treacherous lumps of stone to which I was clinging, came away in my hands, and,
+with a tremendous crash, down I came in a perfect storm of dirt, dust, and stones,
+very much to the fright and astonishment of F. and the mate, who were quietly finishing
+their toilet below. A broken bone in such a place as Egnemo would have been a serious
+misfortune, and it was therefore a matter of considerable satisfaction to find that,
+although half-stunned and doing but little credit in appearance to my <span class="pageNum" id="pb209">[<a href="#pb209">209</a>]</span>recent washing, I had escaped with no worse injuries than torn hands and what the
+doctors would call abrasions of the side and elbow.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 24.</i>—Marched as usual, and reached Nûrila about noon. From the hilliness of the road and
+the laziness of the coolies combined, they did not arrive until two <span class="asc">P.M.</span>, so that we breakfasted at three o’clock. To occupy the time, however, we took advantage
+of the products of the country, and set to work upon a quantity of apples, and having
+both thirst and hunger to assuage, I think we got through about sixteen each before
+the kitchen appeared. While bathing we were suddenly caught in a pouring shower of
+rain, which obliged us to snatch up our only garments and beat a hasty and not to
+say dignified retreat into a little den of a water-mill, where we crouched until it
+was over. After the rain had stopped, a curious fall of stones and rocks took place
+down the precipitous face of mountain which bounded the opposite side of the Indus
+to our camp. The noise and the commotion the stones made in their descent, reminded
+one exactly of volleys of grape, and to any traveller unfortunate enough to get in
+their way, the results would probably have been quite as disastrous.
+</p>
+<p>Our larder having been low of late, we effected <span class="pageNum" id="pb210">[<a href="#pb210">210</a>]</span>the purchase of a sheep here, for which we paid two shillings.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 25.</i>—Left for Lamieroo. The khitmutgar, having reported himself sick to-day, we mounted
+him on a pony, the efficiency of that branch of the service being of vital importance
+to the future prospects of the expedition. Having discovered, by yesterday’s experience,
+that nature abhors a vacuum, and no apples being forthcoming at Lamieroo, we halted
+for breakfast at the village of Kulchee.
+</p>
+<p>Here I tried hard to purchase a curiously contrived praying-wheel from an old Lama,
+but without success. My old acquaintance, the gopa, however, brought me one for sale,
+but it was in such a dilapidated state, and so highly valued as church property, that
+I let him keep his shaky religious curiosity at his own price. Leaving Kulchee, we
+crossed the Indus at a mud fort, and bid the roaring, dirty river a final good-bye.
+Near this the bhistie and khitmutgar, journeying together, lost the path, and found
+themselves well on the road to Iscardo before discovering their mistake. The road
+to-day, like all our return journeys, appeared twice the length it did on first acquaintance.
+The hills, too, were very severe on the coolies, and it was fortunate we halted for
+breakfast on the road.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb211">[<a href="#pb211">211</a>]</span></p>
+<p>At Lamieroo, we found a great change in the temperature; a strong cold breeze blowing,
+and a general winteriness prevailing, which affected our retainers considerably more
+than it did ourselves. The <abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr> in particular, not having entirely recovered his health, and being low in the article
+of tobacco, still believed himself to be dying, and was most unusually low-spirited
+and down in the mouth. As it threatened rain, we pitched our camp close to an old
+serai, in order to allow our servants to ensconce themselves under a roof, and to
+derive the full benefit of their wood fire, which they lost no time in kindling.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 26.</i>—Exactly a mouth to-day since leaving Sirinugger. The live stock begin to show signs
+of time on their constitutions; the four surviving ducks wandering about, with a melancholy
+sort of consciousness that the mysterious fate that has overtaken their late companions
+is also hanging over themselves, and appearing entirely changed in consequence from
+the joyous birds they used to be on first starting for their Thibetian travels. To-day
+being Sunday, we all enjoyed a rest; and the feeling on waking at dawn, and remembering
+that we were not to be rudely turned out of bed, was quite a delightful and novel
+sensation. The wind, <span class="pageNum" id="pb212">[<a href="#pb212">212</a>]</span>too, was unusually chill, and as it made nothing of the trifling obstacle presented
+by the walls of our tent, we were some time before we finally emerged from among the
+bed-clothes. The people here we found employed in <i>pulling</i> their corn crops, and stacking them upon the roofs of their houses. At Suspûl, although
+much hotter than here, they had hardly begun to take in their crops, and at Ladak,
+the harvest was untouched when we left.
+</p>
+<p>In the afternoon, while rambling about the crow’s nests of Lamieroo, I discovered
+by chance a very curious temple in course of construction, and a number of Lamas and
+Zemindars superintending the proceedings. The principal decorative work was being
+carried on by a Chinese-looking, pig-tailed artist, evidently not a local celebrity,
+who was embellishing the walls most profusely with scenes, portrayed in the purest
+style of pre-Raphaelite colouring. The figures in these had only been furnished with
+flesh-coloured spots where their faces were to be, and the foreign “pigtail” was employed,
+seated on a high platform, in furnishing them with features and casts of expression
+in accordance with the spirit of the scenes which they helped to compose. This he
+did certainly with very great skill, and the operation was a most interesting <span class="pageNum" id="pb213">[<a href="#pb213">213</a>]</span>one to watch. The floor was covered with pigments, and materials of all kinds, and
+the little community, in the midst of the surrounding apparent solitude, were working
+away like a hive of bees. They appeared to have a hive-like dislike also of the approach
+of a stranger, and one old Lama, with a twisted mat of hair erected on the top of
+his head—a drone of the hive—took a particular dislike to me, and scowled savagely
+as I quietly examined the curious designs upon the walls.
+</p>
+<p>The eternal “Ûm mani panee” formed a very large part of the decoration, being painted
+over the walls in every variety of coloured letters. In the inner part of the temple
+was a large coloured statue, with eight arms, and two-and-twenty heads.
+</p>
+<p>The heads were placed in threes, looking every way, in the shape of a pyramid, a single
+head crowning the whole.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2609src" href="#xd30e2609">1</a> One of the hands held a bow, but the implements contained in the others were entirely
+Buddhist in character, and to me unknown.
+</p>
+<p>Behind this figure was a star, with innumerable radiating arms from the centre, while
+from the points of the fingers were five other rows of <span class="pageNum" id="pb214">[<a href="#pb214">214</a>]</span>hands, continuing the star-like circle. These were in half relief on the wall, the
+figure itself standing out some feet, as if to receive and appropriate the offerings
+of corn, flowers, oil, &amp;c., which already began to be laid at its feet. Among the
+litter I remarked several tame partridges and “chickore” walking about, probably sacred
+to the newly installed divinities.
+</p>
+<p>The whole scene was a very curious one, and not the less so from being entirely unexpected,
+and occurring in such an apparently deserted spot. One might have explored the place
+a dozen times without hitting upon the hive of workmen, and, even when discovered,
+the excellence of the designs and workmanship in so uncivilized a region, was in itself
+remarkable.
+</p>
+<p>Some of the paintings were of rather startling a character to find occupying places
+in the order of church decoration, or indeed any other, but they were not perhaps
+more unsuitable than many I have seen in more avowedly civilized temples of worship.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 27.</i>—We found it very hard, in spite of our day of rest, to turn out early again this
+morning. The wind was sharp and cold, and the temperature altogether decidedly changed
+from that we had been having. The head of the cooking department being still sick,
+proceeded <span class="pageNum" id="pb215">[<a href="#pb215">215</a>]</span>on a pony, and, having a certain air of the Sepoy about him, very grand and imposing
+he looked. The road being long and up hill, we breakfasted at a tomb in the pass of
+Fotoola, reaching Khurboo about three <span class="asc">P.M.</span>
+</p>
+<p>In the evening, the comptroller of the household made his appearance upon the cook’s
+pony, having from want of tobacco, and other causes, become done up on the road. The
+bhistie alone holds out, and seems, as far as servants go, the only hope of the expedition.
+To-day’s march has again spoiled F.’s and my own lately amending complexions, the
+icy wind and the burning sun together completely blistering our faces. In the evening
+we enjoyed a lovely sunset, which tinted the magnificent range of mountains we had
+crossed with the most beautiful hues imaginable.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 28.</i>—Another bitterly cold morning. Got away well considering, and arrived at Waka in
+time for a late breakfast in the little native serai, where we had before halted.
+Mr. Rajoo and the cook came in with an air of great magnificence. They were each mounted,
+and each pony was provided with a well-grown foal, so that the two departments may
+be said to have performed their march with four horses.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 29.</i>—Descended the Waka Valley, <span class="pageNum" id="pb216">[<a href="#pb216">216</a>]</span>leaving Shergol to our left, and thereby saving about a kos and a half of already
+explored road.
+</p>
+<p>Breakfasted under a shady grove of pollards, at the little village of Lotzûm, a cold
+refreshing bathe in a snow torrent enabling us to do full justice to our cook’s very
+excellent performances in this line. That dignitary was upon his legs again to-day,
+and Rajoo convalescent once more. Arriving about three <span class="asc">P.M.</span> at our old ground at Pushkoom, we found the peaceful, quiet-looking little spot we
+had left, a scene of the greatest noise and bustle imaginable. We were now received
+in due form by the Kardar, and Thanadar of Kurgil, not to mention the Wuzeer, or Vizier
+of Pushkoom. This dignitary had formerly been its Rajah, but during Gûlab Singh’s
+time was reduced to the post of Vizier, or Prime Minister to nobody in particular,
+with a salary of some thirty rupees per annum. Where our last camp was pitched, we
+found a circle of natives congregated, some standing, some sitting on their haunches,
+but all accompanying to the full extent of their voices—at the same time clapping
+time with their hands—the efforts of a band of six or seven artists on the pipe and
+tabor, who kept up a quavering strain of what they doubtless believed to be <span class="pageNum" id="pb217">[<a href="#pb217">217</a>]</span>music. To the united melody thus produced, a string of a dozen or so of ladies, in
+their full war paint, were decorously going through the monotonous evolutions of a
+popular dance, waving their arms about, gesticulating, and at the same time lingering,
+as it were, over the ground, and comporting themselves in that staid, yet fitfully
+lively way, which seems to be the general style of Eastern dancing. They were attired
+most picturesquely, and evidently in their very fullest ball costume, so that we were
+fortunate in hitting upon such a good opportunity of seeing their gala manners and
+customs. They all wore caps of some kind, either of a small, close-fitting pattern,
+like a fez, or in the shape of a large, and very ultra Scotch cap, black, and very
+baggy; these were hung round with little silver ornaments, something in the shape
+of wine labels for decanters, but studded with turquoises; some of them, also, wore
+brooches, generally formed of three cornelians, or turquoises, in a row. The broad
+bands of turquoise, worn usually on the forehead, were for the time disrated from
+their post of honour, and were suspended instead from the nape of the neck, over a
+square piece of stiff cloth, embroidered with strings of red beads. Round the shoulders,
+and hanging low, in order to <span class="pageNum" id="pb218">[<a href="#pb218">218</a>]</span>show off the turquoises, lumps of amber, and other family jewels, were the sheepskin
+cloaks, inseparable from Thibetian female costume; they were, however, of larger size
+than those of every day life, and were gorgeously decorated outside in red and blue,
+the <i>fur</i> merely appearing at the edges. Below this, everything merged in some mysterious way
+into the variegated sheepskin boots of the country, also decorated with red, blue,
+and yellow cloth patterns on the instep. These bore a very conspicuous position in
+the dance, as the ladies, contrary to the principles of modern art, were continually
+regarding and showing forth the aforesaid boots, as they glided about, and pattered
+the time to the well-marked music. The dance was altogether much more pleasing than
+the Indian nach, and the ladies, in spite of their savage jewellery, and rude manner,
+were much more womanly and respectable than their gauzy, be-ringed and bare-footed
+southern rivals.
+</p>
+<p>After the dance was over, there was a general move to a large, open space of ground,
+where the male part of the community were to show off their prowess in the native
+games. To my astonishment, some fifty or sixty Thibetians here assembled, each provided
+with a veritable hockey stick, not on foot, however, but each man <span class="pageNum" id="pb219">[<a href="#pb219">219</a>]</span>mounted on his own little mountain pony, and prepared to play a downright game of
+hockey on horseback. In the centre of the battle-field, between the two “sides,” the
+pipes and tabors forming <i>the band</i> took their station, and each time the wooden ball of contention was struck off, set
+up a flourish to animate the players. The Thibetians, however, required no such artificial
+excitement, but set to work with an energy and spirit, quite refreshing to behold,
+and the scene soon became most animated and amusing. The Thibetians, unlike Englishmen
+under similar circumstances, appeared to think the more clothes they had on the better,
+and in their long woollen coats and trowsers, and their huge sheepskin boots, they
+quite overshadowed the wiry little horses they bestrode. Besides having to carry all
+this weight, the ponies, most unfairly, came in also for all the <i>shinning</i>; but in spite of these disadvantages, they performed their parts to admiration, dashing
+about in the most reckless manner, at the instigation of their riders, and jostling
+and knocking against one another in a way that would have disgusted any other pony
+in the world. Conspicuous among the crowd of riders, was the thirty-rupee Prime Minister,
+who on a most diminutive little animal, charged about in a way he never could <span class="pageNum" id="pb220">[<a href="#pb220">220</a>]</span>have condescended to do, had he had the misfortune to have still remained a Rajah.
+Each time that the ball was sent into the goal, the striker, picking it up dexterously,
+without dismounting, came again at full speed down the course, the band struck up,
+and throwing the ball into the air, he endeavoured to strike it as far as possible
+in the direction of the adverse party. Behind him, at best pace, came his own side,
+and a desperate collision appeared the inevitable result; however, not a single man
+was unhorsed during the entire struggle, nor were there any violent concussions, or
+accidents of any kind on either side.
+</p>
+<p>The men rode very short, and their clumsy boots, stuck through the heavy stirrup-irons,
+gave them a ludicrous appearance, which was little indicative of the firm seat and
+active part they displayed in the games. After seeing the last of the hockey we pitched
+our camp under a grove of trees, and had an audience of the Kardar, with a view to
+obtaining information as to our new line of march, which here branches off from the
+old route. He, however, was unable to afford us much intelligence, and we were glad
+to get rid of him again, with a present of fifteen bullets, which were the objects
+he appeared, at the time, to covet most in the world.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb221">[<a href="#pb221">221</a>]</span></p>
+<p>To-day a charge was brought against our immaculate bhistie, by the <abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr>, of secreting about half-a-pound of precious white sugar in his sheepskin bag. On
+being confronted with the Bench he confessed the crime, improving on it, like most
+natives, by declaring that it was for medicine for his little boy at home, who had
+sore eyes! The cook, being taken up with the festivities and the turquoises, gave
+us our dinner at an unusually fashionable hour.
+</p>
+<p><i>August 30.</i>—Started for a fresh line of exploration, not without some difficulty and opposition,
+in consequence of a desire on the part of the Sipahee and the servants to revisit
+Kurgil, with a view to the tobacco supplies supposed to exist there.
+</p>
+<p>The consequence was that they obtained all sorts of information for us as to the badness
+of our proposed road, and the insuperable obstacles to be overcome from unbridged
+rivers, snow, &amp;c. Persevering in our plans, however, we were rewarded by finding a
+great improvement in the scenery, and, from the novelty of the day’s work, a corresponding
+benefit to the spirits of the entire expedition. Passing through a little village
+called Menzies, we halted for breakfast within view of the northern face of an entire
+new range of snow-capped mountains. Everything gave promise of <span class="pageNum" id="pb222">[<a href="#pb222">222</a>]</span>fine scenery in advance, and about four <span class="asc">P.M.</span> we reached Thambis, a lovely piece of cultivation, surrounded on all sides by monster
+rocks, and overlooked by a peak of pure white virgin snow, and here we pitched our
+little camp. Entering the village suddenly from the rocky mountain-pass, the little
+place looked inexpressibly green and refreshing, and we were soon under the shade
+of a row of pleasant pollards, which lined the bank of a stream near which we halted.
+As at Pushkoom, the second crops were down, and the people employed in thrashing and
+grinding their corn. The new crop consisted principally of pulse of various kinds,
+radishes, and a few fields of tobacco, and nestled in pleasant nooks and corners there
+were occasional gardens of melons.
+</p>
+<p>Here we got two fine sheep for one rupee ten annas, or 3<i>s.</i> 3<i>d.,</i> and one of them formed a sumptuous repast for the coolies and retainers, who held
+a most convivial banquet round their camp-fires in the evening. The primitive inhabitants
+seemed quite unaccustomed to the sight of strangers, and we found on this account,
+better and more plentiful supplies procurable, while the assembling of the entire
+village to behold the wonderful arrival, formed a pleasant excitement after the day’s
+march.
+</p>
+<p>To-day we had the choice of two roads, one on <span class="pageNum" id="pb223">[<a href="#pb223">223</a>]</span>either side of the torrent; that on the right bank was reported bad, and we accordingly
+decided upon the other, but an unexpected obstacle then presented itself in the shape
+of a bridge of rope of a very considerable length, crossing the torrent. It was formed
+of the twigs of trees, and being in an unpleasantly dilapidated condition, the passage
+was a matter of some difficulty if not danger. To save the direct strain a number
+of the villagers took up their position to distend the side ropes, and having to get
+over the outstretched legs of these officious aids, made the affair a very much more
+nervous proceeding than it would otherwise have been. The lowness of the side-ropes,
+and the oscillation of the ricketty structure rendered the feat altogether a rather
+more amusing performance to the looker on than to the actual performer, and I was
+not to reach the opposite shore. On the arrival of the coolies, they all hung back,
+and regarded the machine with utter astonishment, and when one of them did essay the
+passage, his coat caught in one of the twigs, about half way across, and not having
+the use of his hands, he was completely caught as in a trap, and unable either to
+advance or retire. In endeavouring to turn, his load nearly upset him, and there he
+remained until extricated by one of the villagers. <span class="pageNum" id="pb224">[<a href="#pb224">224</a>]</span>A few of the coolies afterwards got across, and also the servants, with great trepidation,
+but the greater number, with the main body of the baggage, including, alas! all the
+cooking department, except one load, were afraid to essay the passage, and had to
+take to the bad road in despair. The fraction of the commissariat stores which did
+reach our side of the water turned out to be plates, knives, forks, and kettles, so
+that we had before us no prospect of breakfast until we arrived at a village some
+ten kos off, where a more respectable bridge was to re-unite us with our goods and
+chattels.
+</p>
+<p>As promised, the path on our side was pretty good, and led us through several peaceful
+little villages, overhung by giant rocks, and dotted with enormous blocks of stone,
+which had descended to disturb the harmony of the scene during some convulsion or
+commotion in the interior economy of the mountains. Some of these were taken advantage
+of by the natives to serve as canvas for their designs, and were carved with effigies
+of four-armed divinities, and other <i>sacred</i> subjects. With the exception of these, we saw few traces of Buddhism about us here.
+Passing through one of the villages, I bought a medicine-book, or charm, from one
+of the natives. It was in Arabic, and was rolled and <span class="pageNum" id="pb225">[<a href="#pb225">225</a>]</span>swathed like a mummy, and worn round his arm. He told me that he had inherited it
+from his father, and appeared by no means happy when it was gone.
+</p>
+<p>Arriving at Sankoo, we found it a well-wooded thinly-inhabited valley, about a kos
+and a half in length. Here we had a new specimen of bridge architecture to pass. It
+was formed simply enough of two crooked trunks of trees, and, considering the torrent
+below, it required a considerable amount of confidence to enable one to traverse it
+successfully. From the scarcity of the population, I had great difficulty in finding
+anybody to procure me a drink of milk, and when I at last discovered a woman and two
+children, she was so thunderstruck that, catching up one of her offspring in her arms
+and shrieking to another to follow her, like a hen and chickens swooped at by a hawk,
+away they went as fast as their legs would carry them. As this was no satisfaction
+to me, however productive it might be of milk to the baby, I began to make signs of
+bringing down the family mansion that short distance required to raze it to the ground,
+and thus succeeded in calling forth from its interior a half-naked old gentleman out
+of his study to my assistance.
+</p>
+<p>He, however, in an abject way informed me <span class="pageNum" id="pb226">[<a href="#pb226">226</a>]</span>that he had no milk himself, but would introduce me to a friend who had. I accordingly
+followed him, “at the point of the stick,” until we reached another mud hovel, where
+we found the lady of the house sitting in her porch working, and a supercilious-looking
+gentleman reclining at her side.
+</p>
+<p>Neither of them, however, seemed to pay the slightest attention to my wants, and savage
+with thirst, I charged the whole trio, saluting the gentleman at the same time with
+an application of my stick. Instead of his jumping up, however, as I expected, I found
+that the unfortunate man was kept in his recumbent position by rheumatism, or some
+such ailment, and that, in my ignorance of Thibetian, and want of milk and patience
+combined, I had committed an atrocious and unwarrantable assault upon an invalid.
+Meantime, however, the lady was off like a shot, and soon returned from the dairy
+bearing both milk and flour, wherewith to appease the ferocity of her visitor. Having
+nearly choked myself with the meal and brought myself round again with the milk, I
+gave the invalid full compensation and satisfaction as far as I was able, for my attack,
+and again took to the road in search of the bridge which was to re-unite us with our
+baggage and our breakfast. <span class="pageNum" id="pb227">[<a href="#pb227">227</a>]</span>Before reaching it, however, I was the unfortunate cause of the entire abandonment
+of some half-dozen houses, by merely halting to sit down for a few minutes under a
+tree in their vicinity. Whether the inhabitants—who appeared to be all women—thought
+that I was going to open trenches and beleaguer them or not I don’t know, but, after
+a few minutes, I used to see one of them dart out from behind a mud wall and scuttle
+away like a rabbit; then another lady would steal out, carefully lock the door, and
+with a child on her back and a couple of olive branches in rear, crawl over the housetop
+and out at the back garden, there taking to her heels, and vanishing with her convoy
+suddenly from sight. This operation being repeated in other tenements, I found myself
+at last left in full and uninterrupted possession of the entire settlement I happened
+to be in the vicinity of, including the cocks, hens, firewood, dwelling, places, and
+messuages, &amp;c. thereunto appertaining and belonging. When they re-occupied the evacuated
+premises I don’t know, but Rajoo, I ascertained, wished them all no future happiness
+when, on coming up some time afterwards, he knocked at every door and looked down
+every sky-light and chimney in the village without being able to procure as much as
+a light to ignite the tobacco <span class="pageNum" id="pb228">[<a href="#pb228">228</a>]</span>in his “hubble bubble.” The coolies having found the path on the right bank of the
+torrent quite as bad as prognosticated, we got our breakfast shortly before sunset.
+From the proximity of a high rocky mountain, towards the westward of our camp, however,
+this was considerably earlier than might be imagined.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 1.</i>—Commenced our last month but one of leave, by a fine march of some sixteen miles
+from Sankoo to Tesroo, or Sooroo, at the foot of the grandest snowy range we had yet
+encountered. The path led us over a gigantic fall of rocks, evidently the deposits
+formed by successive and destructive avalanches.
+</p>
+<p>In some parts the traces were quite fresh, the rocks being rent and uptorn in a wonderful
+way; and, in one place, we passed the ground where two villages had been entirely
+overwhelmed by an avalanche, the entire population of twenty-five having been killed
+in the ruins.
+</p>
+<p>After walking about five or six kos, in the finest and freshest of morning air, we
+suddenly opened upon a noble mountain of pure unbroken snow, rearing its head proudly
+into the blue sky among a train of courtiers, not so noble, nor so purely, whitely,
+clad as itself, but still arrayed in robes of glistening snow. Here the path emerged
+from the side of the rugged mountain torrent, and brought us <span class="pageNum" id="pb229">[<a href="#pb229">229</a>]</span>about two kos over fine turfy grass to within some three miles of Sooroo; and here
+we halted, under a grove of trees, for breakfast. After this, we had another rope
+bridge to pass, which was so little to the taste of the coolies, that they were glad
+to get the natives to carry over their loads for them. On crossing we found the Thanadar,
+a fine<span id="xd30e2715"></span> old black-muzzled Cashmeeree, with his Moonshee, and a train of eight Sipahees waiting
+to receive us, and were conducted in due form to our camping ground. Here the breeze,
+as it whistled over our tent, savoured strongly of the snow, and reminded us of the
+vicinity of the chilly mountain Grandees we had seen on our road, and which still
+presided over us.
+</p>
+<p>The natives even appeared to feel the cold, though in the winter months they are entirely
+snowed up, and ought to be pretty well inured to it by this time.
+</p>
+<p>The entire valley is, in winter, totally submerged in snow, and a stranger might then
+pass over it without knowing there were villages beneath his feet. The bridges are
+annually swept away, and so suddenly does the hard weather make its appearance, that
+even now the inhabitants were in fear and trembling lest the snows should come down
+on them before their <span class="pageNum" id="pb230">[<a href="#pb230">230</a>]</span>crops of wheat and barley were carried for the winter’s use.
+</p>
+<p>Numbers of fields of corn are still within a week or so of ripening, and, should they
+be lost, the chance of winter’s subsistence would be small indeed.
+</p>
+<p>The appearance of a Thibetian settlement here, as one looks down upon it from a height,
+is very much that of an ant-hill. The huts are built on the top of each other, and
+generally on mounds, and the people, like ants, are busily and laboriously employed
+in laying up their winter store, not only of grain, but also of firewood, and anything
+capable of serving in its place, to enable them to struggle through their dreary mouths
+of captivity.
+</p>
+<p>Huge loads of corn and stacks are to be seen moving about, apparently spontaneously,
+disappearing through queer holes and corners of the earth, and again appearing on
+the housetops, where they are stacked and stored. The bundles of fire-wood being placed
+with the branches outside, and neatly ranged, they give the peaceful settlement quite
+a bristling and warlike appearance, as if defended by <i lang="fr">chevaux de frise.</i> The Zemindars here pay but two rupees a year to the Maharajah, but it seems a hard
+case that such hardly-subsisting people <span class="pageNum" id="pb231">[<a href="#pb231">231</a>]</span>should have to pay anything whatever in such a sterile dreary territory as they possess.
+</p>
+<p>To-day we came across one solitary mound of the inscribed stones, probably the last,
+as we now cross the mountains into Cashmerian territory again.
+</p>
+<p>To the south of our camp, the road from Ladak through Zanskar joins the valley, and
+we half regretted not having risked the chances of that road; however, it was uncertain
+whether it was passable, and, as time was valuable, we had but little option in the
+matter.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 2.</i>—Being Sunday, we had a regular rest, explored the country, and made the acquaintance
+of the few Thibetians who inhabited the villages.
+</p>
+<p>Everywhere there were signs of the invasion of Gûlab Singh, some twenty years ago.
+Houses in ruins, and forts reduced to dust and rubbish. To replace these latter, a
+new fort had been constructed by Rumbeer Singh, in what appears about the worst possible
+position in the entire valley to render it of any use whatever.
+</p>
+<p>The people were busily employed in their fields, pulling and carrying corn, and treading
+it out with oxen. A team of six I saw, most uncomfortably performing this work. They
+were tied together by the noses, and so small a piece of <span class="pageNum" id="pb232">[<a href="#pb232">232</a>]</span>ground had they to revolve upon, that the innermost animal had to go backward continually,
+while the centre ones were regularly jammed together by the outsiders. Two deformed
+natives were employed in driving this unhappy thrashing machine.
+</p>
+<p>In the evening, the Thanadar’s Moonshee came to beg a “razee nama,” or “letter of
+satisfaction,” which we gave him, together with a “bukshish,” with which he seemed
+well pleased.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 3.</i>—Got up this morning with a peculiarly cold feel, and started with a fine piercing
+breeze in our teeth, blowing directly off the snows.
+</p>
+<p>Our force was augmented to-day by three goats, as portable dairy, and a party of natives,
+with three days’ supplies, also a guide, for our path lay over ground neither much
+frequented nor well known. To-day’s has been the grandest scene of the panorama yet
+unfolded to us. From the last halt, no inconsiderable height in itself, we mounted
+continually towards the huge white masses of snow, which so lately towered above us
+in the distance. Passing the remains of mighty avalanches firmly fixed across the
+foaming torrent, we ascended the snow valley by the side of a perfect mountain of
+ice and snow, the accumulations of, possibly, as many years as the <span class="pageNum" id="pb233">[<a href="#pb233">233</a>]</span>world has existed, which had formed itself immoveably between the mighty mountain’s
+sides. The terrific force, with which the masses of snow had come down each season,
+to repair the ravages in the frozen monster’s constitution caused by the melting away
+of his lower extremities, could be seen by the enormous blocks of stone which rested
+on its surface in all directions. In some places fantastic arches of snow were thus
+formed, with blocks of rock resting on their summits, and such a distance were these
+central accumulations of rocks, and snow, and ice, from the cradles in which they
+were reared, that it was impossible to conceive, without the occurrence of an earthquake,
+how they could ever have reached their present positions.
+</p>
+<p>One begins now faintly to understand how it is that the enormous number of torrents
+dashing about are kept supplied with icy life. The vast quantities of snow wedged
+into solid masses, which must have existed since all time among these mighty mountains,
+would serve to feed rivers innumerable, and the supply, as long as rivers and mountains
+exist, would appear to be inexhaustible.
+</p>
+<p>Our path, if path it could be called, was very bad in parts, and so difficult for
+the coolies that we were fortunate in getting our breakfast at <span class="pageNum" id="pb234">[<a href="#pb234">234</a>]</span>two <span class="asc">P.M.</span>, and, when we did get it, a snowstorm which came down upon us rather hurried our
+<span class="corr" id="xd30e2758" title="Source: procedings">proceedings</span> in discussing it.
+</p>
+<p>The entire afternoon it continued snowing, and the mountain-tops soon hid themselves
+and sulked away among the leaden mists. Our tent was pitched among a low sort of scrub,
+the only apology for fire-wood procurable, and here we soon had a fine carpet of fresh
+snow, which put the unfortunate coolies, and the servants, and the three goats and
+the four ducks, and, in fact, everybody but F. and myself, who now begin to feel thoroughly
+<i>at home,</i> to considerable discomfort and inconvenience.
+</p>
+<p>About a hundred yards from us rises the central mountain of consolidated old snow;
+while the monarchs of the place, whose hospitality we have been enjoying, overtopped
+our diminutive little worn canvas dwelling with proud and gloomy magnificence, or
+hid themselves from us in their ermine mantles, with aristocratic frigidity.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2768src" href="#xd30e2768">2</a> Before us, the path continues towards the clouds, hemmed in, to all appearance, by
+a mighty glacier, which it would seem impossible to avoid in our to-morrow’s route.
+To-day we again find the society <span class="pageNum" id="pb235">[<a href="#pb235">235</a>]</span>of the little shrieking marmots, who seemed more than over astonished at what could
+bring so strange and motley a group of creatures to disturb the universal quiet of
+their solitude. Of all our party the cook, perhaps, here fares the worst. The only
+things growing about us are a few plants of rhubarb and the miserable scrub, which
+he is obliged to use with all faith as firewood! this being thoroughly wet requires
+much coaxing to ignite, and what with the difficulties of his profession, the cold,
+the falling snow, and the increased appetites of the <i>Sahibs,</i> the unfortunate head of the cooking department becomes for the time the most intensely
+miserable being, black or white, upon the whole face of the globe.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 4.</i>—Awoke this morning to find the encampment, and its vicinity, covered with snow, and
+every prospect of a snow-stormy march before us. The coolies and servants were in
+a deplorable state of frozen discomfort, but all kept up their spirits by laughing
+at each other’s woes. Just as the sun appeared above the mountains for a few minutes
+only, we got under weigh; the tent, however, took some time to disencumber of its
+load of frozen snow, and to pack, and all the baggage required excavating previous
+to becoming capable of removal.
+</p>
+<p>The path up to the great glacier above us was <span class="pageNum" id="pb236">[<a href="#pb236">236</a>]</span>wild and barren, it lay over a little plain watered by branching streams, and covered
+over with ice and newly fallen snow. Crossing one of these streams, I flushed a solitary
+woodcock, the only inhabitant of the wild, and shortly afterwards, our guide, an uncouth
+bundle of sheep-skins, slipped over a frozen stone, and came down in the freezing
+water with a splash, which, at that hour of the morning, made one shudder all over
+involuntarily. The snow-shoes which F. and myself had donned, alone saved us several
+times from a similar, uncomfortable fate. Our path, properly speaking, should have
+led over the very centre of the glacier; but, in consequence of the numerous crevasses
+and the early appearance of the new snow, our guide steadily refused to take us over
+the pass by that route. To have taken it without a guide would have been simply impossible;
+so we diverged to one side, and, after a sharp ascent of two hours over the snow,
+reached a sort of upper basin among the very mountain-tops. Here the scene which opened
+on us was wild beyond description. We were now about 18,000 feet above the sea, and
+in every direction around us snow hemmed in our view. Under our feet was a plain of
+pure white snow; the mountain-tops were snowy <i>hillocks,</i> standing white against the leaden sky; <span class="pageNum" id="pb237">[<a href="#pb237">237</a>]</span>and from above the fleecy snow-flakes fell around us thickly as we trudged along.
+The ground was most treacherous, and required great care in traversing, and in one
+place, being ahead of the guide, the snow and ice suddenly gave way beneath me, and
+with a most unpleasant sensation of uncertainty as to where I might be going, I found
+myself standing up to my waist in snow and to my knees in freezing water.
+</p>
+<p>The guide, almost at the same moment, came to the same end, and it was not without
+much floundering and blundering that we both extricated ourselves from our difficulties.
+Shortly after this we crossed the highest point of the pass, and here the guide said
+his prayers to the presiding “peer,” or divinity of the place, previous to asking
+for bukshish; after which he and the sepoy proceeded to smoke a pipe of peace and
+tranquillity together. The most trying part of our day’s work we found to be waiting
+for breakfast, the coolies being much retarded both by the road and the state of the
+weather. We stopped at a sort of temporary abode, where some slight protection from
+rain and snow was obtained by the piling up of stones against an eligible rock, and
+here, after a long and dreary wait, we breakfasted in a little smoke-dried, draught-inviting
+den, the snow all the time <span class="pageNum" id="pb238">[<a href="#pb238">238</a>]</span>coming down in a way not altogether adapted for the enjoyment of such <i>al fresco</i> entertainments. Descending from this, we came to a grassy slope at last, and so by
+a most precipitous path to the valley on the southern side of the mountains, down
+which a formidable torrent rolled along, dividing itself into a number of channels
+not very promising as to our prospects of reaching the opposite side. Here we saw
+an enormous flock of sheep grazing on the mountain-side, seeming, as they moved to
+and fro in search of pasture, like a floating cloud against the hill. There must have
+been several thousands, though accurate computation was out of the question. They
+made, however, all the other mountain-flocks we had met, appear as nothing in point
+of numbers.
+</p>
+<p>Arriving at the many-branching river, I was for some time quite at a loss for a ford,
+until a native, seeing the dilemma I was in, crossed to my assistance. Finding me
+stripping to the work, he insisted on my mounting upon his back, and in an evil moment
+I consented. The consequence was that, after passing safely a couple of the streams,
+in the deepest spot of the whole torrent, he tottered and fell, and down we both came,
+he in the most ungraceful position in which man can fall, and I, luckily, upon my
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb239">[<a href="#pb239">239</a>]</span>feet. The sensation, however, on suddenly finding the water rushing past, and one’s
+feet slipping about among the clinking stones, was anything but pleasant, and it was
+with difficulty that I collected myself together and completed the uncomfortable passage.
+The tent being luckily pitched about a mile farther on, the loss of dignity in the
+eyes of the bystanders was the only evil result of the misfortune. Towards night it
+came on again to snow, and the coolies and retainers had another hard bivouac of it,
+while F. and I were obliged to keep all hands at the pumps, or, in other words, to
+fasten all available rags and wraps under our canvas, to keep out the soaking wet.
+</p>
+<p>The cold was very great, and everything gave token of coming winter, and testified
+to what the Himalayas can do in the snow and ice line of business when their full
+time shall arrive.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 5.</i>—After a damp night’s bivouac, we awoke to find “<i>a mixture as before</i>” falling—a mixture of rain, sleet, and snow—anything but promising for the comfort
+of our day’s march. To avoid having to wait in the wet for breakfast, we sent on the
+kitchen and the cook, and, after some time, followed leisurely ourselves.
+</p>
+<p>An overhanging ledge of rock afforded us some shelter for our meal, and, after warming
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb240">[<a href="#pb240">240</a>]</span>and drying ourselves to some extent in this smoke-blackened and not very commodious
+little Himalayan hotel, we again pressed on. This was our third day away from either
+villages or regular shelter of any sort, and the retainers were naturally anxious
+to reach some settlement where they could, for a time at least, protect themselves
+from the rain and snow which still continued to fall. The consequence was, they pressed
+on some sixteen miles farther at a good pace, to reach a little wooden village at
+the head of the Wurdwan valley, and we saw nothing of them on the road. On reaching
+our halting-place, however, lo and behold, our unfortunate cook was absent, and nobody
+seemed to know anything whatever about him! The cooking things and the larder were
+all present, and dinner-hour was at hand; but, alas! the pots and kettles were without
+a lord, and the question of where was our dinner began to give way in point of interest
+to where was our cook. At the time F. and I left the “cave-hotel,” the whole of the
+coolies, Rajoo, the three goats, and the two sheep, had all gone on ahead, as also
+the “Invincible One,” the sepoy.
+</p>
+<p>The bhistie and the missing cook had therefore only remained behind. The road, soon
+after leaving, entered a wooded gorge, and, as the valley <span class="pageNum" id="pb241">[<a href="#pb241">241</a>]</span>narrowed, the torrent began to get considerably more rapid and boisterous, as it took
+to leaping down the giant rocks, which bound it in between their iron grasp and formed
+its only bed.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p241width" id="p241"><img src="images/p241.jpg" alt="Snow Bridge." width="507" height="417" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>The path was wet and sloppy, and led in parts along the tops of rather dangerous precipices.
+Passing cautiously over these, and through wooded paths lined with mosses and wild
+flowers, whose perfume scented the entire air, we came upon a curious bridge of well-packed
+snow, which spanned the torrent. A treacherous-looking specimen it was, and after
+taking its likeness in my pocket-book, I was <span class="pageNum" id="pb242">[<a href="#pb242">242</a>]</span>passing it as a matter of course, when I suddenly heard a shout, and perceived F.
+and the mate at the other side of the torrent beckoning me to cross the snow. I accordingly,
+with no very good grace and some astonishment, essayed the passage. The snow I found
+hard as ice, and not liking the look of its treacherous convex sides, I held my course
+straight up the centre, and then descended with great care and deliberation along
+the junction of the snow and the mountain. So slippery was the passage, that without
+grass shoes I should have been sorry to have attempted it, and, as I halted to regard
+the curious structure from a distance, I could not help thinking what a likely spot
+it was for a traveller to lose his life without anybody being the wiser, and what
+a small chance he would have in the deep and rapid torrent below if he should happen
+to slip into its remorseless clutches. The path from this continued its perilous character,
+in one place traversing a precipitous face of rock only passable on all fours, beneath
+which a thick cover of long grass and weeds hung over the deep, treacherous-looking
+pools of the torrent. Having on a pair of grass shoes which had already done one day’s
+work, I had broken down about half way, and was now nearly bare-footed. I consequently
+did <span class="pageNum" id="pb243">[<a href="#pb243">243</a>]</span>not arrive till nearly the last of the party, and found the tent pitched and fires
+lit under a group of large trees, in the wooden village of about a dozen houses, called
+Sucknez. It was then getting dusk, and after waiting a reasonable time, we sent out
+a party from the village to make search for our missing man, while F. and I, lighting
+a fire almost in the tent door, proceeded to cook our own dinner.
+</p>
+<p>The materials consisted of an unlimited supply of eggs and a box of sardines, hitherto
+neglected, and despised among the artistic productions of our lost professor. F. superintended
+the frying of the eggs, and produced a conglomeration of some eight of them, which
+we pronounced unusually delicious, while I laid the table and looked after the kettle,
+for we thought it better, under our bereaved circumstances, to knock tea and dinner
+into one meal. Although we had made a longish march, we managed, with the aid of the
+kettle and the brandy, to sit up by the light of a roaring pine fire until late, in
+the hopes of some news arriving of our searching party. None however came, and we
+went to bed <i>hoping</i> that the man had lost his way, and <i>fearing</i> that he had fallen either over the slippery snow-bridge or down one of the many precipices
+into the torrent.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb244">[<a href="#pb244">244</a>]</span></p>
+<p><i>September 6.</i>—Morning came, but neither news of our cook nor of the party who went out in his search,
+and, after breakfast, donning a pair of grass shoes, and provided with some matches
+and a small bottle of cherry-brandy, I sallied out with the mate on a voyage of discovery.
+Outside the village I met the searching party, who had been out all through the bitter
+night, but had found no traces of the object of their search.
+</p>
+<p>Sending a note to F. to dispatch all the coolies to search, I pressed on to the most
+dangerous precipice of our yesterday’s route, and, descending to the torrent, searched
+about the grass and weeds at the bottom, but without finding any traces. About this
+place I met three lonely travellers, laden with meal, who had come along the entire
+path, but had seen no sign of a human creature anywhere. I now gave up our man as
+lost, but still held on, in a pouring mixture of sleet and snow, which added considerably
+to the gloom of the scene. Every now and then the old mate, who was in very low spirits,
+would raise a lugubrious wail at the top of his voice of “Ai Khansaman Jee! Ai Khansaman
+Jee?” “Oh, cook of my soul! oh, cook of my soul, where art thou?” at the same time
+apparently apostrophizing the deepest whirlpools of the torrent, while the roar of
+the waters effectually <span class="pageNum" id="pb245">[<a href="#pb245">245</a>]</span>prevented his magnificent voice from reaching more than a dozen yards from the spot
+where he stood. Arriving at the snow-bridge, we examined it closely for signs of footmarks;
+it was, however, so hard that it baffled all our efforts.
+</p>
+<p>At the other side I explored the path which I myself had followed in the first instance.
+It, however, only led to a small shelter among the rocks and trees, where the natives
+had evidently been in the habit of lighting their fires and halting for the night.
+After continuing the search to another snow-bridge above, we returned to our camp,
+and made the sepoy issue a notice that twenty rupees reward would be given for the
+recovery of our cook, dead or alive, and also that a reward would be given to any
+person who should bring us any reliable information about him. At the same time we
+sent the notice to the villages below, and spread it as much as possible; but though
+twenty rupees would be a small fortune to one of these people, they took but little
+interest in the matter, and looked upon the whole thing as “Kismut,” or destiny. “If
+it was the will of God that the body should be found, it would be found, if not, where
+was the use of looking for it;” and so they took no steps whatever in the matter.
+</p>
+<p>To add to the probabilities of the snow-bridge <span class="pageNum" id="pb246">[<a href="#pb246">246</a>]</span>having been the cause of our loss, it appeared that a short time before, a coolie
+carrying Pushmeena &amp;c. had fallen there, and had never since been heard of; while
+another, who had also fallen into the torrent, was only discovered six days afterwards
+miles and miles below.
+</p>
+<p>Having now despatched several searching parties, and received no tidings, we decided
+upon retreating to the next village down the valley, and halting there for a few days,
+in order to do all we could for our unfortunate man.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 7.</i>—Started on our march again in heavy sleet and rain, which, higher up the mountains,
+took the form of downright snow. The valley descended by a slight incline, through
+fir and other forest trees, and about four kos down, we reached another little wooden
+city, where, being wet through and through, we were glad to halt, and getting a good
+fire lit in one of the log-houses, we set to work to dry our clothes. The house was
+reached by a most primitive ladder, made of half the trunk of a tree, hollowed out
+into holes for the feet; and, as for the shelter afforded by the tenement, it certainly
+kept off the rain, but was not intended to keep out the wind, for the trees which
+composed the walls were so far apart, that we could see the face of nature between
+them, <span class="pageNum" id="pb247">[<a href="#pb247">247</a>]</span>and, in spite of the open windows, which the architect had thought necessary to provide
+the building with, the breeze whistled through the chinks in a way that might be very
+pleasant in hot weather, but was not so cheery when snow and rain was the order of
+the day. The roofs were the most novel structures I had ever seen. They consisted
+merely of rudely split blocks of wood, some five or six feet long, through the upper
+ends of which stout pegs had been driven, and, thus suspended, these weighty wooden
+tiles overlapped each other, and formed a rude covering, which, unpromising as it
+was to outward appearance, answered its purpose sufficiently well, and was at least
+quite in keeping with the remainder of the wooden mansion. The people here were something
+like the Cashmeerees in appearance, and as we descend into civilization, fowls, and
+other hitherto foreign animals begin to show themselves once more. The entire substitution
+of wood for mud and stones effectually marks the difference between the Cashmerian
+and Thibetian sides of the snowy range we had just crossed. About eight kos from Sucknez
+we reached Bragnion, where we found the camp pitched in a most promising position,
+having a fine view of the valley below, and the distant ranges of mountains. <span class="pageNum" id="pb248">[<a href="#pb248">248</a>]</span>The torrent here spread itself into several channels, and the valley, widening to
+allow it fuller liberty to pursue its joyful existence, descended in a succession
+of wooded slopes, one beyond the other, while the eternal snows again bounded the
+view in the distance.
+</p>
+<p>The small portions of comparatively level ground in sight were covered with crops
+of the richest colours. One in particular, which the people called “gunhar,” was of
+the hue of beetroot, and grew upon its stalk in heavy, gorgeous masses, which added
+considerably to the richness of the landscape. The seed of this consists of myriads
+of little semi-transparent white grains, very like ant’s eggs, and the taste is something
+similar to that of wheat. Above our camp, in a ravine of the hills, is the place where
+an officer had been killed by the fall of an avalanche, while out on a shooting expedition.
+His companion, a noted sportsman, was saved, by making a tremendous jump; but he himself,
+and three shikarees, were swept away, their bodies not being recovered for two months
+afterwards.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 8.</i>—After a cold night, during which I dreamt of our lost cook, we were awoke by a shout
+of “Jeeta hy!”—“He is living!” then, “Rusta bhool gya!”—“He lost his way!” <span class="pageNum" id="pb249">[<a href="#pb249">249</a>]</span>and gradually it dawned upon us that the man we had fancied floating down the torrent
+a mangled corpse was still actually in the land of the living.
+</p>
+<p>It appeared that he had been discovered, sitting helplessly upon the mountain side,
+by a chance and solitary traveller from Thibet. He had lost his way at the snow-bridge,
+and, in trying to retrace his steps, completely got off the only track existing, and
+had consequently wandered about among the wood and cover as long as his strength enabled
+him.
+</p>
+<p>The accounts of his movements amid the general excitement were rather conflicting,
+but this being the fourth day since his disappearance, and the weather having been
+very bad all that time, he must have had a very narrow escape of his life, from the
+combined effects of cold and hunger. By the man’s account who found him, he was so
+weak, that he was unable to eat the chupatties thrown across to him; and, his rescuer
+accordingly leaving with him some meal, and means to make a fire, came on to Sucknez,
+and from thence sent out a party to carry him in. Sending a horse and some supplies
+for him, we looked forward with some interest to his own account of his most unsought-for
+adventures.
+</p>
+<p>The villagers here, we found, were in the <span class="pageNum" id="pb250">[<a href="#pb250">250</a>]</span>habit of making regular expeditions among their crops at night, to keep off the bears
+who prowl about in search of food. Armed with torches, they keep up a tremendous shouting
+all through the dark hours, during the time their grain is ripening; and thinking
+to get a daylight view of the robbers, I started up the mountain with a native guide
+and a rifle. My “sportsman,” however, in spite of many promises, failed in showing
+me anything more savage than a preserve of wild raspberry-trees, on which I regaled
+with much satisfaction.
+</p>
+<p>A curious custom in the valley is that of hanging quantities of hay up among the branches
+of trees, and its object puzzled me immensely, till my guide informed me that in the
+winter the snow lies five and six yards in depth, and that the supplies of hay, which
+now look only meant for camel-leopards, are then easily reached by the flocks of sheep
+which abound in the valley. At present these were all collected among the mountains,
+to be out of the way of the harvest, and this accounts for the enormous herd we had
+seen while descending from the pass.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 9.</i>—Found the sun brightly shining again this morning, and everything looking fresh and
+beautiful after the rain. The man who had gone with supplies to the cook returned
+with <span class="pageNum" id="pb251">[<a href="#pb251">251</a>]</span>news that he was ill from the effects of cold and fasting, and not able to come on
+to us. While at breakfast, my yesterday’s guide brought us in a bowl of raspberries,
+which gave pleasant token of the change from the desolate country we had recently
+passed through, to the land of plenty we had reached. We also got about eleven seers
+(22 lbs.) of virgin honey, for which we paid three rupees. While trying it for breakfast,
+a dense swarm of the original proprietors came looking for their stores, and the noise
+they made buzzing about, made one fancy they contemplated walking off bodily with
+the jars. In the evening our long-lost cook again returned to the bosom of his family.
+The poor creature looked regularly worn out. From the combined effects of snow and
+fire he was quite lame; his turban, most of his clothes, and all his small possessions,
+had vanished while struggling through the thick cover, and he himself had subsisted
+for two nights and three days, unsheltered and alone, upon nothing but tobacco and
+snow! On losing his way, not thinking of crossing the snow-bridge, he struck right
+up the mountain side, in search, first of the path, and afterwards of some hut or
+shelter. He then gradually got into thick and almost impervious cover; not a habitation
+of any sort was within miles of him, <span class="pageNum" id="pb252">[<a href="#pb252">252</a>]</span>and thus he wandered about for two days and nights. On the third day he descended
+again towards the torrent, and, falling and stumbling, reached a rock on its bank,
+and there seating himself, was, by the merest chance, seen by the passing traveller
+from the other side of the torrent. Making signs that he was starving, this man threw
+him some chupatties, and these, wonderful to relate, the cook put in his pocket without
+touching. Supposing him to be either too weak, or else, even while starving, too strict
+a Hindoo to eat cooked food, his rescuer then threw him across some meal in his turban,
+and went off for assistance. The poor creature was rather proud, I think, to find
+himself the centre of attraction, as well as of being valued at twenty rupees; and,
+as he falteringly related his sorrows and escape from death, the coolies and the rest
+of the forces gathered round him, listening with wide open mouths to the wonderful
+narrative of his adventures.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 10.</i>—Took another day’s rest to give our unfortunate cook a little time to recover his
+energies. In the evening, the villagers produced us a couple of hives of honey, which
+we packed away in earthen jars for transport to the plains. The amount was 39½ seers,
+or 79 lbs. for which we paid ten rupees.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb253">[<a href="#pb253">253</a>]</span></p>
+<p>The unwillingness of the people to produce their honey the “Invincible One” accounted
+for by saying that they were afraid of <i>our</i> not paying them. On inquiry, however, the real cause turned out to be, that the Sepoy
+himself was in the habit of exacting a heavy tax on all purchases on our part, and
+fear of him, not us, was the true difficulty.
+</p>
+<p>In the evening, we took a tour through the village, and <i>discoursed,</i> as well as we could, a native Zemindar, whom we found with his household around him,
+gathering in his crop of grain, which had been partially destroyed by the early snow.
+His land appeared to be about four acres in extent, and for this, he told us, he paid
+twelve rupees per annum to the Maharajah of Cashmere. He failed signally, however,
+in explaining how he produced that amount by his little farm. The produce of his land
+sufficed only to feed himself and his family, and the proceeds of the sale of wool,
+belonging to his twelve sheep, he estimated at only two rupees. Besides these, he
+possessed a few cows, and appeared as cheery and contented a landholder as I ever
+met, in spite of his losses by the snows, and his inability to make out, even by description,
+his ten rupees of ground-rent to the Maharajah.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb254">[<a href="#pb254">254</a>]</span></p>
+<p>The crops around consisted chiefly of bearded wheat (kanûk), barley (jow), anik, tronba,
+and gunhar, all otherwise nameless; and also a small quantity of tobacco, turnips,
+and radishes.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 11.</i>—Having with some difficulty procured a pony for the cook, we started again for Cashmere,
+and, after a very steep ascent, through woods of magnificent pine-trees, with every
+now-and-then a glorious peep of distant snow-peaks towering in the skies, we reached
+the summit of the peer, which separates the territory called Kushtwar from that of
+Cashmere. According to the “Invincible” authority, this territory belonged, some sixty
+years ago, to an independent Rajah, and, on his death without heirs or successors,
+it fell into the clutches of Gûlab Singh.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2885src" href="#xd30e2885">3</a>
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb255">[<a href="#pb255">255</a>]</span></p>
+<p>The entire revenue, he stated, was 3,000 rupees. From the heights along our path,
+we could see the great glaciers of Dutchen, with its mountain peak of 25,000 feet,
+which we had been bound for when the misadventure of our cook interfered with our
+plans, and left us not sufficient time to carry out our explorations.
+</p>
+<p>The summit of the pass we found evidently not long freed from the old snow, while
+the new supply lay about in masses all over the mountain.
+</p>
+<p>Passing over a wild and marshy plain at the summit, we began to descend a lovely pine-clad
+valley once more into veritable Cashmere, and, about four <span class="asc">P.M.</span> encamped in a forest-clearing, which, in a very short space of time, was illuminated
+by no less than seven roaring campfires. Our own formed the centre, and was formed
+of a couple of entire pine-trunks, while the others were ranged about wherever a dry
+and prostrate tree presented a favourable basis for a conflagration. In the evening
+we enjoyed <span class="pageNum" id="pb256">[<a href="#pb256">256</a>]</span>the warmth of our fires considerably, and discussed hot brandy and water seated on
+the very trees which formed our fuel. We were all the more inclined to appreciate
+our position, as we felt that we were nearly out of our cold latitudes, and rapidly
+descending to the land of dog days once again.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 12.</i>—Continued our march down the valley, through continued wooded grassy scenes, and
+attended by a not too noisy torrent. About a kos from our halting place, we began
+again to see the wooden houses, and came to a halt at the picturesque little village
+of Nowbogh, where there were two roads branching off to Islamabad.
+</p>
+<p>Here we had a long wait for breakfast, the servants being overcome by the unaccustomed
+civilization and tobacco they met on the road. We accordingly set to work at our own
+kitchen fire, and breakfasted without further assistance off fried eggs, rice, and
+honey.
+</p>
+<p>In the evening we found alas! that a fire at our tent door, as we had had hitherto,
+was rather too hot to be pleasant. We were here visited by the local prodigy, a rustic
+carpenter, who insisted upon making something for us with his rather primitive-looking
+turning lathe. His shop I found completely <i>al fresco,</i> between a <span class="pageNum" id="pb257">[<a href="#pb257">257</a>]</span>couple of cows in the centre of a farm-yard, and here he set to work at a walnut cup,
+which he turned out creditably enough. The only thing against it was, that his lathe
+bored a hole right through the bottom of it, which spoiled the utensil a good deal
+for drinking out of. However, not at all taken aback, he plugged it up with a piece
+of stick, and at once requested the bukshish, which was the chief part of the performance.
+Like most of the Cashmeeries, he complained bitterly of the exactions of the Maharajah’s
+government, and stated his own rent to amount to sixteen Huree Singh’s rupees (£1)
+per annum. Not seeing how he could accumulate that sum, by even an entire year of
+work such as his, I took the liberty of disbelieving his assertion.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 13.</i>—Started for Kûkûnath. Our path lay over a finely-wooded hill, from which we had a
+full view of the Peer Punjal range, now divested considerably of the snows which lay
+upon it at the time we started for Thibet.
+</p>
+<p>Gradually descending into the valley proper, we soon found ourselves once more among
+the waving rice-fields and apple-orchards, while the wooden tenements again gave way
+to mud and stone, and thatched erections. At a village called Soprû, we found some
+iron mines in working order, and passing Kundunath, a pretty <span class="pageNum" id="pb258">[<a href="#pb258">258</a>]</span>little spot adorned with gardens of melons, pumpkins, sunflowers, &amp;c., we shortly
+after reached Kûkûnath. Here we encamped close to a collection of bubbling crystal
+springs, which, bursting out of the hill side, and spreading into a dozen separate
+streams, took their course down to the innumerable fields of rice which they watered
+in their passage through the valley. To-day our little camp assumes quite a lively
+appearance again, three sheep and several fowls having been added to the farm-yard;
+these, together with three surviving ducks of the real original stock, and a wonderful
+white Thibetian cock, who owes his life entirely to his highly-cultivated vocal powers,
+strut about in front of the tent, and give an air of unwonted respectability to the
+scene. Two marches more take us to Islamabad, and it seems altogether about time that
+the present expedition should draw to a close. Supplies appear alarmingly low. Sugar
+out some days, brandy ditto, European boots worn out long ago, and both F. and myself
+living in grass shoes; clothes generally dilapidated, and decidedly dirty; servants
+very anxious for more tobacco and society, and everything, in fact, requiring rest
+and renovation after our seven weeks’ wanderings.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 14.</i>—Reached the picturesque little <span class="pageNum" id="pb259">[<a href="#pb259">259</a>]</span>baraduree of Atchabull once more, after a pleasant march from Kûkûnath. Shortly after
+taking possession, a fresh arrival of Sahib’s possessions and servants came in, the
+latter rather astonished to find the house occupied by such early birds. The owners
+turned out to be a colonel of the Bengal Artillery and a brother officer. These were
+almost our first acquaintances since starting, so that we were glad enough to fraternize
+and hear what was going on in the world. Two of our former boat’s crew here also appeared,
+and gave us tidings of our rearguard and baggage. The latter had been ejected from
+its lodgings, and taken out for an airing on the river, having been visited by a flood
+caused by the melting of the snows shortly after our departure. The weather here began
+to be unpleasantly hot again; the disappearance of the snow from the mountains having
+removed the principal cause of the usual coolness in the valley.
+</p>
+<p>Dined with the white men under the spreading sycamores, and enjoyed the luxuries of
+bread, beer, and sugar in our tea, to all of which we had now been long unaccustomed.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 15.</i>—A short march brought us to Islamabad, which we found unusually lively from the assembling
+of a host of pilgrims, who <span class="pageNum" id="pb260">[<a href="#pb260">260</a>]</span>had come from far and wide for a religious fair at Mutton. The groups of different
+nations, and their manners and customs while bivouacking, were most picturesque, and
+served to amuse and interest us for the entire day.
+</p>
+<p><i>September 16.</i>—Started early by boat, in the fond expectation of reaching Sirinugger in the evening.
+Dusk, however, found us no farther than the ruins of Wentipore, and we only reached
+the capital at daylight in the morning. Finding our old quarters vacant, we were soon
+located once more under a roof; and, fifty days having elapsed since we had seen either
+letter or paper, we lost no time in applying to the postal authorities for our expected
+accumulations and arrears of correspondence. This resulted in the production of twenty-seven
+epistles and eleven papers, which we carried home triumphantly in our boat, and proceeded
+forthwith to devour in that ravenous fashion only known and appreciated by such as
+have ever undergone a similar literary fast.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb261">[<a href="#pb261">261</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep" />
+<div id="xd30e2609">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2609src">1</a></span> The origin of this divinity is probably derived from the legend of Khoutoukhtou, which
+will be found in <a href="#appb">Appendix B</a>.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2609src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e2768">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2768src">2</a></span> The most remarkable of these were “Ser” and “Mer,” otherwise called “Nanoo” and “Kanoo;”
+respectively 23,407 and 23,264 feet above the level of the sea.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2768src" title="Return to note 2 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e2885">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2885src">3</a></span> The true version of the story appears to be that Gûlab Singh had quarrelled with the
+Rajah of Cashmere, his rightful master, and entered into the service of the Rajah
+of Kushtwar. After about three years, hearing that Runjeet Singh was preparing an
+expedition against Cashmere, he went to him and offered his services. Being accepted,
+he was successful against his old enemy, and took possession of the country for Runjeet
+Singh; after which he wrote to the Rajah of Kushtwar, falsely telling him that the
+Maharajah was going to send a force against him also. The Rajah and his people prepared
+for resistance, and Gûlab Singh then forged a paper containing an invitation from
+the chief men in the army of Kushtwar to the Maharajah, encouraging him to come forward
+and invade the country.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">This paper Gûlab then forwarded to the Rajah himself, with a note, in which he told
+him that it was folly to talk of resistance <span class="pageNum" id="pb255n">[<a href="#pb255n">255</a>]</span>when the chief men of his country were opposed to him. The Rajah, who had been in
+possession of Kushtwar for twenty-seven years, was completely deceived, and repaired,
+by invitation, with only a few followers to Gûlab’s camp. Here he was kept for three
+months upon an allowance of 10<i>l.</i> a-day, which was afterwards reduced to 10<i>s.,</i> and Gûlab Singh in the meantime took possession of Kushtwar without opposition.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2885src" title="Return to note 3 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="pt7" class="div0 part">
+<h2 class="label">Part VII.</h2>
+<h2 class="main">Last Days of Travel.</h2>
+<p class="first"><i>September 30.</i>—For the last fifteen days we have been living once more the life of <i>otium cum dignitate</i> common to the travelling Englishman in Cashmere. Basking in the sun, taking the daily
+row upon the river, eating fruit, and buying trash in the city, have been our principal
+occupations and amusements.
+</p>
+<p>About the 20th of the month an English general officer arrived, and was received with
+all honours, including a salute of heavy ordnance, which was happily unattended with
+loss of life or limb. A dance and grand review were also given in his honour; so that
+the <span class="pageNum" id="pb262">[<a href="#pb262">262</a>]</span>arrival made quite a stir, and came fairly under the head of <i>an event</i> in the valley. At the review the Maharajah was decorated with unusual grandeur, and
+as he and his guest rode down the line together—the latter in a plain blue frock,
+and the other in all his cloth of gold and jewelled splendour—never were simplicity
+and display more strikingly placed in contrast.
+</p>
+<p>The general’s medals and crosses, however, appeared to have a greater interest and
+importance in the Maharajah’s eyes than their intrinsic value could have commanded
+for them, and, during the marching past of “The Army,” he kept continually poking
+his finger at them, and pointing them out to the courtiers who were gathered about
+his chair. The general, at the same time, was employed in explaining how many thousands
+the British Army consisted of, and how vastly superior it was to all other armies
+whatever, not even making an exception (as I thought he might fairly have done) in
+favour of the “Invincible Forces,” then and there manfully throwing out their feet
+before him to the martial strains of “Home, sweet Home!” After the last of the army
+had marched past, the general, with an energy little appreciated by his friends in
+cloth of gold, jumped up, and, <span class="pageNum" id="pb263">[<a href="#pb263">263</a>]</span>begging permission to manœuvre the troops himself, went off to throw the unfortunate
+colonel commanding into a state of extreme consternation, and to frighten the few
+English words of command he was possessed of, fairly out of his head.
+</p>
+<p>In the early mornings my chief amusement had been to watch the colonel in question
+preparing both himself and his troops for the approaching spectacle, and very sensibly
+he went through the performance. He was arrayed on these occasions in the full dress
+of a green velvet dressing-gown, worn in the style affected by the <i>ferocious ruffian</i> in small theatres, and, in place of a bugler, was accompanied by a pipe-bearer. This
+aide followed him over the battle-field, wherever the exigencies of the service required,
+and supplied him with whiffs of the fragrant weed to compose his nerves at intervals
+during the action. Their united efforts, however, although slightly irregular in appearance,
+were attended with full success, for, with the help of ten rounds of ammunition, the
+troops, even when handed over to the tender mercies of the “Foreign General” got through
+their ordeal very creditably; and, as they shot nobody, and did nothing more irregular
+than losing their shoes upon the field, the event passed off <span class="pageNum" id="pb264">[<a href="#pb264">264</a>]</span>smoothly and pleasantly, and to the satisfaction of all concerned.
+</p>
+<p>Here we met an old Sikh acquaintance of the road, who informed me that he had taken
+service under the Maharajah. Next day he paid us a visit, by appointment, and expressed
+himself highly delighted with his entertainment; smoking and drinking, however, not
+being lawful in society to the Sikhs, we could do but little in the character of hosts,
+beyond letting him talk away to his heart’s content, and with as little interruption
+as possible. He told us his entire life and history, in the worst of English, and
+we affected to understand the whole of the narration, which, perhaps, was as much
+as any host could have been called upon to do under the circumstances. The old gentleman’s
+dress was extremely gorgeous, and contrasted rather strongly with our own woollen
+shooting-jackets and general exterior. He wore a turban of purest white, entwined
+in endless folds round a light green skull-cap; his waistcoat was of green velvet,
+embroidered, and richly bordered with gold. His pyjamas—striped silk of the brightest
+hue—fitted his little legs as tightly as needle and thread could make them, and his
+lady-like feet were encased in cotton socks and gold embroidered slippers. Over all
+this he wore a <span class="pageNum" id="pb265">[<a href="#pb265">265</a>]</span>green and gold silk scarf of voluminous proportions, and of that comprehensive character
+which an Eastern scarf, and in Eastern hands, alone is capable of assuming. Round
+his wrists were massive gold bracelets, but of other trinkets he had few; and the
+enormous ear-rings, so usually worn by his race, were not among them. His long grey
+beard and almost white moustache were, perhaps, the only ornaments his fine old head
+required. The last time I had seen him, he was arrayed entirely in scarlet and gold,
+and he had, no doubt, a large reserve of dresses and jewellery; but, in spite of his
+tinsel and gilding, he appeared a perfect little Eastern gentleman, and the only one
+I had met as yet in our travels. After expressing a great desire to open a correspondence
+with us, which, considering the small number of topics we possessed in common, was
+rather a strange wish, the old gentleman and his retinue took their leave, and we
+had seen the last of Beer <span class="corr" id="xd30e2970" title="Source: Sing">Singh</span> Bahadûr and his glorious apparel.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 1.</i>—Busily employed to-day in packing away our possessions, and making final arrangements
+for again taking the road.
+</p>
+<p>Paid a visit to Saifula Baba, the shawl merchant, whose dignity was considerably upset
+by a cold in his head, and bought a few specimens <span class="pageNum" id="pb266">[<a href="#pb266">266</a>]</span>of his trade, though not sufficient to raise his spirits entirely above the influenza.
+The approaching winter, and the evacuation of the territory by the principal rupee-spending
+community, seemed a source of great unhappiness to the sun and silver-loving natives.
+</p>
+<p>Their houses seem but badly adapted to keep out cold, and their efforts at heating
+them are frequently attended by the burning down of a whole nest of their wooden habitations.
+</p>
+<p>Their chief means of artificial warmth seems to be an earthenware jar covered with
+basket-work, which each native possesses and carries about with him wherever he goes.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p266width" id="p266"><img src="images/p266.jpg" alt="Kangree." width="309" height="207" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>This, which is called a Kangree, is filled with charcoal, and, as the Cashmeerians
+squat down upon the ground, they tuck it under their long clothes, where, until they
+again rise, it remains hidden from sight, and forms a hot-air chamber <span class="pageNum" id="pb267">[<a href="#pb267">267</a>]</span>under their garments.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e2991src" href="#xd30e2991">1</a> Among other artists I discovered a native painter, rather an uncommon trade in these
+parts, from whom I obtained some original designs, illustrating, with uncommon brilliancy,
+the very common ceremonies of Hindoo and Mahomedan Shadees, or marriage processions,
+and other manners and customs of native life.
+</p>
+<p>After getting together everything we required for the road, and clearing out the whole
+of our possessions, much to the inconvenience of several large standing armies of
+fleas, we finally took our departure in two boats, manned by twelve boatmen, and started
+for Baramoula, on the road to Muree and the plains.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 2.</i>—After making but little progress during the night, we discovered in the morning that
+our boats were rather too large for the river, in its present weakly and reduced state.
+Every ten minutes we found ourselves aground upon the sand and mud, and the cooking
+boat behind us followed our example, while the river ahead showed no prospect whatever
+of deepening. <span class="pageNum" id="pb268">[<a href="#pb268">268</a>]</span>The Manjees, under the circumstances performed wonders in the nautical manœuvring
+line. Jumping overboard incessantly, they called upon Peer Dustgeer, their favourite
+patron saint, to aid them in their difficulties, and shrieked and screamed till the
+whole place resounded with their cries.
+</p>
+<p>Sometimes the saints were stony-hearted, probably not being in a humour to be shouted
+at, and then the entire body of silky-skinned darkies would set to work, laughing
+and shouting, to clear away the bar of sand. Their paddles forming in this operation,
+very effective substitutes for spades and shovels, with much difficulty we reached
+the lake, and about nine o’clock arrived at Baramoula.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p268width" id="p268"><img src="images/p268.jpg" alt="Seventh Bridge, Sirinugger." width="720" height="442" /><p class="figureHead">Seventh Bridge, Sirinugger.</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>Here the river ceases to be navigable, and abandons itself for a short time to irregular
+and wanton habits, before finally sowing its wild mountain oats, and becoming the
+staid and sedate Jhelum of the Plains. Unlike some rivers, the Jhelum contains more
+water in the middle of summer than at other times. Its principal resources are the
+snows, and these mighty masses are so wrapped up in their own frigid magnificence
+that it requires a good deal of warm persuasion from the sun to melt their icy hearts
+to tears.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb269">[<a href="#pb269">269</a>]</span></p>
+<p><i>October 3.</i>—Took the road once more, and started for Muree. Our train was increased by a couple
+of volunteer native travellers, who were glad of our society in order that they might
+get clear of the Maharajah’s dominions with as little questioning as possible. Our
+coolies numbered twenty-six, so that altogether our forces now reached to thirty-eight.
+After a fine march, we halted at Nowshera, where the dashing river afforded us an
+exciting swim before breakfast. Coming out of the water, however, I had the ill luck
+to slip upon a treacherous rock, and, falling heavily on my side, and so over into
+the rapid stream, had some difficulty in fishing myself out again, and was very near
+taking an unpleasantly short cut to the Plains. In the evening, when the cook came
+to inspect the larder for dinner, it was discovered, that, with an unusual want of
+presence of mind, a newly-killed sheep had been left by mistake in the boats for the
+benefit of the already overpaid boatmen. This was the third animal we had lost, from
+various causes, during our travels, and the mishap most seriously affected the success
+of our dinner arrangements for the day.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 4.</i>—Found great difficulty in getting up this morning after my fall, and still more in
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb270">[<a href="#pb270">270</a>]</span>walking three miles, which I had to do before finding a pony. The view was beautiful
+the whole way; but we had been so gorged with scenery of all sorts and kinds, that
+rugged passes, shady dells, waterfalls, &amp;c., however precious they may become in future
+recollection, were almost thrown away upon us for the time being. Breakfasted under
+the pine trees, near an ancient temple, and halted at Uree, where there was a baraduree
+for travellers. Except, however, to very dirty travellers indeed, it would be of little
+use. While descending a very steep part of the road, my saddle suddenly slipped over
+the pony’s round little carcase on to his neck, and, <i lang="la">nolens volens,</i> I came to the ground, the pony remaining in a position very nearly perpendicular,
+with his tail towards the heavens and his head between my legs, in which predicament
+he luckily remained perfectly quiet, until the bhistie, coming up behind, set us both
+on our proper extremities once more.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 5.</i>—Started for Chukothee, and thinking, in an evil moment, to walk off the effects of
+my late mishap, I essayed the fifteen miles on foot.
+</p>
+<p>Long before reaching half way, however, I began to look about for anything in the
+shape of a pony, that might appear in sight; but, none <span class="pageNum" id="pb271">[<a href="#pb271">271</a>]</span>being forthcoming, I was obliged to finish as I had begun, and at last reached our
+destination, a snug little village, buried in fields of yellow rice upon the hill-side.
+On the way, I fell in with a fine old Mussulman Zemindar, trudging along on his return
+to Delhi, from paying a visit to Sirinugger.
+</p>
+<p>Being an unusually talkative old gentleman, we fraternized by the way, and he told
+me that he had been to see the civil commissioner of his district, now acting as commissioner
+in the valley, to make his salaam, relative to a “jageer,” or Government grant of
+certain villages to the amount of some three thousand rupees per annum, which he had
+succeeded in obtaining on account of his loyalty during the recent mutiny.
+</p>
+<p>Of this three thousand rupees, it appeared that only one thousand would come into
+his own pocket, the remainder being payable as rent, &amp;c. to Government.
+</p>
+<p>His son had also a jageer of twelve thousand rupees, so that both he and his family
+were loyal and well to do in the world. His ideas of Cashmere were rather amusing.
+He appeared to think it a miserable spot enough, compared to his own land, and the
+only advantage he could hit upon, was, in my estimation, quite the <span class="pageNum" id="pb272">[<a href="#pb272">272</a>]</span>reverse, viz: <i>that Sirinugger was very hot in the middle of summer.</i>
+</p>
+<p>The rice he had a supreme contempt for. It was not to be compared with the Indian
+rice, and the Cashmeeries he pooh-poohed, as being no judges whatever of its qualities,
+and, in fact; not fit to eat rice at all. He seemed quite unable to understand my
+walking when I could ride; or, indeed, why I should leave such a charming country
+as India to be uncomfortable in Cashmere, without even having any jageer business
+to transact as an excuse.
+</p>
+<p>Our coolies, being an unusually miserable crew, we got breakfast about two <span class="asc">P.M.</span> To-day our tent lamp finished its erratic life, according to the Dhobie’s account,
+by self-destruction! That good for nothing piece of charcoal had, however, doubtless
+dashed the solid cut-glass globe, which formed the chief glory of the instrument,
+against a rock, while thinking of his hubble bubble, and his little blackamoors at
+home.
+</p>
+<p>The lamp had got over all the difficulties of the road from Lahore to Ladak and back,
+and had been quite a peep-show to half the natives of Thibet, who were never tired
+of regarding their multiplied countenances in the numerous cut circles of the glass
+shade, so that we felt <span class="pageNum" id="pb273">[<a href="#pb273">273</a>]</span>quite grieved at its melancholy loss. Our water bottle also to-day finished its existence,
+and the table came into camp a bundle of sticks; so that everything seemed to betoken
+the approaching dissolution of the expedition. The farm-yard consists of five ducks,
+all strangers, and a pet sheep, and the khiltas look haggard and dilapidated in the
+extreme. The musical cock, alone, of old friends still survives, but he appears in
+weak health, and his constitution is evidently undermined by the changes of climate
+it has undergone. We were here worried by a party of strolling mountebanks from the
+Punjab, who persisted in horrifying us by making two young girls and three boys, all
+apparently entirely destitute of bones, stand upon their heads, and go through similar
+performances on the grass. The girl actually pattered a measure with her feet upon
+the back of her head, and the proprietors seemed utterly unable to account for our
+apathetic disregard of so extremely talented and interesting a performance.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 6.</i>—Left for Hutteian, about fifteen miles off. Ponies being scarce, I had to walk part
+of the way; but the sepoy, pitching by chance upon our friends, the Punjabees, triumphantly
+carried off a stout little animal of theirs for my use. Before mounting, however,
+I was mobbed <span class="pageNum" id="pb274">[<a href="#pb274">274</a>]</span>by the tumbling family, <i>en masse,</i> who went on their knees in their solicitations to be exempt from the seizure of their
+property. Finding me obdurate in retaining the pony at a fair valuation, with “the
+army” to bear me out, they proceeded to diplomatic measures to gain their end. First,
+a very small child, choosing a stony place in the path, suddenly stood upon her head,
+and proceeded to form black knots with her body. Finding that this only caused me
+to threaten her father with a stick, they produced a blind girl, who threw herself
+half naked at my feet and cried by order. The poor creature had lost her sight by
+the small-pox, and I had remarked her the day before patiently toiling over rocks
+and broken paths with one little child in her arms, and another half leading, half
+obstructing her, endeavouring to guide her footsteps down the rocks. She, however,
+got no immediate benefit from the pony of contention; so, giving her some money to
+console her in her forced misery, I still remained inexorable. After this, the encampment
+broke up, with all its pots and pans, cows and fowl, &amp;c. and took to the road, leaving
+me in undisturbed possession of my new conveyance. The weather began to astonish us
+a little to-day, by a renewed accession of October heat. Still the climate was delightful.
+Morning <span class="pageNum" id="pb275">[<a href="#pb275">275</a>]</span>and evenings always cool, and sometimes cold, and a bright cheery blue invariably
+over head, while a refreshing breeze made music through the pine trees, and waved
+the golden ears of rice.
+</p>
+<p>Encamped under a spreading sycamore, at the junction of two mountain streams. To-day
+a new order of bridge appeared, consisting merely of a single rope, the passengers
+being tugged across in a basket. From its appearance it was rather a matter of congratulation
+that we were not called upon to cross it.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 7.</i>—Being Sunday, we made a halt, and enjoyed a refreshing bathe in the stream, and a
+rest from the toils of the road.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 8.</i>—Left “Hutteian,” and, winding along the valley, arrived, by a steep ascent, at Chukar,
+a little village boasting a fort and a small nest of Sepoys. It also owned a curiously
+<i>dirty,</i> and consequently <i>saintly</i> Fukeer, <span class="corr" id="xd30e3081" title="Source: who">whom</span> we found sitting bolt upright, newly decorated with ashes, and with an extremely
+florid collection of bulls, demons, &amp;c. painted about the den he occupied. On the
+road I again picked up the old Mussulman, who seemed delighted to chat, and gave me
+an account of the part he had played in the mutiny.
+</p>
+<p>He appeared frequently to have warned his Commissioner that an outbreak was about
+to <span class="pageNum" id="pb276">[<a href="#pb276">276</a>]</span>take place, but without his crediting the story; and when it actually did occur, the
+latter fled from his station at Lahore, and took shelter with a friendly Risaldar
+until the storm should blow over. From thence he sent for the old gentleman, my informant,
+and “Imam Buksh” forthwith mounted his camel and came with five and twenty armed followers
+to his assistance. While here, a party of rebels came searching for English, and Mr.
+Buksh narrated how he went forth to meet them, and proclaimed, that they might kill
+the Englishman if they would, but must first dispose not only of himself, but also
+of his five and twenty followers. Upon this they abused him, and asked him, “What
+sort of a Mussulman he called himself?” and denounced him as a “Feringee,” or foreigner.
+</p>
+<p>The rebels, however, finally went off, and the Commissioner and his family, by Imam
+Buksh’s further assistance, succeeded in escaping all the dangers of the times. For
+this service it was that the old gentleman had just received his jageer of two villages,
+now some years after the occurrence of the events.
+</p>
+<p>He appeared to think very little of the Maharajah’s rule, and was of opinion that
+the people were miserably oppressed, paying, by his account, two thirds of the produce
+of their lands to <span class="pageNum" id="pb277">[<a href="#pb277">277</a>]</span>the Government. This was in kind, but, where the revenue was taken in coin, a produce
+of about fourteen pounds of grain was subject to a tax of two rupees. On the subject
+of the cause of the mutiny in India, he said that greased cartridges certainly had
+nothing to do with it; for the rest, why, “It was the will of God, and so it happened.”
+To induce him to argue on the <i>possibility</i> of the mutiny having been successful, I found to be out of the question. “It was
+the power of God which had prevented the rebels from gaining over us, and, in the
+name of the Holy Prophet and the twelve Imams, how then could it have been otherwise?”
+As to the probability, however, of there being another mutiny, he admitted that he
+thought there would be one, but that, as long as we maintained justice, no other power
+could hold the country against us. On my asking him if we did not maintain justice
+in the land, he said no, and adduced the fact that in every case brought before the
+courts an enormous amount of bribery goes on among the Rishtidars, and other understrappers,
+whereby the man with most money wins his cause. No Englishman, he thought, could take
+a bribe, but he seemed to be under the impression that those in authority were aware
+of the system being carried on by those beneath them. He admitted that he <span class="pageNum" id="pb278">[<a href="#pb278">278</a>]</span>knew of one native who would not take a bribe! and dwelt largely on the subject, as
+if it were a wonderful fact, which I have no doubt it was.
+</p>
+<p>In the evening we presented Mr. Imam Buksh with some of our sheep, which delighted
+his heart immensely, and he spent the entire evening in cooking and eating it, together
+with a perfect mountain of chupatties, which he manufactured with great care and deliberation.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 9.</i>—Left our camp very early, and had a sharp ascent up the mountains. A considerable
+descent again, brought us to the village of Mehra, where we pitched our tents, once
+more within sight of the territories of India.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 10.</i>—Marched into Dunna, our last halting-place in Cashmere. It is situated nearly at
+the summit of the frontier range of hills, and commanded a most extensive view of
+the mountains of Cashmere and Cabul, besides those on the Indian side.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 11.</i>—Took a last fond glance towards “the valley,” and descended by a very steep and difficult
+path to the river Jhelum, which forms the boundary between the two territories. Here
+a couple of queerly-shaped, rudely-constructed boats, with two huge oars apiece, one
+astern and one at the side, formed <span class="pageNum" id="pb279">[<a href="#pb279">279</a>]</span>the traveller’s flying bridge. Into one of these the whole of our possessions and
+coolies, &amp;c. were stowed, and we commenced the passage of the stream.
+</p>
+<p>This we managed by, in the first instance, coasting up the bank for several hundred
+yards, and then striking boldly into the current; and it was amusing to see our well-crammed
+boat suddenly drawn into the rapid stream and whisked and whirled about like a straw,
+while a nice calculation on the part of the skipper, and a good deal of rowing and
+shouting on that of the sailors, enabled us to touch the opposite shore not very far
+below the point from which we had started. One last lingering look at Cashmerian ground,
+a step over the side, and we were once more standing upon the territories of Queen
+Victoria, and in the burning land of India—happily, however, still six days’ journey
+from the Plains.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 12.</i>—Marched up the spur of the Muree Hill to Dewul, where we found a room in a mud fort
+converted into a halting-place for travellers, reached by a series of break-neck ladders,
+and looking very much like a cell in a prison, with its two chairs and clumsy wooden
+table. Here we found a little amusement in the arrival of the Chota Sahib, or “small
+gentleman,”<span class="pageNum" id="pb280">[<a href="#pb280">280</a>]</span>—otherwise the Assistant Civil Commissioner of the district,—to review the fort and
+its dependencies. On the first tidings of his approach, the Thanadar immediately turned
+out the entire garrison, consisting of twelve military policemen, called “Burqundaz,”
+or “Flashers of lightning!” These soon appeared in their full dress of crimson turbans
+and yellow tights, and, shouldering their “flint-locks,” proceeded to perform a series
+of intricate evolutions, by way of practice for the rapidly-approaching inspection.
+When the great little man did arrive, there was, we thought, a good deal of irregularity
+among the troops, such as laughing in the ranks and treading on toes, &amp;c. However,
+the only point the inspecting officer dwelt upon was the absence of uniformity in
+dress, caused by the deficiency of two pairs of yellow tights among the lightning
+flashers, otherwise he appeared perfectly satisfied, and all went off well. After
+his review he invited himself to our dinner-party, and honoured our repast with the
+further addition of a kid stew. He turned out to be one of the ex-Company’s officers,
+a subaltern of eighteen years’ service, <i>fifteen</i> of which had been spent away from his regiment on the staff. He was with his corps,
+however, when it mutinied, and escaped without much difficulty. The unfortunate <span class="pageNum" id="pb281">[<a href="#pb281">281</a>]</span>colonel of the regiment, finding that none of his men would shoot him, had done so
+with his own hand. He gave it as his opinion that the cartridges <i>were</i> the cause of the mutiny; but allowed that his regiment was in a bad state of discipline
+some time before, and that all the native corps were known to be disaffected years
+before the event occurred, both by the officers present and those absent upon staff
+employ. Altogether, after the Chota Sahib had thoroughly discussed both the mutiny
+and the dinner, we were left under the impression that there was quite sufficient
+cause for the disaffection of the Bengal army without ever arriving at the vexed question
+of greased cartridges at all.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 13.</i>—Marched early into the Hill Station of Muree. Not being yet quite in walking trim,
+I had pressed a mule into the service, who carried me in good style as far as the
+entrance to the town. Here, however, he seemed suddenly to remember that we had each
+a character to support, and, stopping short, he utterly refused to budge another step.
+Not being willing even to be led, I finally abandoned him to his own devices, and
+walked on to the Commandant’s bungalow, where I found my companion already hospitably
+received, and comfortably <span class="pageNum" id="pb282">[<a href="#pb282">282</a>]</span>seated at breakfast, discussing kidneys and beefsteaks, and such like unwonted delicacies
+of the Muree season.
+</p>
+<p>After getting somewhat over the novelty and discomfort of being again in a house with
+doors and glass windows, and other inconveniences, we sallied out to inspect the station.
+</p>
+<p>Like its <i>confrères</i> of the Hills—Simla, Kussowlie, &amp;c. Muree was a prettily-situated little settlement,
+with houses scattered about entirely according to the freaks and fancies of the owners,
+and with utter disregard of all system whatever. The Mall was a fine one, and its
+gaily-dressed frequenters, in jhampans and palkees, &amp;c. were of the unmistakeable
+stamp of Anglo India in the Hills. Two or three of the ladies, however, were bold
+enough to walk, and looked none the worse for being divorced from their almost inseparable
+vehicles, and unattended by their <span class="corr" id="xd30e3132" title="Source: motly">motley</span> crowd of red, and green, and variegated bearers.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 14.</i>—Spent a quiet day among the hospitalities of Muree, and became gradually accustomed
+to <i>city life.</i> Going to church seemed rather a strange process, and the building itself was but
+a bad exchange for the grander temples which we had frequented for so many Sundays.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb283">[<a href="#pb283">283</a>]</span></p>
+<p><i>October 15.</i>—Laid our dak by doolie to Lahore, and, with our hospitable entertainer to guide us,
+started at five <span class="asc">P.M.</span> by a short cut, to meet our new conveyances.
+</p>
+<p>Reaching the main road, we once more packed ourselves away in our boxes, and, the
+sun soon setting his last for us upon the Cashmere mountains, left us to make our
+way down to the miserable plains as fast as the flaring and spluttering light of a
+couple of pine torches would allow our bearers to patter along.
+</p>
+<p>From this, until we reach Lahore, we are accompanied by an incessant shuffle shuffle
+of naked feet through the dusty road; jabbering and shouting of blacks, flickering
+of torches, bumping of patched and straining doolies against mounds of earth, glimpses
+of shining naked bodies, streaming with perspiration, as they flit about, and the
+whole enveloped in dense and suffocating clouds of dust, which penetrate everything
+and everywhere, and soon become, in fact, a part of one’s living breathing existence;
+occasionally, outstripping our procession, a vision passes, like the glimmer of a
+white strip of linen, a stick, and a black and polished body, it rushes by like the
+wind, and disappears in the gloom of dust and night, and, in a second, her Majesty’s
+mail has passed us on the road! As we near <span class="pageNum" id="pb284">[<a href="#pb284">284</a>]</span>the plains this vision undergoes a slight change, and takes the form of an apparition
+of two wild horses tearing away with a red and almost body-less cart; this also goes
+by like a flash, but gives more notice of its coming, and our torches, for a second,
+light up the figure of a wild huntsman, with red and streaming turban, who sits behind
+the steeds and blows a defiant blast at us as he also vanishes into the darkness.
+About seven miles from Muree, we halted for dinner, and made renewed acquaintance
+with that interesting object—the Indian roadside chicken.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 16.</i>—Arrived early at Rawul Pindee, and breakfasted at seven, apparently off guttapercha
+and extract of sloe leaves. On again immediately, and reached Gugerkhan bungalow at
+seven <span class="asc">P.M.</span> hot, apoplectic, and saturated with dust.
+</p>
+<p>The room smells thoroughly of the plains; an odour, as it were, of punkhas, mosquitoes,
+and mustiness, not to be found elsewhere, and entirely unexplainable to uninitiated
+sufferers.
+</p>
+<p>The chicken, whose “fate had been accomplished,” died as we entered the yard, and
+was on the table in the fashion of a warm <i>spread eagle</i> in fifteen minutes! After this delicacy is duly discussed, the doolies are emptied
+of dust, the bedding laid down, and jolt, jolt, creak, <span class="pageNum" id="pb285">[<a href="#pb285">285</a>]</span>creak, grunt, grunt, on we go again, until sleep good-naturedly comes to make us oblivious
+of all things. The kahars, or bearers, however, take a different view of life, and
+at every relief a crowd of sniggering darkies assemble, on both sides, with applications
+for bukshish. At first one hears, “Sahib, Sahib!” in a deprecating tone of voice,
+mindful of sudden wakings of former Sahibs, sticks, and consequent sore backs, then
+<span class="corr" id="xd30e3166" title="Source: piu">più</span> forte, “Sahib!” crescendo, “Sahib, Sahib!” and then at last, in a burst of harmony,
+“Sahib pûrana Baira kûtch bukshish mil jawe?”<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e3169src" href="#xd30e3169">2</a> and the miserable doolie traveller, who has been, probably, feigning sleep in sulky
+savageness for the last ten minutes, makes a sudden dive through the curtains with
+a stick, an exclamation is heard very like swearing, only in a foreign language, and
+the troop of applicants vanish like a shot, keeping up, however, a yelping of Sahibs,
+and Pûrana Bairas, and Bukshishs, until the new bearers get fairly under weigh, and
+have carried their loads beyond hearing. None but those who have been <span class="corr" id="xd30e3172" title="Source: woke">woken</span> up in this manner from a comfortable state of unconsciousness, to the full realities
+of doolie travelling in Indian heat and dust, can form an idea of the trial it is
+to one’s temper; and, from my own feelings, together with <span class="pageNum" id="pb286">[<a href="#pb286">286</a>]</span>the sounds I hear from my companion’s direction, I can testify as to the relief that
+the use of foreign expletives affords under the affliction.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 17.</i>—Arrived at Jhelum about eight <span class="asc">A.M.</span> to all intents and purposes dust inside and out. Flesh and blood can stand no more
+for the present, and we resolve to halt here for the day. The weather appears quite
+as hot as when we started, and the wind comes in, hot and dry, and makes one feel
+like a herring of the reddest; while an infernal punkha is creaking its monotonous
+tune, as it flaps to and fro in the next room, making one again realize to the full,
+“the pleasures of the plains.” We begin, in fact, to discover that the thorns which
+were not forthcoming on the Cashmere roses are too surely to be found elsewhere.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 18.</i>—Reached Goojerat at cock-crow; thus completing a distinct circle of travel through
+Bimber, Sirinugger, Ladak, Kushtwar, Muree, and back to our present halting-place,
+from whence we had originally branched off.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 19.</i>—A dusty night’s work brought us at two <span class="asc">A.M.</span> to Goojerwala. Here we found that there was no bungalow between us and Lahore, and,
+consequently, no chance of either a wash or breakfast should we go on; we therefore
+chose loss of time in preference to loss of breakfast, <span class="pageNum" id="pb287">[<a href="#pb287">287</a>]</span>with the addition of a day under a broiling sun, and halted until the authorities
+should awake to feed us.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 20.</i>—Reached Lahore before sunrise, and got our letters and papers from the post once
+more. Afterwards we laid our dak for Cawnpore, and made all arrangements for a start
+in the evening.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 21.</i>—Arrived at Umritsur about three <span class="asc">A.M.</span>, and remained in our coaches until sunrise, when we set off for a stroll through
+the city. This we found the cleanest, if not the only clean, town we had seen since
+landing in India. The streets were well drained and built, and were guarded by a force
+of yellow-legged, red-turbaned Punjabee policemen, who were provided, like their brother
+blue-bottles at home, with staves and rattles instead of the more usual insignia of
+sword and shield. The houses were almost all decorated, outside and in, with grotesque
+mythological and other paintings, such as Vishnu annihilating Rakshus, or demons of
+various kinds, or wonderful battle-pieces, wherein pale-faced, unhealthy-looking people,
+in tailed coats and cocked hats, might be seen performing prodigies of valour, assisted
+by bearded and invincible Sikh warriors of ferocious exterior. The shops were built
+with verandahs, <span class="pageNum" id="pb288">[<a href="#pb288">288</a>]</span>and the piazza character of some of the streets, in conjunction with the unusual cleanliness,
+gave one a very agreeable impression of Umritsur and its municipal corporation, whoever
+that body may be. The inhabitants are principally Sikhs, fine-looking men generally,
+with long beards turned up at either side of their faces, and knotted with their hair
+under the voluminous folds of their turbans.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 22.</i>—Out at four <span class="asc">A.M.</span> to explore the great durbar, or head-quarters of the Sikh religion in the Punjab.
+Entering through a highly decorated archway in the kotwalee, or police station, we
+came upon an enormous tank, with steps descending into the water on all sides, and
+planted around with large and shady trees. In the centre of this rose the temple of
+the Sikhs, a light-looking, richly-gilt edifice, the lower part of which was constructed
+of inlaid stones upon white marble. From this to one side of the tank, a broad causeway
+led, decorated with handsome railings, and lamps of gilt-work upon marble pedestals.
+Along this, crowds of people were passing to and fro, arrayed in every possible variety
+of costume and colour. Sikhs, Hindoos, Mussulmen—men, women, and children, crowded
+together like bees in a hive. Round the edges of the tank were handsome <span class="pageNum" id="pb289">[<a href="#pb289">289</a>]</span>buildings, minarets, &amp;c. with trees and gardens attached to them; and that, towards the causeway, was divided in two by a fine and richly-decorated archway,
+in the upper part of which a party of patriarchal old Sikhs were squatted on their
+haunches, discoursing the affairs of the nation. This whole scene opened upon our
+view at a glance. The sun had as yet scarcely appeared over the horizon, and the reflection
+of its light shone faintly upon the gold-work and ornaments of the central building,
+tipping it and the lofty minarets with rosy light, whilst the rest of the buildings
+remained shrouded in the morning haze. With the incessant bustle of the thronging,
+brightly-vestured crowd, and the accompaniment of the wild discordant tom-toming of
+a band of turbaned musicians, it formed a scene which almost persuaded one to put
+once more confidence in the brightly-coloured descriptions of the “Arabian Nights.”
+While waiting for sun-rise, we ascended one of the minarets, from which we had a curious
+bird’s-eye view of the tank and surrounding city at our feet, while the plains lay
+stretching away before us; the horizon level and unbroken, as if it bounded in the
+ocean. From this we had also a private view of the manners and customs <span class="pageNum" id="pb290">[<a href="#pb290">290</a>]</span>of the natives. Just below us was an early morning scene in the life of a Sikh gentleman.
+He was sitting up in his “four-leg,” on the open court of an upper story, which formed
+his bed-room, while his attendants were offering him his morning cup of coffee, and
+otherwise attending to his wants. In one corner, another Sikh gentleman, with one
+arm, was having a brass vessel of water poured over him, and a number of similar vessels
+stood upon a sort of rack, ready for the master of the house to have his bath.
+</p>
+<p>Scattered about the foot of the bed, which had a grandly decorated canopy, was a deputation
+of white-robed Sikhs paying their morning visit, or having an audience upon some matter
+of business. These by degrees got up and went out, each making a profound salaam as
+he passed the bed. One of them only, the old man called back, and with him, as he
+sat upon the “four-leg,” he had a long and confidential talk. This evidently was the
+medical adviser, and, judging by the dumb-show of the interview which ensued, the
+Sikh, as evidently, was the victim of a cold in his fine old nose, which he had doubtless
+caught from sleeping in the open air. After this we repaired to the kotwallee again,
+and, getting a pair of slippers in exchange for <span class="pageNum" id="pb291">[<a href="#pb291">291</a>]</span>our boots, descended to the durbar and mingled with the crowd.
+</p>
+<p>Although we were inadmissible in boots, no objection whatever appeared to be made
+to the entrance of Brahminee bulls; for we found a number of them walking about the
+mosaic pavement with as much confidence and impunity as if the place belonged to them.
+</p>
+<p>In the building we found a collection of Sikh padres, or “gooroos,” sitting behind
+a massive volume richly cased in cloth of gold and silver, while squatted around under
+a canopy, were the Sikh faithful, offering their presents of cowries, chupatties,
+balls of sweetmeats, and showers of yellow and white necklaces of flowers. The book
+was the original law of Gooroo Gurunth Sahib, which they had just finished reading,
+and, as we entered, they were commencing to cover it up again, which they did, with
+great pomp and ceremony, in a number of cloths of various patterns, after which they
+distributed the votive offerings among themselves and the people present, and held
+a sort of banquet over the sweets and flowers. In the midst of the proceedings, a
+very fine specimen of the race of Fukeer came in, and presenting an offering of the
+smallest, laid his head upon the ground before the book, and, <span class="pageNum" id="pb292">[<a href="#pb292">292</a>]</span>without a word, took himself off again. He was girt round the loins with a yellowish-red
+cloth; his body, from head to foot, was covered with ashes. The hair of his head was
+matted together in strips, like the tail of an uncared cow, and reached to his waist.
+A shallow earthen pot was his hat, and over his shoulders hung two large gourds, suspended
+by a cord, while in his hand he carried a long staff, covered over with stuff of the
+same kind as that round his waist. Such was the figure which entered among the gaily-dressed
+multitude in the saintly durbar; and, although to the assembled people there appeared
+nothing whatever either strange or unusual in the arrival, to us, who were looking
+on, the contrast between the unclad dirty mendicant, and the pure white vestments
+of the Sikhs around, rendered it a most striking and remarkable apparition.
+</p>
+<p>On entering, he had removed the earthen pot which formed his hat, and, one of the
+two gourds which were round his shoulders having fallen to the ground in the act,
+it was amusing to see him pause for a second, and anxiously examine whether any compound
+fracture had taken place in the precious article of his very limited dinner service.
+One extremity of the building we found <span class="pageNum" id="pb293">[<a href="#pb293">293</a>]</span>was occupied for Hindoo worship; so that fraternity and equality, worthy of imitation
+seems to be the order of the day among the religions of Umritsur. The interior was
+richly decorated with gilding and mirrors, &amp;c., but was little worthy of remark in
+comparison with the richness of the exterior effect. Presenting a “bukshish” to the
+expectant padres who guarded the sacred book, we left them to their devotions, and
+betook ourselves once more to our bungalow.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 23.</i>—Travelling all night, we reached Jullunder at six <span class="asc">A.M.</span>, and, after breakfast, again started for Loodianah, where we dined. We here again
+crossed the Sutlej, but, the water being low, boat navigation was dispensed with,
+and a shaky bridge, and about two miles of sandy river-bed, completed the passage.
+</p>
+<p>At Loodianah we were stormed by a host of merchants, with pushmeena and other soft
+matters, who were rather disappointed at finding we had come from the birth-place
+of such like manufactures. Some of the local shawls, however, or “Rampore chudders,”
+were beautifully fine and delicate, and seemed worthy of inspection.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 24.</i>—Reached Umballa at eight <span class="asc">A.M.</span>, and started again shortly after. Our horses to-day <span class="pageNum" id="pb294">[<a href="#pb294">294</a>]</span>were most miserable caricatures, and it was with difficulty we managed to progress
+at all. The last stage was accomplished at a walk; and what with this and the delay
+caused by a couple of sandy river-beds, we only reached Kurnaul at ten <span class="asc">P.M.</span> The miserable condition of the horses was accounted for by the enormously high price
+of grain and the absence of grass, in consequence of the want of rain. The general
+topic, in fact, is now the failure of the rains, and consequent apprehensions of a
+famine throughout the land. “Atar” is here eight seers the rupee, or in other words,
+flour sells at one shilling and ninepence a stone—an enormous price in these parts.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 25.</i>—Sunrise found us still half-way to Delhi, and we stopped to breakfast at the little
+bungalow of Ghureekulla. Here we found a fine old Khansaman, who gave us an account
+of the incidents of the Mutiny which came under his notice. He had received a flying
+party of two hundred men, women, and children, who arrived at dead of night, some
+on horses, some on foot, and all worn and haggard by their march from Delhi, from
+which they had escaped. These he took care of, and supplied with food until the following
+day, when they departed, without, by <span class="pageNum" id="pb295">[<a href="#pb295">295</a>]</span>his own account, giving him anything, either as pay or reward. He afterwards assisted
+others also, and received about one hundred and twenty rupees, one way or another,
+for his services. At present he receives six rupees a month, with whatever he can
+pick up from travellers; not a very large amount in the out-of-the-way little jungle
+station of Ghureekulla.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 26.</i>—Passed through Delhi by moonlight, and reached the bungalow at one <span class="asc">A.M.</span> At gun-fire we emerged from our locomotives, and went to explore the king’s palace.
+In spite of the late lesson on the subject of sepoys, we found the gates of the fort
+held entirely by native guards, and a very small body of Europeans located within
+the walls. After rambling through the place, and discovering that its only beauty
+lay at present in its exterior, we went to the Jama Musjid, a fine mosque of red granite,
+inlaid in parts with white marble. The cupolas, of great size, were entirely marble,
+and the minarets, also of marble, were closely inlaid. The place had been only recently
+handed over to the Moslems after its late seizure, and was not as yet used for worship.
+Ascending one of the minarets, we had a fine view of the city of the Great Mogul dynasty,
+with its minarets and <span class="pageNum" id="pb296">[<a href="#pb296">296</a>]</span>ornamented streets; and in the distance we could discern the positions occupied by
+our besieging force, when the last of the kings was brought so rudely to the termination
+of his reign.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 27.</i>—Reached Koel, or Allyghur, at eight <span class="asc">A.M.</span> Started again at five, stopping on the way to inspect the Jama Musjid, and a very
+fine old tower, probably of Buddhist or Jain origin, which was covered over with ancient
+inscriptions. Just as the Muezzin was calling to evening prayer, we again resumed
+our monotonous order of travel, and branched off towards Agra to visit the famous
+Taj Mahul.
+</p>
+<p><i>October 28.</i>—Reached Agra at two <span class="asc">A.M.</span>, and finding the bungalow full, had to go to the hotel. At sunrise we drove out to
+the Taj, and here, I think, for the first time, we were not disappointed in the difference
+between reality and description. The entrance to the gardens in which the Taj is situated
+was beautiful in itself, but one sight of the main building left no room for admiration
+of anything besides.
+</p>
+<p>It is situated on the banks of the Jumna, with a fine view of the magnificent fort,
+with its mosque and minarets, and is entirely of pure white marble, inlaid with stones
+into shapes of flowers and arabesques, &amp;c. At each corner rises <span class="pageNum" id="pb297">[<a href="#pb297">297</a>]</span>a white marble minaret, like a pillar of snow, beautifully decorated and carved, but
+unsullied by a single line of any other colour whatever. The interior is profusely
+inlaid with minute stones of considerable value, and is lit by carved marble windows
+of the most beautiful design imaginable. In the centre, surrounding the tomb of Mûmtaz
+and her lord, is a marvellous white marble screen, in the form of a polygon, carved
+like perforated ivory, and also inlaid with minute stones of every shape and colour.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e3280src" href="#xd30e3280">3</a> The queen, in whose honour the tomb was built, occupies the very centre of the enclosure,
+Shah Jehan’s tomb being on one side of it, and larger in size, which rather spoils
+the symmetry of the space.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb298">[<a href="#pb298">298</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Exactly underneath the tombs, in the main body of the building, one descends to a
+marble vault, where there are two others precisely similar in shape, but without any
+inscription or ornament whatever, and under these latter the mortal remains of the
+famous Shah Jehan and Mûmtaz repose in peace. Over the queen’s tomb, in the very centre
+of the interior, a single ostrich egg was suspended by an almost invisible thread,
+probably to shadow forth something of the meaning of the “Resurgam” affixed to monuments
+elsewhere. On either side, without the mausoleum, are two buildings facing inwards,
+one of which is a mosque, built in red granite and white marble; and the whole are
+profusely ornamented with carvings in marble, which would take an age to examine thoroughly,
+and which produce an effect quite incapable of being adequately portrayed by either
+pen or pencil.
+</p>
+<p>In one of these edifices, among the inlaid work and arabesques, and not far from the
+mortal remains of the departed King and Queen, we found a curious and interesting
+inscription, which seems to have been hitherto unmentioned by the many travellers
+who have visited the sacred spot. It was prominently placed and easily decipherable,
+being in unusually large letters, and in that <span class="pageNum" id="pb299">[<a href="#pb299">299</a>]</span>character which might be called the “<i>Uneiform,</i>” of which so many valuable specimens exist in all parts of the known globe.
+</p>
+<p>It ran thus:—
+</p>
+<blockquote><p>IN MEMORY OF VALENTINE’S DAY.</p></blockquote>
+<p>The sentence appeared unfinished, and one or two words were probably required to complete
+the sense, but from similar existing records there could be no difficulty in filling
+in the missing syllables.
+</p>
+<p>It was curious, however, to reflect what the feeling could have been that stayed the
+writer’s hand, and prevented him from finishing his graceful tribute to the mighty
+dead.
+</p>
+<p>Mûmtaz, from whose name the word “Taj” is derived (the letter “z” being incapable
+of being pronounced by many natives except as a “j”), was the daughter of the famous
+Noor Jehan’s brother Asoph Khan. Shah Jehan followed his queen in <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1665, and was laid in the building which he had himself originally designed in her
+honour alone.
+</p>
+<p>With Noor Jehan and Jehangeer the case was reversed. The conqueror of the world ended
+his career in <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1627, and the partner of all his Cashmerian wanderings, and many adventures, <span class="pageNum" id="pb300">[<a href="#pb300">300</a>]</span>who wore no colour but white after his death, finally rejoined him in a tomb which
+she had raised to his memory at Lahore.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p030width" id="p030"><img src="images/p030.jpg" alt="Crossing the Sutlej." width="492" height="263" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>Having paid due homage to the beauty of the far-famed mausoleum, we went to the Fort,
+and, after visiting the Ram Bagh, the Ikmam Dowlah, and the various palaces built
+by Akbar Shah, once more took the road, and were soon again galloping through the
+dust, morning bringing us to the bungalow of Bewah. From this we again made for Ghoorsahagunge
+and Cawnpore, and by rail to Allahabad, there completing a circuit of travel extending
+to between two and three thousand miles:
+</p>
+<div class="lgouter">
+<p class="line xd30e815">“In heat and cold
+</p>
+<p class="line">We’d roved o’er many a hill and many a dale,
+</p>
+<p class="line">Through many a wood and many an open ground,
+</p>
+<p class="line">In sunshine and in shade, in wet and fair,
+</p>
+<p class="line">Thoughtful or blithe of heart as might befall
+</p>
+<p class="line">Our best companions, now the driving winds,
+</p>
+<p class="line">And now the trotting brooks and whispering trees,
+</p>
+<p class="line">And now the music of our own quick steps
+</p>
+<p class="line">With many a short-lived thought that passed between
+</p>
+<p class="line">And disappeared.”</p>
+</div>
+<p class="first">And now but one day more remains of our six months’ leave. The 31st of October sees
+us again fairly in the hands of the authorities. Brothers in arms, who during our
+absence have been <span class="pageNum" id="pb301">[<a href="#pb301">301</a>]</span>having “all work and no play,” receive us with warm and disinterested welcome. The
+<abbr title="Quartermaster General">Q.M.G.</abbr> is hauled away in triumph by a swarm of fellow black-legs to glad the squaw-like
+partner of his sooty bosom. The last remnants of the expedition are fairly broken
+up, and already the days when we went gipsying have passed away “a long time ago.”
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb302">[<a href="#pb302">302</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep" />
+<div id="xd30e2991">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e2991src">1</a></span> The value which a Kashmirian sets upon his Kangrí may be known by the following distich:—
+</p>
+<div class="q">
+<div class="nestedtext">
+<div class="nestedbody">
+<div class="lgouter footnote">
+<p class="line">“Oh Kangrí! Oh Kangrí!
+</p>
+<p class="line">You are the gift of Houris and Fairies;
+</p>
+<p class="line">When I take you under my arm
+</p>
+<p class="line">You drive away fear from my heart.”</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">—<span class="sc">Vigne.</span>&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e2991src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e3169">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e3169src">2</a></span> “Won’t the old bearers get something, your honour?”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e3169src" title="Return to note 2 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e3280">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e3280src">3</a></span> According to M. Voysey, in his Asiatic Researches, “A single flower in the screen
+contains a hundred stones, each cut to the exact shape necessary, and highly polished;
+and, although everything is finished like an ornament for a drawing-room chimney-piece,
+the general effect produced is rather solemn and impressive than gaudy.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">“In the minute beauties of execution, the flowers are by no means equal to those on
+tables and other small works in Pietra dura at Florence. It is the taste displayed
+in outline and application of this ornament, combined with the lightness and simplicity
+of the building, which gives it an advantage so prodigious over the gloomy portals
+of the chapel of the Medici. The graceful flow, the harmonious colours, combined with
+the mild lustre of the marble on which the ornamentation is displayed, form the peculiar
+charm of the building, and distinguish it from any other in the world. The materials
+are Lapis Lazuli, Jasper, Heliotrope or blood stone, Chalcedony, and other agates,
+Cornelian, Jade, &amp;c.”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e3280src" title="Return to note 3 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div0 route">
+<h2 class="main">Route.</h2>
+<p class="first"></p>
+<div class="table">
+<table class="t2">
+<thead>
+<tr class="unit">
+<td class="cellHeadLeft cellHeadTop cellHeadBottom"> </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellHeadRight cellHeadTop cellHeadBottom">Miles.</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellHeadLeft cellHeadTop cellHeadBottom"> </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellHeadRight cellHeadTop cellHeadBottom">Miles.</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellHeadLeft cellHeadTop cellHeadBottom"> </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellHeadRight cellHeadTop cellHeadBottom">Miles.</td>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Allahabad </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight"></td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Vernagh </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">11</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Peer </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">16</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Cawnpore </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">120</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Islamabad </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">15</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Nowbogh </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">9</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Ghoorsahagunge </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">72</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Sirinugger </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">by water</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Kûkûnath </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">10</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Etawah </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">73</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Gunberbull </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight"><span class="seg"><span class="ditto"><span class="s">by</span><span class="d"><span class="i">,,</span></span></span> <span class="ditto"><span class="s">water</span><span class="d"><span class="i">,,</span></span></span> </span></td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Atchabull </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">8</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Kurga </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">72</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Kungur </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">11</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Islamabad </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">6</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Delhi </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">51</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Gûndisursing </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">12</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Sirinugger </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">by water</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Kurnaul </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">73</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Soonamurg </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">14</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Baramoula </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight"><span class="seg"><span class="ditto"><span class="s">by</span><span class="d"><span class="i">,,</span></span></span> <span class="ditto"><span class="s">water</span><span class="d"><span class="i">,,</span></span></span> </span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Umballa </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">45</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Foot of the Hills </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">9</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Nowshera </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">8</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Kalka </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">40</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Pandras </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">24</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Uree </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">15</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Kussowlie </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">9</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Dras </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">8</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Chukothee </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">15</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Simla </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">40</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Tusgam </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">14</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Hutteian </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">14</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Hureepore </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">20</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Chungun </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">12</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Chukar </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">9</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Kalka </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">29</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Pushkoom </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">10</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Mehra </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">6</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Umballa </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">40</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Waka </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">13</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Dunna </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">6</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Thikanmajura </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">36</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Khurboo </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">10</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Puttun </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">6</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Jullundur </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">61</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Lamieroo </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">12</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Dewul </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">9</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Umritsur </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">59</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Nûrila </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">16</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Muree </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">11</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Lahore </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">35</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Suspûl </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">14</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Rawul Pindee </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">37</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Gûgerwalla </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">39</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Egnemo </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">10</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Gûgerkhan </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">30</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Goojerat </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">30</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Ladak </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">18</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Jhelum </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">37</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Bimber </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">27</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Chunga </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">18</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Goojerat </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">31</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Serai Saidabad </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">12</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Hemis </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">2</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Gûgerwalla </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">30</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Nowshera </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">11</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Ladak </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">20</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Lahore </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">39</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Chungas </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">11</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Pitok </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">4</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Umritsur </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">35</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Rajaori </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">12</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Egnemo </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">14</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Jullundur </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">59</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Thanna </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">12</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Suspûl </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">10</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Loodiana </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">32</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Burrumgulla </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">11</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Nûrila </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">14</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Umballa </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">71</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Poshana </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">6</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Lamieroo </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">16</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Kurnaul </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">45</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Peer Punjal </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">9</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Khurboo </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">12</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Ghureekulla </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">36</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Poshana </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">9</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Waka </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">10</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Delhi </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">36</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Aliabad </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">11</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Pushkoom </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">13</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Allyghur </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">79</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Heerpore </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">13</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Thambis </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">14</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Agra </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">50</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Shupayon </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">6</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Sankoo </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">16</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Bewah </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">82</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Ramoon </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">9</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Sooroo </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">12</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Ghoorsahagunge </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">79</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Sirinugger </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">14</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Among the Mountains </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">11</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Cawnpore </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">72</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Wûler </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight"><span class="seg">by water</span></td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Ditto </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">14</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft cellBottom">Allahabad </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight cellBottom">120</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft">Islamabad </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight"><span class="seg"><span class="ditto"><span class="s">by</span><span class="d"><span class="i">,,</span></span></span> <span class="ditto"><span class="s">water</span><span class="d"><span class="i">,,</span></span></span> </span></td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft">Sucknez </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight">11</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="cellLeft cellBottom">Atchabull </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight cellBottom">6</td>
+<td class="cellDoubleUp"></td>
+<td class="cellLeft cellBottom">Bragnion </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellRight cellBottom">14</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>Parts of the country not having been at the time correctly mapped, these distances
+are in some instances approximations only.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb305">[<a href="#pb305">305</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+<div id="religions" class="div0 route">
+<h2 class="main">The Religions of Cashmere and Thibet.</h2>
+<p class="first">During all our wanderings, whether in India, Cashmere, or Thibet, the most striking
+feature throughout, was the outward display of religion and the prominent part which
+religious forms of worship take in the every-day life of the people. <span class="pageNum" id="pb306">[<a href="#pb306">306</a>]</span>Monuments and temples everywhere bear testimony to the universal belief in a Supreme
+Being; and Hindoo, Mussulman, and Buddhist alike, by numberless prayers and frequent
+offerings, confess their desire to propitiate His power and to cultivate His favour.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p305width" id="p305"><img src="images/p305.jpg" alt="Ancient Hindoo Temple." width="501" height="636" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>Every little village has its “Musjid” or “Shiwala,” and everywhere, and at all hours,
+votaries of the different sects may be seen, in the fashion they have learnt from
+childhood, openly <i>remembering,</i> at least, their Creator.
+</p>
+<div class="figure p306width" id="p306"><img src="images/p306.jpg" alt="Hindoo Temple in the Himalayas" width="444" height="720" /><p class="figureHead">Hindoo Temple in the Himalayas</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>The naked Hindoo, with loosened scalp lock and otherwise closely-shaven head, stands
+in running water, and with his face upturned to the sun apostrophises the Divine Essence,
+whose qualities and attributes he has alone been taught to recognise, through the
+numberless incarnations of his degenerate creed. Five times a day the Mussulman kneels
+in open adoration of his Maker, and, doffing his slippers, repeats, with forehead
+to the ground, the formula laid down for him by the only Prophet he has learnt to
+believe in. The Buddhist, too, mutters his “Ûm mani panee” at every turn, and keeps
+his praying wheel in endless motion, with entire confidence in its mystic virtues,
+and fullest faith in the efficacy of those forms which he has thus been taught to
+follow from his cradle.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb307">[<a href="#pb307">307</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Each worships after the fashion of his fathers before him, and each, by the dim illumination
+of his own particular light, fancies himself upon the true path, and is able plainly
+to perceive his neighbour groping in the outer darkness.
+</p>
+<p>Seeing all this, and turning in imagination to other lands, it is curious to consider
+that the Church which possesses the only Lamp of Truth, and who by the help of its
+light pronounces all these zealous worshippers alike, to be but “Infidels and Turks,”
+and says to all, in language not quite so polite as that of Touchstone, “Truly, shepherds,
+ye are in a parlous state,” herself makes no such public demonstration of her faith.
+To an Eastern infidel travelling in the West, she would even appear, to outward eye,
+a tenfold greater infidel than her neighbours. Except on one day in seven, he would
+seldom find a place of public worship open to his gaze, while the Name which he himself
+has learned to reverence to such a degree that every scrap of paper that might chance
+to bear it, is sacred in his eyes, he might hear a thousand times, and perhaps not
+once in adoration; and while it commences every action of his own life he would there
+find it utterly excluded from its accustomed place. Even the form of parting salutation,
+which in almost all <span class="pageNum" id="pb308">[<a href="#pb308">308</a>]</span>lands—Infidel and Heretical—greets him in the name of God, would, in Protestant England,
+fall upon his ear with no such signification. While the benighted Hindoo greets his
+parting neighbour to the present day with “Khûda Hafiz”—God the Preserver—the Englishman’s
+“Good-bye,” like well-worn coin, has changed so much by use, that now, no stranger
+could discern in it any trace whatever of the image with which it was originally stamped.
+</p>
+<p>And although the comparison between the apparent creeds of East and West is truly
+that between a very large proportion of faithful professors of a false religion and,
+to outward eye, a similarly large proportion of unfaithful followers of the true religion,
+it is interesting to form some idea of the different systems which have existed for
+so many ages, and which, though proved alike by reason and revelation to be of human
+origin and unequal to the wants of human nature, have yet maintained their influence
+to the present day, and hold among their votaries still such zealous worshippers of
+an unknown God.
+</p>
+<p>The oldest of all these religions appears to be that of the Hindoos. The Vedas, or
+Scriptures, date as far back as the Books of Moses, 1100 B.C.; and previously even
+to their then being committed <span class="pageNum" id="pb309">[<a href="#pb309">309</a>]</span>to writing by the Sage Vyasa, they are believed to have been preserved for ages by
+tradition. The primary doctrine of the Vedas is the Unity of God. There is, they say,
+“but one Deity, the Supreme Spirit, the Lord of the Universe, whose work is the universe.”
+“Let as adore the supremacy of that divine Sun, the Godhead, who illuminates all,
+who recreates all, from whom all proceed, to whom all must return, whom we invoke
+to direct our understandings aright in our progress towards His holy seat. What the
+sun and light are to this world, that are the Supreme Good and Truth to the intellectual
+and invisible universe; and as our corporeal eyes have a distinct perception of objects
+enlightened by the sun, thus our souls acquire certain knowledge by meditating on
+the light of truth which emanates from the Being of beings; that is the light by which
+alone our minds can be directed to the path of beatitude.”
+</p>
+<p>Every Brahmin must pray at morning and evening twilight in some unfrequented place,
+near pure water, and must bathe daily; he must also daily perform five sacraments,
+viz., studying the Vedas, making oblations to the manes of the departed, giving rice
+to living creatures, and receiving guests with honour. As to the <span class="pageNum" id="pb310">[<a href="#pb310">310</a>]</span>doctrine of a future state, they believe in the transmigration of the soul, but that
+between the different stages of existence it enjoys, according to merit or demerit,
+years and years of happiness in some of the heavens, or suffers torments of similar
+duration in some of the hells. The most wicked, however, after being purged of their
+crimes by ages of suffering, and by repeated transmigrations, may ascend in the scale
+of being until they finally enter heaven and attain the highest reward of all good,
+which is incorporation with the Divine Essence.
+</p>
+<p>Like more enlightened systems of religion, the Hindoo faith has degenerated from the
+purity originally inculcated. The Monotheism, though still existing, has been almost
+smothered by a system of innumerable incarnations; by means of which the attributes
+of an unseen Deity were to be brought to the understandings of the ignorant; and,
+as might be expected, the hidden symbol has been almost lost in the tangible reality.
+The later Scriptures, or Pûranas, are believed to have been compiled between the eighth
+and sixteenth centuries, <span class="asc">A.D.</span>; and though still upholding the existence of a Supreme Being, by whom all things
+are composed, they introduce a variety of incarnations and divinities almost innumerable.
+Of these, the three principal <span class="pageNum" id="pb311">[<a href="#pb311">311</a>]</span>are<span id="xd30e3962"></span> Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, representing respectively the creating, preserving, and
+destroying principles; and their wives, Sereswutee, Lukshmee, and Dewee. These latter
+are the active powers which develop the principles represented by the triad. The divinity
+most commonly portrayed however, though not publicly worshipped, is Gunesh. Almost
+every dwelling has her effigy rudely painted over the entrance; and she is invoked
+at the beginning of all undertakings, and is the remover of all difficulties. Her
+peculiar appearance is accounted for by the fact of her having been killed at an early
+period of life by Siva, who cut off her head, and, afterwards relenting, replaced
+it with the first that happened to come to hand, which turned out to be an elephant’s!
+</p>
+<div class="figure p311width" id="p311"><img src="images/p311.jpg" alt="Gunesh." width="720" height="420" /><p class="figureHead">Gunesh.</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>Gunesh was produced by the intense wishes of Dewee, and is now appealed to at the
+commencement of almost every act in Hindoo life.
+</p>
+<p>The following invocation to this “household god” will give some idea of the position
+she holds in public estimation. It is taken from the “Prem Sagur,” or Ocean of Love,
+a history of the life of Krishna, a son of Vishnu, who, with Siva and Dewee, or Mahadewee,
+monopolises almost the entire public respect and adoration:—
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb312">[<a href="#pb312">312</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="lgouter">
+<p class="line">“Oh elephant-faced Deity, obviator of difficulties, of exalted fame resplendent,
+</p>
+<p class="line">Grant as a boon, pure language, wisdom, and felicity may be much promoted.
+</p>
+<p class="line">Thou on whose two celestial feet the world is gazing, worshipping both day and night,
+</p>
+<p class="line">O mother of the universe, grant unto me, remembering thee, true skill and utterance.”</p>
+</div>
+<p class="first">The “Ocean of Love” gives a full account of the various incarnations of Krishna, the
+favourite divinity of the Hindoos, and opens with the scene of his birth. Kans, his
+uncle, has placed guards, in order that the child may be killed at his first appearance,
+it having been predicted that Kans himself is to fall by the hands of Krishna. The
+Cashmerian artist—whose powers of colouring were his chief recommendation—has depicted
+the moment when Vasadeo and Devakee, the father and mother, viewing Krishna, with
+long-drawn sighs, both begin to say, “If, by some means, we could send away this child,
+then it would escape the guilty Kans.” Vasadeo says, “Without destiny none can preserve
+him; the writing of Fate, that only will be accomplished.”
+</p>
+<div class="figure p312width" id="p312"><img src="images/p312.jpg" alt="Birth of Krishna." width="720" height="420" /><p class="figureHead">Birth of Krishna.</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>Destiny being propitious, the guards fall asleep upon their posts, as shown in the
+accompanying design, and another child is substituted for Krishna. He is afterwards
+brought up as a <span class="pageNum" id="pb313">[<a href="#pb313">313</a>]</span>herdsman, and spends his childhood among the milkmaids of Braj, upon whom he plays
+all sorts of tricks. “One day the divine Krishna played upon the flute<span id="xd30e3986"></span> in the forest, when, hearing the sound of the instrument, all the young women of
+Braj arose in confusion, and hastened and assembled in one place. The dark-blue Krishna,
+with body of the hue of clouds, stood in the midst; and such was the beauty of the
+fair ones, as they sported, that they resembled golden creepers growing from beneath
+a blue mountain!”
+</p>
+<p>The description of the state of the world, on Krishna’s appearance, is given by the
+saintly Shukadeo to King Parikshah—“O King, at the time of the divine Krishna appearing,
+in the minds of all such joy arose, that not even the name of grief remained. With
+joy the woods and groves began to bear fruits and flowers, their verdure still increasing.
+The rivers, streams, and lakes were filled with water, and upon them birds of every
+kind were sporting; and, from city to city, from house to house, from village to village,
+rejoicings were celebrated. The Brahmins were performing sacrifice; the Regents of
+the ten divisions of the horizon rejoiced. Clouds were moving over the circuit of
+Braj. The deities, seated in their cars, <span class="pageNum" id="pb314">[<a href="#pb314">314</a>]</span>rained down flowers; the holders of the magic pill, the celestial musicians, and heavenly
+bards, continually sounding drums, kettledrums, and pipes, were singing the praises
+of the divine virtues; and, in one direction, Urvasee, and all the celestial dancers,
+were dancing. In such a time, then, on Wednesday, the eighth day of the dark half
+of the month Bhadon, at midnight, while the moon was in the mansion of Rohanee, the
+divine Krishna was born, of the colour of clouds, moon-faced and lotus-eyed, with
+a girdle of yellow cloth passing round his loins, wearing a crown, and arrayed in
+a necklace of five jewels, produced from the elements of nature, and with ornaments
+set with gems, in a four-armed form, sustaining the shell, the quoit, the mace, and
+the lotus he presented himself.”
+</p>
+<p>Krishna afterwards espouses a fair lady, of the name of Rûkminee, and the marriage
+is thus poetically described. Rûkminee has written a letter, filled with love, and
+sent it by the hand of a Brahmin, to the Root of Joy, Krishna:—“The Brahmin having
+arrived at Dûarika, perceives that the town is in the midst of the ocean, and on the
+four sides of it there are great mountains and woods and groves, which add beauty
+to the scene. In these were various <span class="pageNum" id="pb315">[<a href="#pb315">315</a>]</span>kinds of beasts and birds, and the limpid lakes were filled with pure water, and lotus
+flowers were blooming, upon which swarms upon swarms of black bees were humming. To
+the distance of many miles orchards, containing an endless variety of fruit and flowers,
+extended; along these enclosures betel gardens were flourishing. The gardeners, standing
+at the wells, were singing with sweet strains; and, working waterwheels and buckets,
+were irrigating the high and low grounds.”
+</p>
+<p>Beholding this beautiful scene, and being gladdened thereby, the Brahmin, still advancing,
+beholds that “on four sides of the city are very lofty ramparts, with four gateways,
+in which folding-doors, inlaid with gold, are fixed, and, inside the city, houses
+of five and six stories high, of silver and gold, adorned with jewels, so lofty as
+to converse with the sky, are glittering. Their minarets and pinnacles are gleaming
+like lightning, and banners and pennons of many colours are fluttering. The warm fragrance
+of perfumes was issuing from windows, air-holes, and lattices. At every door were
+placed pillars of the plantain-tree, with fresh shoots, and golden vessels. Garlands
+and wreathed flowers were festooned from house to house, and joyful music was sounding.
+From <span class="pageNum" id="pb316">[<a href="#pb316">316</a>]</span>place to place, the recital of the Pûranas and discourse about Krishna was kept up.
+The eighteen classes were dwelling in case and tranquillity.”
+</p>
+<p>On hearing the Brahmin’s message, the warder says:—“ ‘Great sir, be pleased to enter
+the palace; the divine Krishna reposes, in front of you, on a throne.’ Krishna, descending,
+bows to him, and shows him much respect, and those attentions which a man would show
+to his friend. Having applied fragrant unguents, and caused him to be bathed and washed,
+he partakes of food, possessing the six flavours. Afterwards he gave him the betel
+leaf, made up with areca nut, spices, and chunam; and having perfumed his body with
+saffron and sandal wood oil, and arranged his dress, and put upon him a necklace of
+flowers, he conducted him into a palace adorned with jewels, and caused him to repose
+in a fair curtained bed, studded with gems.” After sleeping profoundly, the Brahmin
+awakes, and relates his mission. Krishna goes to claim his bride, and orders his charioteer,
+Darak, to prepare his chariot. Darak quickly yokes four horses. Then the divine Krishna,
+having ascended, and seated the Brahmin, departs from Dûarika to Kundalpore. On coming
+forth from the city, behold! “on the right hand <span class="pageNum" id="pb317">[<a href="#pb317">317</a>]</span>herds upon herds of deer are moving, and in front, a lion and lioness, carrying their
+prey, are advancing, roaring.”
+</p>
+<p>Having seen this auspicious event, the Brahmin, having mentally reflected, said, “Sire,
+from beholding, at this time, this good omen, it appears to my mind that, just as
+these are advancing, having accomplished their object, just so you will return, having
+effected yours.” Arrived at Kundalpore, he finds preparations made for the marriage:
+</p>
+<div class="lgouter">
+<p class="line">“Swept were the streets, the crossings o’er-canopied, and with perfumes sprinkled
+and sandal oil;
+</p>
+<p class="line">Clusters were formed of flowers of white and of red, and interspersed with cocoa-nuts
+of gold.
+</p>
+<p class="line">The green foliage, fruits, and flowers, were in profusion, and from house to house
+flowering wreaths.
+</p>
+<p class="line">Banners and pennons and flowers, in golden tissues, were suspended, and well-fashioned
+vessels of gold
+</p>
+<p class="line">And in every house reigned joy!”</p>
+</div>
+<p class="first">“As for Rûkminee, with agitated frame, she gazed in every direction, as the moon is
+dimmed by the morn. Extreme anxiety showed in the heart of the fair one; she gazed,
+standing in a lofty balcony; her frame was agitated, her heart most sad; she drew
+deep sighs. While, through distress, tears rain from her eyes, she says, “Why has
+not Krishna arrived?” When the marriage-day dawns, she sends, by a Brahmin, to Krishna:
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb318">[<a href="#pb318">318</a>]</span>“Receptacle of favour,—When two hours of the day remain I shall go to perform worship
+in the temple of Dewee, to the east of the city.” Her companions and attendants, arriving,
+first filled a square place in the courtyard with pearls, and spread a seat of gold
+set with pearls, on which they caused Rûkminee to sit, and anointed her with oil by
+the hands of seven married women whose husbands were alive. Afterwards, having rubbed
+her with fragrant paste, they adorned her with sixteen ornaments, and put on her twelve
+trinkets, and having arrayed her in a red boddice they seated her, fully adorned.
+Then the young Rûkminee, accompanied by all her handmaidens, went, with the sound
+of music, to perform her devotions. Screened by a curtain of silk, and surrounded
+by crowd upon crowd of companions, she appeared among the swarthy group who accompanied
+her as beautiful, as amid dark blue clouds, the moon with its company of stars!”
+</p>
+<div class="figure p318width" id="p318"><img src="images/p318.jpg" alt="Temple Decoration, Himalayas." width="720" height="450" /><div class="figAnnotation p318width"><span class="figBottomLeft">W.H.K. Delt.</span><span class="figTop">&nbsp;</span><span class="figBottomRight">Hanhart, Lith.</span></div>
+<p class="figureHead">Temple Decoration, Himalayas.</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>Having arrived at the temple of Dewee, the royal maiden, having washed her hands and
+feet and sipped water, proceeded to offer sandal oil, unbroken grains of rice, flowers,
+incense, lamps, and consecrated food, and with earnest faith performed the worship
+of Dewee according to the prescribed ritual.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb319">[<a href="#pb319">319</a>]</span></p>
+<p>“After which she fed women of the Brahmin caste with delectable food, and having attired
+them in fair garments, she drew a mark on their foreheads with a mixture of rice,
+alum, turmeric, and acid, and having caused to adhere some unbroken grains of rice,
+she received their benediction. Hearing from an attendant that Krishna has arrived,
+the Princess is filled with ecstatic delight, so that she cannot contain herself;
+and leaning on the arm of an attendant, in a graceful attitude, remains slightly smiling,
+in such a manner that no description can express her beauty. The guards become fascinated
+and remain immoveable. With trembling frame and coy of heart she finally departs with
+Krishna.”
+</p>
+<p>The domestic life and appearance of Krishna and Rûkminee is still further characteristically
+described in the imaginative pages of the “Ocean of Love:”—“Once on a time, in a palace
+of gold, studded with jewels, a gem-adorned bedstead, with curtains, was spread, on
+which a bedding white as foam, and adorned with flowers, with pillows for the cheek
+and for the head, continued to exhale perfumes. On all four sides of the bed vessels
+containing camphor, rose-water, saffron, sandal oil, and other ingredients, were placed;
+various kinds of marvellous pictures were delineated on the walls on all sides. In
+recesses, <span class="pageNum" id="pb320">[<a href="#pb320">320</a>]</span>here and there, flowers, fruits, sweetmeats, and confections were placed, and all
+that could be required for enjoyment was at hand. Clothed in a petticoat and a full
+loose robe of dazzling splendour, embroidered with pearls, and a sparkling boddice,
+and a long refulgent wrapper, and wearing a glittering veil, covered with ornaments
+from head to foot; with red lines drawn across the forehead, having a nose-ring of
+the largest pearls, ornaments for the head, earrings, ornamental line at the parting
+of the hair, marks between the eyebrows, ornaments for the ears and forehead, a necklace
+composed of circular pieces of gold, a string of gold beads and coral, a breast ornament,
+a necklace of five strings and of seven, a pearl necklace, double and triple bracelets
+of nine gems, armlets, wristlets, and other kinds of fastenings for the arm; bangles,
+seals; seal rings, a girdle of bells, rings for the great toe, toe ornaments, anklets,
+and other ornaments of all kinds studded with jewels; the moon-faced, tulip-complexioned,
+gazelle-eyed, bird-voiced, elephant-gaited, slim-waisted, divine Rûkminee, and the
+cloud-coloured, lotus-eyed Krishna, ocean of beauty, splendour of the three worlds,
+root of joy, wearing a diadem like the crest of a peacock, and a necklace of forest
+flowers, a silken robe of yellow hue, and a scarf <span class="pageNum" id="pb321">[<a href="#pb321">321</a>]</span>of the same, were reposing, when, all of sudden, the divine Krishna said to Rûkminee,
+‘Listen, fair one,’ ” &amp;c.
+</p>
+<p>Krishna afterwards takes 16,100 wives, and always at early dawn, one would wash his
+face, another would apply a fragrant paste to his body, another would prepare for
+him and give him to eat food of six flavours, another would make nice betel, with
+cloves, cardamums, mace, and nutmegs, for her beloved. “Each produced a daughter fair
+as Rûkminee; each ten sons, brave sons were they! 161,000 and all alike, such were
+the sons of Krishna!”
+</p>
+<p>Such is part of the history of the favourite divinity of the benighted Hindoo as related
+in the flowery pages of the “Ocean of Love,” and the history may be, more or less,
+read in the every-day scenes of Indian life which pass around one.
+</p>
+<p>The description of Rûkminee, strange as it is, corresponds with many other fair portraits
+in the Hindee; witness that of “Oonmadinee,” the daughter of “Rutundutt”:—
+</p>
+<p>“Her beauty was like a light in a dark house—her eyes were those of a deer, her curls
+like female snakes, her eyebrows like a bow, her nose like a parrot’s, her teeth like
+a string of pearls, her lips like the red gourds, her neck like a pigeon’s, her waist
+like a leopard’s, her hands <span class="pageNum" id="pb322">[<a href="#pb322">322</a>]</span>and feet like a soft lotus, her face like the moon, with the gait of a goose, and
+the voice of a cuckoo!”
+</p>
+<div class="figure p322width" id="p322"><img src="images/p322.jpg" alt="Fukeer of Solomon’s Throne." width="537" height="466" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<p>More apparent even than in the earthly nature of the Hindoo’s conception of the Divine
+attributes, the falsity and the human origin of his Faith may be seen in the effect
+it produces wherever it is allowed to obtain undivided sway. Combining dirt, idleness,
+and religion together, the Hindoo Fukeer, attired in the minutest rag of raiment,
+at times in none at all, wanders from <span class="pageNum" id="pb323">[<a href="#pb323">323</a>]</span>place to place, and with long and matted hair, blood-shot haggard eyes, and scowling
+visage, fancies himself upon the path which leads direct to Paradise.
+</p>
+<p>Attenuated to the last degree, he suffers all extremes of heat and cold, sleeps upon
+a bed of ashes, and sits moodily beneath the burning mid-day sun, lives on charity
+while scorning usually to ask for alms, and bears the reputation of a saint while
+reducing himself to the very level of the beasts that perish.
+</p>
+<p>Something of the cheerful feelings which actuate these religious mendicants may be
+found in the following passage:—“He may be called a wise ‘Jogee,’ or ‘Fukeer,’ who
+has dried up the reservoir of hope with the fire of austere devotion, and who has
+subdued his mind, and kept the organs of sense in their proper place; and this is
+the condition of persons in this world, that their bodies undergo dissolution, their
+heads shake, and their teeth fall out. When men become old, they walk about with sticks,
+and it is thus that time passes away. Night succeeds day, and year succeeds month,
+and old age succeeds childhood, and we know not who we are ourselves, and who others
+are; one comes and another departs; and at last all living creatures must depart.
+And, behold! night <span class="pageNum" id="pb324">[<a href="#pb324">324</a>]</span>passes away, and then day dawns; the moon goes down and the sun rises; thus does youth
+depart, and old age comes on, and thus Time pursues his course: but although man sees
+all these things, he does not become wise. There are bodies of many kinds, and minds
+of many kinds, and affections or fascinations of many kinds, and Brahma has created
+wickedness of many kinds; but a wise man, having escaped from these, and having subdued
+hope and avarice, and shaved his head, and taken a stick and water-pot in his hands,
+having subjugated the passion of love and anger, and become a ‘Jogee,’ who wanders
+and travels about with naked feet to places of pilgrimage, obtains final liberation.
+And, behold, this world is like a dream.”
+</p>
+<p>The derivation of the word “Fukeer,” and an illustration of the disposition of the
+mendicant race, is given in a Persian tale, called the “Four Dervishes.” The story was originally narrated to amuse a king of Delhi, who was sick, and was
+afterwards <i>done</i> into Hindostanee by a Mussulman author, who styles himself, “This wicked sinner,
+Meer Ammun of Delhi.”
+</p>
+<p>The speaker, a certain prince, who aspires to the title of “generous,” has built a
+lofty house, with forty high and spacious doors, where, at all <span class="pageNum" id="pb325">[<a href="#pb325">325</a>]</span>times, from morning to evening, he gives rupees and gold mohurs<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e4064src" href="#xd30e4064">1</a> to the poor and necessitous, and whoever asks for anything he satisfies him. “One
+day a Fukeer came to the front door and begged. I gave him a gold mohur; again he
+came to a second door, and asked for two gold mohurs. I passed over the matter, and
+gave him two gold mohurs.
+</p>
+<p>“In this manner he came to every door, and asked for an additional gold mohur each
+time, and I gave him according to his request. Having come to the fortieth door, and
+received forty gold mohurs, he came in again by the first door, and begged afresh.
+</p>
+<p>“This appeared to me a very bad action on his part. I said to him, ‘O avaricious man!
+what sort of mendicant art thou, who knowest not the three letters of “Fukur” (<i>poverty</i>), according to which a Fukeer should act?’ The Fukeer said, ‘Well, O liberal person,
+do you explain them to me.’ I replied, ‘The three letters are <i>f, k,</i> and <i>r.</i> From <i>f</i> comes “faka” (<i>fasting</i>); from <i>k,</i> “kinaüt” (<i>contentment</i>); and from <i>r</i> comes “reeazut” (<i>abstinence</i>). He is not a Fukeer in whom these qualities are not. Oh, avaricious creature! you
+have taken from forty doors, from one gold mohur to forty. Calculate, <span class="pageNum" id="pb326">[<a href="#pb326">326</a>]</span>therefore, how many you have received. And, in addition to this, your avarice has
+brought you again to the first door. Expend what you have received, and return and
+take whatever you ask for. A Fukeer should take thought for one day; on the second
+day there will be some fresh bestower of alms.’ Having heard this speech of mine,
+he became angry and dissatisfied, and threw all he had received from me on the ground,
+and said, ‘Enough, father; be not so warm; take all your presents back again. Do not
+again assume the name of “Liberal.” You cannot lift the weights of liberality. When
+will you arrive at that day’s journey?’
+</p>
+<p>“When I heard this I was alarmed, and with many solicitations asked him to forgive
+my fault, and to take whatsoever he wished. He would not accept my gifts at all, and
+went away saying, ‘If you were now to offer me your whole kingdom I would not receive
+it from you.’ ”
+</p>
+<p>This studied indifference about a matter of more than a thousand pounds, though perhaps
+not often exercised upon so large a scale, is just that which these wandering fanatics
+display towards every offering they receive, and in every action of their useless
+lives. Whatever may be said against them, however, their profession of poverty and
+suffering is no mockery, as was that <span class="pageNum" id="pb327">[<a href="#pb327">327</a>]</span>of the well-fed “monks of old,” whose reasonings were something similar on religious
+points.
+</p>
+<p>The Fukeer soliloquizes: “The condition of our being born is, that our griefs are
+many and our pleasures few, because this world is the root of misery. What happiness,
+therefore, has man? If any man should climb to the top of a tree, or sit down on the
+summit of a hill, or remain concealed in water, yet death does not allow him to escape.
+At the most, man’s age is a hundred years, half of which passes away in night, half
+of the other half is expended in childhood and old age; the remainder is spent in
+altercation, separation from those we love, and affliction, and the soul is restless
+as a wave of the sea. No one who has come into the world has escaped from affliction.
+It is vain to fix one’s affections on it, and therefore it is best to cultivate and
+practise religion.” And so, as a remedy for the evil which he has discovered to exist
+upon the earth, and to work out a successful escape from it, he sits himself down
+in dust and ashes, and, mistaking the sign-post, adopts the path which leads him furthest
+from the point he wishes to arrive at.
+</p>
+<p>As the Hindoo is the most ancient of religions, so the Buddhist is the one which is
+professed by the largest portion of the human race. It is the <span class="pageNum" id="pb328">[<a href="#pb328">328</a>]</span>religion of Burmah, Ceylon, China, Siam, Thibet, and Russian Tartary, and is computed
+to claim as many as three hundred and sixty-nine millions among its Votaries.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e4101src" href="#xd30e4101">2</a> “Gautama,” or “Sakya mounee,” its founder, was born in Bengal about the seventh century
+before Christ. Yet India at present contains no modern temples of its worship, and
+no native of India, that I have ever met, knew anything of its founder, or was even
+acquainted with the term “Buddha,” or “Buddhist.” Its doctrines are the most curious
+of those that have ever been promulgated, and appear even now to be scarcely understood
+in all their ramifications. According to original Buddhism, there is no Creator, nor
+being that is self-existent and eternal. The great object is the attainment, in this
+life, of complete abstraction from all worldly affairs and passions, and the ultimate
+result, of entire annihilation. Like the Hindoo, the Buddhist believes in transmigration
+of souls, and until utter annihilation is reached, he is doomed to shift his earthly
+tenement, from form to form, according to the deeds done in the flesh. It is, therefore,
+the great object of all beings, who would be released from the sorrows of successive
+birth, to seek the destruction of the moral cause of continued existence, that is,
+the cleaving to <span class="pageNum" id="pb329">[<a href="#pb329">329</a>]</span>existing objects or evil desire. It is only possible to accomplish this end by attending
+to a prescribed course of discipline, and by fixing the mind upon the perfections
+of Buddha. Those who after successive births have entirely destroyed all evil desires
+are called “Rahuts,” and after death the Rahut attains “Nirwana,” or ceases to exist.
+The actual meaning of the word “Rahut,” is “Tranquillity,” and it appears to be the
+same word which is used on a small scale, to express the soothing qualities of that
+far-famed Eastern sweetmeat, the Rahut-lûkma, or “Morsels of tranquillity.”
+</p>
+<p>The Buddhas themselves are beings who appear after intervals of time inconceivably
+vast. Previous to their reception of the state, they pass through countless phases
+of being, at, one time appearing in human form, at another as a frog, or fish, &amp;c.,
+in each of which states they acquire a greater degree of merit.
+</p>
+<p>In the birth in which they become Buddha, they are always of woman born, and pass
+through infancy and youth like ordinary mortals, until at the prescribed age they
+abandon the world and retire to the wilderness, where they receive the supernatural
+powers with which the office is endowed. Their highest glory is that they receive
+the wisdom by which they can direct <span class="pageNum" id="pb330">[<a href="#pb330">330</a>]</span>sentient beings to the path that leads to the desired cessation of existence.
+</p>
+<p>The Buddhism of Thibet appears to be an innovation on the original system of religion.
+It was introduced into the country about the seventh century of our era; and although
+Sakya mounee, who is supposed by the Thibetians to have lived one thousand years before
+Christ, is still believed to be the founder of the present system, the Delai Lama,
+at Lassa, is regarded as an incarnation of Buddha, and is the supreme infallible head
+of the whole Thibetian religious community.
+</p>
+<p>The original tenets, too, have been modified, and the modern Scriptures have been
+adapted to three different capacities of mankind—viz. the lowest, mean (or middle),
+and the highest. The principles thus declared are as follows:—
+</p>
+<p>“1. Men of vulgar capacity must believe that there is a God, a future life, and that
+they shall therein reap the fruits of their works in this life.
+</p>
+<p>“2. Those that are in a middle degree of intellectual and moral capacity, besides
+admitting the former position, must know that every compound thing is perishable,
+that there is no reality in things, that every imperfection is pain, and that deliverance
+from pain or bodily existence is final happiness.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb331">[<a href="#pb331">331</a>]</span></p>
+<p>“3. Those of the highest capacities, besides the above enumerated articles, must know
+that, from the body to the supreme soul, nothing is existing by itself, neither can
+it be said that it will continue always or cease absolutely, but that everything exists
+by a dependant or casual connexion.”<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e4120src" href="#xd30e4120">3</a>
+</p>
+<p>One cause of the extension of the religion of Buddha appears to be the broad basis
+upon which admission to the priesthood has ‘been placed. No one can become a Brahmin
+except by birth, but the privileges of becoming a Lama are open to all who are willing
+to receive them upon the conditions implied in their acceptance. The principal duties
+to be attended to, by one about to become a priest, are thus laid down:—“He who, with
+a firm faith in the religion of Truth, believes in Buddha, shall rise before daylight,
+and, having cleaned his teeth, shall then sweep all the places appointed to be swept
+in the vicinity of the ‘Vihara,’ or monastery; after which he shall fetch the water
+that is required for use, filter it, and place it ready for drinking. When this is
+done, he shall retire to a solitary place, and for the space of three hours meditate
+on the obligations of his vow. The bell will then ring, and he must reflect that greater
+than <span class="pageNum" id="pb332">[<a href="#pb332">332</a>]</span>the gift of 100 elephants, 100 horses, and 100 chariots, is the reward of him who
+takes one step towards the place where worship is offered. Thus reflecting, he shall
+approach the ‘Dagoba,’ where relics of holy men are placed, and perform that which
+is appointed; he shall offer flowers just as if Buddha were present in person, meditate
+on the nine virtues of Buddha with a fixed and determined mind, and seek forgiveness
+for his faults, just as if the sacred relics were endowed with life. He shall then
+meditate on the advantages to be derived from carrying the alms-bowl and putting on
+the yellow robe.” The injunctions on the priesthood relative to their abstracting
+their thoughts and desires from all earthly matters whatever, are of the strictest
+nature. “The door of the eye is to be kept shut. When the outer gates of the city
+are left open, though the door of every separate house and store be shut, the enemy
+will enter the city and take possession; in like manner, though all the ordinances
+be kept, if the eye be permitted to wander, affection for worldly objects will be
+produced.” A story is told of a priest named Chittagutta, who resided once in a cave,
+upon the walls of which the history of Buddha was painted “in the finest style of
+art.”
+</p>
+<p>The cave was visited by some priests, who <span class="pageNum" id="pb333">[<a href="#pb333">333</a>]</span>expressed their admiration of the paintings to Chittagutta, but the devotee replied
+that he had lived there sixty years and had never seen them, nor would he, except
+for their information, ever have become aware of their existence. There was near the
+door of his cave a spreading tree; but he only knew that it was there by the fall
+of its leaves or flowers; the tree itself he never saw, as he carefully observed the
+precept not to look upwards, or to a distance!
+</p>
+<p>The priest of Buddha must possess but eight articles: three of these are matters of
+dress; the others, a girdle for the loins, an alms-bowl, a razor, a needle, and a
+water-strainer. The bowl receives the food presented in alms; the razor is for shaving
+the head; the needle keeps his yellow wardrobe in order; and the water-strainer is
+the most serviceable of all, for “if any priest shall knowingly drink water containing
+insects, he shall be ejected from the priesthood.”
+</p>
+<p>The Dagobas, or shrines of relics, which abound in such numbers in Thibet, have also
+been found in India and other countries. Some of them when opened have been found
+to contain what appears to be remains of a funeral pile, also vessels of stone or
+metal, and, occasionally, caskets of silver and gold, curiously wrought. “Some of
+these have been chased with a series <span class="pageNum" id="pb334">[<a href="#pb334">334</a>]</span>of four figures, representing Buddha in the act of preaching; a mendicant is on his
+right, a lay follower on his left, and behind the latter a female disciple.” This
+somewhat describes the appearance of the stone-carved figures at the monastery of
+Hemis.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e4139src" href="#xd30e4139">4</a> These caskets have been set with rubies and chased with the leaves of the lotus.
+Besides these have also been found small pearls, gold buttons, rings, beads, pieces
+of clay and stone bearing impressions of figures, bits of bone, and teeth of animals,
+pieces of cloth, &amp;c. The images are sometimes recumbent, at other times standing upright,
+with the hand uplifted in the act of giving instruction. Sometimes they have three
+heads and six or more arms.
+</p>
+<p>In order to form clear and accurate ideas of the religion of Buddha, it would be necessary
+to study a vast number of volumes, some of them contradictory and of very doubtful
+authority, and the result would appear hardly to compensate for the trouble, so altered
+has modern Buddhism become from ancient, and into so many different systems has it
+been divided in the many different countries in which it is professed. Among its doctrines
+there is much that is virtuous and true. It preaches benevolence and goodwill towards
+men, but enjoins <span class="pageNum" id="pb335">[<a href="#pb335">335</a>]</span>no active efforts to prove the sincerity of such goodwill. It requires its members
+to “confess their sins with a contrite heart, to ask forgiveness of them, and to repent
+truly, with a resolution not to commit such again. To rejoice in the moral merit and
+perfection of human beings, and to wish that they may attain beatitude; further, to
+pray and exhort others to turn the wheel of religion, that the world may be benefited
+thereby.” Its general aim seems to be to overcome all emotions and preferences of
+the mind, and all that would disturb its repose and quiet. It seeks to destroy the
+human passions and not to regulate them; and with faith in Buddha only as its aid,
+it succeeds about as well as might have been anticipated.
+</p>
+<p>Between these two religions of Brahma and Buddha, that of the “Jains” sprang up, apparently
+a heresy from both. It has nearly died out in India, though many ruins of its temples
+remain. The Jains agree with the Buddhists as to the transmigration of souls, and
+carry their respect for life to the still greater extent, that besides a strainer
+to remove all animalculæ from the water they imbibe, they carry a broom to sweep away
+the insects from their path. They differ from the Brahmins in repudiating their minor
+incarnations and gods, as the following <span class="pageNum" id="pb336">[<a href="#pb336">336</a>]</span>translation will serve to show:—“A rajah, of the name of Gondshekur, had a minister,
+Abhûechund, who converted him to the Jain religion. He prohibited the worship of Vishnu,
+and all gifts of cows, land, and balls of flour and rice, and would not allow any
+one to carry away bones to the Ganges. One day the minister began to say, ‘O great
+king, be pleased to listen to the judgments and explanations of religion: Whosoever
+takes another’s life, that other takes his life in another world. The birth of a man
+after he has again come into the world does not escape from this sin; he is born again
+and again, and dies again and again. For this reason it is right for a man, who has
+been born in the world, to cultivate religion. Behold! Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahadeo,
+being under the influence of love, anger, and fascination, descend upon the earth
+in various ways; but a cow is superior to them all, for it is free from anger, enmity,
+intoxication, rage, avarice, and inordinate affection, and affords protection to the
+subject; and her sons also behave kindly to, and cherish the animals of the earth,
+and therefore all the gods and sages regard the cow with respect. For this reason,
+it is not right to regard the gods—in this world, respect the cow. It is virtuous
+to protect all animals, from <span class="pageNum" id="pb337">[<a href="#pb337">337</a>]</span>the elephant to the ant, and from beasts and birds to man. In the world there is no
+act so impious as for men to increase their own flesh by eating the flesh of other
+creatures. They who do not sympathise in the griefs of animated beings, and who kill
+and eat other animals, do not live long on the earth, and are born lame, maimed, blind,
+dwarfs, and humpbacked, &amp;c.; and it is a great sin to drink wine and eat flesh; wherefore
+to do so is improper. The minister, having thus explained his sentiments to the rajah,
+converted him to the Jain religion, so that he did whatever the minister said, and
+no longer paid any respect to Brahmins, Fukeers, Jogies, Dervishes, &amp;c., and carried
+on his government according to this religion.”
+</p>
+<div class="figure p336width" id="p336"><img src="images/p336.jpg" alt="Ancient Jain Temple." width="720" height="436" /><div class="figAnnotation p336width"><span class="figBottomLeft">W.H.K. Delt.</span><span class="figTop">&nbsp;</span><span class="figBottomRight">Hanhart, Lith.</span></div>
+<p class="figureHead">Ancient Jain Temple.</p>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>Next among the religions of the East, whose outward observances so forcibly attract
+attention, comes that of the Moslem—“The marvellous reformation wrought by Mahomet
+and the Koran in the manners, morals, and religious feelings of so many millions.”
+</p>
+<p>Mahomet, in truth, although “<i>The</i> False Prophet,” would appear to have been a considerable benefactor to his species.
+The Arabs, at the time of his birth, were sunk in idolatry and the worship of the
+stars, while their morals <span class="pageNum" id="pb338">[<a href="#pb338">338</a>]</span>were under no control either of law or religion. The Prophet’s aim appears, in the
+first instance, to have been, to secure a system of orderly government, and at the
+same time to gain, for his own family, a dignity which should be exalted beyond all
+fear of competition—the dignity of lordship over the holy city of Mecca. This was
+then held under no higher tenure than the sufferance and caprice of the Arab tribes.
+To perpetuate this lordship by assuming an hereditary and inviolable pontificate was
+Mahomet’s first idea, and at a banquet given to the whole of his kinsmen he revealed
+his scheme. They, however, rejected his appeal, and he then proclaimed himself as
+an apostle to all, and setting aside existing forms and traditions proceeded to a
+higher flight of ambition. For election by blood, he substituted election of God;
+and assuming a direct revelation from on high, he, by force of an ardent and ambitious
+will, carried out his project even at Mecca itself, where, to all who visited his
+shrine, he preached without distinction. From the powerful opposition brought against
+him, Mahomet was at last obliged to fly; but before doing so, and casting off the
+high position he held among his own tribe and kinsmen, he assembled his followers
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb339">[<a href="#pb339">339</a>]</span>together on a mountain near Mecca, and there, without distinction of blood or calling,
+he enrolled them as equal followers in one community, and entered with them into a
+solemn and binding agreement. “That night Mahomet fled from Mecca to Medina, and then
+took its rise a pontificate, an empire, and an era.” This hegira, or “flight,” is
+believed to have occurred on the 19th June, <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 622<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e4172src" href="#xd30e4172">5</a> but has been variously stated; it is, however, the era now in general use among no
+less than one hundred and sixty millions of people.
+</p>
+<p>Although himself an undoubted impostor, and the Koran a manifest forgery, Mahomet
+would appear to deserve a larger share of appreciation, or at least of charitable
+judgment, than he usually receives.
+</p>
+<p>“He was one richly furnished with natural endowments, showing liberality to the poor,
+courtesy to every one, fortitude in trial, and, above all, a high reverence for the
+name of God. He was a preacher of patience, charity, mercy, beneficence, gratitude,
+honouring of parents and superiors, and a frequent celebrator of Divine praise.” The
+great doctrine of the Koran is the Unity of God, and in this creed Mahomet <span class="pageNum" id="pb340">[<a href="#pb340">340</a>]</span>himself seems to have been a sincere believer. “Its design was to unite the professors
+of the three different religions then followed in Arabia—who for the most part were
+without guides, the greater number being idolaters, and the rest Jews and Christians,
+mostly of erroneous and heterodox belief—in the knowledge and worship of one eternal
+and invisible God, and to bring them to obedience of Mahomet as the only prophet and
+ambassador of the truth.” The “fatiha,” or opening chapter of the Koran, is said to
+contain the essence of the whole, and forms part of the daily prayers of all zealous
+Mussulmans. It commences with the formula pronounced at the beginning of their reading
+on all occasions whenever an animal is slaughtered for food, and upon the undertaking
+of all important actions whatever:
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p class="first">“In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate. Praise be to God, the Lord of
+the Creation, the all-merciful, the all-compassionate! Ruler of the day of reckoning!
+</p>
+<p>“Thee we worship, and Thee we invoke for help. Lead us in the straight path—the path
+of those upon whom thou hast been gracious, not of those that are the objects of wrath
+or that are in error.”</p>
+</blockquote><p>
+</p>
+<p>The Moslem faithful pray five times in the twenty-four hours: in the morning before
+sunrise, <span class="pageNum" id="pb341">[<a href="#pb341">341</a>]</span>at noon, before sunset, after sunset, and before the first watch of the night: and
+that these observances were not originally instituted merely that their prayers might
+be seen before men, would appear from the injunction which lays down that “what is
+principally to be regarded in the duty of prayer, is the inward disposition of the
+heart, which is its entire life and spirit, the most punctual observance being of
+no avail if performed without devotion, reverence, attention, and hope.”
+</p>
+<p>Prayer was held by Mahomet to be the “pillar of religion” and the “key of paradise,”
+and in the performance of it, his disciples are enjoined to lay aside their ornaments
+and costly habits, and all that might savour of either pride or arrogance.
+</p>
+<p>Its observance, however, at five stated times appears to be nowhere mentioned in the
+Koran, although the custom is now an essential part, and the most noticeable and characteristic
+feature of Mahomedanism.
+</p>
+<p>Saints and sinners join equally in the form. A crime just committed, or one in immediate
+contemplation, in no way interferes with the “five-time prayers,” and the neglect
+of them amounts to an abnegation of the Faith. The <span class="pageNum" id="pb342">[<a href="#pb342">342</a>]</span>summons to prayer was originally only one sentence, “To public prayer.” Mahomet, however,
+afterwards bethought himself that a more elaborate and striking call would be an improvement,
+and the present “Azzan,” or call to prayer, was introduced.
+</p>
+<p>While the matter was under discussion, Mahomet being unable to decide upon any suitable
+form, a certain Abdallah dreamed that he met a man arrayed in green raiment carrying
+a bell. Abdallah sought to buy it, thinking it would just suit the Prophet for assembling
+together the Faithful. The stranger, however, replied, “I will show you a better way
+than that; let a crier call aloud—
+</p>
+<div class="lgouter">
+<p class="line">“Great is the Lord! great is the Lord!
+</p>
+<p class="line">I bear witness that there is no God but the Lord;
+</p>
+<p class="line">I bear witness that Mahomet is the Prophet of God!
+</p>
+<p class="line">Come unto prayer, come unto happiness—
+</p>
+<p class="line">God is great! God is great! There is no God but the Lord!”</p>
+</div>
+<p class="first">Mahomet, learning the particulars of Abdallah’s dream, believed it to have been a
+vision from on high, and sent his servant forthwith to execute the Divine command.
+Ascending to the top of a lofty house, this first of established Mûezzins, on the
+earliest appearance of light, startled all <span class="pageNum" id="pb343">[<a href="#pb343">343</a>]</span>around from their slumbers with the newly-adopted call, adding to it, “Prayer is better
+than sleep! Prayer is better than sleep!” And ever since, at the customary five hours,
+have his successors thus summoned the people to their devotions.
+</p>
+<p>Concerning the future state, the Mahomedan believes that all will be examined at the
+day of Judgment as to their words and actions in this life.
+</p>
+<p>“Their time, as to how they spent it; their wealth, by what means they acquired it,
+and how they employed it; their bodies, wherein they exercised them; their knowledge
+and learning, what use they made of them,” &amp;c. “They enter Paradise, however, not
+by their own good works, but by the mercy of God. At that day each person will make
+his defence in the best manner he can, endeavouring to find excuses for his own conduct
+by casting blame on others; so much so, that disputes shall even arise between the
+Soul and Body. The Soul saying, “Lord, I was created without a hand to lay hold with,
+a foot to walk with, an eye to see with, or an understanding to apprehend with, until
+I came and entered the Body: therefore punish it, but deliver me.” The Body, on the
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb344">[<a href="#pb344">344</a>]</span>other side, will make this apology, “Lord, thou createdst me like a stock of wood,
+being neither able to hold with my hand, nor to walk with my feet, till this Soul,
+like a ray of light, entered into me, and my tongue began to speak, my eye to see,
+and my foot to walk: therefore punish it, but deliver me.” Then shall the following
+parable be propounded:—“A certain king having a pleasant garden, in which were ripe
+fruits, set two persons to keep it, one of whom was blind, and the other lame—the
+former not being able to see the fruit, nor the latter to gather it. The lame man,
+however, seeing the fruit, persuaded the blind man to take him on his shoulders; and
+by that means he easily gathered the fruits, which they divided between them. The
+lord of the garden coming some time after, and inquiring after the fruit, each began
+to excuse himself; the blind man said he had no eyes to see it with, and the lame
+man that he had no feet to approach the trees. Then the king, ordering the lame man
+to be set on the blind, passed sentence on them both, and punished them together.
+</p>
+<p>“In like manner shall be judged the Body and the Soul.”
+</p>
+<p>Such are some few of the religious tenets of <span class="pageNum" id="pb345">[<a href="#pb345">345</a>]</span>those among whom one’s lot is cast while wandering in the East. Sunk for the most
+part in ignorance, and held as infidels for wanting faith in what they never heard,
+they nevertheless attract attention chiefly by their Faith, and by their zealous worship
+of the Being, whom, although in darkest ignorance as to His attributes and laws, their
+original creed would teach them to believe the one Eternal God.
+</p>
+<p>Some idea of the number represented by these different sects may be derived from the
+following table:—
+</p>
+<div class="table">
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td rowspan="3" class="rowspan cellLeft cellTop xd30e4226">Asiatic Religions </td>
+<td rowspan="3" class="rowspan leftbrace cellTop"><img src="images/lbrace3.png" alt="{" width="18" height="60" /></td>
+<td class="cellTop">Buddhists </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellTop">369,000,000 </td>
+<td class="cellRight cellTop"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Hindoos </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339">231,000,000 </td>
+<td class="cellRight"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Mussulmen </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339">160,000,000 </td>
+<td class="cellRight"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td rowspan="3" class="rowspan cellLeft xd30e4226">Christians </td>
+<td rowspan="3" class="rowspan leftbrace"><img src="images/lbrace3.png" alt="{" width="18" height="60" /></td>
+<td>Roman Catholics </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339">170,000,000 </td>
+<td class="cellRight"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Protestants </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339"> 80,000,000 </td>
+<td class="cellRight"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Greek Church </td>
+<td class="xd30e3339"> 76,000,000 </td>
+<td class="cellRight"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="colspan cellLeft">Jews
+</td>
+<td class="xd30e3339"> 5,000,000 </td>
+<td class="cellRight"></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3" class="colspan cellLeft cellBottom">Other Religions
+</td>
+<td class="xd30e3339 cellBottom">200,000,000 </td>
+<td class="cellRight cellBottom">&nbsp;<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e4283src" href="#xd30e4283">6</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div><p>
+</p>
+<p>And when we reflect how great is the proportion of those who sit in darkness, and
+that “even all who tread the earth are but a handful to the tribes that slumber in
+its bosom,” it is but natural to consider what our own belief would <span class="pageNum" id="pb346">[<a href="#pb346">346</a>]</span>bid us hold as to the future destiny of so large a portion of the human family.
+</p>
+<p>At the same time, the question, “Are there few that be saved?” not having been answered
+eighteen centuries ago, would appear to be one to which no definite reply was intended
+to be rendered, and which might well be left till now unanswered, by those who hold
+the religion of Faith, Hope, and Charity. When, however, the Church to which we belong
+boldly affirms, in words<span id="xd30e4292"></span> which as the public profession of its faith, should be beyond all doubt or misconception
+by either friend or foe, that none <i>can</i> be saved but those who hold the Catholic Faith, as she would have them hold it, then,
+at least, we may fairly consider the matter so far as to doubt whether the answer
+thus forced upon us is one which, even on such high authority, we are bound to accept.
+Before, at least, concurring in a solution of the question which, thus virtually bringing
+it within the limits of a simple arithmetical calculation, would summarily dispose
+of so many millions of the human race, we may remember that some things have been
+taught as possible which men, and even saints, may deem impossible; and, before attempting
+to reduce “goodwill toward men” to human and determinable proportions, we <span class="pageNum" id="pb347">[<a href="#pb347">347</a>]</span>may also remember that “good tidings of great joy” were promised to <i>all</i> people, and that they may possibly prove therefore to have in some way benefited
+even those who have never heard them with their mortal ears.
+</p>
+<p>Meanwhile, in the matter of “Turks and Infidels,” we may perhaps learn something even
+from an Infidel creed, and, borrowing a definition from the religion of Islam, may
+be allowed to hold with it, that
+</p>
+<div class="lgouter">
+<p class="line">“Truly to despair of the goodness of God—this is ‘<i>Infidelity.</i>’ ”</p>
+</div>
+<p class="first"></p>
+<div class="figure p347width"><img src="images/p347.png" alt="Ornament with Arabic text." width="523" height="349" /></div><p>
+</p>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep" />
+<div id="xd30e4064">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e4064src">1</a></span> A coin of the value of thirty-two shillings.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e4064src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e4101">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e4101src">2</a></span> Hardy’s “Eastern Monachisms.”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e4101src" title="Return to note 2 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e4120">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e4120src">3</a></span> Csoma de <span class="corr" id="xd30e4122" title="Source: Koros">Kőrös</span>.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e4120src" title="Return to note 3 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e4139">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e4139src">4</a></span> <i>Vide</i> page 202.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e4139src" title="Return to note 4 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e4172">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e4172src">5</a></span> Muir’s “Life of Mahomet.”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e4172src" title="Return to note 5 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e4283">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e4283src">6</a></span> M. Dietrici.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e4283src" title="Return to note 6 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="back">
+<div id="appa" class="div1 appendix"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd30e320">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">Appendix A.</h2>
+<h2 class="main">The Temples of Cashmere.</h2>
+<div class="argument">
+<p class="first">Extract from “An Essay on the Arian Order of Architecture, as exhibited in the Temples
+of Kashmír,” by <span class="sc">Capt. A. Cunningham.</span> “Journal of the Asiatic Society,” Vol. XVII.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">The architectural remains of Kashmír are perhaps the most remarkable of the existing
+monuments of India, as they exhibit undoubted traces of the influence of Grecian art.
+The Hindú temple is generally a sort of architectural pasty, a huge collection of
+ornamental fritters, huddled together with or without keeping; while the “Jain” temple
+is usually a vast forest of pillars, made to look as unlike one another as possible,
+by some paltry differences in their petty details.
+</p>
+<p>On the other hand, the Kashmirian fanes are distinguished by the graceful elegance
+of their outlines, by the massive boldness of their parts, and by the happy propriety
+of their decorations.
+</p>
+<p>They cannot, indeed, vie with the severe simplicity of the Parthenon, but they possess
+great beauty—different, indeed, yet quite their own.
+</p>
+<p>The characteristic features of the Kashmirian architecture are its lofty pyramidal
+roofs, its trefoiled doorways, <span class="pageNum" id="pb352">[<a href="#pb352">352</a>]</span>covered by pyramidal pediments, and the great width of the intercolumniations.
+</p>
+<p>Most of the Kashmirian temples are more or less injured, but more particularly those
+at Wantipúr, which are mere heaps of ruins. Speaking of these temples, Trebeck says:
+“It is scarcely possible to imagine that the state of ruin to which they have been
+reduced has been the work of time, or even of man, as their solidity is fully equal
+to that of the most massive monuments of Egypt. Earthquakes must have been the cause
+of their overthrow.” In my opinion, their <i>overthrow</i> is too complete to have been the result of an earthquake, which would have simply
+<i>prostrated</i> the buildings in large masses. But the whole of the superstructure of these temples
+is now lying in one confused heap of stones, totally disjointed from one another.
+</p>
+<p>I believe, therefore, that I am fully justified in saying, from my own experience,
+that such a complete and <i>disruptive overturn</i> could only have been produced by gunpowder.
+</p>
+<p>The destruction of the Kashmirian temples is universally attributed, both by history
+and by tradition, to the bigoted Sikander. (<span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1396.) He was reigning at the period of Timúr’s invasion of India, with whom he exchanged
+friendly presents, and from whom, I suppose, he may have received a present of the
+<i><span class="corr" id="xd30e4346" title="Source: villanous">villainous</span> saltpetre.</i>
+</p>
+<p>As it would appear that the Turks had <i>metal</i> cannon at the siege of Constantinople in 1422, I think it no great stretch of probability to suppose that gunpowder itself had
+been carried into the East, even as far as Kashmír, at least ten or twenty years earlier—that
+is, about <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1400 to 1420, or certainly during the reign of Sikander, who died in 1416.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb353">[<a href="#pb353">353</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Even if this be not admitted, I still adhere to my opinion, that the complete ruin
+of the Wantipúr temples could only have been effected by gunpowder; and I would, then,
+ascribe their overthrow to the bigoted “Aurungzíb.”
+</p>
+<p>“Ferishta” attributed to Sikander the demolition of all the Kashmirian temples save
+one, which was dedicated to Mahadeo, and which only escaped “in consequence of its
+foundations being below the surface of the neighbouring water.”
+</p>
+<p>In <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1580, “Abul Fazl” mentions that some of the idolatrous temples were in “perfect preservation;”
+and Ferishta describes many of these temples as having been in existence in his own
+time, or about <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1600.
+</p>
+<p>As several are still standing, though more or less injured, it is certain that Sikander
+could not have destroyed them all. He most likely gave orders that they should be
+overturned; and I have no doubt that many of the principal temples were thrown down
+during his reign.
+</p>
+<p>But, besides the ruthless hand of the destroyer, another agency, less immediate, but
+equally certain in its ultimate effects, must have been at work upon the large temples
+of Kashmír. The silent ravages of the destroyer, who carries away pillars and stone,
+for the erection of other edifices, has been going on for centuries. Pillars, from
+which the architraves have been thus removed, have been thrown down by earthquakes,
+ready to be set up again for the decoration of the first Musjid that might be erected
+in the neighbourhood. Thus every Mahomedan building in Kashmír is constructed either
+entirely or in part of the ruins of Hindú temples.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb354">[<a href="#pb354">354</a>]</span></p>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">Takt I Sulíman.</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">The oldest temple in Kashmír, both in appearance and according to tradition, is that
+upon the hill of “Takt i Sulíman,” or Solomon’s Throne. It stands 1,000 feet above
+the plain, and commands a view of the greater part of Kashmír.
+</p>
+<p>The situation is a noble one, and must have been amongst the first throughout the
+whole valley which was selected as the position of a temple. Its erection is ascribed
+to Jaloka, the son of Asoka, who reigned about 220 B.C.
+</p>
+<p>The plan of the temple is octagonal, each side being fifteen feet in length. It is
+approached by a flight of eighteen steps, eight feet in width, and inclosed between
+two sloping walls. Its height cannot now be ascertained, as the present roof is a
+modern plastered dome, which was probably built since the occupation of the country
+by the Sikhs. The walls are eight feet thick, which I consider one of the strongest
+proofs of the great antiquity of the building.
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">Pándrethán.</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">This name means the old capital, or ancient chief town. The name has, however, been
+spelt by different travellers in many different ways. “Moorcroft” calls it Pándenthán,
+“Vigne” Pandrenton, and “Hugel” Pandriton.
+</p>
+<p>The building of this temple is recorded between <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 913 and 921; and it is afterwards mentioned between the years 958 and 972, as having escaped destruction when the King Abhimanyú—Nero-like—set fire to his
+own capital.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb355">[<a href="#pb355">355</a>]</span></p>
+<p>As this is the only temple situated in the old capital, there can be very little,
+if any, doubt that it is the very same building which now exists. For as it is surrounded
+by water, it was, of course, quite safe amid the fire, which reduced the other buildings
+to mere masses of quicklime.
+</p>
+<p>Baron Hugel calls the Pándrethán edifice a “Buddhist temple,” and states that there
+are some well-preserved Buddhist figures in the interior. But he is doubly mistaken,
+for the temple was dedicated to Vishnú, and the figures in the inside have no connexion
+with Buddhism.
+</p>
+<p>Trebeck swam into the interior, and could discover no figures of any kind; but as
+the whole ceiling was formerly hidden by a coating of plaster, his statement was,
+at that time, perfectly correct.
+</p>
+<p>The object of erecting the temples in the midst of water must have been to place them
+more immediately under the protection of the Nágas, or human-bodied and snake-tailed
+gods, who were zealously worshipped for ages through Kashmír.
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">Márttand.</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">Of all the existing remains of Kashmirian grandeur, the most striking in size and
+situation is the noble ruin of Márttand.
+</p>
+<p>This majestic temple stands at the northern end of the elevated table-land of “Matan,”
+about three miles to the eastward of Islámabád.
+</p>
+<p>This is undoubtedly the finest position in Kashmír. The temple itself is not now (1848) more than forty feet in height, but its solid walls and bold outlines towering <span class="pageNum" id="pb356">[<a href="#pb356">356</a>]</span>over the fluted pillars of the surrounding colonnade give it a most imposing appearance.
+</p>
+<p>There are no petty confused details; but all are distinct and massive, and most admirably
+suited to the general character of the building.
+</p>
+<p>Many vain speculations have been hazarded regarding the date of the erection of this
+temple and the worship to which it was appropriated.
+</p>
+<p>It is usually called the “House of the Pandús” by the Brahmins, and by the people
+“Mattan.”
+</p>
+<p>The true appellation appears to be preserved in the latter, Matan being only a corruption
+of the Sanscrit Márttand <span lang="sa" class="deva">मार्त्तण्ड</span>, or the sun, to which the temple was dedicated.
+</p>
+<p>The true date of the erection of this temple—the wonder of Kashmír—is a disputed point
+of chronology; but the period of its foundation can be determined within the limits
+of one century, or between <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 370 and 500.
+</p>
+<p>The mass of building now known by the name of Matan, or Márttand, consists of one
+lofty central edifice, with a small detached wing on each side of the entrance, the
+whole standing on a large quadrangle surrounded by a colonnade of fluted pillars,
+with intervening trefoil-headed recesses. The central building is sixty-three feet
+in length, by thirty-six in width.
+</p>
+<p>As the main building is at present entirely uncovered, the original form of the roof
+can only be determined by a reference to other temples, and to the general form and
+character of the various parts of the Márttand temple itself.
+</p>
+<p>The angle of the roof in the Temple of Pándrethán, and in other instances, is obtained
+by making the sides of the pyramid which forms it parallel to the sides of the <span class="pageNum" id="pb357">[<a href="#pb357">357</a>]</span>doorway pediment, and in restoring the Temples of Patrun and Márttand I have followed
+the same rule.
+</p>
+<p>The height of the Pándrethán temple—of the cloistered recesses, porch pediments, and
+niches of Márttand itself—were all just double their respective widths. This agreement
+in the relative proportions of my restored roof of Márttand with those deduced from
+other examples, is a presumptive proof of the correctness of my restoration. The entrance-chamber
+and the wings I suppose to have been also covered by similar pyramidal roofs. There
+would thus have been four distinct pyramids, of which that over the inner chamber
+must have been the loftiest, the height of its pinnacle above the ground being about
+seventy-five feet.
+</p>
+<p>The interior must have been as imposing as the exterior. On ascending the flight of
+steps—now covered by ruins—the votary of the sun entered a highly-decorated chamber,
+with a doorway on each side covered by a pediment, with a trefoil-headed niche containing
+a bust of the Hindú triad, and on the flanks of the main entrance, as well as on those
+of the side doorways, were pointed and trefoil niches, each of which held a statue
+of a Hindú divinity.
+</p>
+<p>The interior decorations of the roof can only be conjecturally determined, as I was
+unable to discover any ornamented stones that could with certainty be assigned to
+it. Baron Hugel doubts that Márttand ever had a roof; but, as the walls of the temple
+are still standing, the numerous heaps of large stones that are scattered about on
+all sides can only have belonged to the roof.
+</p>
+<p>I can almost fancy that the erection of this sun-temple was suggested by the magnificent
+sunny prospect which its position commands. It overlooks the finest view in Kashmír,
+and perhaps in the known world, Beneath it <span class="pageNum" id="pb358">[<a href="#pb358">358</a>]</span>lies the paradise of the East, with its sacred streams and cedarn glens, its brown
+orchards and green fields, surrounded on all sides by vast snowy mountains, whose
+lofty peaks seem to smile upon the beautiful valley below. The vast extent of the
+scene makes it sublime; for this magnificent view of Kashmír is no petty peep into
+a half-mile glen, but the full display of a valley sixty miles in breadth and upwards
+of a hundred miles in length, the whole of which lies beneath “the ken of the wonderful
+Márttand.”
+</p>
+<p>The principal buildings that still exist in Kashmír are entirely composed of a blue
+limestone, which is capable of taking the highest polish—a property to which I mainly
+attribute the beautiful state of preservation in which some of them at present exist.
+</p>
+<p>Even at first sight one is immediately struck by the strong resemblance which the
+Kashmirian colonnades bear to the classic peristyles of Greece. Even the temples themselves,
+with their porches and pediments, remind one more of Greece than of India; and it
+is difficult to believe that a style of architecture which differs so much from all
+Indian examples, and which has so much in common with those of Greece, could have
+been indebted to chance alone for this striking resemblance.
+</p>
+<p>One great similarity between the Kashmirian architecture and that of the various Greek
+orders is its stereotyped style, which, during the long flourishing period of several
+centuries, remained unchanged. In this respect it is so widely different from the
+ever-varying forms and plastic vagaries of the Hindú architecture that it is impossible
+to conceive their evolution from a common origin.
+</p>
+<p>I feel convinced myself that several of the Kashmirian forms, and many of the details,
+were borrowed from the temples of the Kabúlian Greeks, while the arrangements <span class="pageNum" id="pb359">[<a href="#pb359">359</a>]</span>of the interior and the relative proportions of the different parts were of Hindú
+origin. Such, in fact, must necessarily have been the case with imitations by Indian
+workmen, which would naturally have been engrafted upon the indigenous architecture.
+The general arrangements would still remain Indian, while many of the details, and
+even some of the larger forms, might be of foreign origin.
+</p>
+<p>As a whole, I think that the Kashmirian architecture, with its noble fluted pillars,
+its vast colonnades, its lofty pediments, and its elegant trefoiled arches, is fully
+entitled to be classed as a distinct style. I have therefore ventured to call it the
+Arian order—a name to which it has a double right; first, because it was the style
+of the Aryas, or Arians, of Kashmír; and, secondly, because its intercolumniations
+are always of four diameters—an interval which the Greeks called Araiostyle.
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">Extract from Vigne’s “Travels in Kashmír.”</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">The Hindú temple of Márttand is commonly called the House of the Pandús. Of the Pandús
+it is only necessary to say that they are the Cyclopes of the East. Every old building,
+of whose origin the poorer class of Hindús in general have no information, is believed
+to have been the work of the Pandús. As an isolated ruin, this deserves, on account
+of its solitary and massive grandeur, to be ranked not only as the first ruin of the
+kind in Kashmír, but as one of the noblest among the architectural relics of antiquity
+that are to be seen in any country. Its noble and exposed situation at the foot of
+the hills reminded <span class="pageNum" id="pb360">[<a href="#pb360">360</a>]</span>me of that of the Escurial. It has no forest of cork-trees and evergreen-oaks before
+it, nor is it to be compared, in point of size, with that stupendous building; but
+it is visible from as great a distance. And the Spanish sierra cannot for a moment
+be placed in competition with the verdant magnificence of the mountain-scenery of
+Kashmír.
+</p>
+<p>Few of the Kashmirian temples, if any, I should say, were Buddhist. Those in or upon
+the edge of the water were rather, I should suppose, referable to the worship of the
+Nágas, or snake-gods. The figures in all the temples are almost always in an erect
+position, and I have never been able to discover any inscription in those now remaining.
+</p>
+<p>I had been struck with the great general resemblance which the temple bore to the
+recorded disposition of the Ark and its surrounding curtains, in imitation of which
+the Temple at Jerusalem was built; and it became for a moment a question whether the
+Kashmirian temples had not been built by Jewish architects, who had recommended them
+to be constructed on the same plan for the sake of convenience merely. It is, however,
+a curious fact, that in Abyssinia, the ancient Ethiopia, which was also called “Kush,”
+the ancient Christian churches are not unlike those of Kashmír, and that they were
+originally built in imitation of the temple, by the Israelites who followed the Queen
+of Sheba, whose son took possession of the throne of Kush, where his descendants are
+at this moment Kings of Abyssinia.
+</p>
+<p>Without being able to boast, either in extent or magnificence, of an approach to equality
+with the temple of the sun at Palmyra, or the ruins of the palace at Persepolis, Márttand
+is not without pretensions to a locality of <span class="pageNum" id="pb361">[<a href="#pb361">361</a>]</span>scarcely inferior interest, and deserves to be ranked with them as the leading specimen
+of a gigantic style of architecture that has decayed with the religion it was intended
+to cherish, and the prosperity of a country it could not but adorn.
+</p>
+<p>In situation it is far superior to either. Palmyra is surrounded by an ocean of sand,
+and Persepolis overlooks a marsh; but the temple of the sun in Márttand is built upon
+a natural platform at the foot of some of the noblest mountains, and beneath its ken
+lies what is undoubtedly the finest and the most <i>prononcé</i> valley in the known world.
+</p>
+<p>We are not looking upon the monuments of the dead. We step not aside to inspect a
+tomb, or pause to be saddened by an elegy. The noble pile in the foreground is rather
+an emblem of age than of mortality; and the interest with which we perambulate its
+ruins is not the less pleasurable because we do not know much that is certain of its
+antiquity, its founders, or its original use.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb362">[<a href="#pb362">362</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="appb" class="div1 appendix"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd30e329">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">Appendix B.</h2>
+<h2 class="main">The Mystic Sentence of Thibet.</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<div lang="fr" class="div2 section"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">Explication et origine de la formule bouddhique:—“Om mani padmè hoûm” Par <span class="sc">M. Klaproth.</span> “Nouveau Journal Asiatique.”</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">Les Tubétains et les Mongols ont perpétuellement cette prière dans la bouche. Les
+mots de cette inscription sont Sanscrits, et donnent un sens complet dans cette langue.
+En voici la transcription en devanagri:—
+</p>
+<div class="lgouter">
+<p class="line"><span lang="sa" class="deva">ओं मणि पद्मे हुं</span></p>
+</div>
+<p class="first">“Om” est, chez les Hindous, le nom mystique de la divinité, par lequel toutes les
+prières commencent. Cette particule mystique équivaut à l’interjection, <i>oh!</i> prononcée avec emphase et avec une entière conviction religieuse. Mani signifie <i>le joyau</i>; Padma <i>le lotus.</i> Enfin Hoûm est une particule qui équivaut à notre “<i>Amen.</i>” Le sens de la phrase est très clair; “Om mani padmè hoûm” signifie “<i>Oh! le joyau dans le lotus, Amen.</i>” Malgré ce sens indubitable, les Bouddhistes du Tubet se sont évertués à chercher
+un sens mystique à chacune des six syllabes qui composent cette phrase. Ils ont rempli
+des livres entiers de ces explications imaginaires.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb363">[<a href="#pb363">363</a>]</span></p>
+<p>Cette formule est particulière aux Bouddhistes du Tubet.
+</p>
+<p>Selon l’histoire de ce pays la formule Om mani padmè hoûm, y a été apportée de l’Inde
+vers la moitié du 7<sup>e</sup> siècle de notre ère.
+</p>
+<p>La legende suivante traduite du Mongol contient des détails sur la conversion du Tubet
+par le dieu Padmá pani,<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e4520src" href="#xd30e4520">1</a> et sur l’origine des six syllabes sacrées, Om mani padmè hoûm. Ce dieu est appelé
+en Sanscrit “Avalokites’ vara” ou “le maître qui contemple avec amour;” ce que les Tubétains ont rendu par “le tout-voyant
+aux mille mains et aux mille yeux:” Les Chinois on traduit le nom par “celui qui contemple
+les sous du inonde.”
+</p>
+<p>“Autrefois, quand le ‘<i>glorieux-accompli</i>’ (Sakya mouni ou Buddh) séjournait dans la forêt ‘d’Odma,’ il advint un jour, qu’étant
+entouré de ses nombreux disciples un rayon de lumière de cinq couleurs sortit tout-à-coup
+entre ses deux sourcils, forma un arc-en-ciel, et se dirigea du côté de l’Empire septentrional
+de neige (Thibet). Les regards du Bouddha suivaient ce rayon, et sa figure montra
+un sourire de joie inexprimable. Un de ses disciples lui demanda <span class="pageNum" id="pb364">[<a href="#pb364">364</a>]</span>de lui en expliquer la raison, et sur sa prière le glorieux-accompli lui dit:
+</p>
+<p>“ ‘Fils d’illustre origine! dans le pays qu’aucun Bouddha des trois âges n’a pu convertir,
+et qui est rempli d’une foule d’êtres malfaisans, la loi se lèvera comme le soleil
+et s’y répandra dans les temps futurs.<span id="xd30e4541"></span>
+</p>
+<p>“ ‘L’apôtre de cet Empire de neige âpre et sauvage, sera le Khoutoukhtou’ (Padmá páni).
+</p>
+<p>“Après que ‘Sakya mouni’ eut prononcé ces paroles, un rayon de lumière, éclatant comme
+un lotus blanc, sortit de son coeur et illumina toutes les régions du monde et se
+plongea dans le coeur du <i>Bouddha infiniment resplendissant.</i> Alors un autre éclat de lumière sortit du Bouddha resplendissant et se plongea dans
+la mer des fleurs de <i>Padmá</i> (lotus), et y transmit cette pensée du Bouddha, qu’il s’en élèverait et qu’il en
+naitrait un Khoubilkhan<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e4550src" href="#xd30e4550">2</a> divin, destiné à la conversion de l’Empire de neige.<span id="xd30e4553"></span>
+</p>
+<p>“Le Roi Dehdou qui était parvenu à participer à la béatitude de l’empire de Soukhawatee,
+voulant un jour offrir au Bouddha un sacrifice des fleurs, dépêcha quelques-uns des
+siens aux bords de la mer des <i>Padmá</i> (Lotus), pour y cueillir de ces fleurs. Ses envoyés aperçurent dans la mer une très
+grande tige de Lotus au milieu de laquelle il y avait un bouton colossal entouré d’une
+foule de grandes feuilles, et jetant des rayons de lumière de différentes couleurs.
+Les envoyés en firent leur rapport au roi, qui, rempli d’étonnement, se rendit avec
+sa cour sur un grand radeau à la place de la mer où se trouvait cette tige merveilleuse.<span id="xd30e4560"></span>
+</p>
+<p>“Y’étant arrivé, il présenta ses offrandes et prononça la bénédiction; le bouton s’ouvrit
+alors des quatre cotés, et <span class="pageNum" id="pb365">[<a href="#pb365">365</a>]</span>au milieu apparut l’apôtre de l’empire de neige, né comme ‘Khoubilkhan.’ Il y était
+assis, les jambes croisées, avait mi visage et quatre mains; les deux mains antérieures
+étaient jointes devant le cœur, la troisième de droite tenait un rosaire de cristal,
+et la quatrième à gauche une fleur de Lotus blanche, qui penchait vers l’oreille.<span id="xd30e4566"></span>
+</p>
+<p>“Sur sa figure, dont l’éclat se répandait vers les dix régions du monde, se montrait
+un sourire qui pénétra dans tous les cœurs.<span id="xd30e4570"></span>
+</p>
+<p>“Le roi et sa suite portèrent le ‘Khoubilkhan’ au palais, en poussant des cris de
+joie et entonnant des hymnes. Le roi se rendit devant le Bouddha éternel et lui demanda
+la permission d’adopter pour fils, le ‘Khoubilkhan’ né dans la mer de lotus. Mais
+sa demande ne fut pas agréé et il apprit, la véritable origine de ce ‘Khoubilkhan.’
+Le Bouddha infiniment resplendissant posa alors sa main sur la tête de celui-ci et
+dit ‘Fils d’illustre origine! Les êtres qui habitent l’âpre empire de la neige, qu’aucun
+Bouddha des temps passés n’a pu convertir, qu’aucun du temps futurs ne convertira,
+et qu’aucun du temps présent n’a converti, le seront par la force et la bénédiction
+de ton vœu. C’est excellant; c’est excellant! Khoutoukhtou!<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e4574src" href="#xd30e4574">3</a><span id="xd30e4578"></span>
+</p>
+<p>“ ‘Aussitôt que les habitans de l’âpre empire de neige te verront et qu’ils entendront
+le son des six syllabes (Om mani padmè hoûm) ils seront délivrés des trois <span class="corr" id="xd30e4582" title="Source: naissance">naissances</span> de mauvaise nature, et trouveront la béatitude par la renaissance comme êtres d’une
+nature supérieure. Les esprits malfaisans de l’âpre empire de neige, ainsi que tous
+les êtres donnant des maladies ou la mort, aussitôt, Khoutoukhtou, qu’ils te verront
+et qu’ils entendront le <span class="pageNum" id="pb366">[<a href="#pb366">366</a>]</span>son des six syllabes, ils quitteront la fureur et la méchanceté qui les anime, et
+deviendront compatissans.
+</p>
+<p>“ ‘Les tigres, les panthères, les loups, les ours et autres animaux féroces, aussitôt,
+O Khoutoukhtou! qu’ils te verront et entendront le son des six syllabes ils adouciront
+leurs hurlemens, et leur fureur sanguinaire se changera en douceur bienveillante.
+Khoutoukhtou! ta figure et le son des six syllabes rassaiseront les affamés et calmeront
+la soif des altérés; il tombera comme une pluie d’eau bénite, et elle remplira tous
+leurs desirs. Khoutoukhtou! tu es l’être gracieux destiné à annoncer la volonté du
+Bouddha à cet empire de neige.
+</p>
+<p>“ ‘Selon ton example, un grand nombre de Bouddhas s’y montreront, dans <span class="corr" id="xd30e4590" title="Source: le">les</span> temps futurs, et y répandront la foi.
+</p>
+<p>“ ‘Les six syllabes sont le sommaire de toute doctrine et l’âpre empire de neige,
+sera rempli de cette doctrine par la force de ces six syllabes—
+</p>
+<div class="lgouter">
+<p class="line">Om ma ni pad me houm.’</p>
+</div>
+<p class="first">“Après cette consécration, le Khoutoukhtou s’agenouilla devant le Bouddha, joignit
+les mains et prononça le vœu suivant: ‘Puissé-je être en état de pouvoir faire parvenir
+à la béatitude les six espèces d’êtres vivans dans les trois royaumes! Puissé-je,
+avant tout, conduire sur le chemin du bonheur, les êtres vivans de l’empire de neige
+(Thibet).
+</p>
+<p>“ ‘Loin de moi le désir de retourner dans mon Empire de joie, avant d’avoir achevé
+l’œuvre si difficile de la conversion de ces êtres. Si une telle pensée, produite
+par le dégoût et la <span class="corr" id="xd30e4599" title="Source: mauvaíse">mauvaise</span> humeur, s’empare de moi, que ma tête se fende en dix parties, et mon corps, comme
+cette fleur de lotus, en mille.’
+</p>
+<p>“Après ces mots, il se rendit dans le royaume de l’enfer, prononça les six syllabes
+et détruisit les peines des enfers <span class="pageNum" id="pb367">[<a href="#pb367">367</a>]</span>frois et chauds. De là il s’éleva au royaume des animaux, prononça les six syllabes
+et détruisit la peine que leur produit la chasse. Puis il se rendit dans l’empire
+des hommes, prononça les six syllabes et détruisit la peine de la naissance, de l’âge,
+des maladies et de la mort. Il s’éleva après à l’empire des génies du ciel, prononça
+les six syllabes et détruisit l’envie qui les tourmente pour se disputer et se combattre.
+Enfin, il aborda le grand Royaume de neige (le Tubet).
+</p>
+<p>“Ici, il aperçut la mer d’ ‘Otang’ comme un enfer terrible, et il vit que <span class="corr" id="xd30e4609" title="Source: dêrêchef">derechef</span>, plusieurs millions d’êtres y’étaient, bouillis, brûlés, et martyrisés.
+</p>
+<p>“Le Khoutouktou se rendit au bord de la mer et dit: ‘Oh! que tant de milliers d’êtres
+qui se trouvent dans cette mer, où ils souffrent des tourmens <span class="corr" id="xd30e4614" title="Source: inexprimable">inexprimables</span> par la chaleur, le froid, la faim, et la soif, puissent rejeter loin d’eux leur enveloppe
+funeste et renaître dans mon paradis commes êtres supérieures. <b>Om mani padme houm!</b>’
+</p>
+<p>“A peine le ‘Khoutoukhtou’ avait-il prononcé ces mots que les tourmens des damnés
+cessèrent; leur esprit fut tranquillisé, et ils se virent transportés sur le chemin
+du Bouddha. Le Khoutoukhtou ayant ainsi rendu propres à la délivrance les six espèces
+des êtres vivans dans les trois royaumes du monde, se trouva fatigué, se reposa et
+tomba dans un état de contemplation intérieure!<span id="xd30e4622"></span>
+</p>
+<p>“<span class="corr" id="xd30e4626" title="Source: Apres">Après</span> quelques temps il vit qu’à peine la centième partie des habitans de l’empire de neige
+avaient été conduits sur le chemin de la délivrance. Son âme en fut si douloureusement
+affectée qu’il eut le désir de retourner dans son paradis. A peine l’avait-il conçu,
+qu’ensuite de ce vœu, sa tête se fendit en dix et son corps en mille pièces.
+</p>
+<p>“Le Bouddha infiniment resplendissant lui apparût dans <span class="pageNum" id="pb368">[<a href="#pb368">368</a>]</span>le même moment, guérit la tête et le corps fendus du Khoutoukhtou, le prit par la
+main et lui dit: “Fils d’illustre origine! Vois les suites inévitables de ton vœu;
+mais <span class="corr" id="xd30e4633" title="Source: parceque">parce que</span> tu l’avais fait pour l’illustration de tous les Bouddhas, tu as été guéri sur-le-champ.
+Ne sois donc plus triste, car quoique ta tête se soit fendue en dix pièces, chacune
+aura, par ma bénédiction, une face particulière, et au-dessus d’elles sera placé mon
+propre visage rayonnant. <span class="corr" id="xd30e4636" title="Source: Ce">Cet</span> onzième visage de <i>l’infiniment resplendissant,</i> placé au-dessus de tes dix autres, te rendra l’objet de l’adoration.
+</p>
+<p>“ ‘Quoique ton corps se soit fendu en mille morceaux, ils deviendront, par ma bénédiction,
+mille mains qui représenteront les mille Bouddhas d’un âge complet du monde (en sanscrit
+Kalpa),<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e4643src" href="#xd30e4643">4</a> et qui te rendront l’objet le plus digne d’adoration.’ ”
+</p>
+<p>Cette légende nous explique, <span class="corr" id="xd30e4648" title="Source: non-seulement">non seulement</span> l’extrême importance que les Bouddhistes du Tubet attachent à la formule “Om mani
+padmè hoûm,” mais elle nous démontre aussi que son véritable sens est celui que j’ai
+donné plus haut: Oh! le joyau dans le lotus; Amen! Il est évident qu’elle se rapporte
+à “Avalokites’ vara” ou “Padma pani” lui-même, qui naquit dans une fleur de lotus.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e4653src" href="#xd30e4653">5</a>
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb369">[<a href="#pb369">369</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="div2 section"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h3 class="main">Ûm Mani Panee.</h3>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">As will be seen by the foregoing extract from M. Klaproth’s explanation, the mystic
+sentence, instead of being as I have represented it, is in reality, “<b>Om mani padme houm,</b>” or, in a form of spelling more English, if not more intelligible, “Om muni pudmay
+hoom,” and the meaning, supposing its derivation from the Sanscrit to be beyond doubt,
+would, as therein translated, be, “Oh the jewel in the Lotus, Amen!” Almost every
+traveller who has mentioned the inscription in question appears to have followed M.
+Klaproth’s pronunciation as above; but this, although the one actually given by the
+value of the Thibetian letters, is certainly not that in use by the people among whom
+it is chiefly, if not alone, to be found. This I can vouch for, as the words were
+so incessantly in the mouths of all to whom I applied for information, that I had
+ample opportunity of hearing and remembering their sound; and having written them
+on the spot in the Persian character, the pronunciation would not be open to the misapprehension
+or uncertainty to which, after the sounds themselves had been forgotten, the English
+form of spelling might have rendered them liable.<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e4664src" href="#xd30e4664">6</a>
+</p>
+<p>A form, however, different from both these, is given by one who, with the exception
+perhaps of M. Hue, had better opportunities than most others for ascertaining the
+meaning of the words and hearing their actual pronunciation: this was Captain Turner,
+who was nominated by <span class="pageNum" id="pb370">[<a href="#pb370">370</a>]</span>Warren Hastings, in the year 1783, to undertake an embassy to the Court of Thibet, at Lassa.
+</p>
+<p>He, however, makes no mention of the Sanscrit translation above given, and confesses
+his inability to obtain, even at the head-quarters of Thibetian Buddhism, a satisfactory
+explanation of the origin or import of the sentence. The following account, taken
+from Captain Turner’s Report on his Mission, may be of interest, as it explains the
+circumstances under which an event so unusual as an embassy to the Court of Thibet
+was agreed to by the Grand Lama.
+</p>
+<p>In 1772, a frontier warfare having broken out between the “Booteas,” dependants of Thibet,
+and the English Government, in consequence of the aggression of the former, Teshoo
+Lama, at the time regent of Thibet and guardian of the Delai Lama, his superior in
+religious rank, united in his own person the political authority and the spiritual
+hierarchy of the country, subservient only to the Emperor of China. The Lama, interested
+for the safety of Bootan, sent a deputation to Calcutta, with a letter addressed to
+the governor, of which the following is a translation:—“The affairs of this quarter
+in every respect flourish. I am, night and day, employed in prayers for the increase
+of your happiness and prosperity. Having been informed, by travellers from your country,
+of your exalted fame and reputation, my heart, like the blossoms of spring, abounds
+with satisfaction, gladness, and joy.
+</p>
+<p>“Praise be to God that the star of your fortune is in its ascension! Praise be to
+Him that happiness and ease are the surrounding attendants of myself and family! Neither
+to molest, nor persecute, is my aim. It is even the characteristic of our sect to
+deprive ourselves of the <span class="pageNum" id="pb371">[<a href="#pb371">371</a>]</span>necessary refreshment of sleep, should an injury be done to a single individual; but
+in justice and humanity, I am informed, you far surpass us.
+</p>
+<p>“May you ever adorn the seat of justice and power, that mankind may, in the shadow
+of your bosom, enjoy the blessings of peace and affluence.”
+</p>
+<p>The Lama then enters into the subject of the disturbances between his dependants and
+the British Government, and concludes:—“As to my part, I am but a Fakeer; and it is
+the custom of my sect, with the rosary in our hands, to pray for the welfare of all
+mankind, and especially for the peace and happiness of the inhabitants of this country;
+and I do now, with my head uncovered, intreat that you will cease from all hostilities
+in future. In this country the worship of the Almighty is the profession of all. We
+poor creatures are in nothing equal to you. Having, however, a few things in hand,
+I send them to you as tokens of remembrance, and hope for your acceptance of them.”<a class="noteRef" id="xd30e4686src" href="#xd30e4686">7</a>
+</p>
+<p>The Lama being in this unusually agreeable frame of mind, the British Government yielded
+without hesitation to his intercession.
+</p>
+<p>The governor himself readily embraced the opportunity, which he thought the occurrence
+afforded, of extending the British influence to a quarter of the world but little
+known, and with which we possessed hardly any commercial connexion.
+</p>
+<p>In 1774 a deputation was sent to carry back an answer to the Lama, and to offer him suitable
+presents. It was <span class="pageNum" id="pb372">[<a href="#pb372">372</a>]</span>furnished also with a variety of articles of English manufacture, to be produced as
+specimens of the trade in which the subjects of the Lama might be invited to participate.
+The result was, that in 1779, when the Lama visited the Emperor of China at Pekin, desirous of improving his connexion
+with the Government of Bengal, he desired the British envoy to go round by sea to
+Canton, promising to join him at the capital. The Emperor’s promise was at the same
+time obtained to permit the first openings of an intercourse between that country
+and Bengal, through the intermediate channel furnished by the Lama.
+</p>
+<p>The death of both the Lama and the envoy, however, which happened nearly at the same
+time, destroyed the plans thus formed.
+</p>
+<p>Soon after the receipt of the letters announcing the Lama’s death, intelligence arrived
+of his reappearance in Thibet! His soul, according to the doctrines of their faith,
+had passed into and animated the body of an infant, who, on the discovery of his identity
+by such testimony as their religion prescribes, was proclaimed by the same title as
+his predecessor.
+</p>
+<p>Warren Hastings then proposed a second deputation to Thibet, and Captain Turner was
+accordingly nominated on the 9th January, 1783.
+</p>
+<p>His mention of the sculptured stones and inscription is as follows:—
+</p>
+<p>“Another sort of monument is a long wall, on both faces of which near the top are
+inserted large tablets with the words ‘Oom maunee paimee oom’ carved in relief. This
+is the sacred sentence repeated upon the rosaries of the Lamas, and in general use
+in Tibet. Of the form of words to which ideas of peculiar sanctity are annexed by
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb373">[<a href="#pb373">373</a>]</span>the inhabitants, I could never obtain a satisfactory explanation. It is frequently
+engraven on the rocks in large and deep characters, and sometimes I have seen it on
+the sides of hills; the letters, which are formed by means of stones fixed in the
+earth, are of so vast a magnitude as to be visible at a very considerable distance.”
+</p>
+<p>M. Hue’s account of an explanation of the formula, which he received from the highest
+authority at Lassa, is as follows:—“Living beings are divided into six classes—angels,
+demons, men, quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles. These six classes of beings correspond
+to the syllables of the formula, ‘Om mani padmè houm.’ Living beings by continual
+transformations, and according to their merit or demerit, pass about in these six
+classes until they have attained the apex of perfection, when they are absorbed and
+lost in the grand essence of Buddha. Living beings have, according to the class to
+which they belong, particular means of sanctifying themselves, of rising to a superior
+class, of obtaining perfection, and of arriving in process of time at the period of
+their absorption. Men who repeat very frequently and devotedly ‘Om mani padmè houm,’
+escape falling after death into the six classes of animate creatures, corresponding
+to the six syllables of the formula, and obtain the plenitude of being, by their absorption
+into the eternal and universal soul of Buddha.”
+</p>
+<p>One traveller only I have been able to find who mentions the sentence as I have done.
+M. Jacquemont writes, in his “Letters from Cashmere and Thibet,” in 1830:—“I am returned from afar; I have often been very cold; I have had a hundred and
+eighteen very bad dinners: but I think myself amply recompensed for these trans-Himalayan
+miseries by the interesting observations and vast collections <span class="pageNum" id="pb374">[<a href="#pb374">374</a>]</span>which I have been able to make in a country perfectly new. The Tartars are a very
+good sort of people. It is true that to please them I made myself a little heathen
+after their fashion, and joined without scruple in the national chorus, ‘<b>Houm mâni pani houm.</b>’&nbsp;”
+</p>
+<p>Judging by the system of spelling he has adopted in other instances in his letters,
+this would be nearly—as regards the two main words—the same pronunciation as I have
+given. He however, in another part, follows it still more closely, and at the same
+time shows that he is aware of a translation which, although probably the true one,
+has no connexion whatever with the words as he himself actually represents them.
+</p>
+<p>He says—“In Thibet they sing a good deal also—that is, one or two inhabitants per
+square league—but only a single song of three words—<b>‘Oum mani pani;’</b> which means, in the learned language, ‘Oh, diamond water-lily!’ and leads the singers
+direct into Buddha’s paradise.
+</p>
+<p>“But, though composed of three Thibetian words, it is evidently of Indian origin,
+and I have proved it <i>botanically.</i> The lotus is a plant peculiar to the lukewarm and temperate waters of India and Egypt.
+There is not one of its genus, or even of its family, in Thibet.”
+</p>
+<p>The words, however, are not, as M. Jacquemont says, Thibetian, but Sanscrit; and,
+although one of the characters in which they are clothed is the current Thibetian,
+it would appear that neither their true pronunciation nor actual meaning is known
+to the people who thus make such frequent use of them.
+</p>
+<p>The sentence itself is in the mouths of all. In the monastery of Hemis alone, probably
+as many as a hundred wheels are in continual motion, bearing it within their folds
+not less than 1,700,000 times. The <span class="pageNum" id="pb375">[<a href="#pb375">375</a>]</span>very stones by the wayside present its well-known characters in countless numbers,
+and the hills repeat it, and yet to those into whose daily religious observances it
+thus so largely enters, it comes but as a vain and empty sound, without either sense
+or signification. The Lamas themselves, no doubt, believe that the doctrine contained
+in these marvellous words is immense, and the higher dignitaries of the Church may
+know their derivation; but, to the great majority, even the mystic meaning and dim
+legendary history which the true pronunciation and rightful origin of the words would
+bring to their minds, are unknown, and they are thus deprived of that large amount
+of comfort and consolation which they would otherwise derive from the glowing and
+all-powerful sentence—
+</p>
+<p>“Oh, the jewel in the lotus, Amen!”
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb376">[<a href="#pb376">376</a>]</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="footnotes">
+<hr class="fnsep" />
+<div class="footnote-body">
+<div id="xd30e4520">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e4520src">1</a></span> Padmà pâni, fils céleste du Bouddha divin du monde actuel, est, dans cette qualité,
+entré en fonction depuis la mort du Bouddha terrestre Sakya mouni, comme son remplaçant,
+chargé d’être après lui le protecteur constant, le gardien et le propagateur de la
+foi bouddhique renouvelée par Sakya. C’est pour cette raison qu’il ne se borne pas
+à une apparition unique comme les Bouddhas, mais qu’il se soumet presque sans interruption
+à une série de naissances qui dureront jusqu’à l’avénement de Maitreya, le futur Bouddha.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">On croit aussi qu’il est incarné dans la personne du “Dalai Lama,” et qu’il paraîtra
+en qualité de Bouddha, le millième de la période actuelle du monde.
+</p>
+<p class="footnote cont">Le Tibet est sa terra de prédilection; il est le père de ses habitants, et la formule
+célèbre<span class="corr" id="xd30e4525" title="Source: .">:</span> Om mani padmè hom, est un de ses bienfaits.<i>—Rélation des Royaumes Bouddhiques,</i> par Chy Fa Hian, traduit par M. Remusat.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e4520src" title="Return to note 1 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e4550">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e4550src">2</a></span> Le mot Khoubilkhan, en Mongol, désigne l’incarnation d’une âme supérieure.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e4550src" title="Return to note 2 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e4574">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e4574src">3</a></span> Khoutoukhtou, en Mongol, signifie “<i>Un Saint Maître.</i>”&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e4574src" title="Return to note 3 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e4643">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e4643src">4</a></span> Le plus petit “Kalpa” est de seize millions huit cent mille ans, et le grand “Kalpa”
+est d’un milliard trois cents quarante-quatre millions d’années.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e4643src" title="Return to note 4 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e4653">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e4653src">5</a></span> Je ne l’ai encore trouvée cette phrase dans aucun ouvrage chinois ou japonais, et
+notre savant collègue M. Bournouf, m’a dit aussi qu’il ne l’a jamais rencontrée dans
+les livres palis, birmans et siamois.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e4653src" title="Return to note 5 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e4664">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e4664src">6</a></span> <span lang="ur" class="aran">اُم مانِپانِي‎</span>&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e4664src" title="Return to note 6 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+<div id="xd30e4686">
+<p class="footnote"><span class="fnlabel"><a class="noteRef" href="#xd30e4686src">7</a></span> Amongst these were sheets of gilt leather, stamped with the black eagle of the Russian
+armorial; talents of gold and silver, bags of genuine musk, narrow cloths of woollen
+the manufacture of Thibet, and silks of China.&nbsp;<a class="fnarrow" href="#xd30e4686src" title="Return to note 7 in text.">↑</a></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div id="appc" class="div1 appendix"><span class="pageNum">[<a href="#xd30e339">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead">
+<h2 class="label">Appendix C.</h2>
+<h2 class="main">A Sketch of the History of Cashmere.</h2>
+</div>
+<div class="divBody">
+<p class="first">A Mahomedan Writer, “Noor ul deen,” who begins the history of Cashmere with the Creation,
+affirms that the valley was visited by Adam after the Fall; that the descendants of
+Seth reigned over the country for 1,110 years; and that, after the deluge, it became
+peopled by a tribe from Turkistan.
+</p>
+<p>The Hindoo historians add, that, after the line of Seth became extinct, the Hindoos
+conquered the country, and ruled it until the period of the deluge; and that the Cashmerians
+were afterwards taught the worship of one God by “Moses;” but, relapsing into Hindoo
+idolatry, were punished by the local inundation of the province, and the conversion
+of the valley into a vast lake.
+</p>
+<p>It would appear, from chronicles actually existing, that Cashmere has been a regular
+kingdom for a period far beyond the limits of history in general. From the year B.C. 2666 to <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1024 it seems to have been governed (according to these authorities) by Princes of Hindoo
+and Tartar dynasties, and their names, to the number of about a hundred, have been
+duly handed down to posterity. <span class="pageNum" id="pb377">[<a href="#pb377">377</a>]</span>Of the titles of these worthies, “Durlabhaverddhana” and “Bikrumajeet” will perhaps
+be sufficient as specimens. During these years, the religion seems at first to have
+been the worship of snakes, and afterwards Hindooism.
+</p>
+<p>In the reign of Asoca, about the 4th century before Christ, Buddhism was introduced,
+and after remaining for some time, under Tartar princes, the religion of the country,
+was again succeeded by Hindooism.
+</p>
+<p>The first Mahomedan king of Cashmere is believed to be “Shahmar,” who came to the
+throne in <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1341, and during the succeeding reigns Thibet appears to have been first subdued, and
+was annexed for a time to the kingdom.
+</p>
+<p>The next monarch, who appears notably on the stage, was “Sikunder,” who, influenced
+by a certain Syud Alee Humudanee and other religious fanatics recently arrived in
+the country, began to destroy the Hindoo temples and images by fire, and to force
+the people to abjure idolatry. Previous to this influx of zealots, the country was
+in a transition state as regards religion and Mahomedanism then began to make some
+head in the valley.
+</p>
+<p>After this period nothing of very great importance occurred in the kingdom of Cashmere
+until the year 1584, when the great Akbar summoned the then king “Yûsûf Shah” to present himself in person
+at the court of Lahore. Finding his orders not complied with, he despatched an army
+of 50,000 men to enforce obedience, and Yûsûf Shah, preferring apparently to die than
+fight, delivered himself up, and was sent to Lahore.
+</p>
+<p>The imperial army was afterwards, however, repulsed in attempting to subdue the country,
+and it was not finally conquered for two years, when Akbar, overcoming all resistance,
+took possession of the province.
+<span class="pageNum" id="pb378">[<a href="#pb378">378</a>]</span></p>
+<p>The purity of the emperor’s motives in annexing the territory, and his opinion of
+his conquest, are amusingly shown in the following letter to his minister Abdûllah
+Khan:—
+</p>
+<p>“On the mirror of your mind, which bears the stamp of Divine illumination, be it manifest
+and evident, that at the time when my imperial army happened to be in the territories
+of the Punjab, although I at first had no other views than to amuse myself with sports
+and hunting in this country, yet the conquest of the enchanting kingdom of Cashmere,
+which has never yet been subdued by monarchs of the age, which for natural strength
+and inaccessibility is unrivalled, and which, for beauty and pleasantness, is a proverb
+among the most sagacious beholders, became secretly an object of my wishes, <i>because</i> I received constantly accounts of the tyranny of the rulers of that region. Accordingly,
+in a very short time, my brave warriors annexed that kingdom to my dominions. Though
+the princes of that country were not remiss in their exertions, yet, as my intentions
+were established on the basis of equity, it was completely conquered.
+</p>
+<p>“I myself also visited that happy spot, the possession of which is a fresh instance
+of the Divine favour, and offered up my praise and thanksgiving to the supreme Lord
+of all things. As I found myself delighted with the romantic bowers of Cashmere, the
+residence of pleasure, I made an excursion to the mountains of that country and Thibet,
+and beheld, with the eyes of astonishment, the wonders of the picture of Nature.”
+</p>
+<p>This visit was in <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1588.
+</p>
+<p>The emperor then appears to have entered the valley by the Peer Punjal Pass, and to
+have been received with every demonstration of joy by the people in whom he took <span class="pageNum" id="pb379">[<a href="#pb379">379</a>]</span>such a fatherly interest. The loyalty of his children, however, was but short-lived,
+for about the year 1591 he again writes to Abdûllah:—
+</p>
+<p>“I must acquaint your Highness, that just at this time certain persons, under the
+predominance of an unlucky destiny, raised an insurrection in Cashmere and breathed
+the air of rebellion and dissatisfaction at the bounty of Providence.
+</p>
+<p>“As soon as the intelligence of this tumult arrived, regardless of deluges of rain,
+I hastened away by forced marches, but before the troops could get through the passes
+and enter into that kingdom, certain Omrahs, attached to my interests, who had been
+obliged by compulsion to join in that rash enterprise, availing themselves of an opportunity,
+brought me the head of the rebel commander.
+</p>
+<p>“As my forces were near, I visited a second time that ever-verdant garden, and gratified
+my mind and senses with the beauties of that luxuriant spot.”
+</p>
+<p>With a view to keeping the capital in order, the Fort of Huree Purbut was built, about
+<span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1597, at a cost of over 1,000,000<i>l.</i>
+</p>
+<p>Means were at the same time adopted of rendering the Cashmerians less warlike, and
+of breaking their independent spirit. To effect this, it is generally believed in
+Cashmere that the Emperor Akbar caused a change to be made in the dress of the people.
+Instead of the ancient, well-girdled tunic, adapted to activity and exercise, he introduced
+the effeminate long gown of the present day, a change which may have led to the introduction
+of the kangree, or pot of charcoal, now used in the valley.
+</p>
+<p>During Akbar’s reign much was done towards the <span class="pageNum" id="pb380">[<a href="#pb380">380</a>]</span>improvement of the province. The country was adorned with palaces and gardens, and
+various trees and shrubs were introduced and cultivated.
+</p>
+<p>About the beginning of the seventeenth century, Akbar visited Cashmere for the third
+and last time, being succeeded, after a reign of fifty-two years, by his son Selim,
+or Jehangeer, <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1605.
+</p>
+<p>Jehangeer, during the early part of his reign, visited Cashmere many times, and the
+valley having been surveyed and brought to order by Akbar, nothing remained for his
+successor but to enjoy the delights of the country in company with his empress, the
+famous Noor Jehan. In 1621, and in 1624, he repeated his visit, when he built many summer-houses and palaces at Atchabull,
+Shalimar, &amp;c., and in <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1627 he visited the valley for the last time. He was succeeded in that year by Shah Jehan,
+who, in 1634, also visited his territories; and, besides improving the country by the introduction
+of fruit-trees, flowers, &amp;c. from Cabul, he invaded Thibet, and taking the Fort of
+Ladak, annexed the country to Cashmere.
+</p>
+<p>In 1645 he again visited the valley, and also in the following years, being accompanied by
+many poets and savants; among the former was a certain Hajee Mahomet Jan, a Persian,
+who composed a poem on the country; but the difficulties of the road appear to have
+impressed his mind rather more than the beauties of the scenery. He compares the sharpness
+of the passes to “the swords of the Feringees,<span class="corr" id="xd30e4835" title="Not in source">”</span> and their tortuous ascents to “the curls of a blackamoor’s hair!”
+</p>
+<p>In 1657, Shah Jehan, being deposed by his son Aurungzib, was confined in the Fort of Agra
+for life; and in the year 1664 the new emperor also paid a visit to his Cashmerian dominions. Of this magnificent
+expedition, <span class="pageNum" id="pb381">[<a href="#pb381">381</a>]</span>M. Bernier, the monarch’s state physician, gives an amusing and detailed description,
+purporting to be
+</p>
+<p>“A relation of a voyage made in the year 1664, when the Great Mogul, Aureng-Zebe, went with his army from, Dehly to Lahor, from
+Lahor to Bember, and from thence to that small kingdom of Kachemere, or Cassimere,
+called by the Mogols the Paradise of the Indies, concerning which the author affirms
+that he hath a particular history of it, in the Persian tongue.”
+</p>
+<p>“The weighty occasion and cause of this voyage of the Emperor’s, together with an
+account of the state and posture of his army, and some curious particulars observable
+in voyages of the Indies,” are thus given by M. Bernier:—“Since that Aureng-Zebe began
+to find himself in better health, it hath been constantly reported that he would make
+a voyage to Kachemere, to be out of the way of the approaching summer heats, though
+the more intelligent sort of men would hardly be persuaded, that as long as he kept
+his father, Chah-Jean (Shah Jehan), prisoner in the Fort of Agra, he would think it
+safe to be at such a distance. Yet, notwithstanding, we have found that reason of
+State hath given place to that of health, or rather, to the intrigues of Rauchenara
+Begum, who was wild to breathe a more free air than that of the Seraglio, and to have
+her turn in showing herself to a gallant and magnificent army, as her sister had formerly
+done during the reign of Chah-Jean.”
+</p>
+<p>The Emperor appears to have made preparations on this occasion for a voyage of a year
+and a half.
+</p>
+<p>He had with him, not only thirty-five thousand horse, or thereabouts, and ten thousand
+foot, but also “both his artilleries, the great or heavy, and the small or lighter.
+</p>
+<p>For the carriage of the Emperor’s baggage and stores, <span class="pageNum" id="pb382">[<a href="#pb382">382</a>]</span>no less than 30,000 coolies were required, although, for fear of starving that little
+kingdom of Kachemere,” he only carried with him the least number of ladies and cavaliers
+he could manage, and as few elephants and mules as would suffice for the convenience
+of the former.
+</p>
+<p>Crossing the Peer Punjal, some of the ladies of the Seraglio unfortunately paid the
+penalty of their too ardent desires to show themselves off to “a gallant and magnificent
+army,” for “one of the elephants fell back upon him that was next, and he upon the
+next, and so on to the fifteenth, so that they did all tumble to the bottom of the
+precipice. It was the good fortune of those poor women, however, that there were but
+three or four of them killed; but the fifteen elephants remained upon the place.”
+The historian rather ungallantly adds, “When these bulky masses do once fall under
+<i>those vast burdens</i> they never rise again, though the way be ever so fair.”
+</p>
+<p>On reaching the summit of the pass after this accident, the expedition appears to
+have encountered more misfortunes, for “there blew a wind so cold that all people
+shook and ran away, especially the silly Indians, who never had seen ice or snow,
+or felt such cold.”
+</p>
+<p>Aurungzib appears to have remained three months in the valley on this occasion.
+</p>
+<p>After his death there is no mention of his successors having visited Cashmere, and
+the local governors became in consequence, in common with those of other provinces
+of the tottering Mogul throne, little short of independent rulers. Under the tender
+mercies of most of these, the unfortunate Cashmeeries appear to have fared but badly.
+</p>
+<p>In 1745, however, a series of misfortunes from another source burst forth upon the inhabitants
+of the happy valley. A dreadful famine first broke out, during which it is said <span class="pageNum" id="pb383">[<a href="#pb383">383</a>]</span>that slaves sold for four pice (three half-pence) each. The famine produced its natural
+result, a pestilence, which swept away many thousands of the people; an eclipse also
+added to their terror, and storms of rain followed by floods carried away all the
+bridges.
+</p>
+<p>In the year 1752, the country passed from the possession of the Mogul throne, and fell under the rule
+of the Dûranees, and during many years was convulsed by a series of wars and rebellions,
+and subject to numerous different governors. In <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1801, Runjeet Singh began to come into notice, and, having consolidated the nation of
+the Sikhs, had, in the year 1813 become one of the recognised princes of India. In that year Futteh Shah entered into
+a treaty with him for a subsidiary force for the invasion of Cashmere. The price of
+this accommodation was fixed at 80,000<i>l.</i> yearly; but, before the expiration of the second year, the Lion of the Punjab, on
+pretence of the non-fulfilment of the treaty, invaded the valley on his own account
+at the head of a considerable army. He was repulsed, however, and forced to retreat
+to Lahore with the loss of his entire baggage. In <span class="asc">A.D.</span> 1819, encouraged by recent successes against Moultan, Runjeet Singh collected an army
+“as numerous as ants and locusts,” and invaded the valley a second time, and being
+successful, the country again fell under the sway of a Hindoo Sovereign.
+</p>
+<p>It, however, remained for some time afterwards in a disturbed state; and for signal
+services against the rebellious frontier chiefs, who were averse to Runjeet Singh’s
+rule, Gûlab Singh (the late Maharajah) obtained possession of the territory of Jumoo,
+now included in the kingdom of Cashmere.
+</p>
+<p>Runjeet Singh, dying in 1839, was succeeded by his son and grandson, successively, both of whom died shortly <span class="pageNum" id="pb384">[<a href="#pb384">384</a>]</span>after their accession; and the state of anarchy and confusion which ensued among the
+Sikh Sirdars was terminated by Shere Singh being installed as Maharajah of Lahore.
+</p>
+<p>Under his rule, in 1842, Gûlab Singh further brought himself into notice by reducing the kingdom of little
+Thibet with the army under Zorawur Singh, and on the termination of the Sikh Campaign
+of the Sutlej—Duleep Singh being established on the throne of Lahore—he was admitted,
+“in consideration of his good conduct,” to the privileges of a separate treaty with
+the British Government.
+</p>
+<p>The result of these privileges was, that he was shortly afterwards put in possession,
+for “a consideration,” of the entire kingdom of Cashmere.
+</p>
+<p>As indemnification for the expenses of the Sikh Campaign, the British Government had
+demanded from the Lahore State the sum of a crore and a half of rupees, or 1,500,000<i>l.</i> The whole of this amount, however, was not forthcoming, and it was agreed by Article
+4 of the treaty of 9th March, 1846, with the Maharajah Duleep Singh, that all the hill-country between the rivers Indus
+and Beas, including the province of Cashmere, should be ceded to the Honourable East
+India Company, in perpetual sovereignty, as an equivalent for one million sterling.
+</p>
+<p>Article 12 of the same treaty guaranteed to Gûlab Singh, in consequence of his services
+to the Lahore State, its recognition of his independence in such territories as might
+afterwards be agreed upon; and on the 16th March, 1846, the British Government, by
+special treaty, made over for ever, in independent possession to Maharajah Gûlab Singh
+and the heirs male of his body, the greater part of the territories previously mentioned
+in Article 4. In consideration of this transfer, the Maharajah was to pay to the British
+Government, within the year, the sum of seventy-five <span class="pageNum" id="pb385">[<a href="#pb385">385</a>]</span>lakhs of rupees (750,000<i>l.</i>). To acknowledge the supremacy of that Government, and, in token of such supremacy,
+to present it annually the following tribute, viz.:—One horse, twelve perfect shawl
+goats of approved breed (six male and six female), and three pairs of Cashmere shawls.
+</p>
+<p>Thus, “on the 16th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1846, corresponding with the 17th day
+of Rubbeeoolawul, 1262, Hijree, was <i>done</i> at Umritsur,” the treaty of ten articles, by which Gûlab Singh was raised to the
+rank and dignity of an independent ruler.
+</p>
+<p>For seventy-five lakhs of rupees the unfortunate Cashmeeries were handed over to the
+tender mercies of “the most thorough ruffian that ever was created—a villain from
+a kingdom down to a half-penny,” and the “Paradise of the Indies,” after remaining
+rather less than a week a British possession, was relinquished by England for ever.
+</p>
+<p class="trailer xd30e4920"><span class="sc">The End.</span></p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="transcriberNote">
+<h2 class="main">Colophon</h2>
+
+<h3 class="main">Metadata</h3>
+
+<table class="colophonMetadata" summary="Metadata">
+<tr>
+<td><b>Title:</b></td>
+<td>Diary of a pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>Author:</b></td>
+<td>William Henry Knight</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>Contributor:</b></td>
+<td>Alexander Cunningham (1814–1893)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>Contributor:</b></td>
+<td>Heinrich Julius Klaproth (1783–1835)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>Contributor:</b></td>
+<td>Godfrey Thomas Vigne (1801–1863)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>Publication date:</b></td>
+<td>2003-01-01</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>Language:</b></td>
+<td>English (U.K.)</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>Original publisher:</b></td>
+<td>R. Bentley</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>Original publication place:</b></td>
+<td>London</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>Original publication date:</b></td>
+<td>1863</td>
+<td></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><b>QR-code:</b></td>
+<td colspan="2"><img src="images/qr3639.png" alt="QR-code of Project Gutenberg URL" width="148" height="148" /></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<h3 class="main">Encoding</h3>
+<p class="first">This book contains small fragments in Devanagari (Sanskrit) and Arabic script (Hindostani
+or Urdu). These parts are marked as below.
+</p>
+<ul>
+<li><span lang="sa" class="deva">देवनगारी</span>
+</li>
+<li><span lang="ur" class="aran">ٱردُو‎</span>
+</li>
+</ul><p>
+</p>
+<p>Known Problems:
+</p>
+<p>The spelling of names is inconsistent, especially between the main text and the appendix.
+No changes are made to this.
+</p>
+<p>Redundant start-of-line quotation-marks have been removed. (Occurs in the appendix,
+especially in the French text).
+</p>
+<p>Where the text has been corrected, this is tagged with the corr tag, giving the source
+in the sic attribute. Some troublesome spots have been marked with the sic tag.</p>
+<h3 class="main">Revision History</h3>
+<ul>
+<li class="numberedItem"><span class="itemNumber">1.1</span> 2021-07-06 Added illustrations from scans available in The Internet Archive; made
+several minor corrections.
+</li>
+<li class="numberedItem"><span class="itemNumber">1.0</span> 2008-01-07 Moved to 1.0 status.
+</li>
+<li class="numberedItem"><span class="itemNumber">0.9</span> 1999-08-16 finished proofing corrections by Francis Miles. (JH)
+</li>
+<li class="numberedItem"><span class="itemNumber">0.0</span> 1998-12-20 OCR scanned entire book (in about 8 hours, 2 hours rec.).</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 class="main">External References</h3>
+<p>This Project Gutenberg eBook contains external references. These links may not work
+for you.</p>
+<h3 class="main">Corrections</h3>
+<p>The following corrections have been applied to the text:</p>
+<table class="correctionTable" summary="Overview of corrections applied to the text.">
+<tr>
+<th>Page</th>
+<th>Source</th>
+<th>Correction</th>
+<th>Edit distance</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e721">xvi</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">Stones</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">Stone</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e861">7</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">civilisation</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">civilization</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e964">18</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">dolies</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">doolies</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e1108">33</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd30e2375">184</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd30e2970">265</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">Sing</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">Singh</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e1279">51</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">seem</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">seems</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e1373">67</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">
+[<i>Not in source</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">,</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e1478">82</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">champaigne</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">champagne</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e1554">90</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd30e2186">161</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">
+[<i>Not in source</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">.</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e1586">94</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">t’was</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">’twas</td>
+<td class="bottom">2</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e1799">116</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">1612</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">1619</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e1982">136</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">inaccesible</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">inaccessible</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e2227">168</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4122">331</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">Koros</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">Kőrös</td>
+<td class="bottom">2 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e2335">178</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd30e2715">229</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd30e3962">311</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd30e3986">313</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4292">346</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">,</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">
+[<i>Deleted</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e2369">182</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">
+[<i>Not in source</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">and</td>
+<td class="bottom">3</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e2758">234</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">procedings</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">proceedings</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e3081">275</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">who</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">whom</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e3132">282</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">motly</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">motley</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e3166">285</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">piu</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">più</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e3172">285</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">woke</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">woken</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4346">352</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">villanous</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">villainous</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4525">363</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">.</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">:</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4541">364</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4578">365</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">’ ”</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">
+[<i>Deleted</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="bottom">3</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4553">364</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4560">364</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4566">365</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4570">365</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">”</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">
+[<i>Deleted</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4582">365</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">naissance</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">naissances</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4590">366</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">le</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">les</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4599">366</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">mauvaíse</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">mauvaise</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4609">367</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">dêrêchef</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">derechef</td>
+<td class="bottom">2 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4614">367</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">inexprimable</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">inexprimables</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4622">367</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">’</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">
+[<i>Deleted</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4626">367</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">Apres</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">Après</td>
+<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4633">368</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">parceque</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">parce que</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4636">368</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">Ce</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">Cet</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4648">368</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">non-seulement</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">non seulement</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd30e4835">380</a></td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">
+[<i>Not in source</i>]
+</td>
+<td class="width40 bottom">”</td>
+<td class="bottom">1</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<h3 class="main">Abbreviations</h3>
+<p>Overview of abbreviations used.</p>
+<table class="abbreviationtable" summary="Overview of abbreviations used.">
+<tr>
+<th>Abbreviation</th>
+<th>Expansion</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="bottom">Capt.</td>
+<td class="bottom">Captain</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="bottom">Delt.</td>
+<td class="bottom">Delineavit</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="bottom">I.H.S.</td>
+<td class="bottom">
+[<i>Expansion not available</i>]
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="bottom">Lith.</td>
+<td class="bottom">Lithography</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="bottom">Q.M.G.</td>
+<td class="bottom">Quartermaster General</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DIARY OF A PEDESTRIAN IN CASHMERE AND THIBET ***</div>
+<div style='text-align:left'>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Updated editions will replace the previous one&#8212;the old editions will
+be renamed.
+</div>
+
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+law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
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+Project Gutenberg Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet
+by William Henry Knight
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+Title: Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet
+
+Author: by William Henry Knight
+
+Original Release Date: July, 2002   Etext #3309
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+This Etext Created by Jeroen Hellingman <jehe@kabelfoon.nl>
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+
+
+
+Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet.
+
+Captain Knight
+
+
+
+
+To those for whose perusal the following pages were originally written
+they are affectionately dedicated.
+
+
+
+
+Preface.
+
+With the fullest sense of the responsibility incurred by the addition
+of another volume to the countless numbers already existing, and daily
+appearing in the world, the following Diary has been committed to the
+press, trusting that, as it was not written WITH INTENT to publication,
+the unpremeditated nature of the offence may be its extenuation, and
+that as a faithful picture of travel in regions where excursion trains
+are still unknown, and Travellers' Guides unpublished, the book may
+not be found altogether devoid of interest or amusement. Its object
+is simply to bring before the reader's imagination those scenes and
+incidents of travel which have already been a source of enjoyment to
+the writer, and to impart, perhaps, by their description, some portion
+of the gratification which has been derived from their reality. With
+this view, the original Diary has undergone as little alteration of
+form or matter as possible, and is laid before the reader as it was
+sketched and written during the leisure moments of a wandering life,
+hoping that faithfulness of detail may atone in it for faults and
+failings in a literary and artistic point of view.
+
+Although the journey it describes was written without the advantages
+of a previous acquaintance with the writings of those who had already
+gone over the same ground, subsequent research has added much to the
+interest of the narrative, and information thus obtained has been
+added either in the form of Notes or Appendix. Under the latter head,
+acknowledgment is principally due to an able and interesting essay
+on the architecture of Cashmere, by Capt. Cunningham, and also to a
+paper by M. Klaproth, both of whom appear to have treated more fully
+than any other writers the subjects to which they refer.
+
+As differences will be found to occur in the names of places,
+&c. between the parts thus added and the remainder of the book,
+it may be well to explain that in the former only are they spelt
+according to the usually received method of rendering words of Eastern
+origin in the Roman character. By this system the letters A, E, I,
+O, and U, are given the sounds of the corresponding Italian vowels;
+I and U are pronounced as in "hit" and "put;" and the letter A is
+made to represent the short U in the word "cut." In this way it is
+that Cashmere, correctly pronounced Cushmere, comes to be written
+Kashmir, and Mutun, pronounced as the English word "mutton,"[1] is
+written Matan, both of which, to the initiated, represent the true
+sound of the words. Those who have adopted the system, however, have
+not always employed it throughout, nor given with it the key by which
+it alone becomes intelligible; and the result has been that in many
+ways, but principally from the un-English use made of the letter A,
+it has tended quite as much to mislead and confuse, as to direct.
+
+In the narrative, therefore, wherever custom has not already
+established a particular form of spelling, the explanation of the
+sound has been attempted in the manner which seemed least liable to
+misconception, and, except as regards the letters A and U no particular
+system has been followed. These have been invariably given the sounds
+they possess in the words "path" and "cut" respectively, a circumflex
+being placed over the latter to denote the short U in the word "put."
+
+Such names, therefore, as Cushmere, Tibbut, Muhummud, Hijra, &c. have
+been left as custom has ruled them, and will appear in their more
+well-known costume of Cashmere, Thibet, Mahomet, and Hegira.
+
+The concluding sketch was originally intended to accompany a series
+of brightly-coloured Cashmerian designs illustrative of the life of
+"Krishna;" and the reproduction of these, in their integrity, not
+having been found feasible, the sketch itself may appear DE TROP.
+
+It has, however, been retained on the possibility of the translations
+which occur in it being of interest to those who may not be acquainted
+with the style of Eastern religious literature; while the outline it
+presents of some of the religions of the East, bare and simple as
+it is, may be acceptable to such as are not inclined to search out
+and study for themselves the necessarily voluminous and complicated
+details.
+
+London.
+
+
+
+
+
+Contents.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Illustrations.
+
+
+Ladak
+View in Sirinugger
+Solomon's Throne
+Hurree Purbut
+Martund
+Pandreton
+Lamieroo
+Road to Egnemo
+Rajah's Palace, Ladak
+Monastery of Hemis
+Seventh Bridge, Sirinugger
+Hindoo Temple in the Himalayas
+Gunesh
+Birth of Krishna
+Temple Decoration, Himalayas
+Ancient Jain Temple
+
+
+
+Chubootra, or Resting-place in the Himalayas
+The Head of Affairs
+An Unpropitious Moment
+Kismut
+Crossing the Sutlej
+A Halting-place in Cashmere
+Latticed Window, Sirinugger
+Sacred Tank, Islamabad
+Painting VERSUS Poetry
+Love-lighted Eyes
+Vernagh
+Cashmerian Temple Sculpture
+Patrun
+Roadside Monument, Thibet
+Road to Moulwee
+Rock Sculpture
+Thibetian Monument
+Natives and Lama
+Thibetian Religious Literature
+Inscribed Stones
+Inscribed Stones
+Monument at Hemis
+Painted Stone
+Buddha
+Snow Bridge
+Kangree
+Ancient Hindoo Temple
+Fukeer of Solomon's Throne
+
+
+
+Erratum.
+
+Page 116, line 5, FOR A.D. 1612, READ A.D. 1619.
+
+
+
+
+"Who has not heard of the Vale of Cashmere,
+With its roses the brightest that earth ever gave,
+Its temples, and grottoes, and fountains as clear
+As the love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave?"
+
+
+
+
+Introduction.
+
+More than a year and a half had been spent in the hottest parts of the
+plains of India, and another dreaded hot season was rapidly making its
+approach, when, together with a brother officer, I applied for and
+obtained six months' leave of absence for the purpose of travelling
+in Cashmere and the Himalayas, otherwise called by Anglo-Indians
+"The Hills."
+
+We had been long enough in the country to have discovered that the
+gorgeous East of our imagination, as shadowed forth in the delectable
+pages of the "Arabian Nights," had little or no connexion with the
+East of our experience -- the dry and dusty East called India, as it
+appeared, wasted and dilapidated, in its first convalescence from the
+fever into which it had been thrown by the Mutiny of 1857 -- 58. We
+were not long, therefore, in making our arrangements for escaping from
+Allahabad, with the prospect before us of exchanging the discomforts
+of another hot season in the plains, for the pleasures of a sojourn in
+the far-famed valley of Cashmere, and a tramp through the mountains of
+the Himalayas -- the mountains, whose very name breathes of comfort and
+consolation to the parched up dweller in the plains. The mountains of
+"the abode of snow!"
+
+Our expeditionary force consisted at starting of but one besides the
+brother officer above alluded to -- the F. of the following pages
+-- and myself. This was my Hindoo bearer, Mr. Rajoo, whose duty
+it was to make all the necessary arrangements for our transport
+and general welfare, and upon whose shoulders devolved the entire
+management of our affairs. He acted to the expedition in the capacity
+of quartermaster-general, adjutant-general, commissary-general,
+and paymaster to the forces; and, as he will figure largely in the
+following pages, under the title of the "Q.M.G.," and comes, moreover,
+under the head of "a naturally dark subject," a few words devoted to
+his especial description and illumination may not be out of place.
+
+With the highest admiration for England, and a respect for the
+Englishman, which extended to the very lining of their pockets,
+Mr. Rajoo possessed, together with many of the faults of his race,
+a certain humour, and an amount of energy most unusual among the
+family of the mild Hindoo. He had, moreover, travelled much with
+various masters, in what are, in his own country, deemed "far lands;"
+and having been wounded before Delhi, he had become among the rest of
+his people an authority, and to the Englishman in India an invaluable
+medium for their coercion and general management.
+
+To us he proved a most efficient incumbent of the several offices
+we selected him to fill. His administration no doubt did display an
+occasional weakness; and his conduct as paymaster to the forces was
+decidedly open to animadversion; for, in this capacity, he seemed to
+be under the impression that payments, like charity, began at home,
+and he also laboured under a constitutional and hereditary infirmity,
+which prevented him in small matters from discerning any difference
+between MEUM and TUUM.
+
+Having been employed collectively, however, it would be unfair to judge
+of his performances in detail; and from his satisfactory management
+of the expedition, occasionally under such trying circumstances as a
+break-down in the land transport, or an utter failure in his tobacco
+supply, we had every reason to be satisfied with our choice. The
+latter misfortune was the only one which really interfered at any time
+with his efficiency, or upset his equanimity, and it unfortunately
+occurred always at the most inopportune seasons, and at a time when
+he was undergoing his greatest hardships.
+
+As long as the supply lasted, the mysterious gurglings of his "Hubble
+Bubble," or cocoa-nut water-pipe, might be heard at almost any hour of
+the day or night. "Hubble bubble, toil and trouble," was the natural
+order of his existence; and when in some peculiarly uncivilised region
+of our wanderings, the compound of dirt, sugar, and tobacco, in which
+his soul delighted, was not forthcoming, he and his pipe seemed at
+once to lose their vitality, and to become useless together. The
+temporary separation which ensued, being in its way a MENSA ET THORO,
+was a source of trouble and inconvenience to all concerned, and we had,
+more than once, cause to regret not having given the tobacco question
+that forethought and consideration to which it would be well entitled
+by any one undertaking a similar expedition.
+
+Overlooking these weaknesses, Mr. Rajoo's character was beyond
+reproach, and for the particular work he had to perform, his
+combination of efficiency, portability, and rascality, rendered him
+in every respect "the right man in the right place."
+
+Such was our "head of affairs," and such the small force he had at
+first to provide for. As we passed out of India, and got further from
+regions of comparative civilisation, his cares increased: cellar,
+kitchen, larder, farm-yard, tents, &c. had then to accompany our
+wandering steps, and the expedition gradually increased in size,
+until it attained its maximum of nearly forty. From this it again as
+gradually decreased, and as one by one our retainers disappeared, it
+dwindled in dimensions until it finally reached its original limited
+proportions, and then "we three met again," once more upon the plains
+of India.
+
+All our necessary preparations having been completed, and a sacrifice
+of three precious weeks having been duly offered to the inexorable
+genius who presides over public correspondence, we reduced our
+impedimenta to the smallest possible compass, and with about a
+hundred pounds to commence life with, all in two shilling pieces,
+that being the only available coin of the realm in this our second
+century of British administration, we took our departure by railway for
+Cawnpore. Here we found ourselves located and hospitably entertained in
+the house in which our unfortunate fellow-countrywomen were confined
+on their recapture from the river by the Nana Sahib, one of the few
+mementos of the mutiny still left standing at Cawnpore.
+
+Next day we laid our dak for Simla, and about six o'clock in
+the evening, with the Q.M.G. on the roof, and ourselves and our
+possessions stowed away in the innumerable holes and corners of
+the rude wooden construction called a "Dak garee," or post coach,
+we took our departure. After a few mishaps with our steed, involving
+the necessity of getting out to shove behind, we entered upon the
+Grand Trunk Road, and with a refreshing sense of freedom and relief,
+soon left Cawnpore in all its native dust and dreariness behind us.
+
+
+
+
+
+The Pleasures of the Plains.
+
+MAY 21, 1860. -- Being fairly under weigh, our first attention was
+directed towards the machine which was to be, in a great measure, our
+home for many days to come. Not overburdened with springs, and not much
+to look at, though decidedly an extraordinary one to go, our conveyance
+was by no means uncomfortable; and, stretched upon a mattress extending
+its entire length, F. and I chatted over our plans and projects, and
+star-gazed, and soon fell asleep, in spite of the ruts on the road
+and the wild discordant bugling of our ragged coachman, who seemed
+to consider that, however inferior in other respects, in a matter
+of music we were not to be outdone, not even by Her Majesty's own
+royal mail. At first sight, the necessity of trying to clear such
+lonely roads as we were travelling was not altogether apparent;
+but a slight acquaintance with the general principles and laws of
+progression of the national Indian institution called a bullock-cart,
+or "beil-garee," soon clears up the difficulty. Built entirely of wood,
+and held together by scraps of ropes and cord, a more hopeless-looking
+machine cannot exist; and drivers and bullocks alike share in the
+general woodenness and impassibility of the structure. The animals,
+too, having probably lost all the better feelings of their nature
+in such a service, are appealed to entirely through the medium of
+their tails, and the operation occasionally results in the whole
+creaking mass being safely deposited in some capacious rut, there to
+remain until "the Fates" -- assuming, perhaps, the appearance of three
+additional bullocks -- arrive to draw it out again. Occasionally, too,
+the institution comes to a halt for the night, comfortably drawn up
+in the centre of the line of traffic, with a delightful disregard
+for aught but the present, and an air of supreme contempt for the
+most eloquent music of all the ragged coachmen on the Grand Trunk Road.
+
+Every five miles we stopped to change our horse, and miserable
+indeed was the raw-boned little animal that made his appearance on
+every occasion. Still the pace was kept up in spite of appearances,
+and at seven A.M. we reached "Ghoorsahagunge" -- more generally known
+as GOOSEYGUNGE -- sixty miles from Cawnpore, and 197 from Delhi.
+
+Here we slept in peace until eleven o'clock, and awoke from dreams
+of Cashmere to the unpleasant realities of a violent dust-storm. The
+usual "Khus-khus tatties," or screens of fragrant grass, which are
+kept in a continual state of moisture at door and window, and convert
+the dust-charged scorching blast into a comparative coolness, were
+not forthcoming, and our halt was not a pleasant one by any means:
+still our faces were towards the mountains, and the pleasures of hope
+enabled us to take our misfortunes with entire philosophy. We started
+again about five P.M., when the power of the sun was somewhat abated,
+and encountered the usual difficulties with refractory horses at every
+change. A start was in no case effected without much management and
+exertion. A half-naked black generally attaches himself to each wheel;
+the driver, from a post of vantage, belabours the miserable horse with
+all his might and main; the Q.M.G. takes a firm hold of the rails on
+the roof; and all shouting, grunting, and using bad language together,
+away we go at full gallop, if we are in unusual luck, for about 300
+yards. Then comes a dead stop: the same operation commences again,
+and so on, until the animal is sufficiently far from his last stable
+to be able to look forward with some confidence to the one ahead,
+and resigns himself to circumstances accordingly. One peculiarity in
+this peculiar country we found to be, that in putting our steed-to,
+the English custom is reversed. The cart is "put-to," not the horse;
+and the latter being left standing anywhere on the road, the lumbering
+"garee" is dragged up to his tail, and fastened up with a combination
+of straps and ropes, marvellous to behold.
+
+MAY 23. -- To-day we arrived at "Etawah," where we found a very
+comfortable little staging bungalow, but no supplies of either beer
+or butter procurable. On the road in the early morning there were
+herds of deer and antelope in sight, but time being precious we left
+them unmolested.
+
+As yet very little change makes its appearance in the character of
+the country. Level plains, with patches of trees, mango and palm,
+as far as the eye can reach, and everywhere dust, dust, dust! The
+palm-trees, however, with toddy parties scattered about among them,
+serve to make the scene look cheerful, and, for an eastern one,
+comparatively lively. In the evening we again took the road, with a hot
+wind blowing strongly and steadily, and before long we were overtaken
+by a dust-storm, which completely enveloped us in its murky folds,
+and interfered with our happiness a good deal. Got through the night
+much as usual, with the addition of a midnight vocal entertainment,
+which some hundreds of wolves and jackals treated us to, while the
+"authorities" were looking to our welfare, by taking off and greasing
+our wheels. Of travellers we meet but few, generally bullock-train
+parties, with soldiers, &c., return daks, and an occasional old
+Mussulman, or other native, taking advantage of the early morning
+for his journey, and wrapped and swaddled up as if afraid of being
+congealed by the coolness of the morning air.
+
+Every day's journey leaves one more and more at a loss to discover the
+sources of the wealth of this enormous country. The soil, for miles
+and miles a dead flat, is now barren as a desert, and we meet hardly
+a sign of active traffic. During the night we certainly did encounter
+a long train of heavily-laden bullock-waggons; but the merchandize
+was gunpowder, and its destination was up, instead of down the road.
+
+MAY 24. -- Arrived at "Kurga," where we found neither bread nor butter
+forthcoming -- nothing but -- "plenty fowl, Sahib!" In the evening
+we again encountered a heavy dust-storm, the worst of the season;
+the whole night it continued to blow in our teeth; and between
+the fierce dryness of the wind and the searching particles of dust,
+which visited us without ceremony, we spent anything but an agreeable
+night. At three A.M. we reached the "Hingus Nuddee," or river; and
+changing our solitary horse for two fat bullocks, we crossed its
+sandy bed, and over a bridge of boats -- not so genteelly, perhaps,
+but much more securely, than we could have otherwise done. There were
+the remains here of a handsome suspension bridge; but the chains had
+been cut by the rebel Sepoys, and nothing but the pillars now remained.
+
+MAY 25. -- At four A.M. we crossed the bridge of boats over the Jumna,
+and found ourselves under the gloomy battlements of the Fort of Delhi.
+
+Entering by the Calcutta Gate, we drove through large suburbs, lighted
+up with rows of oil lamps, reminding one, in the dim light, a good
+deal of Cairo. Arriving at the dak bungalow, we found it such a dirty
+looking deserted building, and the interior so much of a piece with
+the exterior, that we mounted again, and set off to try the Hotel, or
+"Pahunch Ghur," -- a name originally intended to convey the meaning
+"An arriving house," but neatly and appropriately corrupted into the
+term "Punch Gur," which speaks for itself, and troubles no one much
+about its derivation. We were rather disappointed with the general
+appearance of the city: dirt and grandeur were closely combined,
+and the combination gave the usual impression of shabby genteelness
+in general, not at first sight prepossessing. After driving through
+what might have been an Eastern Sebastopol, from the amount of ruin
+about, we reached a cut-throat-looking archway; and the coachman, here
+pointing to a dirty board, above his head, triumphantly announced the
+"Punch Gur!" Hot and thirsty, we got out, with visions of rest and
+cooling sherbets, too soon to be dispelled. Passing through long dirty
+halls, and up unsavoury steps, we at last reached a sort of court,
+with beds of sickly flowers, never known to bloom, and from thence
+issued to a suite of musty hot Moorish-looking rooms, with gold-inlaid
+dust-covered tables, and a heavily-draped four-post bedstead, the
+very sight of which, in such a climate, was almost enough to deprive
+one of sleep for ever. Our speech forsook us, and without waiting to
+remark whether the lady of the house was an ogress, or possessed of a
+"rose-coloured body" and face like the full moon, we fairly turned
+tail, and drove in all haste to our despised dak bungalow, where,
+meekly and with softened feelings towards that edifice, we were
+glad to deposit ourselves on a couple of charpoys, or "four-legs,"
+as the bedstead of India is called, and endeavour to sleep the best
+way we could. "Delhi," we found, quite kept up its reputation of being
+the hottest place in India. All idea of sight-seeing was out of the
+question, and the whole of our energies we were obliged to expend in
+endeavouring to keep moderately cool.
+
+After enjoying the two first of blessings in a hot climate -- viz. a
+plentiful supply of cold water and a change of raiment, we felt
+ourselves able to undergo the exertion of meeting the traditional
+grilled fowl at breakfast, and of inspecting the curiosities from the
+bazaars. At the first wish on the latter subject, we were invaded by
+a crowd of bundle-carrying, yellow-turbaned, rascally merchants, who,
+in half a minute, had the whole of their goods on the floor -- rings,
+brooches, ivory ornaments, and inutilities of all sorts and kinds,
+all of them exorbitantly dear, and none of any real value.
+
+We left Delhi again at about six P.M., after loitering about the
+city for a short time, among the teeming bazaars, some parts of
+which were picturesque and "Eastern" enough. Outside the city walls,
+the country was ruined and dilapidated in the extreme; demolished
+houses and wasted gardens telling their tale of the loss of Delhi,
+and our struggle for its recapture.
+
+MAY 26. -- During the night, we got over seventy-three miles, and
+reached "Kurnaul" at seven A.M. The bungalow we found unusually
+comfortable, being a remnant of the old regime, and one of the few
+which escaped from the hands of the rebels during the mutiny.
+
+The country here begins to improve in appearance -- more trees and
+cultivation on all sides; and the natives appear finer specimens
+than their more southern relations. The irrigation, too, seems to be
+carried on with more systematic appliances than further south -- the
+water being raised by the Persian wheel, and bullock-power introduced
+in aid of manual labour.
+
+MAY 27. -- Arrived at Umballa at three A.M., and found the staging
+bungalow full. The only available accommodation being a spare
+charpoy in the verandah, F. took a lease of it, while I revelled in
+the unaccustomed roominess of the entire carriage, and slept till
+six, when we got into our lodgings. Although so near the foot of
+the Himalayas, the weather was so oppressive here that exploring
+was out of the question; and at six P.M., changing our carriage for
+palankeens, or dolies, we commenced a tedious and dusty journey to
+the village of "Kalka," the veritable "foot of the hills," where we
+were met by a string of deputies from the different "DRY-LODGINGS" in
+the neighbourhood, soliciting custom. The first house we came to was
+guarded by an unmistakeable English hotel-keeper, of some eighteen
+stone; and so terrible was the appearance she presented, with her
+arms akimbo, rejoicing in her mountain air, that in our down-country
+and dilapidated condition, we felt quite unequal to the exertion of
+stepping into HER little parlour; and passing her establishment --
+something in the small bathingplace-style of architecture -- we went
+on to the next, very much of the same order, and called the "Brahminee
+Bull." Here, to my dismay however, standing in the selfsame position,
+weighing the same number of stone, and equally confident in the
+purity of her air as her neighbour, stood another female "Briton,"
+with the come-into-my-parlour expression of countenance, regarding us
+as prey. Under the circumstances, exhausted nature gave in; though
+saved from Scylla, our destiny was Charybdis, and we accordingly
+surrendered ourselves to a wash, breakfast, and the Brahminee
+Bull. During the day, we had a visit from a friend and ex-brother
+officer, whom we had promised to stay with, at "Kussowlie," on our
+road up. Kalka was not HOT, but GRILLING, so that a speedy ascent to
+the station was soon agreed upon. Not caring to risk a sun-stroke,
+I resigned myself to the traditional conveyance of the country, a
+"jhampan," while the other two rode up; but here, for the second
+time, it was "out of the fryingpan into the fire." Such an infernal
+machine as my new conveyance turned out never could have existed in
+the palmiest days of the Inquisition. It was a sort of child's cradle,
+long enough for a creature of some five or six summers, made like a
+tray, and hung after the fashion of a miniature four-post bedstead,
+with goat's-hair curtains. The structure is suspended, something in the
+fashion of a sedan-chair which has been stunted in its growth, between
+two poles; between the projections of these again, before and behind,
+connected by a stout strap, are two shorter bars, each supported, when
+in travelling order, on the shoulders of two bearers. When the machine
+is in motion, therefore, there are four men in line between the shafts.
+
+The pace is always rather fast, and down a declivity the torturers
+go at a run; the result is, that prominent parts of one's body are
+continually in collision with the seat or sides of the machine,
+coming down from various altitudes, according to the nature of the
+ground and the humour of the inquisitors. After getting over about
+six miles in this graceful and pleasing manner, we reached the first
+of the fir-trees, and as we rose still higher a delicious breeze came
+over the hills, as precious to the parched and travel-stained pilgrim
+from the plains as a drop of water to the thirstiest wanderer in the
+desert. Kussowlie appeared a picturesque little station, perched at
+the summit of one of the first of the hilly ranges, and here I found
+my two companions, burnt and red in the face as if they, too, had had
+their sufferings on the road, occupied in looking over the goods of a
+strolling Cashmere merchant; luckily for themselves, however, it was
+under the protecting superintendence of our hostess. Our friends were
+living on a miniature estate commanding a magnificent view of the
+mountain ranges on one side, and, on the, other, the plains of the
+Punjab, the scorching country from which we had just made our escape
+lying stretched out before us like an enormous map in relief. Towards
+the mountains were the military stations of "Dugshai" and "Subathoo,"
+and the boys' asylum of "Senore," the latter rather marring the face
+of nature by the workhouse order of its architecture. "Simla" we could
+just distinguish, nestled among the blue mountains in the far distance.
+
+Here we spent a couple of days very pleasantly with our hospitable
+entertainers, and satisfactorily pulled up all arrears of sleep --
+a luxury none can really appreciate who have not travelled for six
+days and nights in the different local conveniences I have mentioned.
+
+Before leaving we had an opportunity of seeing how England in the
+Himalayas makes its morning calls. Walking, which amounts almost to an
+impossibility in "the plains," seems to be voted INFRA DIG. in "the
+hills," and Mrs. Kussowlie according made her appearance seated in
+state in a jhampan, and borne on the shoulders of four of her slaves.
+
+These were active, wiry-looking natives, dressed in long green coats,
+bound with broad, red, tight-fitting pantaloons, and with small turbans
+of red and green on their heads. Altogether, a more startling-looking
+apparition to the uninitiated than this Himalayan morning visitor
+could hardly be imagined, even in a tour through the remotest regions
+of the earth.
+
+MAY 29. -- About six o'clock in the evening we remounted our
+instruments of torture and took the road to Simla. For about seven
+miles the path was down hill, and the bearers being fresh, they
+huddled us along at a pace calculated to outrage our feelings most
+considerably, and, at the same time, with no more consideration
+for our welfare than if we were so many sacks of coal. In spite of
+the sufferings of the principal performers, the procession was most
+amusing; and as we jolted, bumped, and bundled along, it was impossible
+to keep from laughing, although crying, perhaps, would, under the
+circumstances, have been more appropriate. My machine led the way,
+four of the inquisition being in the shafts, and four in waiting,
+running along at the side with pipes, bundles, sticks, &c. Then came
+F. similarly attended, and finally the Q.M.G., hubble bubble in hand,
+and attired in a gold embroidered cap, surrounded by a lilac turban:
+seated in a sort of tray, and reclining at his case in full enjoyment
+of his high position, he looked the priest of the procession, and
+managed to retain his dignity in spite of the rapid and unceremonious
+way in which he was being whirled along. As the moon went down we had
+the additional effect of torchlight to the scene, three bearers having
+the special duty of running along to show the pathway to the rest. This
+seemed a service of some danger, and our torch-bearers at times verged
+upon places where a stumble would have apparently extinguished both
+themselves and their torches for ever. About half way we stopped for
+about an hour for the bearers to partake of a light entertainment of
+"ghee and chupatties" -- otherwise, rancid butter and cakes of flour
+and water. This was their only rest and only meal, from the time they
+left Kussowlie at six P.M. until they reached Simla at eight A.M. The
+same set of bearers took us the entire distance, about thirty-five
+miles; and the four men who were not actually in the shafts used to
+rest themselves by running, ahead and up precipitous short cuts, so as
+to insure a few minutes' pull at the pipe of consolation before their
+turn arrived again. To us, supposed to be the OTIUM CUM DIG. part of
+the procession, the road seemed perfectly endless. No sooner were we
+up one ascent than we were down again on the other side; and when we
+thought Simla must be in sight round the next turn, it seemed suddenly
+to become more hid than ever. In one of these ups and downs of life
+my machine, during a heavy lurch, fairly gave way to its feelings,
+and with a loud crash the pole broke, and down we both came, much to
+my temporary satisfaction and relief. A supply of ropes and lashings,
+however, formed part of the inquisitors' stores, and we were soon
+under weigh again to fulfil the remainder of our destiny.
+
+The entrance to Simla led us through a fine forest of oaks, firs,
+cedars, and other large trees; and winding along through these we
+could, every now and then, discern, towering over the backs of endless
+ranges of blue and hazy mountains, ridge upon ridge of glittering snow,
+which cast its icy breath upon us even where we were, helping us to
+forget the horrors of the night, and giving us a renewal of our lease
+of existence. Simla itself soon opened on our view, a scattered and
+picturesque settlement of houses of the most varied patterns perched
+about over the mountain top, just as an eligible spot presented
+itself for building purposes. It is situated 8,000 feet above the
+level of the sea and 7,000 over the average level of "the plains,"
+Umballa, which is near the foot of the range, being 1,000 above the
+sea-level. From our halting-place we could discern the scene of
+our night's journey, with Kussowlie looking like a mere speck in
+the distance, and we felt a proud sort of consciousness of having
+accomplished a desperate undertaking in very good style. Passive
+endurance was, under the circumstances quite as worthy of praise
+as the more active virtues displayed by those who were the cause of
+our sufferings. After the first good breakfast I had eaten for three
+months, we pulled up arrears of sleep till four P.M. and found, on
+awaking, that our much expected letters had arrived from the post,
+and among them the necessary permission from the Punjab Government
+to travel in Cashmere, and instructions for our guidance while in
+the territory. From among the routes laid down in the latter we chose
+No. 1.[2] The direct line across the mountains from Simla would have
+entailed additional delay and permission, and as time was precious
+we decided upon descending again to the plains and making our way
+through Lahore, not, however, without a severe pang at leaving so
+soon the terrestrial paradise of which we had got a glimpse. After
+arranging our movements with the "authorities," we sallied out to see
+fashionable Simla airing itself, which, as far as dress is concerned,
+it appeared to do very much in the fashionable watering-place style at
+home. The jhampans, palkies, dandies,[3] &c. which took up the entire
+road, however, loudly proclaimed India, Simla being much too dainty
+to touch the ground with its pretty feet, and too lazy to use its own
+legs for purposes of out-door locomotion. The station seems a curious
+combination of many styles and places; the scenery and houses, Swiss;
+the people Anglo Indians, Affghans, Cashmeeries, &c.; the conveyances,
+Inquisito-Spanish; and the bazaars, in their native dirt, pure Indian.
+
+MAY 31. -- After making our leave secure, we made up our minds for a
+plunge into the plains again and a forced march to Lahore, being rather
+expedited in the determination by hearing that several travellers had
+been recalled from leave in consequence of there being a scarcity of
+officers with their regiments.
+
+With a fine moonlight night in our favour we again took the road; and
+practice slightly assuaging our sufferings, we got on smoothly enough
+till within a few hours from Hureepore Bungalow, when my machine again
+broke with a crash, and the nature of the fracture being compound,
+I walked on and left the executioners to repair the instrument at
+their leisure.
+
+JUNE 1. -- Reached Hureepore at four A.M., and found the place in
+possession of a crowd of monkeys of all sorts and sizes, taking an
+early breakfast. Here, chicken and eggs being again written in our
+destiny, we halted for an hour or two, and at eleven again took the
+road with our cast-iron bearers, and hurried along in the noonday sun,
+up hill and down dale, through Kussowlie, and on and on till we were
+once more fairly deposited at the feet of "Mrs. Charybdis." A slight
+dinner here, and at 8.30 P.M. we were again in train, shuffling along
+through several feet of dust, which the bearers, and torch-carriers,
+and the rest of our numerous train, kicked up about us, in clouds
+nearly dense enough to cause suffocation.
+
+JUNE 2. -- At 8.30 A.M. we arrived again at Umballa, and with
+nothing to comfort us in our dusty and worried condition but the
+reflection that our start from Simla was a magnificent triumph of
+stern determination over present enjoyment and unwonted luxury, we
+again resumed our forced march. At six P.M. we took our departure,
+in a very magnificent coach, but in an "unpropitious moment," for the
+horse was unusually averse to an advance of any sort, and when we did
+get clear of the station his opinions were borne out by a terrific
+storm of dust, with a thunder, lightning, and rain accompaniment,
+which effectually put a stop to all further progress. The horse
+for once had his wish, and was brought to a regular stand. The
+wind howled about us, and the dusty atmosphere assumed a dull red
+appearance, such as I had only once before seen at Cawnpore, and the
+like of which might possibly have prevailed during the last days of
+Pompeii. After getting through the worst of the storm, we pushed along,
+and had reached the twentieth mile-stone, when, catching a flavour of
+burning wood, I looked out and found the wheel at an angle of some 30
+degrees, and rubbing against the side preparatory to taking its leave
+altogether. Here was another effect of starting in an unpropitious
+moment. The interruption in the great forced march preyed heavily upon
+our minds, but, on the principle of doing as "Rome does," we took
+a lesson from the religion of "Islam," and concurring in the views
+expressed by our attendant blacks, viz. that "whatever is written in
+a man's destiny that will be accomplished," we ejaculated "Kismut"
+with the rest, and resignedly adapted ourselves to the writings in
+our own particular page of fate. Having sent back to Umballa the news
+of our distress, a new conveyance in a few hours made its appearance;
+and hauling it alongside the wreck, we unshipped the stores, reloaded,
+and eventually reached "Thikanmajura" at eight A.M.
+
+JUNE 3. -- Starting at about three o'clock P.M., we found the
+unpropitious moment still hanging over us: first a violent dust-storm,
+and then a refractory horse, which bolted completely off the road,
+and nearly upset us down a steep bank, proved to demonstration that
+our star was still obscured.
+
+About midnight we reached the river "Sutlej," and exchanged our horse
+for four fat and humpy bullocks, who managed, with very great labour
+and difficulty, to drag us through the heavy sands of the river-bed
+down to the edge of the water. Here we were shipped on board a
+flat-bottomed boat, with a high peaked bow; and, after an immensity
+of hauling and grunting, we were fairly launched into the stream, and
+poled across to the opposite shore. The water appeared quite shallow,
+and the coolies were most of the time in the water; but its width,
+including the sands forming its bed, could not have been less than two
+miles and a half. It was altogether a wild and dreary-looking scene,
+as we paddled along -- the wild ducks and jackals, &c. keeping up a
+concert on their own account, and the patient old bullocks ruminating
+quietly on their prospects at our feet.
+
+On arriving at what appeared to be the opposite bank, we were taken
+out, and again pulled and hauled through the deep sand, only to be
+reshipped again on what seemed a respectable river in its own right;
+and here, getting out of patience with a stream that had no opposite
+bank, I fell asleep, and left the bullocks to their sorrows and
+their destiny.
+
+JUNE 4. -- Arrived at Jullundur, where we had to share the bungalow
+with another traveller and a rising family, who kept us alive by
+howling vigorously all day. The road from this being "Kucha," literally
+UNCOOKED, but here meant to express "unmetalled," we had yet another
+form of conveyance to make acquaintance with. It was a palkee, rudely
+strapped upon the body of a worn-out "Dak garee;" and although a more
+unpromising-looking locomotive perhaps never was placed upon wheels,
+the actual reality proved even worse than the appearance foreboded.
+
+Anybody who has happened to have been run away with in a dust-cart
+through Fenchurch Street, or some other London pavement, the gas pipes
+being up at the time, might form some idea of our sensations as we
+pounded along, at full gallop, over some thirty miles of uneven,
+UNCOOKED road; but to anybody who has not had this advantage,
+description would be impossible. About half way, it appeared that
+it was written in my miserable destiny that the off fore-wheel of my
+shay was to come off, and off it came accordingly; so that once more
+I became an involuntary disciple of Islam, and went to sleep among
+the ruins, with rather a feeling of gratitude for the respite than
+otherwise. On awaking, I found myself again under way; and effecting
+a junction with my companion, we had a light supper off half a
+water-melon; and, after crossing the River Beas by a bridge of boats,
+and being lugged through another waste of sand by bullocks, we once
+again reached a "cooked" road, and arrived at "Umritsur" at six A.M.
+
+JUNE 5. -- Found the heat so great here that we were unable to
+stir out.
+
+As a consolation, we received a visit from four "Sikh Padres," who
+rushed in and squatted themselves down without ceremony, previously
+placing a small ball of candied sugar on the table as a votive and
+suggestive offering. The spokesman, a lively little rascal, with a
+black beard tied up under his red turban, immediately opened fire, by
+hurling at us all the names of all the officers he had ever met or read
+of. The volley was in this style: First, the number of the regiment,
+then Brown Sahib, Jones Sahib, Robinson Sahib, Smith Sahib, Tomkins
+Sahib, Green Sahib, and so on, regiment after regiment and name after
+name, his brother Padres occasionally chiming in in corroboration
+of their friend's veracity and in admiration of his vast stock of
+military information. After much trouble, we got rid of the pack,
+at the price of one rupee, which was cheap for the amount of relief
+afforded by their departure.
+
+JUNE 6. -- Reached Lahore at ten P.M. and had a night in bed, for
+the third time only since leaving Cawnpore. The Q.M.G. being at once
+set to work to make the necessary arrangements for our final start
+for Cashmere, we paid a hurried visit to the Tomb of Runjeet Singh
+and the Fort and City of Lahore. These were worth seeing, but they
+abounded in sights and perfumes, which rendered the operation rather
+a trying one, considering the very high temperature of the weather.
+
+JUNE 7. -- Drove out in a dilapidated buggy, and with an incorrigible
+horse, to Mean Meer, the cantonments of Lahore. The place looked
+burnt up and glaring like its fellows, and a fierce hot wind swept
+over it, which made us glad enough to turn our backs on it and hurry
+home again as fast as our obstinate animal would take us. The Q.M.G.,
+we found, had collected our staff of servants together, and was
+otherwise pushing on our preparations as fast as the dignity and
+importance of the undertaking would admit.
+
+The staff consisted of khidmutgar, bawurchie, bhistie, dhobie, and
+mihtar; or, in plain English, butler, cook, water-carrier, washerman,
+and sweeper.
+
+Of these, the washing department only brought with it its insignia and
+badge of office. This was an enormous smoothing-iron, highly ornamented
+with brass, decorated with Gothic apertures, and made to contain an
+amount of charcoal that would have kept an entire family warm in the
+coldest depths of winter. Being of great weight, we rather objected
+to such an addition to our stores -- the more so as our linen was
+not likely to require much GETTING-UP. The DHOBIE, however, declared
+himself unable to get on without it, and it accordingly had to be
+engaged with its master.
+
+JUNE 8. -- To-day Rajoo is still hard at work laying in stores from
+the bazaars and arranging means of transport for them; the weather hot
+beyond measure; and as neither our food nor quarters are very good,
+we begin to forget our lessons of resignation, more especially as
+the mosquitoes begin to form a very aggravating item in our destiny.
+
+JUNE 9. -- About four P.M. the Q.M.G. came in triumphantly with about
+sixteen tall baskets covered with leather, which he called "khiltas;"
+and having ranged them about the room like the oil-jars of "Ali Baba,"
+he proceeded to cram them with potatoes, tea, clothes, brandy, and the
+whole stock of our earthly goods, in a marvellous and miscellaneous
+manner, very trying to contemplate, and suggestive of their entire
+separation from us and our heirs for ever.
+
+Coolies not being procurable in sufficient numbers to carry away
+all our stores together, F. and I agreed to start in the morning,
+leaving the head of affairs with the rearguard to follow at his
+leisure. Got away at last in two "palkees," with four "banghy
+wallahs," or baggage-bearers, carrying our immediate possessions,
+guns, &c. Spent the night wretchedly enough, the roads being of the
+worst, and covered nearly a foot deep everywhere with fine dust,
+which our bearers very soon stirred up into an impenetrable cloud,
+enveloping us in its folds to the verge of suffocation.
+
+The sensation is strange enough, travelling in this way along a lonely
+road at dead of night, closely shut up in an oblong box, and surrounded
+by some twenty or more dusky savages, who could quietly tap one on
+the head at any time, and appropriate the bag of rupees -- inseparable
+from Indian travelling -- without the slightest difficulty. That they
+do not do so is probably from the knowledge they possess that with
+the bag of rupees there is generally to be found a revolver, and that
+an English traveller is of so generous a disposition that he seldom
+parts from his money without giving a little lead in with the silver.
+
+JUNE 10. -- After a dusty jolt of forty miles, we reached "Gugerwalla"
+at eight A.M., and felt the change from Lahore most refreshing. The
+village seemed a quiet little settlement, very little visited by
+Englishmen, and the inhabitants, probably on that account, appeared
+of a different stamp from those we had hitherto met. The women, in
+particular, were more gaily dressed, and not so frightened at a white
+face as more south. The rearguard not having come up at six P.M. we
+started off without it. Crossed the Chenab during the night. The
+fords, by torchlight, were most picturesque, and rather exciting,
+in consequence of the water at times taking it into its head to see
+what was inside the "palkee." The Chenab makes the fourth out of the
+"five waters" from which the "Punjab" takes its name. The Jhelum only
+remains -- the ancient Hydaspes of Alexandrian notoriety.
+
+JUNE 11. -- Reached "Goojerat" at five A.M. and enjoyed a few hours
+of quiet sleep in a very comfortable bungalow. The "khiltas" not
+making their appearance, we halt here for the night. In the evening
+we explored the city -- a straggling rabbit-barrow settlement,
+inclosed by a mud wall, and boasting the narrowest streets I had
+ever seen. In an open space we came upon a marvellously-ornamented
+"mundir," or Hindoo temple, painted in the most florid style, with
+effigies of dark gentlemen in coloured pants riding on peacocks,
+antelopes, and other beasts of burden common in the country. It seemed
+the centre of attraction to a numerous concourse of strangers from the
+north; among others, a bevy of young ladies with loose trousers and
+fair complexions, evidently "Cashmeeries," who seemed to regard the
+"heathen temple" as one of the wonders of the world. In the middle
+of the night the rearguard came in with the supplies, and we at
+once turned it into an advanced-guard, and packed it off to make
+preparations for our arrival at "Bimber."
+
+JUNE 12. -- Spent a very hot day at Goojerat, and amused ourselves by
+inspecting the gold-inlaid work for which the place is famous. At 5.30
+P.M. we started for our last night's journey in British territory;
+and thus terminated, for the present, our experiences of all the hot
+and dusty "pleasure of the Plains."
+
+
+
+Cashmere.
+
+JUNE 13. -- About two A.M. we passed out of India into the territory
+of His Highness the Maharajah of Cashmere, and halted at Bimber. The
+accommodation here turned out to be most indifferent, although
+in our route the edifice for travellers was called a "Baraduree,"
+which sounded grandly. It means a summer-house with twelve doors;
+but beyond the facilities it afforded of rapid egress, we found it
+to possess but few advantages.
+
+Putting a couple of charpoys outside, we managed a few hours' sleep
+AL FRESCO, in spite of the flies and mosquitoes innumerable, who lost
+no time in taking possession of their new property. On being able
+to discern the face of the country, we found ourselves at the foot
+of a range of hills of no great height, but still veritable hills;
+and although the sun was nearly as hot as in the plains, we felt
+that we were emancipated from India, and that all our real travelling
+troubles were over. In the evening we inspected the Maharajah's troops,
+consisting of eight curiously-dressed and mysteriously-accoutred sepoys
+under a serjeant. These same troops had rather astonished us in the
+morning by filing up in stage style in front of our two charpoys just
+as we awoke, and delivering a "Present arms" with great unction as we
+sat up in a half-sleepy and dishevelled condition, rubbing our eyes,
+and not exactly in the style of costume in which such a salute is
+usually received. We now found the "army" in the domestic employment
+of cooking their victuals, so that we were unable to have much of a
+review. However, we looked at their arms and accoutrements; ammunition
+they had none; and saw them perform the "manual and platoon." Their
+arms had been matchlocks, but had been converted, these stirring
+times, into flintlocks! In addition to these, which were about
+as long as a respectable spear, they had each a sword and shield,
+together with a belt and powder-horn, all clumsy in the extreme. In
+loading, we found an improvement on the English fashion, for, after
+putting the imaginary charge in with the hand, they BLEW playfully
+down the muzzle to obviate the difficulty of the powder sticking to
+the sides. After presenting the troops with "bukhshish," we strolled
+through the village and met the "thanadar," or head man, coming out
+to meet us, arrayed in glorious apparel and very tight inexpressibles,
+and mounted on a caparisoned steed. Dismounting, he advanced towards us
+salaaming, and holding out a piece of money in the palm of his hand;
+and not exactly knowing the etiquette of the proceeding, we touched
+it and left it where we found it, which appeared to be a relief to
+his mind, for he immediately put it in his pocket again.
+
+His chief conversation was on the subject of the Maharajah and the
+delights of Cashmere, and anxiety as to our having got all supplies,
+&c. which we required, as he had been appointed expressly for the
+purpose of looking after the comfort of the English visitors. What
+with our friend and his train, and the detachment of "THE ARMY" which
+had accompanied us, our retinue began to assume the appearance of
+a procession; and it was with great difficulty that we induced them
+all to leave us, which they did at last after we had expressed our
+full satisfaction at the courtesy displayed by the Maharajah's very
+intelligent selection of a "thanadar."
+
+JUNE 14. -- Broke up our camp about three A.M. and started our
+possessions at four o'clock, after some difficulty in prevailing upon
+the coolies to walk off with their loads. On mustering our forces, we
+found that they numbered thirty-seven, including ourselves. Of these
+twenty-four were coolies, carrying our possessions -- beer, brandy,
+potatoes, &c.; our servants were six more; then there were four ponies,
+entailing a native each to look after them; and, last of all, one of
+the redoubtable "army" as a guard, who paraded in the light marching
+order of a sword, shield, bag of melons, and an umbrella. F. and I
+travelled on "yaboos," or native ponies -- unlikely to look at, but
+wonderful to go. Mine was more like a hatchet than anything else,
+and yet the places he went over and the rate he travelled up smooth
+faces of rock was marvellous to behold.
+
+About eight o'clock we found ourselves once more among the pine-trees;
+and, although the sun was very powerful, we had enough of the freshness
+of the mountain air to take away the remembrance of the dusty plains
+from our minds. No rain having fallen as yet, the springs and rivers
+were all nearly dry; but we saw several rocky beds, which gave good
+promise of fly-fishing, should they receive a further supply of water.
+
+About nine A.M. we reached our halting-place, "Serai Saidabad," a
+ruined old place, with a mud tenement overlooking, at some elevation,
+the banks of a river.
+
+Here we were again received with a salute, by a detachment of
+warriors drawn up in full dress -- viz. red and yellow turbans,
+and blue trousers with a red stripe.
+
+After undergoing a refreshing bath of a skin of water, taken in our
+drawing-room, we got our artist to work at breakfast, and shortly
+after found, with considerable satisfaction, that we were in for the
+first of the rains. This welcome fact first proclaimed itself by the
+reverberation of distant thunder from among the mountains to the north;
+then an ominous black cloud gradually spread itself over us, and,
+with a storm of dust, down came the rain in torrents, making the air,
+in a few minutes, cool and delicious as possible, and entirely altering
+the sultry temperature which had previously prevailed. The thirsty
+ground soaked up the moisture as if it had never tasted rain, and the
+trees came out as if retouched by Nature's brush; while as, for F. and
+myself, we turned the unwonted coolness to the best account we could,
+by setting ourselves to work to pull up all arrears of sleep forthwith.
+
+JUNE 15. -- Started at four A.M., with our numerous train, and found
+the road all the pleasanter for the rain of the previous evening,
+and all things looking green and fresh after the storm. Our path led
+us up a rocky valley, with its accompanying dashing stream, in the
+bed of which we could see traces of what the brawler had been in his
+wilder days, in huge and polished boulders and water-worn rocks, which
+had been hurled about in all directions. We afterwards went straight
+up a precipitous mountain, wooded with pine, which was no light work
+for the coolies, heavily laden as they were. No sooner, however,
+were we on the top of this than down we went on the other side; and
+how the ponies managed their ups-and-downs of life was best known
+to themselves; certainly, nothing but a cat or a Cashmere pony could
+have got over the ground. About nine A.M. we reached "Nowshera," under
+another salute, where we found an indifferent-looking "Baraduree,"
+completely suffocated among the trees of a garden called the "Bauli
+Bagh," or "Reservoir Garden," from a deep stone well in the centre of
+it. Here we got on indifferently well, the weather being close after
+the rain, and the place thickly inhabited by crowds of sparrows,
+all with large families, who made an incessant uproar all day long;
+besides an army of occupation of small game, which interfered sadly
+with our sleeping arrangements at night. In the evening we made the
+acquaintance of a loquacious and free-and-easy gardener, entirely
+innocent of clothes, who came and seated himself between F. and myself,
+as we were perched upon a rock enjoying the prospect. According to his
+account, the Maharajah's tenants pay about seven rupees, or fourteen
+shillings, per annum for some five acres of land. In the middle of
+the night we came in for another storm of thunder and lightning,
+which took a good many liberties with our house, but cooled the air;
+and only for the mosquitoes, and other holders of the property, whose
+excessive attentions were rather embarrassing, we would have got
+on very well. As it was, however, I hardly closed an eye all night,
+and spent the greater part of it in meandering about the Bauli Bagh,
+VESTITO DA NOTTE -- in which operation I rejoice to think that, like
+the Russians at the burning of Moscow, I at least put the enemy to
+very considerable inconvenience, even at the expense of my own comfort.
+
+JUNE 16. -- About half-past four A.M. we got under weigh again,
+heartily delighted to leave the sparrows and their allies in undisputed
+possession of their property.
+
+The "kotwal," and other authorities, who had been extremely civil in
+providing supplies, coolies, &c., according to the Maharajah's order,
+took very good care not to let us depart without a due sense of the
+fact, for they bothered us for "bukhshish" just as keenly as the lowest
+muleteer; and when I gave the kotwal twelve annas, or one shilling and
+sixpence, as all the change I had, he assured me that the khidmutgar
+had more, and ran back to prove it by bringing me two rupees. I gave
+the scoundrel one, and regretted it for three miles, for he had robbed
+the coolies in the morning, either on his own or his master's account,
+of one anna, or three-halfpence each, out of their hardly-earned
+wages. To-day we find ourselves once more among the rocks and pines,
+and as we progressed nothing could exceed the beauty of the views
+which opened upon us right and left. A mountain stream attended our
+steps the whole way sometimes smoothly and placidly, sometimes dancing
+about like a mad thing, and teasing the sturdy old battered rocks and
+stones which long ago had settled down in life along its path, and
+which, from the amount of polish they displayed, must themselves have
+been finely knocked about the world in their day. Rounding a turn of
+the river, where it ran deeply under its rocky bank, we came suddenly
+upon the ghastly figure of a man carefully suspended in chains from a
+prominent tree. His feet had been torn off by the wolves and jackals,
+but the upper part of the body remained together, and there he swung
+to and fro in the breeze, a ghastly warning to all evildoers, and
+a not very pleasing monument of the justice of the country. He was
+a sepoy of the Maharajah's army, who had drowned his comrade in the
+stream below the place where he thus had expiated his crime. Not far
+from this spot we discovered traces of another marauder, in the shape
+of a fresh footprint of a tiger or a leopard, just as he had prowled
+shortly before along the very path we were pursuing.
+
+From this we gradually got into a region of fruit-trees, interspersed
+with pines; and sometimes we came upon a group of scented palms, which
+looked strangely enough in such unusual company. Through clustering
+pomegranates, figs, plums, peach-trees, wild but bearing fruit, we
+journeyed on and on; and, as new beauties arose around us, we could
+not help indulging in castles in the air, and forming visions of
+earthly paradises, where, with the addition only of such importations
+as are inseparable from all ideas of paradise, either in Cashmere or
+elsewhere, one might live in uninterrupted enjoyment of existence,
+and, at least, bury in oblivion all remembrance of such regions as the
+"Plains of India."
+
+About ten A.M., after a continuous series of ups-and-downs of varied
+scenery, we arrived at "Chungas," a picturesque old serai, perched
+upon a hill over the river. It was marked off in our route as having no
+accommodation, but, located among the mouldering remnants of grandeur
+of an old temple in the centre of the serai, we managed to make
+ourselves very comfortable, and thought our "accommodation" a most
+decided improvement upon our late fashionable but rather overcrowded
+halting-place. From the serai we can see, for the first time, the
+snowy range of the Himalayas, trending northwards, towards the Peer
+Punjal Pass, through which our route leads into the Valley of Cashmere.
+
+JUNE 17. -- Another ride through hill and dale to "Rajaori," or
+"Rampore," a most picturesque-looking town, built in every possible
+style of architecture, and flanked at one extremity by a ruined
+castle. Our halting-place was in an ancient serai, with a dilapidated
+garden, containing the remains of some rather handsome fountains. It
+was situated on a rock, several hundred feet above the river which
+separated us from the town; and, from our elevated position, we had
+a fine view of the whole place, and got an insight into the manners
+and customs of the inhabitants, without their being at all aware of
+our proximity.
+
+The women and children appeared to be dressed quite in the Tartar
+style: the women with little red square-cornered fez caps, with a
+long strip of cloth thrown gracefully over them, and either pyjamas
+of blue stuff with a red stripe, or a long loose toga of greyish
+cloth, reaching nearly to the feet. The little girls were quite of
+the bullet-headed Tartar pattern, of Crimean recollection, but wore
+rather less decoration. The Crimean young ladies generally had a three
+cornered charm suspended round their necks, while the youthful fashion
+of Rajaori, scorning all artificial adornment, selected nature only
+as their mantua-maker, and wore their dresses strictly according to
+her book of patterns. After enjoying a delightfully cool night in
+our elevated bedroom, we started for "Thanna."
+
+Our path led through a gradually ascending valley, cultivated, for
+the rice crop, in terraces, and irrigated by a complicated net-work
+of channels, cut off from the mountain streams, and branching off
+in every direction to the different elevations. The ground was so
+saturated in these terraces that ploughing was carried on by means of
+a large scraper, like a fender, which was dragged along by bullocks,
+the ploughman standing up in the machine as it floundered and wallowed
+about, and guiding it through the sea of mud.
+
+JUNE 18. -- Reached Thanna at nine A.M. and came to a halt in a shady
+spot outside the village. There was an old serai about half a mile
+off, but it was full of merchants and their belongings, and savoured
+so strongly of fleas and dirt, that we gave it up as impracticable.
+
+This was the first instance of our finding no shelter; and, as ill
+luck would have it, our tents took the opportunity of pitching
+themselves on the road, a number of coolies broke down, and one
+abandoned our property and took himself off altogether. Under these
+interesting circumstances, we were obliged to spend the day completely
+AL FRESCO, and to wait patiently for breakfast until the fashionable
+hour of half-past two P.M. The inhabitants took our misfortunes very
+philosophically, and stopped to stare at us to their heart's content
+as they went by for water, wondering, no doubt, at that restless
+nature of the crazy Englishman, which drives him out of his own
+country for the sole purpose, apparently, of being uncomfortable in
+other people's. Our position, although at the foot of the grander
+range of mountains, we found very hot, and a good deal of ingenuity
+was required in order to find continued shelter from the scorching
+rays of the sun. The natives here, seemed to suffer to a great extent
+from goitre, and one of our coolies in particular had three enormous
+swellings on his neck, horrible to look at. During the night, Rajoo
+came in with the missing baggage, except two khiltas, for which no
+carriage could be procured, and which he was in consequence obliged
+to abandon on the road until assistance could be sent to them.
+
+JUNE 19. -- Started at daybreak from our unsatisfactory quarters, and
+enjoyed some of the finest scenery we had yet encountered. The road
+ascended pretty sharply into what might be called the REAL mountains,
+and finding our spirits rise with the ground, we abandoned our ponies
+and resolved to perform the remainder of our wanderings on foot. As we
+reached the summit of our first ascent, and our range of view enlarged,
+mountain upon mountain rose before us, richly clothed with forest
+trees; while, overtopping all, peeped up the glistening summits of
+the snowy range, everything around seems cool and pleasant, in spite
+of the hot sun's rays, which still poured down upon us. Our road from
+this, descending, lay among the nooks and dells of the shady side of
+the mountain; and the wild rose and the heliotrope perfumed the air
+at every step as we walked along in full enjoyment of the morning
+breeze. Our sepoy guide of to-day was not of the educated branch of
+the army. He was the stupidest specimen of his race I had ever met;
+and as his language was such a jargon as to be nearly unintelligible,
+we failed signally in obtaining much information from him.
+
+Among other questions, I made inquiries as to woodcock, the cover
+being just suited to them, and after a great deal of difficulty
+in explaining the bird to him, he declared that he knew the kind
+of creature perfectly, and that there were plenty of them. By way
+of convincing us, however, of his sporting knowledge, he added that
+they were in the habit of living entirely on fruit; and he was sadly
+put out when F. and I both burst into laughter at the idea of an old
+woodcock with his bill stuck into a juicy pear, or perhaps enjoying a
+pomegranate for breakfast. Shortly after, we came suddenly upon quite
+a new feature in the scene -- a strange innovation of liveliness in
+the midst of solitude.
+
+At a bend in the road, what should appear almost over our heads but
+a troop of about a hundred monkeys, crashing through the firs and
+chestnuts, and bounding in eager haste from tree to tree, in their
+desire to escape from a party of natives coming from the opposite
+direction. They were large brown monkeys, of the kind called lungoors,
+standing, some of them, three feet high, and having tails considerably
+longer than themselves. Their faces were jet black, fringed with
+light grey whiskers, which gave them a most comical appearance.; and
+as they jumped along from tree to tree, sometimes thirty and forty
+feet, through the air, with their small families following as best
+they could, they made the whole forest resound with the crashing of
+the branches, and amused us not a little by their aerial line of march.
+
+After crossing a dashing mountain-torrent by a rude bridge of trees
+thrown across it, we arrived at the village of Burrumgulla. Here our
+guide wanted us to halt in a mud-built native serai, but, with the
+recollection of past experience fresh upon us, we declined, preferring
+to choose our own ground and pitch our first encampment. The ground
+we selected was almost at the foot of a noble waterfall, formed by a
+huge cleft in a mass of rugged rock. The water, dashing headlong down,
+was hidden in the recess of rock below, but the spray, as it rose up
+like vapour and again fell around us, plainly told the history of its
+birth and education. Even had we not seen the snowy peaks before us
+from the mountain top, there was no mistaking, from its icy breath,
+the nursery in which its infant form had been cradled. Just at our
+feet was one of the frail and picturesque-looking pine bridges spanning
+the torrent; while just below it another mountain river came tumbling
+down, and, joining with its dashing friend, they both rolled on in
+life together. As soon as our traps arrived, F. and I had a souse in
+the quietest pool we could find, and anything so cold I never felt;
+it was almost as if one was turned into stone, and stopping in it
+more than a second was out of the question. After breakfast and a
+SIESTA, we sallied out to try and explore the head of the cataract
+above us. After rather a perilous ascent over loose moss and mould,
+and clutching at roots of shrubs and trees, we were brought to a
+stand by a huge mass of perpendicular rock, which effectually barred
+us from the spot through which the water took its final leap. The
+upper course of the torrent, however, amply repaid us for our labour,
+for it ran through the most lovely dell I ever saw; and as it bounded
+down from rock to rock, and roared and splashed along, it seemed to
+know what there was before it, and to be rejoicing at the prospect
+of its mighty jump. Torrent as it seemed, it was evidently nothing
+to what it could swell to when in a rage, for here and there, far
+out of its present reach, and scattered all about, were torn and
+tattered corpses of forest trees, which had evidently been sucked up
+and carried along until some rock more abrupt than its neighbours,
+had brought them to a stand and left them, bleached and rotting, in
+the summer's sun. At night we found ourselves glad to exchange our
+usual covering of a single sheet for a heavy complement of blankets,
+and found our encampment not the least too warm. The authorities here
+were particularly civil and obliging, and supplied us with the best
+of butter, eggs, and milk. The latter was particularly good, and,
+not having often tasted cow's milk in the Plains, we did it ample
+justice here.
+
+JUNE 20. -- Found it rather hard to turn out this morning, in
+consequence of the great change in the temperature, but got under weigh
+very well considering. Our path led us up the main torrent towards the
+snow, and in the first three miles we crossed about twenty pine-tree
+bridges thrown across the stream, some of them consisting of a single
+tree, and all in the rudest style of manufacture. Near one of these,
+under an immense mass of rock, we passed our first snow. It looked,
+however, so strange and unexpected, that we both took it for a block of
+stone; and being thatched, as it were, with leaves and small sticks,
+&c., and discoloured on all sides, it certainly bore no outward
+resemblance to what it really was.
+
+After an almost perpendicular ascent up natural flights of steps, we
+reached our next stage, Poshana -- a little mud-built, flat-roofed
+settlement on the mountain-side. Here we engaged a couple of
+"shikarees," or native sportsmen, and made preparations for a DETOUR
+into the snows of the Peer Punjal in search of game.
+
+JUNE 21. -- Having made a division of our property, and sent the
+Q.M.G. with an advanced guard two stages on to Heerpore, F. and
+I started at daybreak for a five-days' shooting expedition in the
+mountains.
+
+We took with us a khidmutgar and bhistie -- both capital servants,
+but unfortunately not accustomed to cold, much less to snow. Besides
+these, we had ten coolies to carry our baggage, consisting of two
+small tents, bedding, guns, and cooking utensils, &c.; and our two
+shikarees with their two assistants. The two former wore named Khandari
+Khan and Baz Khan, -- both bare-legged, lightly clothed, sharp-eyed,
+hardy-looking mountaineers, and well acquainted with the haunts of
+game, and passes through the snow.
+
+For the first time we had now to put on grass shoes or sandals;
+and though they felt strange at first, we soon found that they were
+absolutely necessary for the work we had before us. Our shoemaker
+charged us six annas, or ninepence, for eight pairs, and that was
+thirty per cent. over the proper price. However, as one good day's
+work runs through a new pair, they are all the better for being rather
+cheap. Along the road in all directions one comes across cast-off
+remains of shoes, where the wearer has thrown off his worn-out ones
+and refitted from his travelling stock; and in this way the needy
+proprietor of a very indifferent pair of shoes may, perchance, make
+a favourable exchange with the cast-off pair of a more affluent
+pedestrian; but, to judge from the specimens we saw, he must be
+very needy indeed in order to benefit by the transaction. On leaving
+Poshana, we immediately wound up the precipitous side of a mountain
+above us, and soon found that, from the rarification of the air, and
+the want of practice, we felt the necessity of calling a halt very
+frequently, for the purpose, of course, of admiring the scenery and
+expatiating upon the beauties of nature. About two miles on the way
+we came to a slip in the mountain-side, and just as we scrambled,
+with some difficulty, across this, our foremost shikaree suddenly
+dropped down like a stone, and motioning us to follow his example,
+he stealthily pointed us out four little animals, which he called
+"markore," grazing at the bottom of a ravine. Putting our sights to
+about 250 yards, we fired both together, with the best intentions, but
+indifferent results; for they all scampered off apparently untouched,
+and we again resumed our march.
+
+Our encamping ground we found situated among a shady grove of
+fir-trees, with a mountain-torrent running beneath, bridged over, as
+far as we could see, with dingy-looking fields of snow and ice. Here,
+in the middle of June; with snow at our feet, above us, and around
+us, we pitched our tent, and had breakfast, and laid our plans for a
+search for game to-morrow. Though the wind blew cold and chilly off the
+snows, we soon found that the midday sun still asserted his supremacy,
+and our faces and hands soon bore witness to the fierceness of the
+trial of strength between the two. Our camp, although so high up,
+was not more than six miles from Poshana, and from thence we drew all
+our supplies, such as milk, eggs, and fowls, &c., the coolies' and
+shikarees' subsistence being deducted from their pay. Our own living
+was not expensive: fowls, threepence each for large, three-halfpence
+small; milk, three-halfpence per quart, and eggs, twelve for the
+like amount, or one anna. For the rest, we lived upon chupatties, or
+unleavened cakes of flour -- very good hot, but "gutta-percha" cold --
+potatoes from Lahore, and, in the liquid line, tea and brandy. At night
+we slept upon the ground -- pretty hard it was while one was awake to
+feel it -- and not having any lamp, we turned in shortly after dark,
+while in the morning we were up and dressed before the nightingales
+had cleared their voices. These latter abounded all about us, and
+formed a most agreeable addition to our establishment.
+
+JUNE 22. -- Left our camp before sunrise, and crossing a large field
+of snow over the main torrent, we clambered up the precipitous side
+of our opposite mountain. The snow at first felt piercingly cold as
+it penetrated our snow-shoes, but before we reached the top, we had
+little to complain of in the way of chilliness. Our sharp-sighted
+guides soon detected game on the rocks above us, and off we went on
+a stalk, over rocks and chasms of snow -- now running, now crawling
+along, more like serpents than respectable Christians, and all
+in a style that would have astonished nobody more than ourselves,
+could we have regarded the performance in the cool light of reason,
+and not influenced by the excitement of chasing horned cattle of such
+rare and curious proportions.
+
+The markore, however, were quite as interested in the sport as we were,
+and after an arduous and protracted stalk, they finally gave us the
+slip, and we called a halt at the summit of a hill for breakfast and a
+rest during the heat of the day. The former we enjoyed as we deserved,
+but for the latter I can't say much : occasionally a cold blast from
+off the snow would run right through us, while the sun bore down upon
+our heads with scorching power, making havoc with whatever part of us
+it found exposed to its rays, and blistering our hands and legs. The
+guides helped us out by building up a most ricketty-looking shanty
+with sticks and pieces of their garments and our own, and under this
+apology for shelter, with our feet almost in the snow, we passed the
+day, until it was cool enough again to look for game. In the evening
+we came suddenly upon a kustura, a sort of half goat, half sheep,
+with long teeth like a wolf. He was, however, in such thick cover,
+that we were unable to get a shot at him.
+
+Our camp, we found, moved, according to order, some three miles higher
+up, to facilitate the shooting on that side: it was still, however,
+among the firs and nightingales.
+
+JUNE 23. -- Up again before sunrise, and off to the tops of the
+mountains in search of game. The pull-up took us about an hour and a
+half, and on reaching the summit, we found ourselves above the pass
+of the Peer Punjal, the rocky and snow-covered ranges of mountain
+around us gradually trending off on all sides, and losing themselves in
+pine-covered slopes, till they finally blended with the blue outlines
+of the ranges of Pills we had crossed on our route from Bimber. While
+taking a sharp look around us for a herd of some twenty animals which
+we had seen the day previously, we suddenly found ourselves close
+to a party of five markore, but they scampered off so fast over rock
+and snowdrift, that they gave us no opportunity of getting a shot.
+
+Following them up, we came, while clinging to an overhanging ledge of
+rock, upon one solitary gentleman standing about 150 yards below. We
+both fired together, but the pace we had come, and the ground we had
+crossed, had unsteadied our aim, and though my second bullet parted
+the wool on his back, it was not written that our first markore
+was to fall so easily. After this we tracked the first herd for
+a long distance over the snow, until they scampered down an almost
+perpendicular face of snow and ice, and here we gave them up, halting
+on a spur of the mountain for a repast of chicken, eggs, chupatties,
+and cold tea. During our morning's work we had come across some
+most break-neck places, and had one or two narrow escapes, which,
+at the time, one was hardly conscious of. The snow was wedged into
+the ravines like sheets of ice, and being most precipitous, and
+continuing to the very foot of the mountains, terminating in the
+numerous torrents which they fed, a single false step in crossing
+would have sent one rolling down, without a chance of stopping, to be
+dashed to pieces at the bottom. In this way, a couple of years before,
+two coolies and a shikaree had been killed, while shooting with an
+officer. F. and I generally crossed these places in the footsteps
+of the guides, or in holes cut by them for our feet with a hatchet;
+but the men themselves passed them with a dash, which only long
+practice and complete confidence could have imitated. During our halt
+we suffered a good deal from the sun, although the snow was only six
+inches off. In spite of the shade which our guides constructed for
+us out of mysterious portions of their dress, both our wrists and
+ankles were completely swollen and blistered before evening, while
+our faces and noses in particular began to assume the appearance so
+generally suggestive of Port wine and good living.
+
+Our descent to the camp was a good march in itself, and we arrived
+there about five P.M. hot and tired, 'but quite ready for our mountain
+fare. On our road, we luckily discovered a quantity of young rhubarb,
+growing in nature's kitchen-garden, and pouncing on it, we devoted it
+to the celebration of our Sunday dinner.[4] We also saw a number of
+minaur, or jungle-fowl, something of the pheasant tribe; but they were
+so wild that nothing but slugs would secure them, and they entirely
+declined the honour of an invitation to our Sunday entertainment.
+
+JUNE 24. -- We were not at all sorry to remember this morning,
+as the sun rose, that it was a day of rest, for after our last
+few days of work we were fully able to enjoy it. Amused ourselves
+exploring all about us, and picking wild flowers in memory of our
+camp. The commonest were wild pansy and forget-me-not, and the
+rhododendron grew in quantities. In the afternoon we made a muster
+of our standing provisions, having only brought four days' supply,
+and seeing little chance of getting back for ten. The result was.,
+that tea was reported low, potatoes on their last legs, and brandy
+in a declining state. Under these melancholy circumstances, we
+agreed to stop another day for shooting, and then march over the
+snows for Aliabad and Heerpore, to join our main body at the latter
+place. A road by Cheta Panee was declared impracticable for coolies,
+in consequence of the hardness of the snow; so we gave it up.
+
+JUNE 25. -- All over the mountains again this morning before daybreak,
+and up to breakfast-time without seeing game. However, one of our
+sharp-sighted guides then detected markore, grazing at a long distance
+up the mountains; even through the glasses they were mere specks,
+and, to our unpractised eyes, very like the tufts and stones around
+them; but in all faith that our guides were right, off we started in
+pursuit. The first step was to lose all our morning's toil by plunging
+for a mile or so down a steep descent. After that being accomplished,
+up we went again, up and up an apparently interminable bank of snow, at
+an angle of about sixty degrees, and slippery as glass. At the summit,
+exhausted and completely out of breath, we did at last arrive, and from
+this our friends of the morning were expected to be within shot. Not a
+sign of a living creature appeared, however, to enliven the solitude
+around us, and we began to think that our guides were a little TOO
+clear-sighted this time, when what should suddenly come upon us but
+a solitary old markore, slowly and leisurely rounding a rugged point
+of rock below. We were all squatted in a bunch upon a space about as
+large as a good-sized towel; but, hidden as we thought ourselves,
+I could discern that our friend had evidently caught a glimpse of
+something which displeased him in his morning cogitations. Still,
+on he came, and just as he crossed a small field of snow, F. opened
+fire at him across the ravine: the ball struck just below his body,
+and, as he plunged forward, I followed with both barrels. On he went,
+however, and before another shot could be fired he was coolly looking
+down upon us from a terrace of inaccessible rocks, completely out of
+range. Nothing remained but to descend again, and this we accomplished
+very much more speedily, though perhaps not quite in such a graceful
+style as we had ascended. The shikarees merely sat down on the inclined
+plane, and with a hatchet or a stick firmly pressed under the arm as
+a lever to regulate the pace, or a rudder to steer clear of rocks as
+occasion might require, down they went at a tremendous pace, until
+the slope was not sufficient to propel them further.
+
+Our own wardrobe being limited in dimensions we declined adopting this
+mode of locomotion, and slipping and sliding along, soon accomplished
+the descent, in a less business-like but equally satisfactory
+manner. While taking the direction of our camp, we espied seven more
+animals, perched apparently upon a smooth face of rock; and after a
+short council of war off we started on a fresh stalk, down another
+descent, over more fields of snow, and up a place where a cat would
+have found walking difficult.
+
+While accomplishing this latter movement, our guides detected two
+huge red bears, an enormous distance off, enjoying themselves in
+the evening air, and feeding and scratching themselves alternately,
+as they sauntered about in the breeze. Abandoning our present stalk,
+which was not promising, down we went again, and crossing about a
+mile and a half of broken ground, snow, rocks, &c., we reached a wood
+close to the whereabouts of our new game. F. and I, separating, had
+made the place by different routes, and just as I had caught sight of
+one enormous monster, F. and the shikaree appeared, just on the point
+of walking into his jaws. Having, by great exertion, prevented this
+catastrophe, we massed our forces, and taking off our hats, just as if
+we were stalking an unpopular landed proprietor in Tipperary, we crept
+up to within sixty yards of the unsuspicious monster, and fired both
+together. With a howl and a grunt, the huge mass doubled himself up,
+and rolled into the cover badly wounded. Being too dangerous a looking
+customer to follow directly, we reloaded and made a circuit above him;
+and after a short search, discovered him with his paws firmly clasped
+round a young tree. By way of finishing him, I gave him the contents of
+my rifle behind the ear, and we then rolled him down a ravine on to the
+snow beneath, where, a heavy storm of rain, hail, and thunder coming
+on, we left him alone in his glory. Putting our best legs foremost,
+we made for our camp, amid a pelting shower of hail like bullets and
+an incessant play of lightning around us, as we pushed our way along
+the frozen torrent. About five P.M., tired and drenched, we reached
+the camp, when we discovered that our tents, though extremely handy
+for mountain work, were not intended to keep out much rain, and that
+all our rugs, and other comforts, were almost in as moist a state as
+ourselves. During the entire night it continued to hail, rain, thunder,
+and lighten; and with the exception of the exact spots we were each
+lying on, there was not a dry place in the tent to take refuge in.
+
+JUNE 26. -- After an exceedingly moist night, we made the most of a
+little sunshine by turning out all our property, and hanging it around
+us on stones and bushes to dry. After we had distinguished ourselves in
+this way, for a couple of hours, down came the rain again; and after
+stowing our half-dried goods, we assembled under a tree, and held a
+council of war as to our future movements. The rain had swelled the
+mountain torrents considerably, and the hail, lying on the old snow,
+had made it slippery as glass, so that we were obliged to give up
+the mountain pass we had agreed upon, and decided on a retreat to
+"Poshana," our present ground being fairly untenable. Sending off
+our tents and traps, and half-drowned servants, who were completely
+out of their element, we remained behind under the pines till the
+rain a little abated, and having secured the bear-skin for curing, we
+started off with our rear-guard for Poshana. The road was so slippery,
+that even with grass-shoes we could hardly keep from falling; and
+the snow we found as hard as ice, and proportionately difficult to
+cross. The consequence was, that in passing a steep incline with the
+guide, he slipped, and I followed his example, and down we both went
+like an engine and tender, the guide fishing about with his legs for
+obstacles, and I above him, endeavouring to use my pole as an anchor
+to bring us to.
+
+Luckily, we both reached TERRA FIRMA safely, after a perilous run,
+though at the same side we started from, and a long distance from our
+point of previous departure. On at length reaching the opposite side,
+we found a disconsolate coolie bemoaning himself and reckoning his
+bones, having also fallen down the snow, while a little further on we
+came upon the bhistie lamenting over a similar disaster. The latter
+functionary had also lost a valuable pot of virgin honey, which had
+only come up from Poshana the day before, and which we had not had
+time to see the inside of even, ere it was thus lost to us for ever,
+and made over as a poetical reparation to the bears of the country for
+the ruthless murder we had committed on one of their number. Found the
+hut at Poshana empty, and were glad to get into its shelter again. The
+rain seeming quite set in, we determined to discharge our shikarees,
+and after paying them three rupees each for their week's work, we
+sent them away perfectly happy, with a few copper caps and a good
+character apiece.
+
+JUNE 27. -- Left Poshana at five A.M., and made for the Peer
+Punjal pass. A sharp struggle brought us to the summit, where we
+found a polygon tower erected, apparently as a landmark and also
+a resting-place for travellers to recover themselves after their
+exertions.[5] At the Cashmere side of the pass I had expected to see
+something of the far-famed valley, but nothing met the eye but a wild
+waste of land, bounded on all sides by snow, while a few straggling
+coolies toiled up towards us with some itinerant Englishman's baggage
+like our own.
+
+This turned out to belong to a party returning to Sealkote, and
+we were rather elated by seeing among their possessions several
+enormous antlers, which promised well for sport at the other side
+of the valley. They turned out, however, to have been bought, and,
+as their owners informed us, there was no chance of meeting such game
+until October or November. About two miles down the pass we reached
+the old serai of Aliabad, and found the only habitable part of it
+in possession of a clergyman and a young Bengal artilleryman bound
+for the shooting-grounds we had just left. With much difficulty we
+obtained a few eggs, and a little milk with which we washed down the
+chupatties we had brought with us; but the coolies were so long getting
+over the path, that no signs of breakfast made their appearance until
+about two o'clock. At mid-day it came on to rain heavily, and we took
+up our quarters in a miserable den, with a flooring of damp rubbish
+and a finely carved stone window not very much in keeping with the
+rest of the establishment. Here we spent the day drearily enough,
+the prospect being confined to a green pool of water in the middle
+of the serai, around which the Pariah dogs contended with the crows
+for the dainties of offal scattered about. As soon as it was dark,
+we were glad enough to spread our waterproof sheets on the ground,
+and sleep as well as the thousands of tenants already in possession
+would allow us.
+
+JUNE 28. -- Up at sunrise, and packed off our things down the mountain
+for Heerpore, where the main body of our possessions were concentrated.
+
+Shortly after their departure it began to rain an Irish and Scotch
+combined mist, and after warming our toes and blinding our eyes over a
+wood fire for about three hours, in hopes of its clearing, we donned
+grass-shoes and, putting our best legs foremost, accomplished about
+thirteen miles of a most slippery path without a halt, except for
+the occasional purpose of adjusting our dilapidated shoes.
+
+After the first five or six miles the path entered a beautifully-wooded
+valley, and at one spot, where two torrents joined their foaming waters
+at the foot of a picturesque old ivy-grown serai, the landscape was
+almost perfection. Passing this, we entered a thickly-shaded wood,
+studded with roses and jessamine, and peopled with wood-pigeons
+and nightingales, who favoured us with a morning concert as we
+passed. Crossing a wooden bridge over the torrent, we reached a fine
+grass country, and here the presence of a herd of cows told us we were
+near our destination. At Heerpore we found Mr. Rajoo located with all
+our belongings in a little wooden sort of squatter's cabin, where we
+were glad to take shelter out of the dripping rain. It reminded one
+strongly of Captain Cuttle's habitation and a ship's cabin together,
+and made one feel inclined to go on deck occasionally. It was on
+the whole, however, very comfortable, and seemed, after our late
+indifferent quarters, to be a perfect palace. After breakfast, we
+made inquiries as to our worldly affairs, and found that all were
+thriving with the exception of the potatoes, which had been taken
+worse on the road, and were already decimated by sickness. We added
+a sheep to our stock, for which we paid three shillings, and laid
+in a welcome supply of butter. The khidmutgar and bhistie, we found,
+had retailed the history of their many sorrows to the other servants,
+and, having expatiated most fully on the horrors they had endured
+among the snows and thunderstorms of the mountains, were promising
+themselves a speedy end to all their woes among the peace and plenty
+of the promised land of Cashmere.
+
+JUNE 29. -- After some trouble in procuring coolies, we started at
+eleven in a shower of rain, and found ourselves gradually passing
+into the valley, and exchanging rocks and firs for groves of walnut;
+and moss and fern for the more civilized strawberry and the wild
+carnation. The strawberries, though small, had a delicious flavour,
+and we whiled away the time by gathering them as we passed. About
+two o'clock we reached the village of Shupayon, and here began to
+perceive a considerable change in the style of architecture from what
+we had been accustomed to; the flat mudden roof giving place to the
+sharply-pitched wooden one, thatched with straw, or coarsely TILED
+with wood.
+
+Our halting-place we found, for the first time, to possess a staircase
+and upper story. A little square habitation it was, with a verandah all
+round it, and built entirely of wood. From this, as the clouds lifted
+from the mountain-tops around, a most lovely view opened out before us.
+
+Wherever the eye rested toward the mountains, the snow-capped peaks
+raised themselves up into the clear blue sky; while at our feet lay
+the far-famed valley, reaching towards the north, to the very base
+of the mountain range, and rising gradually and by a gentle slope
+to our halting-place, and so back to the pass from which we had
+just descended.
+
+As the sun appeared to have come out again permanently, we took the
+opportunity of getting our tents and other property which had suffered
+from the wet out for a general airing.
+
+JUNE 30. -- Marched about nine miles through fertile slopes of
+rice-fields, shaded by walnuts and sycamores, and found our
+halting-place situated in a serai, shrouded in mulberry and
+cherry trees, and with a charming little rivulet running through
+it, discoursing sweet music night and day. Our habitation was a
+baraduree, or summer-house, of wood, and having an upper room with
+trellised windows, where we spent the day very pleasantly. At dinner
+we had the first instalment of the land of promise, in the shape of
+a roly-poly pudding of fresh cherries, a thing to date from in our
+hitherto puddingless circumstances.
+
+JULY 1. -- Started at daybreak for our last march into the
+capital. The first appearance of the low part of the valley was rather
+disappointing, for there was nothing striking in the view; still, the
+country was extremely fertile, and its tameness was redeemed by the
+glorious mountain range, which bounded the valley in every direction,
+with its pure unsullied fringe of snow. Our path was occasionally
+studded with the most superb sycamores and lime-trees; and as we
+approached the town we entered a long avenue of poplars, planted as
+closely together as possible, and completely hiding all the buildings
+until close upon them. Passing through the grand parade-ground, we
+found a bustling throng of about four hundred Cashmeeries, with heavy
+packs beside them, waiting for an escort to take out supplies to the
+Maharajah's army, now on active service at a place called Girgit,
+in the mountains. The said army seemed to be fighting with nobody
+knew who, about nobody knew what; but report says that his Highness,
+having a number of troops wanting arrears of pay, sends them out
+periodically to contend with the hill tribes, by way of settlement
+in full of all demands.
+
+Having engaged a boat's crew at Ramoon, we were, on arriving at the
+River Jhelum, which runs through the city, immediately inducted to the
+manners and customs of the place; and being safely deposited in a long
+flat-bottomed boat, with a mat roof and a prow about twelve feet out of
+the water, we were paddled across by our six new servants, and landed
+among a number of bungalows on the right bank, which were erected by
+the Maharajah for the reception of his English visitors. These are
+entirely of wood, of the rudest construction, and are built along
+the very edge of the river, which is here about a hundred yards broad.
+
+We were received on landing by the Baboo and Moonshee, the native
+authorities retained by the Maharajah for the convenience of his
+visitors; and learning from them that there were no bungalows vacant,
+we pitched our little camp under a shady grove of trees close by; and
+thus, in the capital of the land of poetry and promise, the far-famed
+paradise of the Hindoo, we brought our wanderings to an end for the
+present, and gave ourselves and our retainers a rest from all the
+toils and troubles of the road.
+
+
+
+A Halt in the Valley.
+
+Being fairly settled in our quarters, we were not long in putting our
+new staff of dependants into requisition; and, taking to our boat,
+sallied forth to get a general view of the city of Sirinugger.[6]
+Finding, however, a review of the army going on, we stopped at the
+parade-ground to witness the interesting ceremony. The troops we found
+drawn up in lines, forming the sides of a large square, and dressed in
+what his Highness Rumbeer Singh believes confidently to be the ENGLISH
+COSTUME. As far as one could see, however, the sole foundation for
+this belief lay in the fact of their all wearing trousers! These were
+certainly the only articles of their equipment that could in any way
+be called English in style; and they bore, after all, but a slender
+resemblance to the corresponding habiliments of the true Briton.
+
+The head-dress, generally speaking, was a turban. One regiment,
+however, had actually perpetrated a parody on the English shako --
+a feat which I had always hitherto considered absolutely impossible.
+
+The cavalry were mounted upon tattoos, or native ponies, and wore
+white trousers, with tight straps, which rendered them for the time
+being the most miserable of their race.
+
+A few of them had imitations of Lancer caps, some had boots, some
+slippers, some spurs, others none; some had wondrous straps of tape
+and cord, others wore their trousers up to their knees; but one and
+all were entirely uniform in looking completely ill at ease and out
+of their element in their borrowed would-be-English plumage. Just
+as we had finished taking a general view of the army, the Maharajah
+appeared upon the stage, dressed in a green-and-gold embroidered gown
+and turban and tight silk pantaloons, mounted on a grey caparisoned
+Arab steed. After riding round the lines with his retinue, he came up,
+and we were presented in due form; and after asking us if we had come
+from Allahabad, and expressing his opinion that it was a long way off,
+in which we entirely concurred with him, he shook hands in English
+style; and, taking his seat in a chair which was placed for him, we
+collected ourselves around, and, similarly seated, prepared to inspect
+the marching past of his highness's redoubtables. Before this began,
+however, the Maharajah's little son made his appearance, dressed in all
+respects like his papa, with miniature sword and embroidered raiment;
+and to him we were also introduced in form. During the marching past,
+I congratulated myself upon being several seats distant from his
+highness's chair, for the effect was so absurd that it was almost
+impossible to preserve that dignity and composure which the occasion
+demanded.
+
+The marching was in slow time, and the step being fully thirty-six
+inches the fat little dumpy officers nearly upset themselves in their
+efforts to keep time, and at the same time prevent their slippers
+from deserting on the line of march; while, in bringing their swords
+to the salute, they did it with a swing which was suggestive of
+their throwing away their arms altogether. Besides artillery, five
+regiments of infantry and two of cavalry marched past -- in all,
+little over 2,000 men -- colours flying and bands playing "Home,
+sweet home!" After this the irregulars began to appear; and although
+the first part of the army might have almost deserved the name, these
+put them completely in the shade. One colonel had a pair of enormous
+English gold epaulettes and a turban; another a black embroidered suit,
+with white tape straps, and slippers; and as for the men, there were
+no two of them dressed alike, while in the way of arms, each pleased
+his own particular fancy also. A long gun over the shoulder was the
+most popular weapon; but each had, in addition, a perfect armoury
+fastened in his girdle: pistols with stocks like guns, daggers and
+even blunderbusses made their appearance; and the general effect, as
+the crowd galloped independently past, dressed in their many-coloured
+turbans, and flowing apparel, was most picturesque. As soon as the
+last of the flags and banners and prancing horses had gone past, the
+Maharajah set us the example of rising, and mounting his grey steed,
+cantered off in state, surrounded by the crowd of dusky parasites,
+arrayed in gold and jewels, who formed his court.
+
+His Highness appeared to be about thirty-eight years old, and was as
+handsome a specimen of a native as I had ever seen. He wore a short,
+jet-black beard, and mustachios, turned up from the corners of his
+mouth, and reaching, in two long twists, nearly to his eyes. He
+appeared absent and thoughtful which, considering the low state of
+his exchequer, was perhaps not to be wondered at.[7] His English
+visitors spend a good deal of money every summer in his kingdom;
+and for this reason alone, he is anxious enough to cultivate their
+acquaintance, and gives naches, or native dances, and champagne
+dinners periodically to amuse them. He presents, also, an offering to
+each traveller that arrives, and we in due course received two sheep,
+two fowls, and about fourteen little earthen dishes containing rice,
+butter, spices, eggs, flour, fruit, honey, sugar, tea, &c., all of
+which were laid at the door of our tent, with great pomp and ceremony,
+by a host of attendants.
+
+After the review, we took boat again and paddled down the stream to
+look at the town, and a quainter and more picturesque-looking old
+place it would be hard to conceive. The, houses are built entirely
+of wood, of five and six stories, and overhanging the river, and
+are as close as possible to each other, except where here and there
+interspersed with trees. Communication is kept up between the banks
+by means of wooden rustic bridges, built on enormous piles of timber,
+laid in entire trees, crossing each other at equal distances. Not a
+single straight line is to be seen in any direction -- the houses being
+dilapidated and generally out of the perpendicular; and everywhere the
+river view is bounded by the snow-capped ranges of mountain, which,
+towards the north, appear to rise almost from the very water's edge.
+
+JULY 2. -- Taking the Q.M.G. as a guide, we sallied out
+immediately after breakfast to explore the land part of this Eastern
+Venice. Entering at the city gate, on the left bank of the river, near
+the Maharajah's palace, we walked past a row of trumpery pop-guns, on
+green and red carriages, and so through the most filthy and odoriferous
+bazaar I ever met with, till we reached the residence of Saifula Baba,
+the great shawl merchant of Sirinugger. Here we found a noted shawl
+fancier inspecting the stock, and were inducted to the mysteries of
+the different fabrics. Some that we saw were of beautiful workmanship,
+but dangerous to an uninitiated purchaser. They ranged from 300 to
+1,000 rupees generally, but could be ordered to an almost unlimited
+extent of price. After inspecting a quantity of Pushmeena and other
+local manufactures, Mr. Saifula Baba handed us tea and sweetmeats,
+after the fashion of his country; and we adjourned to the abode of a
+worker in papier mache, where we underwent a second edition of tea
+and sweetmeats, and inspected a number of curiosities. The chief
+and only beauty of the work was in the strangeness of the design;
+and some of the shawl patterns, reproduced on boxes, &c., were
+pretty in their way, but as manufacturers of papier mache simply,
+the Cashmeeries were a long way behind the age.
+
+On reaching home, we found that the Maharajah had sent his salaam,
+together with the information that he was going to give a nach and
+dinner, to which we were invited.
+
+JULY 3. -- After continuing our explorations of Sirinugger, we
+repaired, about seven o'clock, to the Maharajah's palace, where we
+were received by a guard of honour of sixty men and four officers.,
+the latter in gold embroidered dresses, and hung all over with
+ear-rings and finery of divers sorts and kinds.
+
+Ascending the stairs, we were met by the DEEWAN, or prime minister,
+who conducted us into an open sort of terrace over the river, where
+we found the Maharajah with the few English officers already arrived
+seated on either side of him, and the nach-girls, about twenty in
+number, squatted in a semicircle opposite them. Standing behind his
+Highness were colonels of regiments and native dignitaries of all
+sorts, dressed in cloth of gold and jewels, and in every variety
+and hue of turban and appointments. A number of these were Sikhs;
+and magnificent-looking men they were, with their flowing dress and
+fiercely-twisted whiskers and mustachios. The nach-girls, too --
+a motley group -- were attired in all the hues of the rainbow, and
+with the white-robed musicians behind them, awaited in patience the
+signal to commence. In singular contrast to this glittering throng,
+which formed the court, were the guests whom the Maharajah, on this
+occasion, delighted to honour. The British officer appeared generally
+in the national but uncourtly costume of a shooting jacket! and
+though some few had donned their uniform, and one rejoiced in the
+traditional swallow-tail of unmistakeable civilization, neither the
+one nor the other contrasted favourably in point of grace with the
+Cashmerian rank and fashion.
+
+After shaking hands with his Highness, who prides himself upon his
+English way of accomplishing that ceremony, and does it by slipping
+into one's hand what might be taken for a dying flat fish, we took
+our seats, and the dancing began shortly afterwards. Though on a
+more magnificent scale than anything I had seen of the kind before,
+the programme was flat and insipid enough. The ladies came out two and
+two, and went through a monotonous die-away movement, acting, dancing,
+and singing all at the same time, and showing off their red-stained
+palms and the soles of their feet to the best advantage. Some of the
+women were very pretty, but very properly they modified their charms
+by dressing in the most unbecoming manner possible. Their head-dress
+was a little cloth of gold and silver cap hung all round with pendent
+ornaments, and these were becoming enough, but the remainder of the
+dress was much more trying. A short body of shot silk was separated
+by a natural border from a gauze skirt, which hung down perfectly
+straight and innocent of fulness, and allowed a pair of white pyjamas
+to appear beneath. These were fastened tightly round the ancles,
+which were encircled by little bunches of the tinkling bells, which
+the ladies make such use of in the dance. Round the shoulders comes
+a filmy scarf of various colours, which also plays a prominent part
+in all their movements, and answers in its way to the fan of more
+accomplished Western belles.
+
+After each couple had gone through the whole of their performances,
+they used to squat themselves down suddenly in the most ungraceful
+style imaginable, and were then relieved by another pair of artistes
+from the group.
+
+One lady, in addition to the dance, favoured us with "the Marseillaise"
+with the French words, being occasionally prompted by the head
+of the orchestra, who nearly worked himself into a frenzy while
+accompanying the dancers with both vocal and instrumental music at
+the same time. The Maharajah himself was plainly dressed in white
+robes, with a pair of pale-green striped silk pantaloons fitting his
+legs like stockings from the knee down, and terminating in a pair of
+English socks, of which he seemed immensely proud. His turban was of
+the palest shade of green, and (in strong contrast to the rest of his
+court) without any ornament whatever. The little heir to the throne --
+a nice little blackamoor of about eight years of age -- was, like his
+father, perched upon a chair, and arrayed in a green and gold turban,
+pants, and socks, with the addition of a velvet gold-embroidered coat,
+while round his neck were three or four valuable necklaces, one of
+pear-shaped emeralds of great size and beauty. After a few dances the
+doors of the banqueting-room were thrown open, and his Highness led
+the way into dinner with the commissioner. On entering, we found a
+capital dinner laid out English fashion, and with a formidable army
+of black bottles ranged along the table. The Maharajah, however, had
+disappeared, and we were left to feed without a host. The grandees,
+meanwhile, remained outside, and still enjoyed the dances, ranging
+themselves upon their haunches in front of the rows of chairs which
+not one among them would have dared to trust himself in for either
+love or money. Considering that our entertainer was a Hindoo, and
+that his dinner-giving appliances were limited, each person having
+to bring his own knife, fork, spoon, and chair, we fared very well,
+and after having drunk his health, again assembled in the court,
+where we found Rumbeer Singh still occupied with the wearisome nach,
+and reattired in a gorgeous dress of green velvet and gold. After a
+short stay he got up, and we all followed his example, glad enough
+to bring the entertainment to an end, and betake ourselves to our
+boats. At the stairs there was a desperate encounter with innumerable
+boatmen, each boat having six, eight, or ten sailors, and all being
+equally anxious to uphold the credit of their craft by being the
+first to land their masters safe, at home. We were fortunate enough to
+reach our own at once, and, with a shouting crew, away we dashed up
+the river, leaving the others struggling, fighting, and flourishing
+their paddles in the air, in a way which was more suggestive of an
+insurrection scene in Masaniello than the departure of guests from
+a peaceable gentleman's own hall door on the night of an evening party.
+
+On the stairs there was an extraordinary assemblage of slippers, which
+seemed to hold the same relative position that hats and cloaks do in
+more enlightened communities -- that is, the good ones were taken by
+the owners of the bad, and the proprietors of the bad ones were fain
+to make the best of the exchange. Next morning our khidmutgar came up
+with a most doleful countenance and presented to our notice a pair of
+certainly most ill-favoured slippers, which a fellow true-believer had
+INADVERTENTLY substituted for a pair of later date. The lost ones had,
+in fact, only recently been received from the boot-maker; and the
+blow was difficult to bear with resignation, even by the saintliest
+follower of Islam -- a reputation which our retainer came short of
+by a very long way indeed.
+
+JULY 4. -- Having an accumulation of letters to answer, we devoted the
+day to writing -- merely enjoying a little OTIUM CUM DIG. -- in the
+evening, reclining in our boat while serenaded by the crew of boatmen.
+
+JULY 5. -- Walked up, before daybreak, to the Tukht e Suleeman,
+or Solomon's throne, "the mountainous Portal," which Moore speaks
+of in LALLA ROOKH, and which forms the most striking landmark in
+the valley.[8]
+
+From the summit there was a curious view of the multitudinous wooden
+houses and the sinuous windings of the river, which could alone be
+obtained from such a bird's-eye point of inspection. An old temple
+at the top was in the hands of the Hindoo faction, being dedicated
+to the goddess Mahadewee, and in charge of it I found two of the
+dirtiest fukeers, or religious mendicants, I ever had the pleasure
+of meeting. One was lying asleep, with his feet in a heap of dust and
+ashes, and the other was listlessly sitting, without moving a muscle,
+warming himself in the morning sun. Both were almost naked, and had
+their bodies and faces smeared with ashes and their hair long and
+matted. They appeared to have arrived at a state of almost entire
+abstraction, and neither of them even raised his eyes or seemed to
+be in the slightest degree aware of my presence, although I took a
+sketch of one of them, and stared at both, very much as I would have
+done at some new arrival of animals in the Zoological Gardens.
+
+In the evening we went again to Saifula Baba's and visited the
+workrooms, where we were much astonished by the quickness with which
+the people worked the intricate shawl patterns with a simple needle,
+and no copy to guide them.
+
+The first stages of the work are not very promising, but the finished
+result, when pressed and rolled and duly exhibited by that true
+believer Saifula Baba, in his snowy gown and turban, was certainly
+in every way worthy of its reputation.
+
+Returning home, we visited a garden where any of the English visitors
+who die in the valley are buried -- the Maharajah presenting a
+Cashmere shawl, in some instances, to wrap the body in. There were
+about eight or ten monuments built of plaster, with small square
+slabs for inscriptions. One of these was turned topsy-turvey, which
+was not to be wondered at, for a native almost always holds English
+characters upside-down when either trying to decipher them himself
+or when holding them to be read by others.
+
+JULY 6. -- In the early morning I ascended to the throne of Solomon,
+in order to get a sketch of the Fort of Hurree Purbut, and in the
+afternoon we repaired to the lake behind the town, where there was a
+grand Mela or fair, on the water, to which the Maharajah and all his
+court went in state. The lake is beautifully situated at the foot of
+the mountains, and was covered so densely in many parts with weed and
+water-plants that it bore quite the appearance of a floating garden;
+and as the innumerable boats paddled about, with their bright and
+sunny cargoes, talking and laughing and enjoying themselves to their
+heart's content, the scene began to identify itself in some measure
+with Moore's description of the "Sunny lake of cool Cashmere," and
+its "Plane-tree isle reflected clear," although the poet's eyes had
+never rested on either lake or isle. Putting poetry on one side,
+however, for the present, we made our way to the extremity of the
+lake, in order to pay a visit to his Highness's gaol, where we were
+received by a very civil gaoler, equipped with a massive sword and
+dilapidated shield. We found 110 prisoners in the place, employed
+generally in converting dhan into chawul, or, in other words,
+clearing the rice-crop. There was also a mill for mustard oil, and
+the most primitive machine for boring fire-arms ever invented, both
+worked by water-power. The prison dress was uniform in the extreme:
+it consisted simply of a suit of heavy leg-irons and nothing more!
+
+After seeing the fair, we paddled across through a perfect water-meadow
+to the Shalimar gardens, where we found the Rajah and his suite
+just taking their departure. The vista on entering the gardens was
+extremely pretty: four waterfalls appear at the same moment, sending
+a clear sheet of crystal water over a broad stone slab, and gradually
+receding from sight in the wooded distance. A broad canal runs right
+through the gardens, bridged at intervals by summer-houses and crossed
+by carved and quaintly-fashioned stepping stones. At the extremity
+there is a magnificent baradurree of black marble, which looks as if
+it had been many centuries in existence, and had originally figured in
+some very different situation. The pillars were entire to a length of
+seven feet, and were highly polished from the people leaning against
+them. Around this, in reservoirs of water, were about two hundred
+fountains, all spouting away together, and on one side a sheet of
+the most perfectly still water I ever saw. It appeared exactly like
+a large looking-glass, and it was impossible to discern where the
+artificial bank which inclosed it either began or terminated.
+
+In these gardens it was that Selim, or Jehangeer the son of Akbar,
+used to spend so many of his days with the far-famed Noor Jehan in the
+beginning of the seventeenth century, and here was the scene of their
+reconciliation, as related by Feramorz to Lalla Rookh ere he revealed
+himself to her as her future lord, the king of Bucharia. From these
+founts and streams it was that the fair Persian sought to entice her
+lord, with "Fly to the desert, fly with me!"
+
+
+"When breathing, as she did, a tone
+To earthly lutes and lips unknown;
+With every chord fresh from the touch
+Of Music's spirit, -- 'twas too much!"
+
+
+"The light of the universe" overcomes even the "conqueror of the
+world." Thinking it, after all, wiser to kiss and be friends than be
+sulky, he surrenders at discretion: --
+
+
+
+"And, happier now for all their sighs,
+As on his arm her head reposes,
+She whispers him with laughing eyes,
+'Remember, love, the Feast of Roses!' "
+
+
+Leaving the favourite haunts of the "magnificent son of Akbar," we
+crossed the lake again to see the Maharajah inspect a party of about
+2,000 soldiers, who were departing for the war at Girgit. Nothing
+in the way of supplies being procurable near the scene of action,
+the greater part of the review was taken up by the marching past of a
+horde of Cashmeree and mountain porters, heavily laden with the sinews
+of war. According to report, the pay of the army here is about five
+shillings per mensem, with a ration of two pounds of rice per diem.
+
+In the evening, the number of boats congregated on the lake
+was marvellous. All were perfectly crammed with Cashmerian
+pleasure-seekers; but the turbaned faithful, in spite of the pressure,
+in no way lost their dignity, but with pipes and coffee enjoyed
+themselves in apparently entire unconsciousness of there being a soul
+on the lake beside themselves. The most wonderful sight, however,
+was the immense crowd of many-coloured turbans congregated on shore,
+witnessing the departure of the Cashmerian Guards; and as they thronged
+the green slopes in thousands, they gave one quite the idea of a mass
+of very violent-coloured flowers blooming together in a garden. On
+our way home we had great jostling, and even fighting, in order to
+maintain our position among the crowds of boats, the result of which
+was that our crew managed to break two paddles in upholding the dignity
+and respectability of their masters. The Maharajah himself, however,
+gave us the go-by in great style, in a long quaint boat, propelled by
+thirty-six boatmen, and built with a broad seat towards the bows, in
+shape like the overgrown body of a gig in indifferent circumstances,
+on which his Highness reclined. By his side was the little prince,
+in glorious apparel, while half a dozen of his court, arrayed in
+spotless white, appeared like so many snow-drifts lying at his feet.
+
+JULY 7. -- Made our arrangements to-day for a trip by water to the
+Wuler Lake, and spent the afternoon in inspecting the jeweller's and
+other shops in the city. The native workmen appear to engrave cleverly
+both on stone and metal, and some of their performances would bear
+comparison with any European workmanship of a similar kind. They
+also work in filagree silver, charging about sixpence in every two
+shillings' worth of silver for their labour. About nine P.M. we took to
+our boats; F. and I occupying one together, in which we stowed bedding,
+dressing-things, &c. while the cooking apparatus and servants occupied
+the other. Passed the night very comfortably, and found the situation
+most conducive to sleep, as we glided gently along with the stream.
+
+JULY 8. -- Awoke to find an innumerable swarm of mosquitoes buzzing
+about our habitation, and apparently endeavouring to carry it
+off bodily. Letting down, however, the muslin curtains, which the
+foreknowledge of the faithful Q.M.G. had provided us with, we succeeded
+in puzzling the enemy for the time being. About eight o'clock, the
+fleet came to an anchor at a luxuriant little island at the entrance
+of the great lake; to all appearance, however, it might have been
+situated in a meadow, for we had to force our way to it through a
+perfect plain of green water-plants, whose slimy verdure covered the
+face of the lake for miles around. It was wooded by mulberry trees,
+very prettily entwined with wild vines, and in the midst were the
+remains of an old Musjid, in which we discovered a slab of black
+marble, covered with a beautifully carved inscription in Arabic, and
+appearing as if it had not always held the ignoble position which it
+now occupied. Scattered about the island, also, were many scraps of
+columns and carved stones, which gave evidence of having belonged
+to some ancient temple or palace. While thus surveying our island,
+we were pestered to death by swarms of prodigious mosquitoes, for
+which the Wuler Lake is justly celebrated, and during breakfast the
+eating was quite as much on their side as ours; so that we were glad
+to weigh anchor, and with our curtains tightly tucked in around us,
+we floated away, in lazy enjoyment of climate and scenery, towards the
+centre of the lake. As we cleared the margin of the water-plants, we
+found ourselves on a glassy surface, extending away towards the west
+as far as the eye could see, and bordered on all sides by gorgeous
+mountains and ranges of snow. Around the edges of the lake a sunny
+mirage was playing tricks with the cattle and the objects on the banks,
+and as we glided lazily on with the stream, and the splashing paddles,
+and even the foiled mosquitoes, made music about us, we began to
+enter more into the spirit of our situation, and to appreciate the
+peculiar beauties of the "sunny lake of cool Cashmere," with the
+DOLCE FAR NIENTE existence which of right belongs to it. About one
+o'clock we reached Sompoor, at the Baramoula extremity of the lake,
+and as it came on to blow a little, it was not too soon: our boats
+were totally unadapted for anything rougher than a mill-pond, and in
+the ripple excited by the small puffs of wind, I had the misfortune
+to ship what was, under the circumstances, a heavy sea, and so
+sacrificed the prospects of a dry lodging for the night. Sompoor we
+found a picturesque but dirty village, with promise of good fishing,
+in the river below it. We unfortunately had no tackle, but the boatmen
+succeeded in catching five or six good fish with a hook baited with a
+mulberry only : a very favourite article of consumption, apparently,
+among the Cashmerian little fishes.
+
+Dropping down the river, we dined on the bank among the mulberry trees,
+and I afterwards essayed to take a sketch of the village; such a firm
+and determined body of mosquitoes, however, immediately fell upon
+me, that, after a short but unsuccessful combat, I was fairly put to
+flight, and Sompoor remained undrawn. We passed the night above the
+town, ready for an early start in the morning.
+
+JULY 9. -- Left our moorings before sunrise, and halted about eight
+A.M. at a little island stacked with elephant-grass, where, after
+as good a swim as the tangled weeds would permit, we breakfasted
+pleasantly under the trees.
+
+From this point we adopted a new mode of progression, the boatmen
+towing us from the bank; and the motion was a great improvement on
+the paddling system, except that it had a tendency to set one to
+sleep altogether. Reached Sirinugger, and our camp again, at four P.M.
+
+JULY 10. -- Paid Saifula Baba, the shawl merchant, a visit to-day,
+in order to get a bill of exchange on Umritsur cashed. Found
+him just going out to Mosque, in his snow-white robe and turban,
+cleanly-shaved pate, and golden slippers. Not having any money,
+he promised us a hundred rupees of the Maharajah's coinage to go on
+with. These nominal rupees are each value 10 annas, or 1S. 3D., the
+most chipped and mutilated objects imaginable. On one face of the coin
+are the letters I.H.S. stamped, a strange enough device for a heathen
+or any other mint to have adopted. While floating about the Eastern
+Venice, we discovered a number of finely-cut old blocks of stone in
+the built-up wall which bounded the river; and on inspecting the place,
+we came upon an ancient Mussulman cemetery and ruined Musjid, in which
+there were some very antique-looking carvings, which apparently had
+commenced life elsewhere than on Mussulman ground. The graveyard,
+however, was itself extremely old, although many of the turbaned and
+lettered tombstones of the faithful were in perfect preservation. All
+began with the "La Ulah ila Ullah," or "B'ism Ullah,"[9] with which
+everything connected with a Mussulman does commence, either in life
+or death.
+
+All through the city one can trace the remains of some much more
+ancient structure in the huge blocks of carved stone which are
+scattered about among their more plebeian brethren, and serve to form
+with them, in humble forgetfulness of past grandeur, the foundations
+of the lofty rattletrap but picturesque wooden structures which line
+both sides of the river and form the city of Cashmere in the year of
+grace 1860.
+
+Some of these houses, as one looks into the narrow lanes leading to
+the river and sees them in profile, are apparently in the last stage
+of dissolution, leaning out of the perpendicular and overtopping their
+lower stories and foundations in a way that would put even the leaning
+tower of Pisa to shame. One six-storied house, of long experience
+in this crooked world, had made the most wonderful efforts to redeem
+his character and to recover his equilibrium by leaning the contrary
+way aloft from what he did below. Poor fellow! he had been but badly
+conducted in his youth, and was nobly endeavouring to correct his
+ways in a mossy and dilapidated old age. The tracery of much of the
+wood-work carvings, and particularly of the windows, varies greatly,
+and in some places is so minute that it requires close inspection to
+find out the design. Of these the Zenana windows of the Maharajah's
+palace are about the finest specimens; but as there is no way of
+approaching them closely, it is impossible to make out their details.
+
+JULY 11. -- Started this evening by water for Islamabad, the ancient
+capital of Cashmere.
+
+We made a slight change in our arrangements, rather for the better,
+by hiring a large boat for ourselves and handing our own over to the
+servants and culinary department in general.
+
+JULY 12. -- Found ourselves not very far on our road on awakening
+this morning, the night having been very dark, the current strong
+against us, and the sailors lazy.
+
+Another cause of delay also, if these were insufficient, was, that
+the proprietor of the boat dropped his turban overboard, with two
+rupees in the folds of it, and the old lady his spouse had stopped
+the fleet for at least an hour to cry over the misfortune. Before
+breakfast we had a swim, and found ourselves only just able to make way
+against the stream. Breakfasted on the river bank, under the trees,
+and surrounded by rocky snow-capped mountains. Reading, scribbling,
+and eating apricots brought us to about an hour before sunset, when
+F. and I landed and went ahead to pick out a spot for a dining-room
+for ourselves. In the search, we passed through orchards and gardens
+innumerable, and finally decided upon a grove of magnificent sycamores
+on the river bank, where we laid out our table just as the sun went
+down. Within view was a picturesque old wooden bridge, on the mossy
+tree-formed piles of which the bushes were growing, as if quite at
+home, and hanging gracefully over the flowing river.
+
+JULY 13. -- Found ourselves at sunrise at the end of our boat journey,
+bathed in the river, and started for Islamabad, about half a kos off.
+
+On the bank we found three other travellers encamped, and leaving them
+fast asleep, we pushed ahead and took possession of the baraduree. This
+we found a charming little place in a garden, full of ponds of sacred
+fish, with old carved stones scattered about, belonging to the Hindoo
+mythology. Through one corner of an upper tank a stream of crystal
+water flowed in from the mountain which rose perpendicularly behind
+it -- the water welling up from below in a constant and abundant
+stream. Round this corner were some most grotesque stones; and here
+the sacred fish were assembled in such shoals as to jostle each other
+almost out of the water; but whether they were attracted by the fresh
+supply of water or the sacred images covered as they were with votive
+offerings of milk and rice, flowers, &c., the fish or the Brahmins
+alone can tell.
+
+Tradition states that an infidel Christian officer once killed three of
+these fish, and having eaten one of them, died shortly after. Putting
+their sanctity out of the question, however, the little creatures
+are so tame and so numerous that few people would be inclined either
+to kill or to eat them. While feeding them with bread, I could have
+caught any number with my hand; and holding a piece of tough crust
+under water, it was amusing to feel them tugging and hauling at it,
+making occasional snaps at one's fingers in their efforts. They were
+generally about half a pound in weight.
+
+Our baraduree was built of wood, in the usual style, with latticed
+windows of various designs, and having one room overhanging the
+stream which ran through the centre of the house from the sacred
+tanks. Directly below the place we occupied was a little waterfall,
+which conversed pleasantly day and night; and by taking-up a loose
+plank in the floor we could see as well as hear it. Learning that
+there were some ruins in the neighbourhood, supposed to have existed
+from before the birth of our Saviour, we started in the afternoon for
+a place called Bowun, or more popularly Mutton, about two and a half
+kos off.
+
+The sun to-day we found very hot in this same valley of coolness,
+its rays coming down on the backs of our heads in a very searching
+and inquisitive manner. Along the entire path there were running
+streams in every direction: and what with these and the magnificent
+sycamores and walnut-trees which shaded us as we walked, our opinions
+of the beauty of the country got a considerable rise. The path from
+the Peer Punjal Pass by which we entered appears to be the worst
+point of view from which to see the valley. From either the Peshawur
+or Murree roads the effect is much finer; and from the north-east,
+from which direction it is perhaps seldomer seen than any other, it
+looks greener and more beautiful than from either of the other points.
+
+At Mutton we found our three lazy friends of the morning, encamped
+under the trees reading green railway-novels, and evidently very much
+puzzled how to kill time. Beyond a tank teeming with sacred fishes,
+there appeared nothing whatever to be seen here. Taking warning
+from this, we thought it not worth while proceeding to Bamazoo,
+where we were told there were caves; but, treating the fishes to a
+small coin's worth of Indian maize, we retraced our steps and diverged
+about a kos off the Islamabad road to Pandau. Here we were rewarded by
+coming suddenly upon a magnificent old Cyclopeian ruin of grey stone,
+bearing, from a little distance, the appearance rather of an ancient
+Christian Church -- such as may be seen occasionally in Ireland --
+than of a heathen place of worship. On entering, we found a number of
+ancient carvings on the massive stone walls, but they were much worn,
+and the designs to us were unintelligible. Some of them were like
+the Hindoo divinities, while others were more like Christian devices,
+such as cherubims, &c. Altogether, it puzzled us completely as to its
+origin; but there was no doubt whatever as to its having existed from
+an extremely ancient date; and from its general style, as well as the
+absence of any similitude to any other place of heathen worship we have
+met, we set it down in our own minds as most probably a temple to the
+Sun.[10] Most of the figures, as far as their worn state would allow
+one to judge, appeared to be female; and there was an entire absence
+of any symbol at all resembling a cross. Many of the huge pillars had
+been eaten away as if they were of wood, by the combined effects of
+wind and weather; but hands had also been at work, as pieces of the
+decorations and figures appeared scattered about in every direction.
+
+Passing through the town of Islamabad on our return, we went into some
+of the houses to see the people at work at the loom-made shawls. Very
+hard-working and intricate business it seemed to be, and very hard
+and MANCHESTERY the production looked to my eye, far inferior to the
+hand-made, shawl, though not generally considered so.
+
+I tried to negotiate a shawl with the overseer, but he assured me
+that the pieces were all made separately, and were sent in to the
+merchant at Sirinugger to be put together, and that he in fact had
+nothing whatever to do with the sale of them.
+
+In the evening we dined at a fashionably late hour, and were lulled
+to sleep by the simple music of our domesticated waterfall.
+
+JULY 14. -- Started at daybreak for Atchabull, three and a half kos
+off towards the north-east. The baraduree we found situated in the
+middle of a large reservoir, in a beautiful but half-ruined garden;
+and here, the commissariat being unusually late in arriving, we
+took the edge off our appetites with a quantity of small apricots,
+red plums, cherries, &c.
+
+While exploring the gardens, we found, among other remains of grandeur,
+a Humaam, or hot-bath room, which was in very good preservation, and
+had probably in its day been honoured by the fair presence of Noor
+Jehan, with whom Atchabull was a favourite resort, and who has been,
+at one time or another, over all these gardens, during her lord's
+visit to the valley.
+
+About thirty yards from the house, at the base of an almost
+perpendicular hill, were the great sources of interest which the place
+possesses -- viz., a number of springs of ice-cold water, bubbling up
+to a height of two or three feet above the surrounding water level,
+and forming three separate rivers: one in the centre which expanded
+round our house, and one on either side. Around were fruit-trees of
+all sorts and kinds, and from every quarter came the gurgling sound
+of rushing water mingled with the singing of innumerable birds. Here
+sweetly indeed do the "founts of the valley fall;" and their number
+and beauty, as well as the purity of the clear and crystal streams
+which they pour over the length and breadth of the land, it is which
+forms one of its chief and pleasantest features, and has, no doubt,
+mainly contributed to its reputation as a terrestrial paradise. To
+the abundance of these streams the inhabitants are indebted for the
+crops of waving rice which spread their delicately-green carpetting
+over the entire valley; the purity of the waters give to the silks
+the brightness of their dyes and to their shawls their fame; and from
+its virtues also the love-lighted eyes are supposed to derive their
+far-famed lustre. No wonder, therefore, that to the Hindoo at least,
+"Cashmere is all holy land." From his sun-burnt plains and his home
+by the muddy banks of his sacred Ganges, he can form but a small
+conception of these cooling streams and shady pleasures. Should he
+happen to read the glowing descriptions of Lalla Rookh, and be perhaps
+led to reflect that --
+
+
+
+"If woman can make the worst wilderness dear,
+What a heaven she must make of Cashmere!"
+
+
+He no doubt ejaculates "Wa, wa!" in admiration of the poetry of
+the West, and thinks complacently of the partner of his joys as all
+his fancy painted her. His highest flights of imagination, however,
+probably fail to transplant him very far beyond the actual wilderness
+which bounds his mortal vision, while Pudmawutee and Oonmadinee,
+as here depicted by his own artistic skill, present, in all their
+loveliness of form and feature, his best conceptions of ideal worth
+and beauty. No wonder, therefore, that the reality of
+
+
+"Those roses, the brightest that earth ever gave,
+Those grottoes and gardens and fountains so clear!"
+
+
+and above all of --
+
+
+"Those love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave,"[11]
+
+
+should shed its influence largely on his imagination, and that,
+in contrast to his own dry and dusty native plains, Cashmere should
+well be called the Hindoo's Paradise.
+
+JULY 15. -- Marched at dawn for Vernagh, a distance of eight kos,
+rather over a Sabbath-day's journey. Here we had to wait a considerable
+time for our breakfast, the cook being an indifferent pedestrian and
+the day a very hot one. The baradurree was curiously built, close to
+an octagon tank, the water from which ran at a great pace through an
+arch in the middle of the house.[12] The tank was supplied with
+water in great volume, but
+from no apparent source, and was filled with fine fish, all sacred,
+and as fat as butter, from the plentiful support they receive from the
+devout among the Hindoos, not to mention the unbelieving travellers,
+who also supply them for amusement. The tank itself, the natives
+informed us, was bottomless, and it really appeared to be so; for
+from the windows of the baradurree, some fifty feet over the water,
+we could see the sides stretching back as they descended, and losing
+themselves in the clear water, which looked, from the intensity of
+its blue, both deep and treacherous to an unlimited extent. The water,
+too, was so intensely, icily cold, that an attempt to swim across it
+would have been a dangerous undertaking, and neither F. nor I could
+summon courage to jump in. We, however, bathed in the stream which
+ran out of the inexhaustible reservoir, and its effect we found very
+similar to that of hot water, so that a little of it went a very Iong
+way with us. As for the fish, they swarmed in such numbers that they
+jostled each other fairly out of the water in a dense living mass,
+while striving for grains of rice and bread.
+
+This also was a favourite resort of Jehangeer and Noor Jehan; and I
+found an inscription in the Persian character which, in a sentence
+according to Eastern custom, fixed the date of the erection of the
+building attached to the tank as A.H. 1029, or, about A.D. 1612. The
+inscription runs thus: --
+
+
+"The king of seven climes, the spreader of justice, Abdool, Muzuffer,
+Noor-ul-deen[13] Jehangeer Badshah, son of Akbar, conqueror of kings,
+on the day of the 11th year of his reign paid a visit to this fountain
+of favour, and by his order this building has been completed. By
+means of Jehangeer Shah, son of Akbar Shah, this building has raised
+its head to the heavens."
+
+"The 'Inventor of Wisdom' has fixed its date in this line, viz : --
+'Aqsirabad o Chushma Wurnak.' "
+
+
+The fountain or reservoir, and the canal, &c. seem to have been the
+work of Shah Jehan, Noor Jehan's son, or were probably remodelled in
+his reign. The inscription referring to them runs also in the Persian
+character on a slab of copper:
+
+
+"Hyan, by order of Shah Jahan, King, thanks be to God, built this
+fountain and canal. From these have the country of Cashmere become
+renowned, and the fountains aye as the fountains of Paradise."
+
+"The poet Survashi Ghaib has written the date in this sentence, viz: --
+'From the waters of Paradise have these fountains flowed.' "
+
+
+JULY 16. -- On the road again at daybreak, with the intention of
+going to a place called Kukunath, where there were more springs, and
+which, from information obtained from the sepoy who accompanied us,
+was on our road to Islamabad. However, like most information relative
+to either direction or to distance in this country, it turned out to
+be wrong, and we accordingly altered our course and made for our old
+quarters. Breakfasted under a huge walnut-tree, at a village about six
+kos off, and reached Islamabad about one P.M., after a very hot tramp
+of ten kos, through groves of sycamore and walnuts, and hundreds and
+hundreds of acres of rice-fields, immersed in water, and tenanted by
+whole armies of croaking frogs. The people were principally employed
+in weeding their rice-crops, standing up to their knees in mud and
+water, and grubbing about, with their heads in a position admirably
+adapted to give anybody but a native, apoplexy in such a hot sun.
+
+JULY 17. -- In the middle of the night we were awoke by a tremendous
+uproar in our wooden habitation, as if some one was crashing about the
+boards and panels with a big stick; immediately afterwards something
+jumped upon my bed, and with a whisk and a rush, clattered through the
+room to F.'s side, over the table, and back again to my quarter. Half
+asleep and half awake, I hit out energetically, without encountering
+anything of our uninvited guest; and the faithful Rajoo coming in
+with a light, I found F. brandishing a stick valiantly in the air,
+everything knocked about the room; an earthenware vessel of milk spilt
+upon the floor, a tumbler broken, and a plate of biscuits on the table
+with marks of teeth in them. This latter discovery was quite a relief
+to my mind, for the visitation had a most diabolic savour about it,
+and we were just beginning to fancy that there was a slight smell of
+sulphur. However, the milk and the biscuits being such innocent food,
+we were enabled to fancy that the intruder might have been no worse
+than a wild cat, which had frightened itself by breaking, our tumbler,
+and had eventually jumped through the window and made its escape. This
+interpretation, however satisfactory to ourselves, was apparently
+not so to the Q.M.G., and to his dying day he will probably remain
+rather doubtful of the kind of company we kept that night.
+
+At sunrise I paid another visit to the ruins of Pandau, or Martund,
+and sketched it from the north-east; a view which took in the only
+columns of any perfection that remained standing.
+
+Islamabad being, as its name implies, the "abode of Mahomedanism,"
+I had set the kotwal to work to procure me a good copy of the Koran.
+
+On returning, however, I found that he had collected together a
+bundle of the common editions printed in the Arabic alone, without
+interlineations. He assured me, however, that they were rare and
+valuable specimens; and I was amused by the old gentleman reading out
+a passage in a sonorous voice, following each word with his finger,
+and astonishing the bystanders by the display of his erudition; but
+at the same time holding the precious volume upside down, and thus
+failing in impressing at least one of his audience. In the evening
+we started again for Sirinugger.
+
+JULY 18. -- Found ourselves, according to sailing directions, at
+anchor this morning, or in other words, tied to an upright stick,
+at Wentipore, on the left bank of the river, where there were some
+old ruins to be seen.
+
+The architecture we found very similar to the Pandau temple. One
+column, however, was left standing, which was more perfect than any
+we had seen before.
+
+The ruins consisted of a large quadrangle, with cloisters all round,
+and the remains of a temple in the centre; both these were completely
+decayed, but the enormous stones piled together in grand confusion
+showed that the buildings had been of considerable extent.[14] The
+corner stones here alone pointed out the position of the cloisters,
+which at Pandau had been in very fair preservation.
+
+About fifty yards from the entrance there were three columns of
+different form, sunk in the ground, their capitals just reaching a
+little below the surface, and connected by trefoil arches, all in
+pretty good preservation.
+
+A few hundred yards down the river we found another large ruin, but
+in a more dilapidated state than either of the others. In both, the
+designs carved in the huge stones were something similar in pattern
+-- viz. a female figure, with what appeared to be a long strip of
+drapery passing round either arm and descending to the ancles. It
+was impossible to decipher the exact device, but the breast and head,
+in most instances, were plainly distinguishable.
+
+About three kos from Sirinugger, we stopped at another very extensive
+site of Cyclopeian ruins, at a place called Pandreton. Here we found
+the most perfect building of any we had met; and for a considerable
+distance around were traces of what must have been, in ages past,
+a city of some extent.
+
+Among other interesting remains, there was the base of a colossal
+figure standing in the midst of a field of cut corn. Only from the
+knees down remained, but this block alone was over seven feet high;
+the toes were mutilated a good deal, but the legs were in wonderful
+preservation. There was also, about half a, mile off, an enormous
+base of a column, resting on its side, at the summit of a little
+eminence, where a, considerable amount of mechanical power must have
+been required to place it. Its diameter was about six feet; and at
+some distance we found the remainder of the column, split into three
+pieces. It was about twelve feet long, the lower part polygon, the
+upper round, and the top a cone similar in form to the stones dedicated
+to Mahadeo in the temples of the Hindoos. The building which alone
+remained in at all a perfect state was situated in a sort of pond or
+tank of slimy green, and was quite inaccessible without a boat.[15]
+Sending on the cooking apparatus and servants, I remained with the
+smaller boat; and with a rug and a supply of biscuits, set to work to
+sketch the ruins. The operation, however, was not performed without
+very great difficulty. Innumerable mosquitoes made the spot their
+home, and at critical moments they persisted in settling themselves
+in the most uncomfortable positions. The ants, too, took a fancy to
+my paint-box, and even endeavoured to carry off some of the colours;
+so that between the two I was soon fairly put to flight, and obliged
+to evacuate the territory.
+
+On consulting my Hindoo authority, Rajoo, on the subject of Cyclopeian
+ruins, he tells me that they were built, not by man but by "the gods,"
+in the Sut Jug, or golden age, an epoch which existed no less than
+2,165,000 years ago, or thereabouts!
+
+This view of the matter increases the interest of the ruins immensely,
+besides being very complimentary to the style of building practised by
+"the gods" in that age.
+
+The Hindoo ages are four, and we are believed to be at present
+in the last of the four, of which 5,000 years have been already
+accomplished. The names and duration are as follows, viz : -- Sut Jug,
+1,728,000 years; Treth Jug, 1,296,000 years; Duapur Jug, 864,000 years;
+and Kul Jug. 432,000 years. This makes the present age of the world
+to be about 3,893,000 years!
+
+About five P. M. I reached Sirinugger, and found the advanced guard in
+possession of one of the bungalows. Spent the night in a succession
+of skirmishes with innumerable fleas, who appeared to have been out
+of society for a considerable time previous to our arrival. Up to
+this moment I fancied that I knew something of the natural history
+of the race, having studied them and fought with them and slept with
+them in their happiest hunting grounds. Greek fleas, Albanian fleas,
+Tartar fleas, Russian fleas, I had combated on their own soil, but
+never before was I put to such utter confusion. All night long the
+enemy poured in upon me, and several times during the action was I
+forced to leave the field and recruit my shattered forces outside
+in the moonlight. As day dawned, however, I fell upon the foe at a
+certain advantage, and managed at last to get a few hours of sleep.
+
+JULY 19. -- Made an expedition to the small lake to see a building
+which we were informed was built by the Puree, or fairies -- the Peri
+of poetical licence.
+
+After a sharp struggle up a steep hill, under a hot sun, we reached
+the building; but, to all appearance, the fairies had less to do
+with the edifice than a race of very indifferent engineers. It was
+evidently the remains of a hill fort, built of stones and mortar,
+and with nothing wonderful in its construction whatever. It was
+tenanted by buffaloes and a few natives; and having seen specimens
+of both before, we took our departure again rather in a bad humour
+with both the fairies and their partisans.
+
+In the plain below we found the remains of Cyclopeian ruins in an
+enormous block of stone, part of a column.
+
+JULY 22. -- Started this evening in the direction of the water-lake
+in further search of ancient ruins.
+
+JULY 23. -- Found ourselves at daybreak among the mosquitoes in a
+little stream about two kos from Patrun. After breakfasting, we started
+for the vicinity of the ruins. As usual, in the villages we passed
+through, we found traces of cut stone doing duty as washing-stones,
+or corners of walls, &c; and at Patrun we found
+rather a fine old ruined temple, something similar in style to those
+towards Islamabad.[16] It was surrounded at some distance by trees,
+which had tended apparently to preserve the building, for the stone
+carvings were clearer and less decayed by time than any others we
+had seen. Being caught here in a heavy rain, we had a scamper for
+our boats, and after a wet journey, reached Sirinugger about eight P.M.
+
+JULY 26. -- Finding ourselves rather tired of Sirinugger, and with
+no other books than Hindostanee to beguile the time, we resolved
+upon an expedition across the mountains into the regions of Little
+Thibet. Began preparations by hiring twelve coolies, at thirteen
+shillings each per mensem, and a mate or head man to look after
+them. Increased our stock of ducks to twelve, and otherwise added to
+our necessary stores, and completed the arrangements for a move.
+
+To-day a number of arrivals and departures took place, and the whole
+settlement was in a state of excitement and confusion. Boatmen swarmed
+about in rival application for employment, while all the rascals in
+the place seemed to have assembled together for the occasion: those
+who had bills, wanting to get them paid; and those who were either
+lucky or unfortunate enough to have none, wanting to open them as
+soon as possible with the new comers. What with these and pistol
+practice and rifle shooting from upper casements across the river,
+in order to expend spare ammunition, the European quarter was a very
+Babel all day long, and we were not sorry to escape the turmoil and
+get under weigh to new scenes as soon as possible.
+
+About dusk we embarked in two large boats with Rajoo, the cook, and the
+bhistie, the other servants remaining behind, much to their delight,
+to take charge of spare baggage, &c. left in the bungalow. One of
+the Maharajah's army also accompanied us, a rough-and-ready-looking
+sepoy irregular, whose duty it was to ferret out supplies and coolies,
+&c. during our march, and at the same time, perhaps, to keep a watch
+over our own movements and desperate designs. Passed the night under
+gauze fortifications, the disappointed mosquitoes buzzing about
+outside in myriads, and striving hard to take a fond farewell of
+their much-loved foreign guests.
+
+By strange sounds from the direction of my companion's quarters,
+as if of smacking of hands, &c., I was led to infer that they had
+partially succeeded in bidding him good-bye. I, however, luckily
+escaped without receiving even as much as a deputation from the enemy,
+and slept in happy unconsciousness of their vicinity.
+
+
+
+Little Thibet.
+
+JULY 27. -- About six o'clock this morning we found ourselves at
+anchor under the mountains at the northern extremity of the lake,
+and at the mouth of a dashing river of ice-cold water, into which we
+lost no time in plunging. On mustering our forces after breakfast,
+we found that our possessions required fourteen coolies for their
+transport. Our own immediate effects took four, viz. bedding two,
+guns one, and clothes, &c. one; the kitchen required four more;
+tent one, charpoys one, servants' reserve supply of food one,
+brandy, one, plank for table and tent poles one, and last though
+not least, the twelve ducks took up the services of the fourteenth
+all to themselves. The rest of our train consisted of the faithful
+Rajoo, who came entirely at his own request to see a new country,
+the two servants, the sepoy, and the coolie's mate, who was to act as
+guide, carry small matters, and make himself generally useful. After
+a most affectionate parting with our boatmen, Messrs. Suttarah,
+Ramzan, Guffard, and Co., we started on our new travels at about ten
+A.M. under a broiling sun. After several halts under shady chestnuts,
+groves of mulberry, &c., and passing by a gentle ascent through a
+lovely country, we came to our first encamping ground, at Kungur, and
+pitched our tent under a chestnut grove, considerably hot and tired by
+our first march, after all the ease and comparative idleness we had of
+late been enjoying in the valley. Here we saw the first of the system
+of extortion which goes on among the government authorities and the
+people; for after the paymaster to the forces had settled with the
+seven coolies who were not in our permanent employ, not being able
+to take all as we had originally intended, they assembled round us,
+and complained most dolefully of the smallness of their pay. The
+sepoy, who appeared a most pugnacious customer, cuffed some of them,
+and made desperate flourishes at others with a big stick, and seemed
+altogether so anxious to prevent, as he said, the "cherishers of
+the poor," from being inconvenienced by the "scum of the earth,"
+that we suspected something wrong, and on inquiring, ascertained,
+that out of the amount due to the seven, viz. one rupee five annas,
+or about two shillings and eightpence, the organ of government had
+actually stopped eight annas, or one shilling. The mistake we soon
+rectified, much to the delight of the "scum of the earth," -- who had
+certainly earned their three annas, or fourpence halfpenny per man,
+by carrying our impedimenta eight kos under a hot sun, -- and equally
+to the disgust of "the organ" who handed over the difference with
+a very bad grace indeed, and was rather out of tune for the rest of
+the day. Our hearts being expanded by this administration of justice,
+we proceeded to a further act of charity, and emancipated our twelve
+ducks from their basket, into a temporary pond constructed for them
+by the bhistie, where they dabbled about to their hearts' content,
+and soon forgot the sorrows of the road in a repast of meal and rice.
+
+JULY 28. -- Marched at six A.M., and after proceeding about a kos
+found that we were in for a regular wetting. Our path lay through a
+beautifully wooded ravine with precipitous mountain peaks appearing
+ahead in every direction: these, however, were soon shrouded in
+impenetrable mist, which gradually gathered in about us, and proceeded
+to inspect us in a most searching and uncomfortable way.
+
+The road however, though beautiful, was by no means a good one, and it
+was in many places difficult work to keep one's feet in the wet slush,
+over wooden bridges, or along the side of a dashing torrent which kept
+us company, and which seemed to be labouring just now under an unusual
+degree of temporary excitement, in consequence of having had too
+much to drink. We had arranged to breakfast on the road, but the rain
+made us push on, and on reaching the vicinity of our halting-place,
+we stopped to inspect the condition of our garments, and to satisfy
+ourselves as to our future prospects in the matter of dry changes of
+raiment. On opening our small reserve, of which the mate had charge,
+I found that sad havoc had been made in the precious articles we had
+been so hopefully depending upon for comfort and consolation at the
+end of our soaking march. The last efforts of our generally rather
+useless dhobie had been brought to bear upon our present equipment. The
+massive brass smoothing-iron and its owner had alike done their best
+to start us creditably in life with the only clean linen we were
+likely to behold for many weeks, and now nothing remained of the
+first instalment of these spotless results, but a wringing mass of
+wet and dirty linen. The sun, however, coming out opportunely to our
+assistance, we made the best of our misfortune by spreading out our
+small wardrobe to the greatest advantage in its rays. Our guide, who
+by the way appeared to know nothing whatever about the path, proceeded
+to unroll his turban, and divesting himself of his other garments,
+took to waving his entire drapery to and fro in the breeze, with a
+view to getting rid of the superfluous moisture. Leaving him to this
+little amusement, in which he looked like a forlorn and shipwrecked
+mariner making signals of distress, I repaired to a torrent close by,
+and after a satisfactory bathe in the cold snow water, and very nearly
+losing the whole of my personal property in the rushing stream, donned
+the few dry articles I was possessed of, and proceeded to pick out
+our camping ground. We fixed it among the scattered cottages of the
+little village of Gundisursing, and while waiting for the main body,
+stayed our appetites with the few apricots we managed to discover on
+the already rather closely picked trees.
+
+Got breakfast at two P.M. just as the rain began to come down upon us
+again. The supplies procurable here were flour, milk, fowls, and eggs;
+butter, however, was not forthcoming.
+
+JULY 29. -- Marched early after enjoying a drier night than I had
+anticipated from the look of the evening and the fine-drawn condition
+of our tent.
+
+Our road continued up a beautifully wooded and watered valley, and
+reaching a gorge in the mountains, about five kos from our start, we
+halted at a log hut a little way beyond a wooden settlement dignified
+by the name of Gugenigiera.
+
+Here we had a bathe in the rushing snow torrent, a curious combination
+of pain and pleasure, but the latter considerably predominating,
+particularly when it was all over.
+
+After breakfast we sent the coolies on again, intending to halt three
+kos off; however, on reaching the ground, they unanimously requested
+to be allowed to go on to the village of Soonamurg, the halting-place
+shown on our route. It was altogether considerably over a Sabbath-day's
+journey, being nine kos of a bad mountain-path; but as no supplies
+whatever were procurable short of it, we held on our course. After
+leaving our halt, the path led us close to the torrent's edge, and
+the gorge narrowing very much, we were completely towered over in our
+march by gigantic peaks of rock, blocks of which had come down from
+their high estate at some remote period of their existence, and now
+occupied equally prominent though humbler positions in the torrent's
+bed below. Occasionally they presented themselves in our actual path,
+and at one place we found that our course was blocked completely, the
+inaccessible mountain side descending precipitously to the torrent,
+and leaving us no option but to take to the water, roaring and boiling
+as it was. Our guide went first with great deliberation and groping
+his way with a stick, and after an ineffectual attempt to scale the
+rock above, F. and I also unwillingly followed his example. The water
+was piercingly cold as it swept against us, and the pain was so great
+that we were glad to blunder over as quickly as possible, without
+taking very much trouble about picking our steps. After passing
+this in safety we came suddenly upon a band of hill-men with their
+loads, from Thibet; they were the first natives we had encountered,
+and wild and weird-looking savages they appeared as they congregated
+about us, gibbering to each other in their astonishment at our sudden
+appearance. With them, was a strange-looking bullock, with long black
+mane and tail, and hind quarters like a horse, which they apparently
+used for carrying their merchandize. To-day we passed the first snow
+since leaving the valley, although in the distance there was plenty
+of it to be seen.
+
+Nothing could exceed the beauty of the view as we approached our
+intended halting-place. Having crossed the torrent by a wooden bridge,
+the mountains we had been winding through showed out in all their
+grandeur, while above us, inaccesible peaks, with sharp and fanciful
+projections, nestled their mighty heads among the fleecy clouds, which
+hung about after the recent rains. In advance again, other mountain
+ranges rose behind each other, clothed on their southern faces with
+delicate grass up to the point where the snow lay lightly on their
+rocky top-knots and hid itself among the clouds. From the bridge,
+a rustic structure of entire pine-trees, we passed through an upper
+valley carpeted with the brightest soft green pasturage, until we
+reached the usual little cluster of dilapidated wooden tenements
+which constitute a village in these mountains. This was Soonamurg,
+and crossing another bridge, formed of two single giant pines, we
+came to a halt and pitched our camp close to a huge bank of snow on
+the river's brink. What with our halt, and the badness of the path,
+we did not arrive until five P.M., and as the sun set, the spray from
+our snowy neighbour began to wrap its chilling influence about us,
+and we were glad enough to invest ourselves in some thick cashmere
+wraps of native manufacture, which we had hitherto considered merely
+as standbyes in case of extraordinary cold on mountain tops.
+
+According to general report, however, we only reach THE FOOT OF THE
+MOUNTAINS to-morrow. This sounds well, considering that we have been
+ascending steadily for three days, and have left huge avalanches of
+snow beneath us, not to mention the mountains which we traversed on the
+Peer Punjal side before even entering the Valley of Cashmere at all.
+
+At Soonamurg, where we had been warned that there were no supplies,
+we found large herds of sheep and goats. The, people, however,
+were not at all inclined to sell them, and we had some trouble in
+getting hold of a couple of fine fat sheep from them, for which we
+paid, what was here considered a high price, viz. two rupees, or four
+shillings each. We also enlisted the temporary services of two hairy,
+horny goats, which are to accompany us for the next three marches as
+portable dairies, no supplies being procurable on the road. Butter and
+milk are both forthcoming here in abundance, and occasionally rice is
+to be got. Penetrated with the freshness of the mountain air and the
+freedom of our vagabond life, we came unanimously to the conclusion
+that we had made a wise exchange from the FAR NIENTE DOLCES of
+Sirinugger, and passed a vote of general confidence in the expedition.
+
+JULY 30. -- The wind this morning blew bitterly cold over the snow
+and into our tent, rendering the operation of turning out rather more
+unpopular than usual.
+
+Got off, however, about six, and had a fine bracing march over a
+grassy valley among the mountains. After about four kos, the sun began
+again to assert his supremacy, and, in conjunction with the cold of
+the morning, rather took liberties with our faces and hands. About
+half-way we came upon the merry ring of axes among the trees, and
+found a party of natives constructing a log-house for the benefit of
+travellers towards Ladak. Pitched our camp in a wild spot at the foot
+of the mountains, bathed in the snow water, and had a sheep killed
+for breakfast.
+
+One of the live stock died this morning: an unfortunate hen had been
+sat upon by the ducks, and the result was asphyxia, and consignment
+to the torrent.
+
+JULY 31. -- Finished up the month by a difficult march of four and
+twenty miles, encamping at Pandras about eight P.M. and no longer at
+the FOOT of the mountains. Immediately on leaving our halting-place we
+commenced the ascent of a steep glacier, and for upwards of four miles
+our path lay entirely over the snow: so dense and accumulated was it,
+that even when the sun came out and burned fiercely into our faces
+and hands, there was no impression whatever made on its icy surface.
+
+The glacier was surrounded on all sides by peaks of perpetual snow,
+while parts of it were of such ancient date that, ingrained as it was
+with bits of stick and stones &c., it bore quite the appearance of
+rock. The path was in some places so indistinct, that on one occasion
+I found myself far ahead of the rest of the party, and approximating
+to the clouds instead of to the direction of Ladak. About five kos
+on our journey we halted to let the kitchen come up, and had our
+breakfast on the snow in the company of a select party of marmots. The
+little creatures appeared to live in great peace and seclusion here,
+for they let us up, in their ignorance of fire-arms, to within thirty
+yards of them before scuttling into their habitations. They were all
+dressed in blackish brown suits of long thick fur, and considering
+that they live in snow for at least eight months out of twelve,
+they appeared not the least too warmly clothed. As we went by they
+used to come out and sit up on their hind legs, with their fore
+paws hanging helplessly over their paunches, while, with a shrill
+discordant cry, they bid us good-morning and then hurried back to
+their houses again. Not having our rifles handy they escaped scot
+free, otherwise we might have borrowed a coat from one of them as a
+reminiscence of the country. After another kos or two we began to get
+clear of the glacier; but occasionally we came upon enormous masses of
+snow jammed up on either side of the torrent, the action of the water
+having worn away the centre. The path gradually led us through rocky
+passes, over torrents spanned by snow among the magnificent mountain
+range; and although the march was, rather long for a hill country,
+we found no fault with it until about the last three kos, when it
+was getting late in the day, and although fast becoming hungry,
+we saw no immediate prospect of getting anything to eat.
+
+The last few kos we find invariably longer than their fellows;
+one kos by DESCRIPTION, at this stage of the proceedings, being
+generally equal to two in reality. Asking a native, how far we are
+from a halting-place, is invariably answered in one of two ways:
+either THOREE DOOR, not very far, or NUZDEEK, close. THOREE DOOR means
+generally about four miles, while NUZDEEK may be translated five at
+least. A kos too, which ought to be from one and a half to two miles,
+means here anything between one mile and seven. Delaying as much as
+possible, to let our servants up, we reached Pandras at last, and
+found all the inhabitants turned out to see our arrival; they were
+dressed in long woollen coats and sheepskins, and looked something
+between Russians and Tartars, with a strong flavour of the Esquimaux,
+as depicted by Polar voyagers. As the sun went down it became bitterly
+cold, and we found the natives even, shuddering under the influences
+of the snowy wind, which, setting in from the mountains, appeared to
+blow from all points of the compass at one and the same time. What
+the village of Pandras must be in mid-winter it is hard to imagine,
+so covered with snow as the mountains around it are even in August,
+and so bleak and so barren the valley in which it is situated.
+
+In spite of the cold, we astonished the entire swaddled population
+by taking off our clothes, and bathing in a little crystal stream
+close by: two operations, in all probability, which they themselves
+had never perpetrated within the memory of the oldest inhabitant,
+This feat accomplished, we were much astonished by the arrival of a
+RARA AVIS, in the shape of a British traveller, from the direction
+of Ladak. He turned out to be an officer of the Government survey,
+now being carried on in the mountains, and we took the opportunity
+of deriving from him all the information we could, relative to the
+prospect before us. He strongly recommended us to go to the monastery
+of Hemis, beyond Ladak, and also to the Lakes, but the latter would
+appear to be beyond the limits of our time. The only natives we had met
+during our unusually long march to-day, were four hairy-looking savages
+from the interior, from whom, after much difficulty, I succeeded
+in purchasing an aboriginal tobacco-pouch, flint, and steel, all
+combined in one, paying for the same about three times its actual and
+local value, viz. two rupees. They were dressed in long woollen coats,
+with thick bands of stuff rolled round their waists; and all four had
+bunches of yellow flowers stuck in their caps, and pipes, knives,
+tobacco-pouches, &c. hung round their girdles. Their shoes were of
+the Esquimaux pattern, the soles sheepskin, coming up all round the
+front of the foot, where they were joined by woollen continuations --
+shoes, socks, and leggings, being thus conveniently amalgamated into
+one article of apparel.
+
+AUGUST 1. -- On the road a little later than usual, all hands being
+tired after yesterday's exertions. The path to-day lay among huge
+boulders of rock, which had come down as specimens from the mountains
+above, and after a short march of five kos, we reached Dras, a little
+assemblage of flat-roofed houses, with a mud fort about half a mile
+from it, in the valley. This was built with four bastions and a ditch
+scarped with paving-stones, which surrounded it on all sides except
+one, where it was naturally defended by the torrent. On the road we
+passed a curious bridge, built entirely of rope manufactured from
+twigs of trees. The cables thus formed were swung across the torrent,
+from piles of loose stones, in a most scientific way, though not one
+calculated to inspire confidence in any traveller with weak nerves who
+might have to trust himself to its support. It appeared, nevertheless,
+a most serviceable structure, and was decidedly picturesque. At Dras
+we were able to get all supplies except fowls.
+
+AUGUST 2. -- Having a long and up-hill march before us, we were up and
+dressed by moonlight. Outside the village, we came upon two curious
+old stones, standing about six feet high, upright, and carved in the
+way we had already seen at the ruins of Pandau and elsewhere. These
+stones were of irregular form, and carved on three sides, and the
+designs, though much worn, were distinctly traceable. They represented,
+apparently, a male and female figure, standing about five feet high,
+and surrounded by three smaller figures each. Like all the other
+sculptured figures we had seen, they were innocent of clothes, with
+the exception of the rope, or very scant drapery, which ran across
+their ancles and up either side to the shoulders.
+
+Leaving these, we passed through a wild and rugged valley among the
+mountains, cultivated in patches, and watered by numerous little
+sparkling crystal streams. At short intervals, there were little
+settlements of mud huts, built, Tartar fashion, one on top of another,
+and peopled by a few miserable-looking natives, who appeared, in
+their woollen rags, to be cold, even in the middle of this summer's
+day. The few travellers we met during our march were flat nosed,
+heavy-looking creatures, with Chinese skull-caps and pig-tails,
+and were employed in conveying salt to Cashmere, packed in bags of
+woven hair, and laden on cows and asses as weird and strange-looking
+as their owners. About five kos off, we called a halt for breakfast,
+and reached Tusgam about four P.M.
+
+Here we found a few ARBOR VITAE, and other shrubs, in bad health,
+the first of the tree species we had encountered since ascending
+the glacier.
+
+AUGUST 3. -- Struck our camp at sunrise, and crossing the torrent,
+which still accompanied us, descended the Pass by a slight
+decline. During the day we passed through numerous gorges, studded
+with giant masses of rock, and bounded on all sides by rugged and
+inhospitable mountains. We only saw one village, and that some way
+off the road -- Kurroo, the guide called it. Breakfasted under an
+overhanging rock on the mountain side, just where our path was, hemmed
+in by the torrent, and were disturbed during our repast by several
+volleys of stones which rattled down over us from above. They were set
+free by the melting of some large masses of snow, which, being covered
+with sticks and dirt, we had not noticed when we chose our breakfast
+parlour so close to their uncomfortable proximity. To-day we met
+more salt-carrying parties -- uncouth-looking savages in pig-tails,
+speaking a language that not one of our party could understand. We
+also encountered an original-looking gold-washing association of
+five, who were wending their way towards the snow with their wooden
+implements. They were all also weighted with bags of grain, to keep
+them alive during their search. Their labour consists in sifting
+the fine sand which comes down in the snow-torrents, charged with
+minute particles of gold; and the proceeds, from the appearance of
+"the trade," would not seem to be very great. They say it amounts
+only to a few annas a day, but would probably not allow to the full
+amount for fear of being taxed.
+
+At our breakfast-halt we saw the most primitive specimen of a smoking
+apparatus probably ever invented. It consisted of a dab of mud stuck
+in a hole of a tree, about five feet from the ground. Two small sticks,
+inserted in this from above and below and then withdrawn, had evidently
+served to form the smoke passage; while the bowl as evidently had
+been fashioned by the simple impression of a Thibetian thumb, the
+whole forming, for the use of needy travellers, as permanent and
+satisfactory a public pipe as could well have been devised. It had
+just been in requisition before we passed, for a small quantity of
+newly-burned tobacco lay in the bowl; and a fresh patch of clay on
+the mouthpiece had probably been added, either in the way of general
+repairs or by some extra-fastidious traveller, who preferred having
+a private mouthpiece of his own. After rather a severe march through
+rocky mountain gorges, we reached Chungun, a little oasis of about
+five acres of standing barley, with three or four flat-roofed houses
+dotted about it in the usual Tartar style of architecture. It also
+boasted four poplar-trees, standing in a stiff and reserved little
+row, evidently in proud consciousness of their family importance
+among such rugged, treeless, iron mountains.
+
+It was altogether a refreshing little spot for a halt, after the
+savage scenery we had marched through; and pitching our camp in it,
+we were not long in introducing ourselves to the little brawling
+stream of clear cold water to which it owed its existence.
+
+AUGUST 4. -- Started this morning in a mountain mist. Just outside
+the village we passed the scene of the fall of an avalanche, which
+gave one some faint idea of the enormous forces occasionally at work
+among these mountains. It had taken a small village in its path, and
+over the place where it had stood we now took our way, among a perfect
+chaos of masses of rock, and uptorn earth, trees, &c. The whole ground
+was torn and rent, as by the eruption of volcanoes or the explosion
+of enormous magazines of powder. Passing this, our path continued
+to descend the gorge until about two kos from Chungun, when another
+torrent came down to join its forces to the one we were accompanying;
+and leaving our old companion to roar its way down to join the Indus,
+we proceeded up the valley in the society of our new friend. Passing a
+series of little villages nestled among the rugged rocks, we crossed
+the stream by a tree bridge and causeway, to the Fort of Kurgil,
+where, after a long consultation, we breakfasted. The differences
+of opinion between the guide and the rest of the natives as to the
+distance of a village ahead, where milk and supplies were forthcoming,
+were so wide, some saying three kos, others six, &c., that we finally
+determined upon getting some breakfast before deciding the true
+distance for ourselves. The village Hundas was another most perfect
+little oasis. It was only about five or six acres in extent, under
+the frowning mountain, and was terraced and planted in the neatest
+and most economical way imaginable. The fields were beautifully clean,
+and were quaintly adorned in many instances by huge blocks of rock from
+the mountain above, bigger considerably than the whole of the houses
+of the village put together. Leaving Kurgil, we made a sharp ascent,
+and crossed a plateau bounded by some extremely curious formations
+of rock and sandstone.
+
+The mountains appeared to have been reared on end and cut with a knife,
+as if for the especial benefit of geologists in general, although the
+hues of their many-coloured strata were calculated to attract even
+the most ungeological mind by their brightness. Descending from this
+plateau, we came to a pass dotted with three or four little villages,
+wooded with poplars, and adorned with a few shrubs of different
+kinds. Here every available inch of ground which the grudging rocks
+bestowed was cultivated, although all around, the mud-built native huts
+were broken down and deserted, in such numbers as to give the idea
+of an Irish settlement whose inhabitants had transplanted themselves
+to America. At the last of these little villages, called Pushkoom,
+we pitched our camp, the retainers taking a fancy to the place from
+the promise it gave of abundant supplies.
+
+AUGUST 5. -- Made our first day's halt, and enjoyed it considerably
+-- not the least of its advantages being the immunity it gave us
+from being torn out of bed at grey hours in the morning. The rest
+of the force also appreciated the day of rest, and made themselves
+comfortable after their fashion under our grove of trees.
+
+In the afternoon I ascended the mountain opposite to reconnoitre and
+inspect the curious formation of strata, which formed the principal
+feature of the place.
+
+The ascent I found at first to be over a soft crumbling small stone,
+resembling ashes, but of various colours, and in distinctly-marked
+strata. These were generally of pinkish red and grey, and from them
+in large masses, rose enormous blocks of concrete, in all manner
+of forms and shapes, some like towers and fortifications, and
+others standing out boldly by themselves, worn by the weather into
+holes and ridges. After a considerably difficult ascent, from the
+crumbling nature of the stones, I reached the summit of the mountain,
+and climbing a concrete monster which capped it, had a magnificent
+survey of the mountain ranges and country around. In every direction
+the eye rested on snowy summits, and the wind from them fell coolly
+and refreshingly after the toil of ascent under a hot sun.
+
+Returning through the village, I found the natives hard at work
+collecting their crops of wheat and barley, and stowing them away,
+generally upon the flat tops of their houses. They seemed altogether
+a peaceful, primitive race; but, although their ground appears in
+first-rate order, they themselves are uncultivated and dirty in the
+extreme. The ladies, I am sorry to say, are even rather worse in this
+matter than the gentlemen. The female costume consists generally of
+robes of sheep and goat skins thrown across the shoulders; while
+a long tail of twisted worsted plaits, looking like a collection
+of old-fashioned bell-ropes, forms the chief decoration. This is
+attached to the back hair, and hangs down quite to the heels, where it
+terminates in a large tuft, with tassels and divers balls of worsted
+attached to it. On a hill overhanging the village were the remains
+of a mud fort, which had been pulled down by Gulab Singh in one of
+his excursions to Thibet, with a view to bringing the inhabitants
+to a proper sense of their position, and enforcing the payment of
+his tribute.
+
+The number of battered and deserted huts about the village is accounted
+for by the erratic habits of the people, which induce them never to
+stay long in one set of houses, but to flit from one side of the valley
+and from one settlement to another as the fancy strikes them. That the
+large increase of the flea population among such a race, however, may
+have something to do with their restlessness, seems more than probable.
+
+Except when impressed for government employ, they seldom leave the
+vicinity of their villages, and one old gentleman told me he had
+never been even as far as a place called Lotzum, which is only two kos
+off! The religion seems to be a mixture of Buddhism and Mahomedanism --
+the latter on the decrease as we get farther into the country.
+
+The dress assimilates to the Chinese -- pig-tails and little skull-caps
+being the order of the day. We obtained here good supplies of cow's
+milk, butter, &c., and among other things, some peas. These enabled
+us to celebrate our Sunday's dinner by a "duck and green peas," and
+never since the first invention of ducks could a similar luxury have
+been so thoroughly appreciated.
+
+AUGUST 6. -- Started early again, and marched five kos, through the
+little half-deserted settlement of Lotzum to the village of Shergol,
+where we halted for breakfast. Here we found ourselves fairly among
+the Buddhists, and saw an entirely new description of monuments
+connected with religion, from anything we had yet encountered. The
+most striking objects were a series of tomb-like buildings, without
+entrances, and adorned on all sides by the most hideous effigies,
+rudely executed in coloured mud.[17]
+
+Some of these were men, depicted in bright red on a yellow ground, with
+horrible staring countenances; others women, adorned with numberless
+necklaces and other ornaments; besides these, there were peacocks,
+griffins with human arms, deer, &c., and all in the most flaring
+colours and the very rudest designs.
+
+In the perpendicular face of a rock beyond was a very curious
+monastery, or abode of the Lamas. It was built completely IN the rock,
+and was reached by a natural cavity on the face of the stone.
+
+Jutting out from the upper part, balconies had been erected overhanging
+the precipice, and these were decorated with red copings, spotted with
+white. From the fact of only one of our party knowing the language,
+it was difficult to ascertain from the natives the history of this
+curious abode, but they gave us to understand that it was the home
+of their Lamas, or spiritual preceptors. Here we met another of
+the race of wandering Englishmen, who was wending his way back to
+the valley. He was returning from a shooting tour, was all alone,
+and appeared to have had very hard work indeed of it, if his face
+and hands and generally dilapidated appearance might taken as a
+criterion. Not being quite in such light marching order ourselves,
+we were able to ask him to breakfast, and from his ready acceptance
+and the entire justice he did to our offer, I don't think he could
+have had anything to eat for a week.
+
+He appeared to be a thorough sportsman, and had bagged several head of
+large game, which he showed us. They were principally a kind of wild
+sheep with enormous heads and horns, each of his trophies being almost
+a coolie load in itself. Leaving Shergol, we entered a curious valley
+with rocks of concrete standing out like towers and fortifications,
+and on the summits of these again, airy-looking habitations with
+red streaks adorning them, and entered, as that at Shergol, by holes
+in the face of the rock. These were, or had been, the abodes of the
+Lamas; numbers of them now however, as well as the mud settlements
+at their feet, appeared in ruins, and gave no sign of habitation,
+beyond having about them a number of little flags stuck on long poles,
+which fluttered about in the breeze. According to the account of our
+interpreter, which had to pass from Thibetian into Hindostanee before
+it could clothe itself in English, the cause of this dilapidation
+was the state of wealth and ambition at which the Lamas had arrived,
+and the consequent interposition of Gulab Singh to take down their
+pride and ease them of a little of their wealth, both of which he
+accomplished in the style to which he was so partial, by slaughtering
+some hundreds of them and reducing their airy habitations to ruins.
+
+At a place called Moulwee we came to a curious block of massive rock
+standing close beside the path, with one of the red-topped houses
+built into its side. Above this was a colossal figure with four arms,
+rudely cut on the face of the rock, and above all was perched an
+implement, something after the fashion of a Mrs. Gamp's umbrella of
+large proportions, together with sundry sticks and rags, which seem
+to be the common style of religious decoration in these parts.
+
+The figure was about eighteen feet high, the lower extremities being
+hidden behind the building at the base of the rock. It resembled in
+some measure the sculptures occasionally seen among Hindoo temples,
+but no one appeared to know anything whatever of its origin or history.
+
+Close to this there were an immense number of stones collected
+together, bearing inscriptions in two different characters, one of
+which resembled slightly the Devanagree or Sanscrit. Seeing such a
+profusion about, I appropriated one which happened to be conveniently
+small, and carried it off in my pocket.
+
+The sun being intensely powerful, we called a halt at a village
+named Waka, perched among the rocks, where we found a rattletrap of a
+baradurree, which saved us the trouble of pitching our tents. Opposite
+to us was a curiously worn mass of concrete mountain, which might
+easily have been mistaken for artificial lines of fortification,
+had not the scale been so large as to preclude the possibility of any
+but giants or fairies having been the engineers. At the head of the
+valley there was a fine snow-covered mountain, which helped to keep
+us cool in an otherwise excessively hot position. The cook having
+been rather overcome by his exertions to-day, we got our dinner at
+the fashionable hour of nine P.M.
+
+AUGUST 7. -- Starting from Waka at cock-crow, we marched up a steep
+ascent, through a bleak-looking range of hills, to Khurboo, where we
+bivouacked under a tree and got breakfast about noon.
+
+Afterwards, I examined more minutely the inscription on the
+stones, which, as we advanced into the country, appeared to
+increase considerably in number. They consisted in almost every
+case of the same word, containing five letters in one character
+and six in the other, though I occasionally there were additional
+letters, and sometimes, though very rarely, a stone with a different
+inscription altogether. After a good deal of difficulty I succeeded
+in unearthing a Lama from the village to help me in my researches,
+and a strange-looking dignitary of the Church he turned out to be when
+he did make his appearance. He was a bloated and fat old gentleman,
+dressed in a yellowish red garment of no particular shape, and looked
+altogether more like a moving bundle of red rags than anything else,
+human or divine.
+
+Finding that nothing was required of him more expensive than
+information, he appeared delighted to show off his learning, and by
+means of the sepoy, who was the only one of our party acquainted with
+both Thibetan and Hindoostanee, I ascertained that the words carved
+upon the stones were "Um mani panee," and meant, as far as I could
+make out, "the Supreme Being." As the old gentleman repeated the
+mystic syllables, he bobbed and scraped towards a strange-looking
+monument close by, in an abject, deprecatory way, as if in extreme
+awe of its presence.[18]
+
+On inquiring the origin of this new structure, which was built of
+stones and plaster, and decorated with red ochre, all we could get out
+of him was a fresh string of "Um mani panees," and a further series
+of moppings and mowings, accompanied by a sagacious expression of
+his fat countenance, indicative of the most entire satisfaction at
+the clearness of his explanations, and a sense of his own importance
+as a Lama and an expositor of the doctrines of Buddh.
+
+He also explained the only other inscription which I had seen;
+and according to the interpretation of the sepoy, it ran thus: --
+" As God can do so none other can."[19]
+
+
+
+Not another piece of information could I elicit relative to the
+religion beyond the continual "Um mani panee, Um mani panee!" which
+our friend seemed never tired of mumbling; and although the sepoy was,
+I believe, considerably more adapted for the extraction of reluctant
+supplies of food for our kitchen than for eliciting such information
+on the subject of theology as I was in search of, the real cause of
+failure was more to be attributed to the extreme ignorance of the
+particular pillar of the Church that we had got hold of, than to any
+little literary failings of the interpreter. Such were the quantities
+of the inscribed stones about this place, that in one long wall I
+estimated there must have been upwards of 3,000, and this in a country
+where inhabitants of any sort are few and far between, and where none
+appear who seem at all capable of executing such inscriptions.
+
+AUGUST 8. -- Having suffered a good deal yesterday from the heat
+of the sun, we started this morning by a bright moonlight, at about
+half-past four A.M.
+
+Entering the Pass of Fotoola, we ascended gradually for some five kos,
+and reached a considerable elevation, with a good deal of snow lying
+about on the mountains. A peak on the right was 19,000 feet above
+the sea level, and few of those in our immediate vicinity were under
+17,000 feet. From the summit of this pass we descended about three
+kos to Lamieroo, without passing a single hut or village on the entire
+road. The only natives we encountered were a party of three from Ladak,
+on their way to Cashmere, with a couple of fine native dogs, as a
+present from the Thanadar to some of his visitors. The pedestrians one
+generally meets now are old ladies, carrying conical baskets filled
+with sulphur or saltpetre, in the direction of Cashmere, and so shy
+are they, that on beholding "the white face" they drop their loads as
+if shot, and scuttle away among the mountains, so that, if inclined,
+we could seize upon the Maharajah's munitions of war and carry them
+off without difficulty. On reaching the vicinity of Lamieroo, the
+inscribed stones became more frequent than ever. They were placed
+generally upon long broad walls, the tops of which sloped slightly
+outwards, like the roof of a house. Supplies of uncut stones were also
+in many instances collected together in their vicinity, as if for the
+benefit of any pedestrian who might feel inclined to carve out his
+future happiness by adding to the collection. Lamieroo, as its name
+would seem to imply, appears to have been a headquarters of the Lamas
+and their religion. It contains a curious monastery, or Lamaserai,
+built upon the extreme top ledge of a precipice of concrete stone,
+and at its base (some hundred feet below) the habitations which
+constitute the village are also perched on pinnacles of rock, and
+scattered about, often in the most unlikely spots imaginable. Entering
+the bason formed by the valley in which this curious settlement is
+situated, one opens suddenly by an ascending turn upon the whole
+scene, and anything more startlingly picturesque it would be hard to
+conceive. As the view appears, the first objects presented are a host
+of little monument-like buildings, which line the path and are dotted
+about in groups of from three to twelve or fourteen together. They
+stand about seven feet high, and, as far as we could make out from
+the natives, are erected over the defunct Lamas and other saints of
+the Buddhist religion, after which they become sacred in the eyes
+of the living, and are referred to with scrapings and bowings and
+"Um mani panees" innumerable. In the monastery we found twenty Lamas
+at present domiciled -- fat, comfortable-looking gentlemen  they all
+were, dressed in orange-yellow garments, and not a bit cleaner than the
+rest of the natives, nor looking by any means more learned. Mounting
+the side of the bill, and passing under one of the red-ring pillared
+monuments, we entered the precincts of the monastery, and threading
+some very steep and dark passages in the interior of the rock, were
+received by a deputation of Lamas, with the salutation of "Joo, Joo!"
+
+We were then ushered with great ceremony into their temple, much to the
+awe and consternation of our guides, who apparently expected to see
+us as much overcome by the sanctity of the place as they themselves
+were. The temple we found a small square room with a gallery round
+it, from which were suspended dingy-looking Chinese banners, flowers,
+&c., and at one end were about twenty idols of various designs, seated
+in a row staring straight before them, and covered with offerings of
+Indian corn, yellow flowers, butter, &c. They were for the most part
+dressed in Chinese fashion, and in the dusky light had certainly a
+queer weird-looking appearance about them, which was quite enough
+to overawe our village guide; not being accustomed to such saintly
+society, he could hardly raise his eyes or speak above his breath,
+but stood with hands joined together and in a supplicating posture,
+enough to melt the heart of even the very ugliest of idols. The service
+(by particular desire) began by three of the most unctuous of the
+Lamas squatting down on some planked spaces before the divinities,
+and raising a not unmusical chaunt, accompanying themselves at the same
+time with a pair of cymbals, while two large double-sided tom-toms or
+drums gradually insinuated themselves into the melody. These were each
+fixed on one long leg and were beaten with a curved stick, muffled
+at the end. The performance of the cymbals was particularly good,
+and the changes of time they introduced formed the chief feature
+of the music, and was rather pleasing than otherwise. The service
+as it drew to a close, was joined by a duett upon two enormous brass
+instruments like speaking-trumpets grown out of all decent proportions;
+they were about five feet long, and were placed on the ground during
+the performance, and as two of the fattest of the Lamas operated and
+nearly suffocated themselves in their desperate exertions, the result
+was the most diabolical uproar that ever could have been produced
+since the first invention of music.
+
+Not being able to trust the sepoy in such a delicate undertaking, I was
+unable to get any information from the Lamas on religious subjects;
+and all signs and suggestive pointings, &c. were immediately and
+invariably answered by "Um mani panee," so that we left about as wise
+as we entered. The most interesting object in the place was a library
+of Thibetian books. It consisted of an upright frame divided into
+square compartments, each with a word cut deeply into the wood over
+it, and containing the volumes. These were merely long narrow sheets,
+collected between two boards, also carved on the outside with a name
+similar to the one on the shelf. The characters were beautifully
+formed, and I tried to purchase a small volume, if a thing about two
+feet long could be called so, but without effect. There were about
+thirty of these books in the place, ponderous tomes, carefully covered
+up, and little read, to judge by the quantity of dust collected on
+them. They read us, however, a small portion of one, in a drawling,
+sonorous tone, and with no very great facility.
+
+These books, together with a number of rudely-printed papers, of the
+nature of tracts, one of which I carried away, containing some of the
+characters similar to that on the inscribed stones, appear to have been
+printed at Lassa,[20] the capital of Thibet Proper, and from there,
+the head-quarters of the religion in these parts, all the musical
+instruments and other paraphernalia belonging to the temples are
+also sent. One exception, however, I discovered; this was an empty
+brandy-bottle, bearing a magnificent coloured label, which certainly
+could not have been issued from the Grand Lama's religious stores. To
+the English eye, or rather nose, it had but little of the odour of
+sanctity about it; but here it evidently held a high position, and
+was prominently placed among the temporal possessions of "the Gods."
+
+The women here, and those we met on the road during the last two
+marches, wore a curious head-dress, differing from anything of the kind
+we had before seen. It consisted of a broad band extending from the
+forehead to the waist behind, and studded thickly with large coarse
+turquoises. These generally decrease in size from the forehead, where
+there is a larger turquoise than the others, down to the waist, and
+where the hair ends, it is joined into a long worsted tail terminating
+at the heels. Some of these bands must be of considerable value,
+but the proprietors, although otherwise in complete rags, will not
+part with them for any consideration. One lady whom I accosted on
+the subject, thought I was going to murder her, and took to her
+heels forthwith. In general, however, the fair sex here carefully
+hide both their charms and their turquoises behind the nearest rock
+or the most convenient cover that presents itself, and vanish like
+phantoms whenever they discern a white man in the distance.
+
+The cooking department being delayed by the ascent, we got no breakfast
+to-day until one o'clock, unless a drink of milk and a biscuit on
+arrival could be called by courtesy a breakfast.
+
+AUGUST 9. -- Descended from Lamieroo through a precipitous pass
+for about three kos and a half, to Kulchee, a tidy little village
+of fifteen huts, situated in an oasis of apricot and walnut-trees,
+the first we had encountered since leaving Cashmere.
+
+The people here seemed particularly simple and happy among their waving
+corn-fields and wild fruit-trees, and they were most anxious to supply
+us with apricots and milk, and whatever they could produce. The Gopa,
+or head-man of the village, could speak a little Hindostanee, besides
+being able to read and write his own language in two characters, and
+as he seemed unusually sharp and intelligent, I was very glad to have
+a chat with him while waiting for the commissariat to come up. The
+character most common on the inscribed stones, and one of those now in
+actual use, he told me was Romeeque; the other, the square character
+on the stones, is obsolete, and is called Lantza;[21] while a third
+character, which was the one he was most conversant with, but which
+did not appear upon any of the stones, he called Tyeeque.
+
+His explanation of the stones was, that at the last day a certain
+recording angel, whom he called Khurjidal, would pass through the
+land, and inspecting these mounds of inscribed stones, would write
+down the names of all those who had contributed to the heap. What the
+inscription was he seemed unable clearly to explain, but believed it to
+refer in some manner to the Supreme Being. Whatever it was, all those
+who had contributed their share towards its dissemination, by adding
+stones to the mounds, were certain of future rewards, while those
+who had omitted to do so were as equally certain of punishment.[22]
+
+This explanation of the difficulty caused me some qualms of conscience
+on account of the future prospects of the unfortunate writer whose
+particular stone I had appropriated; but for fear the Gopa himself
+might be the sufferer, I thought it better not to confide my emotions
+to him, but to leave the case in the hands of Khurjidal.
+
+Regarding the state of the people here, he told me that each house
+paid a tax of seven rupees per annum to the Maharajah. This, for
+the entire village, would only give 105 rupees per annum towards the
+enrichment of the Treasury.
+
+The Lamas, who have no ground of their own, appear to be a further
+burden on the population. They are supplied gratuitously with food,
+and appear to be somewhat similar to the Hindoo Fukeer, devoting
+themselves to religion and remaining unmarried. They, however, are
+not so violent in their opinions, and are more conversable, to say
+nothing of being decidedly cleaner.
+
+We breakfasted under the spreading walnuts, among an audience composed
+of the entire village, who seemed much edified and amused by our
+novel manners and customs. Some of our English possessions took their
+fancy immensely. A cut-glass lantern and the label of a bottle of
+cherry-brandy in particular, seemed to them the very essence of the
+rare and curious, and they seemed never tired of admiring them. After
+breakfast we again took the road, and marched three kos to another
+little wooded settlement, called Nurila, situated, like Kulchee,
+upon the Indus, or, as it is here called, the Attock. The noisy,
+dirty torrent, as it here appears, however, gives little promise of
+becoming, as it does in after life, one of the largest of the stately
+Indian rivers.
+
+AUGUST 10. -- From Nurila we travelled along the Indus bank to Suspul,
+a distance of seven kos or thereabouts, stopping for breakfast at
+a village whose entire population consisted of one woman! The river
+being shut in by high and rocky mountains, our path took several most
+abrupt turns and startling ascents and descents in its meanderings, and
+proved altogether the worst for coolies to travel that we had as yet
+encountered. The greater part of our march, too, was under a burning
+sun, whose rays the rocks on either side of us reflected in anything
+but an agreeable way, giving thereby a considerable addition of colour
+to our already well-bronzed countenances. Near Suspul we had to take
+to the water, as a mass of overhanging rock jutted into the river and
+completely obstructed the path; and here one of our coolies, stumbling,
+dropped his load into the torrent. It was a particularly precious part
+of our expeditionary stores, containing, among other things, the small
+stock of brandy which was to last us back to Sirinugger. However,
+on inspecting the contents of the basket, the precious liquid was
+safe and sound, and the only damage was the conversion, PRO TEM. of
+our stock of best lump sugar into MOIST. Suspul we found situated in
+a half-moon shaped break of fertility among the barren mountains. The
+snow was within half an hour's climb, while at the same time the sun
+shone with such power as to blister our faces, and even to affect the
+black part of the expedition, rendered somewhat tender, no doubt, by
+the unusual mixture of heat and cold to which they had already been
+exposed. We encamped here under a grove of apricot and apple-trees,
+which resulted in the production of an apple-dumpling for dinner.
+
+AUGUST 11. -- Leaving Suspul, we ascended considerably to the village
+of Buzgo, another of the cloud-built little settlements so dear to
+the Lamas. The tenements were most picturesquely pitched upon the
+extreme tips of almost perpendicular rocks, and to many of them
+access seemed apparently impossible. Leaving this, we entered upon
+a desert of shifting sand and stones, in the midst of which there
+was an unusually long wall of the inscribed stones, one of which,
+although containing the same inscription, was of a different pattern
+from any I had hitherto discovered.[23]
+
+The next oasis was Egnemo, formed, like all the others, by the
+existence of numerous little springs of crystal water, which enabled
+the waving corn to raise its golden head, and the apricot and the
+apple-tree to flourish in refreshing contrast to the general barrenness
+and sterility which reigned around.
+
+After a grilling march, we enjoyed the delights of a bathe under a
+waterfall of clear cold water, and got our breakfast by eleven o'clock.
+
+To-day, some of our brigade of coolies begin to complain of sickness,
+which sounds alarming, not only to themselves, but to us, for none
+others are now procurable. This results from their making too free
+with unripe apricots, and drinking too many gallons of cold water on
+the road; also, however, from the fact of my having doctored the first
+patient who had presented himself, with a couple of pills and some
+tea -- a piece of generosity which drove all the others nearly mad
+with jealousy and envy, and set them thinking how they also might be
+participators in similar luxuries. The pills, although in this instance
+selected promiscuously from a varied stock, were the great objects of
+desire, and such was their confidence in the virtuous properties of
+the remedy, that the character of the particular bolus that fell to
+their share was to them a matter of no consequence whatever. So great
+a rage is there for medicine among people who have never known the
+luxury of paying for it, that even the blind and deformed continually
+applied to us for it on the road.
+
+AUGUST 12. -- Halted to-day, and gave all hands a day of rest, which
+was rather required after our incessant marching. In the afternoon
+we explored the village, and enjoyed a magnificent sunset behind the
+ranges of distant snowy mountains. The crops here were more backward
+than those met hitherto, although the power of the sun was rather
+on the increase than otherwise, as we advanced. Some of the fields
+were occupied by beans, peas, and wheat, all growing like a happy
+family together.
+
+AUGUST 13. -- Made an unusually early start, this morning, for
+our final march into Ladak. The first part of the journey was up a
+precipitous ascent, and over shifting gravel, which was very trying
+to our already well-worn boots; and it was a relief when, on arriving
+at the summit, we found a long and gradual descent before us, with
+an entirely new panorama of snow-clad mountains extending away
+towards Ladak.
+
+In the distance, close to the river Indus, which here branched out into
+several small and separate streams, there was a high mound, topped with
+buildings, which we made for, under the full impression that it was
+our journey's end: however, on reaching it, and turning confidently
+round the corner, we found nothing but a deserted-looking building,
+surrounded by an immense number of the monuments which the natives
+call Permessur; while, stretched out at our feet, and forming, as it
+were, the bottom of a large basin among the mountains, was a dreary
+desert of glaring, burning sand. The place altogether looked like a
+city of the dead: not a soul appeared in sight, except one solitary
+old woman, who was slowly traversing the weary waste of sands, and
+all around was still and silent as the grave. In order to gain some
+intelligence of our whereabouts, I was obliged to give chase to this
+only inhabitant, and from her I discovered, that to reach Ladak --
+a green-looking speck which she pointed out in the far distance --
+we had to cross the desert sands, and still hold on our course for
+several miles. The sun was by this time high in the heavens, and we
+had already come a longish march, so that by the time I had traversed
+the arid plain under the blinding glare, and reached the green fields
+beyond, it was nearly twelve o'clock, and I had had nearly enough of
+the journey. It was, however, a couple of miles farther to the grove
+of trees, where, under very indifferent shade, travellers are in the
+habit of halting to pitch their camps; and on reaching this, I was
+glad to throw myself down on the grass, and, after a drink of milk,
+and the slight refreshment afforded by a leathery chupattie, to go
+to sleep on the grass, until the arrival of our servants and baggage
+should give us a prospect of breakfast. These made their appearance
+about two P.M., and all hands requiring a little rest from the toils
+of the road, we pitched our camp under the trees, and set ourselves
+to the enjoyment of a few days' halt in the city of Ladak.
+
+
+
+Ladak and the Monastery of Hemis.
+
+The first event after being settled in our new quarters was the
+arrival of a sheep, presented to us by the Kardar, or chief dignitary
+of the town, as a mark of affection and distinction. This, according
+to the strict letter of the law, we should have refused to accept;
+twenty days marching, however, while it had sharpened our appetites,
+had rather diminished our stores. Sheep were not to be got every day,
+and an ill-looking animal which we had succeeded in purchasing at
+Egnemo, had been overcome by the heat of the weather and taken itself
+off on the road. Other supplies, also, were a good deal weakened by
+successive attacks; potatoes had been extinct many days, and the stock
+of ducks, which formed our main stay in case of future difficulties,
+was rapidly succumbing to the knife of the assassin. Under these
+circumstances we felt that we would be in no way justified in hurting
+the Kardar's feelings at the expense of our own, by refusing his
+present, and believing ourselves to be in this instance fit subjects
+for out-door relief, the new arrival was soon swinging about in the
+breeze, a welcome addition to our unfurnished larder.
+
+Having thus ended the struggle between our duty and our feelings,
+we turned our attention to the exploration of the surrounding country.
+
+The town of Ladak, although in a commercial point of view by no means
+a flourishing-looking settlement, was, as far as picturesqueness was
+concerned, everything that could be desired. It was built in the style
+so popular throughout the country -- on pinnacles of rock, and such
+out of the way positions as seemed, of all others, the least adapted
+for building purposes -- immediately outside the town, occupying a
+sort of bason among the surrounding mountains, and was what might
+fairly be called a "city of the dead." It was of considerable extent,
+and was formed of groups of the numerous monumental buildings which
+I have described, and which in a country where the habitations of
+the living appear so few in proportion to those of the dead, form so
+curious and remarkable a feature. These tombs, although by no means
+of very modern date, bear traces, in many instances, of the more
+recently departed of the Buddhist population. Burnt fragments of
+bone, hair, &c., were scattered about in various directions, while,
+collected together in one corner, were the little mounds of mud with
+a rise at one extremity, where the sculptured turban ought to rest,
+which denoted the last resting-place of the Moslem faithful. Meeting
+with the Kardar's chupprassie, I entered into conversation with
+him about the manners and customs of the Thibetians, a subject on
+which he seemed to have very hazy ideas indeed, although not on that
+account at all the less inclined to impart them to one more ignorant
+than himself. His opinion of the inscribed stones was that they were
+all written by the Lamas, but he failed completely in explaining
+for what reason they were collected together. He was aware, however,
+of Khurjidal, who was to inspect them at the last day. The tomb-like
+erections, he said, were considered in the light of gods; the bones and
+ashes of departed Lamas having been pounded up together and deposited
+beneath them, together with such valuables as turquoises, Pushmeena,
+rupees, &c. This fact would perhaps account for their being so often
+in a ruined state -- Gulab Singh having, probably, taken a look at
+their foundations in search of such valuable pickings. The reason my
+informant gave me for the unwillingness of the people, however poor,
+to sell their superabundant ornaments, was that they regarded them as
+sacred, and held them as their own property during their lifetime only;
+on decease the jewels reverted to the possessions of the Church. The
+Lamas are provided, by the custom of dedicating in every family of two
+or more, one to that office; should there be a number of girls in a
+family, all those that do not marry become nuns, and adopt the male
+attire of red and yellow. The nuns, however, seem to be by no means
+kept in confinement; they work in the fields, and one of them enlisted
+with us as a coolie, and brought her load into camp before any of her
+male coadjutors. Among other curious information my friend told me,
+that the Thibetians by no means consider that each man is entitled
+to the luxury of a wife all to himself; but that a family of four
+or five brothers frequently have but one between them, and that the
+system is productive of no ill-feeling whatever among the different
+members.[24] He also pointed out a fact which I had not before noticed,
+viz., that the Thibetians invariably pass to the right hand of these
+piles of stones and other monuments, but for what reason he was
+unable to inform me.[25] Having finished his stock of information,
+which I received thank-fully in default of better, he told me, with
+delightful coolness, that it was the proper thing for me to give him
+a bottle of brandy for the Kardar, and that it would be necessary to
+send also a corkscrew with the bottle, to enable him to get at it! The
+impudence of the request was almost worth the bottle, but brandy
+was too scarce and precious a commodity to justify us in pleasing
+the Kardar, so that all I could do was politely to decline sending
+the corkscrew or the bottle either. In the afternoon we explored
+the Bazaar, where we found abundance of dogs, dirt, and idlers,
+but little else. What little there was in the way of merchandise
+the proprietors seemed utterly indifferent about disposing of, and
+after visiting a few shops we went away in disgust. The people were
+a mixture of Cashmeeries, Chinese, Tartars, Bengalees, and Indians of
+all sorts and sects, and more idle, good-for-nothing looking scoundrels
+I never laid eyes on. One most amusing group of Mahomedan exquisites
+reminded one forcibly of PUNCH'S Noah's ark costumes and Bond Street
+specimens of fashion. They were dressed in exaggerated turbans and
+long white Chogas, or loose coats, which reached down to their heels;
+and, as arm in arm, with gentle swagger, they sauntered through the
+bazaar, they had, in addition to their heavy swellishness, an air of
+Eastern listlessness to which the most exquisite of their European
+prototypes could never hope to attain. On reaching our camp we found
+another traveller had added his little canvas to the scene; it was
+one of the Government Survey, whom the natives invariably designate
+by the comprehensive title of "the Compass Wallahs." Wallah is,
+in Hindostanee, as nearly as possible an equivalent to "fellow,"
+and in explaining the character of this particular order of Wallah,
+the accent is always strong on the second syllable of the compass. The
+Compass Wallah in question we found quite a wild man of the mountains;
+his face, from changes of heat and cold and long exposure, was burnt
+and blistered into all sorts of colours, and, to make his appearance
+more generally striking, he wore as head-dress, a flyaway, puggery,
+or turban of blue cotton, of the most voluminous dimensions and
+wonderful construction imaginable. He gave us an amusing account
+of his operations among the clouds; how he always rode a cow! and
+was so much alone that he at times began to doubt the existence of
+other white men in creation besides himself; how he was SEA sick at
+first, and unable to sleep at night from the great rarification of the
+atmosphere, &c. He joined us during dinner, just in time for a triumph
+of a plum pudding which our cook had unexpectedly produced, and his
+heart was so gladdened and expanded by either the suet, the raisins,
+or the brandy, that he chatted away until the dissipated mountain
+hour of eleven o'clock, when we sent him off to bed, much pleased
+with his entertainment, and again reassured, at least for a time,
+of the continued existence, not only of white men in the world, but
+of their plum puddings. Among other statistics he gave us the height
+of Ladak, as 11,000 feet, and that of the recently discovered monarch
+of the mountains, now set at rest as belonging to the Himalayan range,
+as being 29,003 feet above the level of the sea.[26]
+
+AUGUST 15. -- Employed all the morning in endeavouring to procure
+supplies of tea, and after unearthing a queer-looking package
+containing seven pounds and a half, we differed about the price,
+the proprietor demanding twenty-four shillings, or about twice its
+local value.
+
+AUGUST 16. -- There being no tidings of the arrival of expected
+caravans, we marched for the monastery of Hemis, crossing the Indus
+immediately after leaving Ladak, and following it up towards its
+source. Outside the town we passed a mound of the inscribed stones,
+which must have been nearly a quarter of a mile in length, and probably
+contained as many as 30,000. The left bank of the river, which
+thus formed our path, was a continuation of detached huts, forming
+no regular villages, and affording very little shade or apparent
+prospect of shelter for man or beast. The right bank, however, was
+studded with picturesque-looking little villages, built generally on
+rocky summits, and surrounded by tombs and Mani panees, to an extent
+almost to rival the towns themselves in size and importance. About
+nine miles on the road we halted for breakfast, on the confines of a
+desert of smooth stones, from which the heat ascended like vapour,
+and made our eye-balls ache again. There was no shade in sight,
+however, and milk was here forthcoming, so we made the best of a bad
+situation, and, after our repast, lost no time in getting again under
+weigh. After a hot tramp over a perfect desert, we reached the wooded
+little village of Chunga, where, as it was getting late, we called
+a halt and pitched our camp. All hands being tired by their march,
+we got our dinner at nine o'clock.
+
+AUGUST 17. -- Started early for Hemis. From the formation of the
+mountains in which it is situated, the entrance to the village opens
+upon the traveller suddenly and as if by magic; and as we tramped
+this morning along the parched and sandy desert, welcome indeed was
+the unexpected vision of trees and rushing water which the sharp turn
+presented to our astonished gaze.
+
+The entrance to the gorge in which the monastery is situated was, as
+usual, quite covered with Mani panees and walls of inscribed stones;
+one of the former was studded with human skulls, and otherwise
+ornamented, in a way that proved the vicinity of some stronghold of
+Lama talent, though not perhaps of the very highest order.
+
+The monastery we found situated in a beautifully-wooded valley,
+thickly planted, and having a dashing little torrent foaming through
+the centre.
+
+It was built as usual, on the very face of the rock, and towering
+above it was an airy fort, ensconced among a number of crows'-nest
+habitations, perched about apparently with more regard to effect
+than comfort.
+
+While waiting for the kitchen to come up, we inspected the monastery,
+and were waited upon by half-a-dozen Lamas, who showed us through the
+various temples of the gods. Originally containing some two hundred
+Lamas, its numbers had now dwindled down, by their account, to fifteen
+or sixteen. We, however, saw actually more than that number ourselves
+while wandering through the building.
+
+They owned to having treasure in the monastery to the amount of three
+lakhs of rupees ([pound sterling]30,000), but of this we saw small
+signs during our inspection.
+
+Some of the divinities were, however, provided with vestments of
+cloth of gold, and were seated upon thrones, studded with would-be
+precious stones. Others were accommodated with large silver bowls,
+placed on pedestals, filled to the brim with "ghee," or rancid butter,
+and unless blest with inordinate appetites, these, from their enormous
+size, might fairly last them all till doomsday. We were altogether
+conducted through four temples, each inhabited by a number of Chinese
+figures, seated in state, with offerings of corn, flour, rice and
+ghee, &c. before them, and these were generally served in valuable
+cups of china, and precious metals. Hanging from the ceiling and
+the walls around were scrolls, decorated in the Chinese fashion,
+with figures of tightly-robed, narrow-eyed ladies and gentlemen,
+scattered about with the usual perspective results.
+
+Some of these scrolls were decorated with scenes which it would take
+hours to decipher and appreciate. One, in particular, of the last day,
+was covered with innumerable little figures, and appeared well worthy
+of a close inspection.
+
+The bad people might here be seen, falling into the hands of some of
+the most disrespectable looking monsters I have ever beheld; while
+the good were sitting up in a bunch, looking on at the dreadful scene,
+in a satisfied and undisturbed way, beautiful to behold.
+
+The most curious things in the place, however, were the praying wheels,
+which I here saw for the first time. They were little wooden drums,
+covered round the sides with leather, and fitted vertically in niches
+in the walls.[27] A spindle running through the centre, enabled them
+to revolve at the slightest push. They were generally in rows of
+eight and ten, and well thumbed and worn they looked, but others of
+larger dimensions were placed by themselves, decorated with the words
+"Um mani panee," in the Lanza character, all round the barrel.
+
+In the vicinity of the monasteries were various small temples,
+probably chapels of ease, rudely decorated with grotesque figures,
+in red and yellow, and having queer-looking structures fastened on
+the top of them, generally a trident, with tufts of hair attached,
+or strips of coloured calico, horns of animals, and other rude devices.
+
+In one place we came upon a praying-wheel, turned by water, but I was
+unable to ascertain whether the benefit accrued to the water, or to
+the possessor of the stream, or to the public generally. Sometimes
+the people carry portable wheels, and one old gentleman we met was
+provided with a huge brass one, with a wooden handle. It was suspended
+from his neck, in company with a collection of square leather charms,
+fastened by a string to his coat.
+
+On my asking him what the structure meant, he immediately begun to
+set it in motion, and piously ejaculating "Um mani panee," passed on
+without another word, but in evident pity for my benighted spiritual
+condition.
+
+Among other curious sights, we saw one of the Lamas sitting at a
+chapel door, having, before him seven little brass pots. In each
+of these there was a letter of the words "Um mani panee," and the
+pots being filled with water, he was employed in strewing each with
+a few grains of corn from a heap at his side, keeping up at the
+same time a loud mournful chant, and swaying himself to and fro,
+in time with the music. To have inquired the meaning of this would
+only have again resulted in the comprehensive information contained
+in "Um mani panee," so we rested in our ignorance, and passed on,
+much to the relief of the chaunter. After going all through this
+curious monastery, we repaired to our tents, which had arrived in
+the interim, and which we found pitched pleasantly among the trees,
+within a few yards of the torrent. After a bathe and breakfast, we
+came unanimously to the conclusion that the water was so cold, and
+the air so cool and refreshing, we could not do better than halt for
+a couple of days, under the protection of the Church, before again
+taking the road on our homeward route.
+
+AUGUST 18. -- Out early for a day's stalk over the mountains, after
+deer, or anything there might be forthcoming. One of the coolies being
+a "shikaree," or what they call in Ireland a "sportsman," I took him
+with me, and with another to carry some breakfast, off we started at
+about five A.M. The ascent at first was so abrupt, that, although in
+pretty good walking condition by this time, I found myself halting very
+frequently to admire the prospect. Having attained the greatest height
+actually attainable, we spied quietly grazing, about half a mile off,
+some half dozen little animals, which my "sportsman" declared to be
+Ibex, and down Aye went again, best pace, with a view to making a
+circumbendibus, to get behind them. With a view to accomplish this,
+we had to pass across some very difficult ground, and at last came to
+a smooth face of rock, with nothing whatever about it to hold on by,
+and, moreover, an overhanging ledge, which fairly seemed to bar all
+further progress.
+
+The coolie, however, whose every toe was as useful to him as
+a finger, managed to scramble up; and not to be outdone, I also
+attained some height, when, holding on fly-fashion, and clinging to
+the rock with my fingers and grass shoes, suddenly the pole which
+partly supported me slipped away, and my whole attention had to be
+directed to again reaching the ground in as soft and comfortable a
+manner as possible. In this I succeeded beyond my expectations, and,
+a second attempt being more successful, finally reached the top. On
+attaining our hardly-earned post of vantage, however, there was no
+sign of our friends, but, suddenly, on the mountain below us a herd
+of about five-and-twenty more appeared to our delighted view. They
+were standing gazing up at us in astonishment, and for some moments
+we remained fixed and motionless, hoping to be taken for the stones we
+were habited in imitation of. Then, crouching down and crawling along
+as if on velvet, down we went again, and after another long and trying
+stalk, over broken ground formed apparently of small slates placed
+edgeways, and crumbling rocks, whose slightest fall would have been
+destruction to our plans, we attained a rock about two hundred yards
+from the herd, and paused for breath once more. They were lying about
+sunning themselves, with an outlying sentinel posted here and there
+on either side of them on the look-out; and seeing an eligible spot
+some fifty yards nearer, we stole along to reach it. We were not,
+however, destined to take this unfair advantage of the enemy. Just
+as we had half crossed the distance, an ill-fated, abominable little
+fragment of rock suddenly broke off, and at its first bound away went
+the herd like lightning over the precipitous rocks, and with a little
+chirrupping noise like sparrows, were in a few seconds well out of
+range of bullets. As the natives express it, "they became wind,"
+and we were left behind our rock, looking, after all our toils, to
+say the least of it, extremely foolish. A shot which I took at some
+250 yards was more to relieve ourselves by making a noise than with
+any hopes of bringing down one of the light-heeled little creatures,
+for their bounding powers put all correctness of aim at that range
+out of the question.
+
+The next part of the programme was breakfast, but alas! there were
+no signs in any direction of the bearer of our supplies, and I now
+recollected that the rock which had so puzzled us would be quite
+inaccessible to the coolie and his precious charge, without which
+he himself was useless. All we could do was to ascend a high peak of
+mountain, in hopes that the breakfast would ascend another, and that
+we could then exchange signals of distress and obtain relief. However,
+after reaching our look-out station, which took us some climbing,
+we could discern nothing around us bearing the slightest resemblance
+to a coolie, and our hopes began to descend below zero.
+
+It was now about twelve o'clock, and taking advantage of the produce
+of the country, I made a light breakfast off two stalks of rhubarb,
+and tying a handkerchief to the top of my pole as a signal, lay down
+in the very minute portion of shade procurable under a midday sun,
+and indulged in the pleasures of imagination, conjured up by absent
+chicken legs and cold chupatties. After a long wait, I came to the
+conclusion that the two pieces of rhubarb were entirely insufficient
+to continue the day's work upon, so I reluctantly gave the order to
+retreat upon our camp, and turned from thoughts of breakfast to those
+of dinner. My grass shoes were by this time completely worn out by the
+pointed rocks and flinty ground we had traversed, and my spare ones
+were in the society of the cold chicken and the chupatties, so that
+I was soon walking in nothing but socks. Before long, this portion of
+my property was also run through, and I was finally obliged to borrow
+the sportsman's pointed slippers, in which I managed to get along over
+the ruggedest piece of creation I ever traversed, and reached our camp
+about three P.M. Tired, hungry, and burnt by the sun, a bathe in the
+rushing torrent and a visit to the kitchen were soon accomplished,
+and I then learnt that the coolie, being stopped by the rock, had
+come back at once, and, having been again immediately packed off by
+F. to search for us, had not been since heard of.
+
+AUGUST 19. -- Found the Q.M.G. to-day laid up with fever and influenza,
+and administered some quinine pills to him, besides ordering a steed
+to carry him on to Ladak to-morrow.
+
+Explored the Lama's habitations and temples, and saw some very curious
+carvings and paintings on stones, some of them not altogether in the
+Church order of design.
+
+Some of the ceilings were beautifully decorated, and must have cost
+a good deal of money in their day, but they were now rapidly falling
+into decay.
+
+During the day we had a good opportunity of seeing the Lamas go through
+their private devotions. The operation appeared simple enough. Each
+as he entered the court and passed along the rows of wheels, by
+simply stretching out his arm set the whole of them in motion,
+at the same time repeating "Um mani panee" in a dolorous voice to
+himself. Coming then to the large wheel with painted characters,
+he gave it an extra energetic spin, which sufficed to keep it in
+motion for several minutes, and having thus expended his energies
+for the time being, he again disappeared as he had come. One of the
+smaller wheels I found in a state of neglect and dilapidation as
+to its outer case, and thinking it a good opportunity to discover
+something as to the meaning of the system in general and of "Um mani
+panee" in particular, I quietly abstracted the inner contents, in
+full assurance that it would never be missed; that the wheel itself
+would go round as merrily as ever, and that, as far as the prayers
+were concerned, there were still sufficient left behind, considering
+the reduced state of the monasteries, to satisfy the conscience even
+of the devoutest of Lamas.[28]
+
+As I passed out, however, a huge black dog, which was chained up in the
+yard, seemed, by the rabid manner in which he made feints at my legs,
+to be quite aware of what I had done, and he snapped and howled, and
+strained and tore at his chain as I went by, just as if he detected
+the holy bundle sticking out of my pocket, and thoroughly understood
+my consequent guilty appearance. The principal designs upon the stones
+here -- some of which, in colour, were in wonderful preservation --
+appear to be cross-legged effigies of Buddha, seated in that state
+of entire abstraction from all passions and desires, which seem to
+be the end and object of Buddhists' aspirations.
+
+A certain rotundity of form, however, and appearance of
+COMFORTABLENESS, rather tend to suggest that the pleasures of the
+table at least have not quite been renounced among the other pomps
+and vanities of Buddhist life.
+
+AUGUST 20. -- Started for Ladak again, nominally at some desperately
+early hour of the morning, but in reality at about half-past five,
+the sun not shining upon our position until late, in consequence of
+our proximity to the mountains. Mr. Rajoo being still indisposed,
+and, in his own belief, dying, we mounted him upon a hill horse,
+where he looked like a fly on a dromedary. Halted for breakfast half
+way, and had a hot wearisome march afterwards into Ladak, the sun
+being intensely powerful, and the greater part of the journey over
+a glaring desert of shifting sand and loose stones. So deep was this
+in some places, that it was with difficulty we could drag our steps
+along. The latter part seemed perfectly interminable, and not until
+four o'clock, burnt, tired, and parched with thirst, did we reach our
+old halting place. Since our departure, the Thanadar had changed his
+fancy as to brandy, and now requested a bottle of vinegar. This we
+promised in the event of his procuring us some tea, our stock being
+low, and none other procurable without government assistance. By this
+means we obtained a decorated bundle of pale-looking tea for thirteen
+rupees, or 1L. 6S. The bundle contained 71/2 lbs., so that the price
+was heavy enough, considering our proximity to the land of tea.
+
+My shoe-leather being in a doubtful state, I invested in a pair of the
+sheepskin Chino-Esquimaux ones of local manufacture, but soon found
+that the old saw of "nothing like leather" was quite a fallacy, when
+the leather savoured so strongly of mutton as that composing my new
+boots did. In the morning they were absent, and it was not until after
+much search that the mutilated remains of one foot was discovered,
+gnawed and sucked out of all semblance to Blucher, Wellington,
+or any other known order of shoe or boot, while the other appeared
+irretrievably to have gone to the dogs. Our lantern here was also
+carried off by some of the canine race, and left beautifully cleaned,
+but unbroken, not far from our tent door.
+
+Finding that there was no news of caravans, or probability of their
+arriving, we determined upon striking our camp, and retiring again
+towards Cashmere, having attained the furthermost point which the
+limits of our leave allowed.
+
+
+
+A Retreat to the Valley.
+
+AUGUST 21. -- Left Ladak about four P.M. and halted for the night on
+the confines of the desert-plain at Pitok. On the road I succeeded --
+much to my astonishment -- in getting a necklace of bits of amber,
+and a turquoise, from an old lady, whom I found at her cottage-door
+weaving goat's-hair cloth. She took two rupees for the family jewels,
+and, when the bargain was struck, seemed in a desperate fright at
+what she had done, looking about in every direction to see that no
+avaricious old Lama was near, nor any of her gossiping acquaintance,
+who would be likely to tell THE MINISTER of what she had done.
+
+For the first time during our travels, the retainers turned a little
+rusty to-day. The scarcity of the tobacco supply and dislike to quit
+the amusements of city life were the chief causes, and the consequence
+was that the cook, who was sent off at two o'clock to have dinner
+ready for us on arrival, made his appearance about sunset and gave us
+dinner at nine P.M. The Q.M.G. and the Sipahee sauntered in afterwards
+at their leisure, having left the coolies and ourselves to pitch the
+camp how and where we liked. Smarting under these indignities, and
+knowing that the Sipahee was the head and front of the offending, I,
+in a weak moment, committed an assault upon that ferocious warrior. The
+consequence was that the representative of "The Army," feeling its
+dignity insulted in the face of the populace, immediately set to work
+upon the unfortunate natives, and assaulted even the gopa, or kotwal,
+of the village; and so severely was one of the coolies handled, that
+I was obliged to interfere in the cause of peace, and not without
+difficulty succeeded in stopping the stone I had thus so unwittingly
+set rolling.
+
+This same Sipahee rejoiced in the name of Dilour Khan, which might be
+loosely translated the "Invincible One," and such we always called
+him. He was a fierce-looking soldier beyond measure to look at,
+and very terrible among the miserable Thibetians, making desperate
+onslaughts upon the unfortunate boors, to obtain supplies fit, as he
+said, for the Grandees, the Cherishers of the Poor, the Protection
+of the World, &c.
+
+The style of head-dress generally worn among the natives facilitated
+his efforts immensely in these matters; for, throwing aloft his
+sword, and relinquishing his umbrella, he used to seize suddenly
+upon a pig-tail, and, handling it after the fashion of a bell-rope,
+proceed to insist upon the production of impossible mutton and other
+delicacies in a way that was almost always successful, even under
+circumstances apparently the most hopeless.
+
+He had a sharp, detonating way, too, of delivering a volley of
+Thibetian, at the same time curling up his fierce-looking moustaches
+and whiskers, and gesticulating with both arms, which always had
+a great effect, the more so that the expletives were generally in
+Hindostanee, and not being understood, were all the more terrible to
+the unfortunate pig-tails on that account.
+
+AUGUST 22. -- Left for Egnemo, over our old ground, which, wanting
+the attraction of novelty, appeared to us rather longer than on
+first acquaintance. The sun, too, was more powerful than ever and
+the deep soft sand more trying, so that we were glad enough to get
+under shelter at our journey's end. Here we found the apricot trees,
+which were teeming with fruit when we passed, completely stripped
+and bare, and it was with difficulty we got a few from the houses
+for preserving purposes.
+
+AUGUST 23. -- Made an early start, and arrived at Suspul after a
+pleasant march, a cool breeze from the mountains fanning our faces
+the entire way. Here we pitched upon a cool and shady camping-ground,
+close to a rushing torrent, where we were soon immersed in ice-cold
+water. While making a short cut back to breakfast up a precipitous
+face of concrete stone, I very nearly finished my wanderings in Thibet
+with an unpleasantly abrupt full stop. I had nearly reached the top,
+which was higher than I had imagined, when the treacherous lumps
+of stone to which I was clinging, came away in my hands, and, with
+a tremendous crash, down I came in a perfect storm of dirt, dust,
+and stones, very much to the fright and astonishment of F. and the
+mate, who were quietly finishing their toilet below. A broken bone
+in such a place as Egnemo would have been a serious misfortune, and
+it was therefore a matter of considerable satisfaction to find that,
+although half-stunned and doing but little credit in appearance to
+my recent washing, I had escaped with no worse injuries than torn
+hands and what the doctors would call abrasions of the side and elbow.
+
+AUGUST 24. -- Marched as usual, and reached Nurila about noon. From
+the hilliness of the road and the laziness of the coolies combined,
+they did not arrive until two P.M., so that we breakfasted at three
+o'clock. To occupy the time, however, we took advantage of the
+products of the country, and set to work upon a quantity of apples,
+and having both thirst and hunger to assuage, I think we got through
+about sixteen each before the kitchen appeared. While bathing we were
+suddenly caught in a pouring shower of rain, which obliged us to snatch
+up our only garments and beat a hasty and not to say dignified retreat
+into a little den of a water-mill, where we crouched until it was
+over. After the rain had stopped, a curious fall of stones and rocks
+took place down the precipitous face of mountain which bounded the
+opposite side of the Indus to our camp. The noise and the commotion
+the stones made in their descent, reminded one exactly of volleys of
+grape, and to any traveller unfortunate enough to get in their way,
+the results would probably have been quite as disastrous.
+
+Our larder having been low of late, we effected the purchase of a
+sheep here, for which we paid two shillings.
+
+AUGUST 25. -- Left for Lamieroo. The khitmutgar, having reported
+himself sick to-day, we mounted him on a pony, the efficiency of that
+branch of the service being of vital importance to the future prospects
+of the expedition. Having discovered, by yesterday's experience, that
+nature abhors a vacuum, and no apples being forthcoming at Lamieroo,
+we halted for breakfast at the village of Kulchee.
+
+Here I tried hard to purchase a curiously contrived praying-wheel
+from an old Lama, but without success. My old acquaintance, the gopa,
+however, brought me one for sale, but it was in such a dilapidated
+state, and so highly valued as church property, that I let him keep
+his shaky religious curiosity at his own price. Leaving Kulchee,
+we crossed the Indus at a mud fort, and bid the roaring, dirty river
+a final good-bye. Near this the bhistie and khitmutgar, journeying
+together, lost the path, and found themselves well on the road to
+Iscardo before discovering their mistake. The road to-day, like
+all our return journeys, appeared twice the length it did on first
+acquaintance. The hills, too, were very severe on the coolies, and
+it was fortunate we halted for breakfast on the road.
+
+At Lamieroo, we found a great change in the temperature; a strong cold
+breeze blowing, and a general winteriness prevailing, which affected
+our retainers considerably more than it did ourselves. The Q.M.G. in
+particular, not having entirely recovered his health, and being low in
+the article of tobacco, still believed himself to be dying, and was
+most unusually low-spirited and down in the mouth. As it threatened
+rain, we pitched our camp close to an old serai, in order to allow
+our servants to ensconce themselves under a roof, and to derive the
+full benefit of their wood fire, which they lost no time in kindling.
+
+AUGUST 26. -- Exactly a mouth to-day since leaving Sirinugger. The
+live stock begin to show signs of time on their constitutions;
+the four surviving ducks wandering about, with a melancholy sort of
+consciousness that the mysterious fate that has overtaken their late
+companions is also hanging over themselves, and appearing entirely
+changed in consequence from the joyous birds they used to be on first
+starting for their Thibetian travels. To-day being Sunday, we all
+enjoyed a rest; and the feeling on waking at dawn, and remembering that
+we were not to be rudely turned out of bed, was quite a delightful
+and novel sensation. The wind, too, was unusually chill, and as it
+made nothing of the trifling obstacle presented by the walls of our
+tent, we were some time before we finally emerged from among the
+bed-clothes. The people here we found employed in PULLING their corn
+crops, and stacking them upon the roofs of their houses. At Suspul,
+although much hotter than here, they had hardly begun to take in
+their crops, and at Ladak, the harvest was untouched when we left.
+
+In the afternoon, while rambling about the crow's nests of
+Lamieroo, I discovered by chance a very curious temple in course of
+construction, and a number of Lamas and Zemindars superintending the
+proceedings. The principal decorative work was being carried on by a
+Chinese-looking, pig-tailed artist, evidently not a local celebrity,
+who was embellishing the walls most profusely with scenes, portrayed
+in the purest style of pre-Raphaelite colouring. The figures in these
+had only been furnished with flesh-coloured spots where their faces
+were to be, and the foreign "pigtail" was employed, seated on a high
+platform, in furnishing them with features and casts of expression
+in accordance with the spirit of the scenes which they helped
+to compose. This he did certainly with very great skill, and the
+operation was a most interesting one to watch. The floor was covered
+with pigments, and materials of all kinds, and the little community,
+in the midst of the surrounding apparent solitude, were working away
+like a hive of bees. They appeared to have a hive-like dislike also
+of the approach of a stranger, and one old Lama, with a twisted mat
+of hair erected on the top of his head -- a drone of the hive --
+took a particular dislike to me, and scowled savagely as I quietly
+examined the curious designs upon the walls.
+
+The eternal "Um mani panee" formed a very large part of the decoration,
+being painted over the walls in every variety of coloured letters. In
+the inner part of the temple was a large coloured statue, with eight
+arms, and two-and-twenty heads.
+
+The heads were placed in threes, looking every way, in the shape of
+a pyramid, a single head crowning the whole.[29] One of the hands
+held a bow, but the implements contained in the others were entirely
+Buddhist in character, and to me unknown.
+
+Behind this figure was a star, with innumerable radiating arms from
+the centre, while from the points of the fingers were five other
+rows of hands, continuing the star-like circle. These were in half
+relief on the wall, the figure itself standing out some feet, as
+if to receive and appropriate the offerings of corn, flowers, oil,
+&c., which already began to be laid at its feet. Among the litter
+I remarked several tame partridges and "chickore" walking about,
+probably sacred to the newly installed divinities.
+
+The whole scene was a very curious one, and not the less so from being
+entirely unexpected, and occurring in such an apparently deserted
+spot. One might have explored the place a dozen times without hitting
+upon the hive of workmen, and, even when discovered, the excellence
+of the designs and workmanship in so uncivilized a region, was in
+itself remarkable.
+
+Some of the paintings were of rather startling a character to find
+occupying places in the order of church decoration, or indeed any
+other, but they were not perhaps more unsuitable than many I have
+seen in more avowedly civilized temples of worship.
+
+AUGUST 27. -- We found it very hard, in spite of our day of rest,
+to turn out early again this morning. The wind was sharp and cold,
+and the temperature altogether decidedly changed from that we had
+been having. The head of the cooking department being still sick,
+proceeded on a pony, and, having a certain air of the Sepoy about him,
+very grand and imposing he looked. The road being long and up hill,
+we breakfasted at a tomb in the pass of Fotoola, reaching Khurboo
+about three P.M.
+
+In the evening, the comptroller of the household made his appearance
+upon the cook's pony, having from want of tobacco, and other causes,
+become done up on the road. The bhistie alone holds out, and seems,
+as far as servants go, the only hope of the expedition. To-day's
+march has again spoiled F.'s and my own lately amending complexions,
+the icy wind and the burning sun together completely blistering our
+faces. In the evening we enjoyed a lovely sunset, which tinted the
+magnificent range of mountains we had crossed with the most beautiful
+hues imaginable.
+
+AUGUST 28. -- Another bitterly cold morning. Got away well considering,
+and arrived at Waka in time for a late breakfast in the little
+native serai, where we had before halted. Mr. Rajoo and the cook
+came in with an air of great magnificence. They were each mounted,
+and each pony was provided with a well-grown foal, so that the two
+departments may be said to have performed their march with four horses.
+
+AUGUST 29. -- Descended the Waka Valley, leaving Shergol to our left,
+and thereby saving about a kos and a half of already explored road.
+
+Breakfasted under a shady grove of pollards, at the little village
+of Lotzum, a cold refreshing bathe in a snow torrent enabling us
+to do full justice to our cook's very excellent performances in
+this line. That dignitary was upon his legs again to-day, and Rajoo
+convalescent once more. Arriving about three P.M. at our old ground
+at Pushkoom, we found the peaceful, quiet-looking little spot we
+had left, a scene of the greatest noise and bustle imaginable. We
+were now received in due form by the Kardar, and Thanadar of Kurgil,
+not to mention the Wuzeer, or Vizier of Pushkoom. This dignitary had
+formerly been its Rajah, but during Gulab Singh's time was reduced
+to the post of Vizier, or Prime Minister to nobody in particular,
+with a salary of some thirty rupees per annum. Where our last camp
+was pitched, we found a circle of natives congregated, some standing,
+some sitting on their haunches, but all accompanying to the full extent
+of their voices -- at the same time clapping time with their hands --
+the efforts of a band of six or seven artists on the pipe and tabor,
+who kept up a quavering strain of what they doubtless believed to be
+music. To the united melody thus produced, a string of a dozen or so
+of ladies, in their full war paint, were decorously going through the
+monotonous evolutions of a popular dance, waving their arms about,
+gesticulating, and at the same time lingering, as it were, over the
+ground, and comporting themselves in that staid, yet fitfully lively
+way, which seems to be the general style of Eastern dancing. They
+were attired most picturesquely, and evidently in their very fullest
+ball costume, so that we were fortunate in hitting upon such a good
+opportunity of seeing their gala manners and customs. They all wore
+caps of some kind, either of a small, close-fitting pattern, like a
+fez, or in the shape of a large, and very ultra Scotch cap, black,
+and very baggy; these were hung round with little silver ornaments,
+something in the shape of wine labels for decanters, but studded
+with turquoises; some of them, also, wore brooches, generally formed
+of three cornelians, or turquoises, in a row. The broad bands of
+turquoise, worn usually on the forehead, were for the time disrated
+from their post of honour, and were suspended instead from the nape of
+the neck, over a square piece of stiff cloth, embroidered with strings
+of red beads. Round the shoulders, and hanging low, in order to show
+off the turquoises, lumps of amber, and other family jewels, were
+the sheepskin cloaks, inseparable from Thibetian female costume; they
+were, however, of larger size than those of every day life, and were
+gorgeously decorated outside in red and blue, the FUR merely appearing
+at the edges. Below this, everything merged in some mysterious way
+into the variegated sheepskin boots of the country, also decorated
+with red, blue, and yellow cloth patterns on the instep. These bore a
+very conspicuous position in the dance, as the ladies, contrary to the
+principles of modern art, were continually regarding and showing forth
+the aforesaid boots, as they glided about, and pattered the time to the
+well-marked music. The dance was altogether much more pleasing than
+the Indian nach, and the ladies, in spite of their savage jewellery,
+and rude manner, were much more womanly and respectable than their
+gauzy, be-ringed and bare-footed southern rivals.
+
+After the dance was over, there was a general move to a large, open
+space of ground, where the male part of the community were to show
+off their prowess in the native games. To my astonishment, some fifty
+or sixty Thibetians here assembled, each provided with a veritable
+hockey stick, not on foot, however, but each man mounted on his own
+little mountain pony, and prepared to play a downright game of hockey
+on horseback. In the centre of the battle-field, between the two
+"sides," the pipes and tabors forming THE BAND took their station,
+and each time the wooden ball of contention was struck off, set up a
+flourish to animate the players. The Thibetians, however, required no
+such artificial excitement, but set to work with an energy and spirit,
+quite refreshing to behold, and the scene soon became most animated and
+amusing. The Thibetians, unlike Englishmen under similar circumstances,
+appeared to think the more clothes they had on the better, and in
+their long woollen coats and trowsers, and their huge sheepskin boots,
+they quite overshadowed the wiry little horses they bestrode. Besides
+having to carry all this weight, the ponies, most unfairly, came
+in also for all the SHINNING; but in spite of these disadvantages,
+they performed their parts to admiration, dashing about in the most
+reckless manner, at the instigation of their riders, and jostling
+and knocking against one another in a way that would have disgusted
+any other pony in the world. Conspicuous among the crowd of riders,
+was the thirty-rupee Prime Minister, who on a most diminutive little
+animal, charged about in a way he never could have condescended to
+do, had he had the misfortune to have still remained a Rajah. Each
+time that the ball was sent into the goal, the striker, picking it
+up dexterously, without dismounting, came again at full speed down
+the course, the band struck up, and throwing the ball into the air,
+he endeavoured to strike it as far as possible in the direction
+of the adverse party. Behind him, at best pace, came his own side,
+and a desperate collision appeared the inevitable result; however,
+not a single man was unhorsed during the entire struggle, nor were
+there any violent concussions, or accidents of any kind on either side.
+
+The men rode very short, and their clumsy boots, stuck through the
+heavy stirrup-irons, gave them a ludicrous appearance, which was
+little indicative of the firm seat and active part they displayed
+in the games. After seeing the last of the hockey we pitched our
+camp under a grove of trees, and had an audience of the Kardar,
+with a view to obtaining information as to our new line of march,
+which here branches off from the old route. He, however, was unable to
+afford us much intelligence, and we were glad to get rid of him again,
+with a present of fifteen bullets, which were the objects he appeared,
+at the time, to covet most in the world.
+
+To-day a charge was brought against our immaculate bhistie, by the
+Q.M.G., of secreting about half-a-pound of precious white sugar in
+his sheepskin bag. On being confronted with the Bench he confessed
+the crime, improving on it, like most natives, by declaring that it
+was for medicine for his little boy at home, who had sore eyes! The
+cook, being taken up with the festivities and the turquoises, gave
+us our dinner at an unusually fashionable hour.
+
+AUGUST 30. -- Started for a fresh line of exploration, not without
+some difficulty and opposition, in consequence of a desire on the
+part of the Sipahee and the servants to revisit Kurgil, with a view
+to the tobacco supplies supposed to exist there.
+
+The consequence was that they obtained all sorts of information for us
+as to the badness of our proposed road, and the insuperable obstacles
+to be overcome from unbridged rivers, snow, &c. Persevering in our
+plans, however, we were rewarded by finding a great improvement in
+the scenery, and, from the novelty of the day's work, a corresponding
+benefit to the spirits of the entire expedition. Passing through
+a little village called Menzies, we halted for breakfast within
+view of the northern face of an entire new range of snow-capped
+mountains. Everything gave promise of fine scenery in advance, and
+about four P.M. we reached Thambis, a lovely piece of cultivation,
+surrounded on all sides by monster rocks, and overlooked by a peak of
+pure white virgin snow, and here we pitched our little camp. Entering
+the village suddenly from the rocky mountain-pass, the little place
+looked inexpressibly green and refreshing, and we were soon under the
+shade of a row of pleasant pollards, which lined the bank of a stream
+near which we halted. As at Pushkoom, the second crops were down,
+and the people employed in thrashing and grinding their corn. The
+new crop consisted principally of pulse of various kinds, radishes,
+and a few fields of tobacco, and nestled in pleasant nooks and corners
+there were occasional gardens of melons.
+
+Here we got two fine sheep for one rupee ten annas, or 3S. 3D., and
+one of them formed a sumptuous repast for the coolies and retainers,
+who held a most convivial banquet round their camp-fires in the
+evening. The primitive inhabitants seemed quite unaccustomed to the
+sight of strangers, and we found on this account, better and more
+plentiful supplies procurable, while the assembling of the entire
+village to behold the wonderful arrival, formed a pleasant excitement
+after the day's march.
+
+To-day we had the choice of two roads, one on either side of the
+torrent; that on the right bank was reported bad, and we accordingly
+decided upon the other, but an unexpected obstacle then presented
+itself in the shape of a bridge of rope of a very considerable length,
+crossing the torrent. It was formed of the twigs of trees, and being
+in an unpleasantly dilapidated condition, the passage was a matter
+of some difficulty if not danger. To save the direct strain a number
+of the villagers took up their position to distend the side ropes,
+and having to get over the outstretched legs of these officious
+aids, made the affair a very much more nervous proceeding than it
+would otherwise have been. The lowness of the side-ropes, and the
+oscillation of the ricketty structure rendered the feat altogether a
+rather more amusing performance to the looker on than to the actual
+performer, and I was not to reach the opposite shore. On the arrival
+of the coolies, they all hung back, and regarded the machine with
+utter astonishment, and when one of them did essay the passage,
+his coat caught in one of the twigs, about half way across, and not
+having the use of his hands, he was completely caught as in a trap,
+and unable either to advance or retire. In endeavouring to turn,
+his load nearly upset him, and there he remained until extricated
+by one of the villagers. A few of the coolies afterwards got across,
+and also the servants, with great trepidation, but the greater number,
+with the main body of the baggage, including, alas! all the cooking
+department, except one load, were afraid to essay the passage, and had
+to take to the bad road in despair. The fraction of the commissariat
+stores which did reach our side of the water turned out to be plates,
+knives, forks, and kettles, so that we had before us no prospect of
+breakfast until we arrived at a village some ten kos off, where a
+more respectable bridge was to re-unite us with our goods and chattels.
+
+As promised, the path on our side was pretty good, and led us
+through several peaceful little villages, overhung by giant rocks,
+and dotted with enormous blocks of stone, which had descended to
+disturb the harmony of the scene during some convulsion or commotion
+in the interior economy of the mountains. Some of these were taken
+advantage of by the natives to serve as canvas for their designs,
+and were carved with effigies of four-armed divinities, and other
+SACRED subjects. With the exception of these, we saw few traces of
+Buddhism about us here. Passing through one of the villages, I bought
+a medicine-book, or charm, from one of the natives. It was in Arabic,
+and was rolled and swathed like a mummy, and worn round his arm. He
+told me that he had inherited it from his father, and appeared by no
+means happy when it was gone.
+
+Arriving at Sankoo, we found it a well-wooded thinly-inhabited
+valley, about a kos and a half in length. Here we had a new specimen
+of bridge architecture to pass. It was formed simply enough of
+two crooked trunks of trees, and, considering the torrent below,
+it required a considerable amount of confidence to enable one to
+traverse it successfully. From the scarcity of the population, I had
+great difficulty in finding anybody to procure me a drink of milk,
+and when I at last discovered a woman and two children, she was so
+thunderstruck that, catching up one of her offspring in her arms and
+shrieking to another to follow her, like a hen and chickens swooped at
+by a hawk, away they went as fast as their legs would carry them. As
+this was no satisfaction to me, however productive it might be of
+milk to the baby, I began to make signs of bringing down the family
+mansion that short distance required to raze it to the ground, and
+thus succeeded in calling forth from its interior a half-naked old
+gentleman out of his study to my assistance.
+
+He, however, in an abject way informed me that he had no milk himself,
+but would introduce me to a friend who had. I accordingly followed
+him, "at the point of the stick," until we reached another mud hovel,
+where we found the lady of the house sitting in her porch working,
+and a supercilious-looking gentleman reclining at her side.
+
+Neither of them, however, seemed to pay the slightest attention to my
+wants, and savage with thirst, I charged the whole trio, saluting the
+gentleman at the same time with an application of my stick. Instead of
+his jumping up, however, as I expected, I found that the unfortunate
+man was kept in his recumbent position by rheumatism, or some such
+ailment, and that, in my ignorance of Thibetian, and want of milk
+and patience combined, I had committed an atrocious and unwarrantable
+assault upon an invalid. Meantime, however, the lady was off like a
+shot, and soon returned from the dairy bearing both milk and flour,
+wherewith to appease the ferocity of her visitor. Having nearly
+choked myself with the meal and brought myself round again with the
+milk, I gave the invalid full compensation and satisfaction as far
+as I was able, for my attack, and again took to the road in search
+of the bridge which was to re-unite us with our baggage and our
+breakfast. Before reaching it, however, I was the unfortunate cause
+of the entire abandonment of some half-dozen houses, by merely halting
+to sit down for a few minutes under a tree in their vicinity. Whether
+the inhabitants -- who appeared to be all women -- thought that I
+was going to open trenches and beleaguer them or not I don't know,
+but, after a few minutes, I used to see one of them dart out from
+behind a mud wall and scuttle away like a rabbit; then another
+lady would steal out, carefully lock the door, and with a child
+on her back and a couple of olive branches in rear, crawl over the
+housetop and out at the back garden, there taking to her heels, and
+vanishing with her convoy suddenly from sight. This operation being
+repeated in other tenements, I found myself at last left in full and
+uninterrupted possession of the entire settlement I happened to be
+in the vicinity of, including the cocks, hens, firewood, dwelling,
+places, and messuages, &c. thereunto appertaining and belonging. When
+they re-occupied the evacuated premises I don't know, but Rajoo, I
+ascertained, wished them all no future happiness when, on coming up
+some time afterwards, he knocked at every door and looked down every
+sky-light and chimney in the village without being able to procure
+as much as a light to ignite the tobacco in his "hubble bubble." The
+coolies having found the path on the right bank of the torrent quite as
+bad as prognosticated, we got our breakfast shortly before sunset. From
+the proximity of a high rocky mountain, towards the westward of our
+camp, however, this was considerably earlier than might be imagined.
+
+SEPTEMBER 1. -- Commenced our last month but one of leave, by a
+fine march of some sixteen miles from Sankoo to Tesroo, or Sooroo,
+at the foot of the grandest snowy range we had yet encountered. The
+path led us over a gigantic fall of rocks, evidently the deposits
+formed by successive and destructive avalanches.
+
+In some parts the traces were quite fresh, the rocks being rent and
+uptorn in a wonderful way; and, in one place, we passed the ground
+where two villages had been entirely overwhelmed by an avalanche,
+the entire population of twenty-five having been killed in the ruins.
+
+After walking about five or six kos, in the finest and freshest of
+morning air, we suddenly opened upon a noble mountain of pure unbroken
+snow, rearing its head proudly into the blue sky among a train of
+courtiers, not so noble, nor so purely, whitely, clad as itself,
+but still arrayed in robes of glistening snow. Here the path emerged
+from the side of the rugged mountain torrent, and brought us about
+two kos over fine turfy grass to within some three miles of Sooroo;
+and here we halted, under a grove of trees, for breakfast. After this,
+we had another rope bridge to pass, which was so little to the taste
+of the coolies, that they were glad to get the natives to carry over
+their loads for them. On crossing we found the Thanadar, a fine old
+black-muzzled Cashmeeree, with his Moonshee, and a train of eight
+Sipahees waiting to receive us, and were conducted in due form to
+our camping ground. Here the breeze, as it whistled over our tent,
+savoured strongly of the snow, and reminded us of the vicinity of
+the chilly mountain Grandees we had seen on our road, and which still
+presided over us.
+
+The natives even appeared to feel the cold, though in the winter months
+they are entirely snowed up, and ought to be pretty well inured to
+it by this time.
+
+The entire valley is, in winter, totally submerged in snow,
+and a stranger might then pass over it without knowing there were
+villages beneath his feet. The bridges are annually swept away, and
+so suddenly does the hard weather make its appearance, that even now
+the inhabitants were in fear and trembling lest the snows should come
+down on them before their crops of wheat and barley were carried for
+the winter's use.
+
+Numbers of fields of corn are still within a week or so of ripening,
+and, should they be lost, the chance of winter's subsistence would
+be small indeed.
+
+The appearance of a Thibetian settlement here, as one looks down upon
+it from a height, is very much that of an ant-hill. The huts are built
+on the top of each other, and generally on mounds, and the people,
+like ants, are busily and laboriously employed in laying up their
+winter store, not only of grain, but also of firewood, and anything
+capable of serving in its place, to enable them to struggle through
+their dreary mouths of captivity.
+
+Huge loads of corn and stacks are to be seen moving about, apparently
+spontaneously, disappearing through queer holes and corners of the
+earth, and again appearing on the housetops, where they are stacked
+and stored. The bundles of fire-wood being placed with the branches
+outside, and neatly ranged, they give the peaceful settlement quite
+a bristling and warlike appearance, as if defended by CHEVAUX DE
+FRISE. The Zemindars here pay but two rupees a year to the Maharajah,
+but it seems a hard case that such hardly-subsisting people should
+have to pay anything whatever in such a sterile dreary territory as
+they possess.
+
+To-day we came across one solitary mound of the inscribed stones,
+probably the last, as we now cross the mountains into Cashmerian
+territory again.
+
+To the south of our camp, the road from Ladak through Zanskar joins
+the valley, and we half regretted not having risked the chances of
+that road; however, it was uncertain whether it was passable, and,
+as time was valuable, we had but little option in the matter.
+
+SEPTEMBER 2. -- Being Sunday, we had a regular rest, explored the
+country, and made the acquaintance of the few Thibetians who inhabited
+the villages.
+
+Everywhere there were signs of the invasion of Gulab Singh, some
+twenty years ago. Houses in ruins, and forts reduced to dust and
+rubbish. To replace these latter, a new fort had been constructed by
+Rumbeer Singh, in what appears about the worst possible position in
+the entire valley to render it of any use whatever.
+
+The people were busily employed in their fields, pulling and carrying
+corn, and treading it out with oxen. A team of six I saw, most
+uncomfortably performing this work. They were tied together by the
+noses, and so small a piece of ground had they to revolve upon, that
+the innermost animal had to go backward continually, while the centre
+ones were regularly jammed together by the outsiders. Two deformed
+natives were employed in driving this unhappy thrashing machine.
+
+In the evening, the Thanadar's Moonshee came to beg a "razee nama,"
+or "letter of satisfaction," which we gave him, together with a
+"bukshish," with which he seemed well pleased.
+
+SEPTEMBER 3. -- Got up this morning with a peculiarly cold feel, and
+started with a fine piercing breeze in our teeth, blowing directly
+off the snows.
+
+Our force was augmented to-day by three goats, as portable dairy, and a
+party of natives, with three days' supplies, also a guide, for our path
+lay over ground neither much frequented nor well known. To-day's has
+been the grandest scene of the panorama yet unfolded to us. From the
+last halt, no inconsiderable height in itself, we mounted continually
+towards the huge white masses of snow, which so lately towered above
+us in the distance. Passing the remains of mighty avalanches firmly
+fixed across the foaming torrent, we ascended the snow valley by the
+side of a perfect mountain of ice and snow, the accumulations of,
+possibly, as many years as the world has existed, which had formed
+itself immoveably between the mighty mountain's sides. The terrific
+force, with which the masses of snow had come down each season, to
+repair the ravages in the frozen monster's constitution caused by the
+melting away of his lower extremities, could be seen by the enormous
+blocks of stone which rested on its surface in all directions. In
+some places fantastic arches of snow were thus formed, with blocks of
+rock resting on their summits, and such a distance were these central
+accumulations of rocks, and snow, and ice, from the cradles in which
+they were reared, that it was impossible to conceive, without the
+occurrence of an earthquake, how they could ever have reached their
+present positions.
+
+One begins now faintly to understand how it is that the enormous number
+of torrents dashing about are kept supplied with icy life. The vast
+quantities of snow wedged into solid masses, which must have existed
+since all time among these mighty mountains, would serve to feed rivers
+innumerable, and the supply, as long as rivers and mountains exist,
+would appear to be inexhaustible.
+
+Our path, if path it could be called, was very bad in parts, and
+so difficult for the coolies that we were fortunate in getting our
+breakfast at two P.M., and, when we did get it, a snowstorm which
+came down upon us rather hurried our procedings in discussing it.
+
+The entire afternoon it continued snowing, and the mountain-tops
+soon hid themselves and sulked away among the leaden mists. Our tent
+was pitched among a low sort of scrub, the only apology for fire-wood
+procurable, and here we soon had a fine carpet of fresh snow, which put
+the unfortunate coolies, and the servants, and the three goats and the
+four ducks, and, in fact, everybody but F. and myself, who now begin to
+feel thoroughly AT HOME, to considerable discomfort and inconvenience.
+
+About a hundred yards from us rises the central mountain of
+consolidated old snow; while the monarchs of the place, whose
+hospitality we have been enjoying, overtopped our diminutive little
+worn canvas dwelling with proud and gloomy magnificence, or hid
+themselves from us in their ermine mantles, with aristocratic
+frigidity.[30] Before us, the path continues towards the clouds,
+hemmed in, to all appearance, by a mighty glacier, which it would
+seem impossible to avoid in our tomorrow's route. To-day we again
+find the society of the little shrieking marmots, who seemed more than
+over astonished at what could bring so strange and motley a group of
+creatures to disturb the universal quiet of their solitude. Of all
+our party the cook, perhaps, here fares the worst. The only things
+growing about us are a few plants of rhubarb and the miserable scrub,
+which he is obliged to use with all faith as firewood! this being
+thoroughly wet requires much coaxing to ignite, and what with the
+difficulties of his profession, the cold, the falling snow, and the
+increased appetites of the SAHIBS, the unfortunate head of the cooking
+department becomes for the time the most intensely miserable being,
+black or white, upon the whole face of the globe.
+
+SEPTEMBER 4. -- Awoke this morning to find the encampment, and its
+vicinity, covered with snow, and every prospect of a snow-stormy march
+before us. The coolies and servants were in a deplorable state of
+frozen discomfort, but all kept up their spirits by laughing at each
+other's woes. Just as the sun appeared above the mountains for a few
+minutes only, we got under weigh; the tent, however, took some time
+to disencumber of its load of frozen snow, and to pack, and all the
+baggage required excavating previous to becoming capable of removal.
+
+The path up to the great glacier above us was wild and barren, it
+lay over a little plain watered by branching streams, and covered
+over with ice and newly fallen snow. Crossing one of these streams,
+I flushed a solitary woodcock, the only inhabitant of the wild,
+and shortly afterwards, our guide, an uncouth bundle of sheep-skins,
+slipped over a frozen stone, and came down in the freezing water with
+a splash, which, at that hour of the morning, made one shudder all
+over involuntarily. The snow-shoes which F. and myself had donned,
+alone saved us several times from a similar, uncomfortable fate. Our
+path, properly speaking, should have led over the very centre of the
+glacier; but, in consequence of the numerous crevasses and the early
+appearance of the new snow, our guide steadily refused to take us
+over the pass by that route. To have taken it without a guide would
+have been simply impossible; so we diverged to one side, and, after a
+sharp ascent of two hours over the snow, reached a sort of upper basin
+among the very mountain-tops. Here the scene which opened on us was
+wild beyond description. We were now about 18,000 feet above the sea,
+and in every direction around us snow hemmed in our view. Under our
+feet was a plain of pure white snow; the mountain-tops were snowy
+HILLOCKS, standing white against the leaden sky; and from above the
+fleecy snow-flakes fell around us thickly as we trudged along. The
+ground was most treacherous, and required great care m traversing, and
+in one place, being ahead of the guide, the snow and ice suddenly gave
+way beneath me, and with a most unpleasant sensation of uncertainty
+as to where I might be going, I found myself standing up to my waist
+in snow and to my knees in freezing water.
+
+The guide, almost at the same moment, came to the same end, and it was
+not without much floundering and blundering that we both extricated
+ourselves from our difficulties. Shortly after this we crossed the
+highest point of the pass, and here the guide said his prayers to the
+presiding "peer," or divinity of the place, previous to asking for
+bukshish; after which he and the sepoy proceeded to smoke a pipe of
+peace and tranquillity together. The most trying part of our day's work
+we found to be waiting for breakfast, the coolies being much retarded
+both by the road and the state of the weather. We stopped at a sort
+of temporary abode, where some slight protection from rain and snow
+was obtained by the piling up of stones against an eligible rock,
+and here, after a long and dreary wait, we breakfasted in a little
+smoke-dried, draught-inviting den, the snow all the time coming down
+in a way not altogether adapted for the enjoyment of such AL FRESCO
+entertainments. Descending from this, we came to a grassy slope at
+last, and so by a most precipitous path to the valley on the southern
+side of the mountains, down which a formidable torrent rolled along,
+dividing itself into a number of channels not very promising as to our
+prospects of reaching the opposite side. Here we saw an enormous flock
+of sheep grazing on the mountain-side, seeming, as they moved to and
+fro in search of pasture, like a floating cloud against the hill. There
+must have been several thousands, though accurate computation was out
+of the question. They made, however, all the other mountain-flocks
+we had met, appear as nothing in point of numbers.
+
+Arriving at the many-branching river, I was for some time quite at a
+loss for a ford, until a native, seeing the dilemma I was in, crossed
+to my assistance. Finding me stripping to the work, he insisted on
+my mounting upon his back, and in an evil moment I consented. The
+consequence was that, after passing safely a couple of the streams,
+in the deepest spot of the whole torrent, he tottered and fell,
+and down we both came, he in the most ungraceful position in which
+man can fall, and I, luckily, upon my feet. The sensation, however,
+on suddenly finding the water rushing past, and one's feet slipping
+about among the clinking stones, was anything but pleasant, and it
+was with difficulty that I collected myself together and completed
+the uncomfortable passage. The tent being luckily pitched about a mile
+farther on, the loss of dignity in the eyes of the bystanders was the
+only evil result of the misfortune. Towards night it came on again to
+snow, and the coolies and retainers had another hard bivouac of it,
+while F. and I were obliged to keep all hands at the pumps, or, in
+other words, to fasten all available rags and wraps under our canvas,
+to keep out the soaking wet.
+
+The cold was very great, and everything gave token of coming winter,
+and testified to what the Himalayas can do in the snow and ice line
+of business when their full time shall arrive.
+
+SEPTEMBER 5. -- After a damp night's bivouac, we awoke to find "A
+MIXTURE AS BEFORE" falling -- a mixture of rain, sleet, and snow --
+anything but promising for the comfort of our day's march. To avoid
+having to wait in the wet for breakfast, we sent on the kitchen and
+the cook, and, after some time, followed leisurely ourselves.
+
+An overhanging ledge of rock afforded us some shelter for our meal,
+and, after warming and drying ourselves to some extent in this
+smoke-blackened and not very commodious little Himalayan hotel, we
+again pressed on. This was our third day away from either villages or
+regular shelter of any sort, and the retainers were naturally anxious
+to reach some settlement where they could, for a time at least,
+protect themselves from the rain and snow which still continued to
+fall. The consequence was, they pressed on some sixteen miles farther
+at a good pace, to reach a little wooden village at the head of the
+Wurdwan valley, and we saw nothing of them on the road. On reaching
+our halting-place, however, lo and behold, our unfortunate cook was
+absent, and nobody seemed to know anything whatever about him! The
+cooking things and the larder were all present, and dinner-hour was
+at hand; but, alas! the pots and kettles were without a lord, and the
+question of where was our dinner began to give way in point of interest
+to where was our cook. At the time F. and I left the "cave-hotel,"
+the whole of the coolies, Rajoo, the three goats, and the two sheep,
+had all gone on ahead, as also the "Invincible One," the sepoy.
+
+The bhistie and the missing cook had therefore only remained
+behind. The road, soon after leaving, entered a wooded gorge, and,
+as the valley narrowed, the torrent began to get considerably more
+rapid and boisterous, as it took to leaping down the giant rocks,
+which bound it in between their iron grasp and formed its only bed.
+
+The path was wet and sloppy, and led in parts along the tops of rather
+dangerous precipices. Passing cautiously over these, and through
+wooded paths lined with mosses and wild flowers, whose perfume scented
+the entire air, we came upon a curious bridge of well-packed snow,
+which spanned the torrent. A treacherous-looking specimen it was,
+and after taking its likeness in my pocket-book, I was passing it as a
+matter of course, when I suddenly heard a shout, and perceived F. and
+the mate at the other side of the torrent beckoning me to cross the
+snow. I accordingly, with no very good grace and some astonishment,
+essayed the passage. The snow I found hard as ice, and not liking the
+look of its treacherous convex sides, I held my course straight up the
+centre, and then descended with great care and deliberation along the
+junction of the snow and the mountain. So slippery was the passage,
+that without grass shoes I should have been sorry to have attempted
+it, and, as I halted to regard the curious structure from a distance,
+I could not help thinking what a likely spot it was for a traveller to
+lose his life without anybody being the wiser, and what a small chance
+he would have in the deep and rapid torrent below if he should happen
+to slip into its remorseless clutches. The path from this continued
+its perilous character, in one place traversing a precipitous face
+of rock only passable on all fours, beneath which a thick cover of
+long grass and weeds hung over the deep, treacherous-looking pools of
+the torrent. Having on a pair of grass shoes which had already done
+one day's work, I had broken down about half way, and was now nearly
+bare-footed. I consequently did not arrive till nearly the last of
+the party, and found the tent pitched and fires lit under a group of
+large trees, in the wooden village of about a dozen houses, called
+Sucknez. It was then getting dusk, and after waiting a reasonable
+time, we sent out a party from the village to make search for our
+missing man, while F. and I, lighting a fire almost in the tent door,
+proceeded to cook our own dinner.
+
+The materials consisted of an unlimited supply of eggs and a box
+of sardines, hitherto neglected, and despised among the artistic
+productions of our lost professor. F. superintended the frying
+of the eggs, and produced a conglomeration of some eight of them,
+which we pronounced unusually delicious, while I laid the table and
+looked after the kettle, for we thought it better, under our bereaved
+circumstances, to knock tea and dinner into one meal. Although we had
+made a longish march, we managed, with the aid of the kettle and the
+brandy, to sit up by the light of a roaring pine fire until late, in
+the hopes of some news arriving of our searching party. None however
+came, and we went to bed HOPING that the man had lost his way, and
+FEARING that he had fallen either over the slippery snow-bridge or
+down one of the many precipices into the torrent.
+
+SEPTEMBER 6. -- Morning came, but neither news of our cook nor of
+the party who went out in his search, and, after breakfast, donning
+a pair of grass shoes, and provided with some matches and a small
+bottle of cherry-brandy, I sallied out with the mate on a voyage of
+discovery. Outside the village I met the searching party, who had
+been out all through the bitter night, but had found no traces of
+the object of their search.
+
+Sending a note to F. to dispatch all the coolies to search, I pressed
+on to the most dangerous precipice of our yesterday's route, and,
+descending to the torrent, searched about the grass and weeds at the
+bottom, but without finding any traces. About this place I met three
+lonely travellers, laden with meal, who had come along the entire
+path, but had seen no sign of a human creature anywhere. I now gave
+up our man as lost, but still held on, in a pouring mixture of sleet
+and snow, which added considerably to the gloom of the scene. Every
+now and then the old mate, who was in very low spirits, would raise
+a lugubrious wail at the top of his voice of "Ai Khansaman Jee! Ai
+Khansaman Jee?" "Oh, cook of my soul! oh, cook of my soul, where
+art thou?" at the same time apparently apostrophizing the deepest
+whirlpools of the torrent, while the roar of the waters effectually
+prevented his magnificent voice from reaching more than a dozen
+yards from the spot where he stood. Arriving at the snow-bridge,
+we examined it closely for signs of footmarks; it was, however,
+so hard that it baffled all our efforts.
+
+At the other side I explored the path which I myself had followed
+in the first instance. It, however, only led to a small shelter
+among the rocks and trees, where the natives had evidently been in
+the habit of lighting their fires and halting for the night. After
+continuing the search to another snow-bridge above, we returned
+to our camp, and made the sepoy issue a notice that twenty rupees
+reward would be given for the recovery of our cook, dead or alive,
+and also that a reward would be given to any person who should bring
+us any reliable information about him. At the same time we sent the
+notice to the villages below, and spread it as much as possible; but
+though twenty rupees would be a small fortune to one of these people,
+they took but little interest in the matter, and looked upon the whole
+thing as "Kismut," or destiny. "If it was the will of God that the
+body should be found, it would be found, if not, where was the use
+of looking for it;" and so they took no steps whatever in the matter.
+
+To add to the probabilities of the snow-bridge having been the
+cause of our loss, it appeared that a short time before, a coolie
+carrying Pushmeena &c. had fallen there, and had never since been
+heard of; while another, who had also fallen into the torrent, was
+only discovered six days afterwards miles and miles below.
+
+Having now despatched several searching parties, and received no
+tidings, we decided upon retreating to the next village down the
+valley, and halting there for a few days, in order to do all we could
+for our unfortunate man.
+
+SEPTEMBER 7. -- Started on our march again in heavy sleet and rain,
+which, higher up the mountains, took the form of downright snow. The
+valley descended by a slight incline, through fir and other forest
+trees, and about four kos down, we reached another little wooden
+city, where, being wet through and through, we were glad to halt,
+and getting a good fire lit in one of the log-houses, we set to work
+to dry our clothes. The house was reached by a most primitive ladder,
+made of half the trunk of a tree, hollowed out into holes for the
+feet; and, as for the shelter afforded by the tenement, it certainly
+kept off the rain, but was not intended to keep out the wind, for the
+trees which composed the walls were so far apart, that we could see
+the face of nature between them, and, in spite of the open windows,
+which the architect had thought necessary to provide the building with,
+the breeze whistled through the chinks in a way that might be very
+pleasant in hot weather, but was not so cheery when snow and rain was
+the order of the day. The roofs were the most novel structures I had
+ever seen. They consisted merely of rudely split blocks of wood, some
+five or six feet long, through the upper ends of which stout pegs had
+been driven, and, thus suspended, these weighty wooden tiles overlapped
+each other, and formed a rude covering, which, unpromising as it was to
+outward appearance, answered its purpose sufficiently well, and was at
+least quite in keeping with the remainder of the wooden mansion. The
+people here were something like the Cashmeerees in appearance, and
+as we descend into civilization, fowls, and other hitherto foreign
+animals begin to show themselves once more. The entire substitution
+of wood for mud and stones effectually marks the difference between
+the Cashmerian and Thibetian sides of the snowy range we had just
+crossed. About eight kos from Sucknez we reached Bragnion, where we
+found the camp pitched in a most promising position, having a fine
+view of the valley below, and the distant ranges of mountains. The
+torrent here spread itself into several channels, and the valley,
+widening to allow it fuller liberty to pursue its joyful existence,
+descended in a succession of wooded slopes, one beyond the other,
+while the eternal snows again bounded the view in the distance.
+
+The small portions of comparatively level ground in sight were
+covered with crops of the richest colours. One in particular, which
+the people called "gunhar," was of the hue of beetroot, and grew upon
+its stalk in heavy, gorgeous masses, which added considerably to the
+richness of the landscape. The seed of this consists of myriads of
+little semi-transparent white grains, very like ant's eggs, and the
+taste is something similar to that of wheat. Above our camp, in a
+ravine of the hills, is the place where an officer had been killed
+by the fall of an avalanche, while out on a shooting expedition. His
+companion, a noted sportsman, was saved, by making a tremendous jump;
+but he himself, and three shikarees, were swept away, their bodies
+not being recovered for two months afterwards.
+
+SEPTEMBER 8. -- After a cold night, during which I dreamt of our lost
+cook, we were awoke by a shout of "Jeeta hy!" -- "He is living!" then,
+"Rusta bhool gya!" -- "He lost his way!" and gradually it dawned upon
+us that the man we had fancied floating down the torrent a mangled
+corpse was still actually in the land of the living.
+
+It appeared that he had been discovered, sitting helplessly upon the
+mountain side, by a chance and solitary traveller from Thibet. He had
+lost his way at the snow-bridge, and, in trying to retrace his steps,
+completely got off the only track existing, and had consequently
+wandered about among the wood and cover as long as his strength
+enabled him.
+
+The accounts of his movements amid the general excitement were rather
+conflicting, but this being the fourth day since his disappearance,
+and the weather having been very bad all that time, he must have
+had a very narrow escape of his life, from the combined effects of
+cold and hunger. By the man's account who found him, he was so weak,
+that he was unable to eat the chupatties thrown across to him; and,
+his rescuer accordingly leaving with him some meal, and means to make a
+fire, came on to Sucknez, and from thence sent out a party to carry him
+in. Sending a horse and some supplies for him, we looked forward with
+some interest to his own account of his most unsought-for adventures.
+
+The villagers here, we found, were in the habit of making regular
+expeditions among their crops at night, to keep off the bears who
+prowl about in search of food. Armed with torches, they keep up
+a tremendous shouting all through the dark hours, during the time
+their grain is ripening; and thinking to get a daylight view of the
+robbers, I started up the mountain with a native guide and a rifle. My
+"sportsman," however, in spite of many promises, failed in showing
+me anything more savage than a preserve of wild raspberry-trees,
+on which I regaled with much satisfaction.
+
+A curious custom in the valley is that of hanging quantities of hay
+up among the branches of trees, and its object puzzled me immensely,
+till my guide informed me that in the winter the snow lies five and six
+yards in depth, and that the supplies of hay, which now look only meant
+for camel-leopards, are then easily reached by the flocks of sheep
+which abound in the valley. At present these were all collected among
+the mountains, to be out of the way of the harvest, and this accounts
+for the enormous herd we had seen while descending from the pass.
+
+SEPTEMBER 9. -- Found the sun brightly shining again this morning,
+and everything looking fresh and beautiful after the rain. The man
+who had gone with supplies to the cook returned with news that he was
+ill from the effects of cold and fasting, and not able to come on to
+us. While at breakfast, my yesterday's guide brought us in a bowl of
+raspberries, which gave pleasant token of the change from the desolate
+country we had recently passed through, to the land of plenty we had
+reached. We also got about eleven seers (22 lbs.) of virgin honey,
+for which we paid three rupees. While trying it for breakfast,
+a dense swarm of the original proprietors came looking for their
+stores, and the noise they made buzzing about, made one fancy they
+contemplated walking off bodily with the jars. In the evening our
+long-lost cook again returned to the bosom of his family. The poor
+creature looked regularly worn out. From the combined effects of snow
+and fire he was quite lame; his turban, most of his clothes, and all
+his small possessions, had vanished while struggling through the thick
+cover, and he himself had subsisted for two nights and three days,
+unsheltered and alone, upon nothing but tobacco and snow! On losing
+his way, not thinking of crossing the snow-bridge, he struck right
+up the mountain side, in search, first of the path, and afterwards
+of some hut or shelter. He then gradually got into thick and almost
+impervious cover; not a habitation of any sort was within miles of him,
+and thus he wandered about for two days and nights. On the third day
+he descended again towards the torrent, and, falling and stumbling,
+reached a rock on its bank, and there seating himself, was, by the
+merest chance, seen by the passing traveller from the other side
+of the torrent. Making signs that he was starving, this man threw
+him some chupatties, and these, wonderful to relate, the cook put
+in his pocket without touching. Supposing him to be either too weak,
+or else, even while starving, too strict a Hindoo to eat cooked food,
+his rescuer then threw him across some meal in his turban, and went
+off for assistance. The poor creature was rather proud, I think, to
+find himself the centre of attraction, as well as of being valued at
+twenty rupees; and, as he falteringly related his sorrows and escape
+from death, the coolies and the rest of the forces gathered round
+him, listening with wide open mouths to the wonderful narrative of
+his adventures.
+
+SEPTEMBER 10. -- Took another day's rest to give our unfortunate cook
+a little time to recover his energies. In the evening, the villagers
+produced us a couple of hives of honey, which we packed away in
+earthen jars for transport to the plains. The amount was 391/2 seers,
+or 79 lbs. for which we paid ten rupees.
+
+The unwillingness of the people to produce their honey the "Invincible
+One" accounted for by saying that they were afraid of OUR not paying
+them. On inquiry, however, the real cause turned out to be, that the
+Sepoy himself was in the habit of exacting a heavy tax on all purchases
+on our part, and fear of him, not us, was the true difficulty.
+
+In the evening, we took a tour through the village, and DISCOURSED,
+as well as we could, a native Zemindar, whom we found with his
+household around him, gathering in his crop of grain, which had been
+partially destroyed by the early snow. His land appeared to be about
+four acres in extent, and for this, he told us, he paid twelve rupees
+per annum to the Maharajah of Cashmere. He failed signally, however,
+in explaining how he produced that amount by his little farm. The
+produce of his land sufficed only to feed himself and his family,
+and the proceeds of the sale of wool, belonging to his twelve sheep,
+he estimated at only two rupees. Besides these, he possessed a few
+cows, and appeared as cheery and contented a landholder as I ever met,
+in spite of his losses by the snows, and his inability to make out,
+even by description, his ten rupees of ground-rent to the Maharajah.
+
+The crops around consisted chiefly of bearded wheat (kanuk), barley
+(jow), anik, tronba, and gunhar, all otherwise nameless; and also a
+small quantity of tobacco, turnips, and radishes.
+
+SEPTEMBER 11. -- Having with some difficulty procured a pony for the
+cook, we started again for Cashmere, and, after a very steep ascent,
+through woods of magnificent pine-trees, with every now-and-then a
+glorious peep of distant snow-peaks towering in the skies, we reached
+the summit of the peer, which separates the territory called Kushtwar
+from that of Cashmere. According to the "Invincible" authority, this
+territory belonged, some sixty years ago, to an independent Rajah,
+and, on his death without heirs or successors, it fell into the
+clutches of Gulab Singh.[31]
+
+The entire revenue, he stated, was 3,000 rupees. From the heights
+along our path, we could see the great glaciers of Dutchen, with its
+mountain peak of 25,000 feet, which we had been bound for when the
+misadventure of our cook interfered with our plans, and left us not
+sufficient time to carry out our explorations.
+
+The summit of the pass we found evidently not long freed from the old
+snow, while the new supply lay about in masses all over the mountain.
+
+Passing over a wild and marshy plain at the summit, we began to
+descend a lovely pine-clad valley once more into veritable Cashmere,
+and, about four P.M. encamped in a forest-clearing, which, in a very
+short space of time, was illuminated by no less than seven roaring
+campfires. Our own formed the centre, and was formed of a couple of
+entire pine-trunks, while the others were ranged about wherever a dry
+and prostrate tree presented a favourable basis for a conflagration. In
+the evening we enjoyed the warmth of our fires considerably, and
+discussed hot brandy and water seated on the very trees which formed
+our fuel. We were all the more inclined to appreciate our position,
+as we felt that we were nearly out of our cold latitudes, and rapidly
+descending to the land of dog days once again.
+
+SEPTEMBER 12. -- Continued our march down the valley, through continued
+wooded grassy scenes, and attended by a not too noisy torrent. About a
+kos from our halting place, we began again to see the wooden houses,
+and came to a halt at the picturesque little village of Nowbogh,
+where there were two roads branching off to Islamabad.
+
+Here we had a long wait for breakfast, the servants being overcome by
+the unaccustomed civilization and tobacco they met on the road. We
+accordingly set to work at our own kitchen fire, and breakfasted
+without further assistance off fried eggs, rice, and honey.
+
+In the evening we found alas! that a fire at our tent door, as we had
+had hitherto, was rather too hot to be pleasant. We were here visited
+by the local prodigy, a rustic carpenter, who insisted upon making
+something for us with his rather primitive-looking turning lathe. His
+shop I found completely AL FRESCO, between a couple of cows in the
+centre of a farm-yard, and here he set to work at a walnut cup, which
+he turned out creditably enough. The only thing against it was, that
+his lathe bored a hole right through the bottom of it, which spoiled
+the utensil a good deal for drinking out of. However, not at all taken
+aback, he plugged it up with a piece of stick, and at once requested
+the bukshish, which was the chief part of the performance. Like most
+of the Cashmeeries, he complained bitterly of the exactions of the
+Maharajah's government, and stated his own rent to amount to sixteen
+Huree Singh's rupees ([pound sterling]l) per annum. Not seeing how he
+could accumulate that sum, by even an entire year of work such as his,
+I took the liberty of disbelieving his assertion.
+
+SEPTEMBER 13. -- Started for Kukunath. Our path lay over a
+finely-wooded hill, from which we had a full view of the Peer Punjal
+range, now divested considerably of the snows which lay upon it at
+the time we started for Thibet.
+
+Gradually descending into the valley proper, we soon found ourselves
+once more among the waving rice-fields and apple-orchards, while
+the wooden tenements again gave way to mud and stone, and thatched
+erections. At a village called Sopru, we found some iron mines in
+working order, and passing Kundunath, a pretty little spot adorned
+with gardens of melons, pumpkins, sunflowers, &c., we shortly
+after reached Kukunath. Here we encamped close to a collection of
+bubbling crystal springs, which, bursting out of the hill side, and
+spreading into a dozen separate streams, took their course down to
+the innumerable fields of rice which they watered in their passage
+through the valley. To-day our little camp assumes quite a lively
+appearance again, three sheep and several fowls having been added
+to the farm-yard; these, together with three surviving ducks of the
+real original stock, and a wonderful white Thibetian cock, who owes
+his life entirely to his highly-cultivated vocal powers, strut about
+in front of the tent, and give an air of unwonted respectability
+to the scene. Two marches more take us to Islamabad, and it seems
+altogether about time that the present expedition should draw to a
+close. Supplies appear alarmingly low. Sugar out some days, brandy
+ditto, European boots worn out long ago, and both F. and myself living
+in grass shoes; clothes generally dilapidated, and decidedly dirty;
+servants very anxious for more tobacco and society, and everything, in
+fact, requiring rest and renovation after our seven weeks' wanderings.
+
+SEPTEMBER 14. -- Reached the picturesque little baraduree of
+Atchabull once more, after a pleasant march from Kukunath. Shortly
+after taking possession, a fresh arrival of Sahib's possessions and
+servants came in, the latter rather astonished to find the house
+occupied by such early birds. The owners turned out to be a colonel
+of the Bengal Artillery and a brother officer. These were almost our
+first acquaintances since starting, so that we were glad enough to
+fraternize and hear what was going on in the world. Two of our former
+boat's crew here also appeared, and gave us tidings of our rearguard
+and baggage. The latter had been ejected from its lodgings, and taken
+out for an airing on the river, having been visited by a flood caused
+by the melting of the snows shortly after our departure. The weather
+here began to be unpleasantly hot again; the disappearance of the
+snow from the mountains having removed the principal cause of the
+usual coolness in the valley.
+
+Dined with the white men under the spreading sycamores, and enjoyed
+the luxuries of bread, beer, and sugar in our tea, to all of which
+we had now been long unaccustomed.
+
+SEPTEMBER 15. -- A short march brought us to Islamabad, which we found
+unusually lively from the assembling of a host of pilgrims, who had
+come from far and wide for a religious fair at Mutton. The groups of
+different nations, and their manners and customs while bivouacking,
+were most picturesque, and served to amuse and interest us for the
+entire day.
+
+SEPTEMBER 16. -- Started early by boat, in the fond expectation
+of reaching Sirinugger in the evening. Dusk, however, found us no
+farther than the ruins of Wentipore, and we only reached the capital
+at daylight in the morning. Finding our old quarters vacant, we were
+soon located once more under a roof; and, fifty days having elapsed
+since we had seen either letter or paper, we lost no time in applying
+to the postal authorities for our expected accumulations and arrears
+of correspondence. This resulted in the production of twenty-seven
+epistles and eleven papers, which we carried home triumphantly in
+our boat, and proceeded forthwith to devour in that ravenous fashion
+only known and appreciated by such as have ever undergone a similar
+literary fast.
+
+
+
+Last Days of Travel.
+
+SEPTEMBER 30. -- For the last fifteen days we have been living
+once more the life of OTIUM CUM DIGNITATE common to the travelling
+Englishman in Cashmere. Basking in the sun, taking the daily row upon
+the river, eating fruit, and buying trash in the city, have been our
+principal occupations and amusements.
+
+About the 20th of the month an English general officer arrived, and was
+received with all honours, including a salute of heavy ordnance, which
+was happily unattended with loss of life or limb. A dance and grand
+review were also given in his honour; so that the arrival made quite
+a stir, and came fairly under the head of AN EVENT in the valley. At
+the review the Maharajah was decorated with unusual grandeur, and as he
+and his guest rode down the line together -- the latter in a plain blue
+frock, and the other in all his cloth of gold and jewelled splendour --
+never were simplicity and display more strikingly placed in contrast.
+
+The general's medals and crosses, however, appeared to have a greater
+interest and importance in the Maharajah's eyes than their intrinsic
+value could have commanded for them, and, during the marching
+past of "The Army," he kept continually poking his finger at them,
+and pointing them out to the courtiers who were gathered about his
+chair. The general, at the same time, was employed in explaining
+how many thousands the British Army consisted of, and how vastly
+superior it was to all other armies whatever, not even making an
+exception (as I thought he might fairly have done) in favour of the
+"Invincible Forces," then and there manfully throwing out their feet
+before him to the martial strains of "Home, sweet Home!" After the
+last of the army had marched past, the general, with an energy little
+appreciated by his friends in cloth of gold, jumped up, and, begging
+permission to manoeuvre the troops himself, went off to throw the
+unfortunate colonel commanding into a state of extreme consternation,
+and to frighten the few English words of command he was possessed of,
+fairly out of his head.
+
+In the early mornings my chief amusement had been to watch the colonel
+in question preparing both himself and his troops for the approaching
+spectacle, and very sensibly he went through the performance. He
+was arrayed on these occasions in the full dress of a green velvet
+dressing-gown, worn in the style affected by the FEROCIOUS RUFFIAN
+in small theatres, and, in place of a bugler, was accompanied by a
+pipe-bearer. This aide followed him over the battle-field, wherever
+the exigencies of the service required, and supplied him with whiffs
+of the fragrant weed to compose his nerves at intervals during the
+action. Their united efforts, however, although slightly irregular
+in appearance, were attended with full success, for, with the help
+of ten rounds of ammunition, the troops, even when handed over to the
+tender mercies of the "Foreign General" got through their ordeal very
+creditably; and, as they shot nobody, and did nothing more irregular
+than losing their shoes upon the field, the event passed off smoothly
+and pleasantly, and to the satisfaction of all concerned.
+
+Here we met an old Sikh acquaintance of the road, who informed me
+that he had taken service under the Maharajah. Next day he paid us
+a visit, by appointment, and expressed himself highly delighted with
+his entertainment; smoking and drinking, however, not being lawful in
+society to the Sikhs, we could do but little in the character of hosts,
+beyond letting him talk away to his heart's content, and with as little
+interruption as possible. He told us his entire life and history,
+in the worst of English, and we affected to understand the whole of
+the narration, which, perhaps, was as much as any host could have
+been called upon to do under the circumstances. The old gentleman's
+dress was extremely gorgeous, and contrasted rather strongly with
+our own woollen shooting-jackets and general exterior. He wore
+a turban of purest white, entwined in endless folds round a light
+green skull-cap; his waistcoat was of green velvet, embroidered,
+and richly bordered with gold. His pyjamas -- striped silk of the
+brightest hue -- fitted his little legs as tightly as needle and
+thread could make them, and his lady-like feet were encased in cotton
+socks and gold embroidered slippers. Over all this he wore a green and
+gold silk scarf of voluminous proportions, and of that comprehensive
+character which an Eastern scarf, and in Eastern hands, alone is
+capable of assuming. Round his wrists were massive gold bracelets,
+but of other trinkets he had few; and the enormous ear-rings, so
+usually worn by his race, were not among them. His long grey beard
+and almost white moustache were, perhaps, the only ornaments his
+fine old head required. The last time I had seen him, he was arrayed
+entirely in scarlet and gold, and he had, no doubt, a large reserve
+of dresses and jewellery; but, in spite of his tinsel and gilding,
+he appeared a perfect little Eastern gentleman, and the only one I
+had met as yet in our travels. After expressing a great desire to
+open a correspondence with us, which, considering the small number
+of topics we possessed in common, was rather a strange wish, the old
+gentleman and his retinue took their leave, and we had seen the last
+of Beer Singh Bahadur and his glorious apparel.
+
+OCTOBER 1. -- Busily employed to-day in packing away our possessions,
+and making final arrangements for again taking the road.
+
+Paid a visit to Saifula Baba, the shawl merchant, whose dignity was
+considerably upset by a cold in his head, and bought a few specimens
+of his trade, though not sufficient to raise his spirits entirely
+above the influenza. The approaching winter, and the evacuation of
+the territory by the principal rupee-spending community, seemed a
+source of great unhappiness to the sun and silver-loving natives.
+
+Their houses seem but badly adapted to keep out cold, and their
+efforts at heating them are frequently attended by the burning down
+of a whole nest of their wooden habitations.
+
+Their chief means of artificial warmth seems to be an earthenware
+jar covered with basket-work, which each native possesses and carries
+about with him wherever he goes.
+
+This, which is called a Kangree, is filled with charcoal, and,
+as the Cashmeerians squat down upon the ground, they tuck it under
+their long clothes, where, until they again rise, it remains hidden
+from sight, and forms a hot-air chamber under their garments.[32]
+Among other artists I discovered a native painter, rather an uncommon
+trade in these parts, from whom I obtained some original designs,
+illustrating, with uncommon brilliancy, the very common ceremonies
+of Hindoo and Mahomedan Shadees, or marriage processions, and other
+manners and customs of native life.
+
+After getting together everything we required for the road, and
+clearing out the whole of our possessions, much to the inconvenience of
+several large standing armies of fleas, we finally took our departure
+in two boats, manned by twelve boatmen, and started for Baramoula,
+on the road to Muree and the plains.
+
+OCTOBER 2. -- After making but little progress during the night, we
+discovered in the morning that our boats were rather too large for
+the river, in its present weakly and reduced state. Every ten minutes
+we found ourselves aground upon the sand and mud, and the cooking
+boat behind us followed our example, while the river ahead showed no
+prospect whatever of deepening. The Manjees, under the circumstances
+performed wonders in the nautical manoeuvring line. Jumping overboard
+incessantly, they called upon Peer Dustgeer, their favourite patron
+saint, to aid them in their difficulties, and shrieked and screamed
+till the whole place resounded with their cries.
+
+Sometimes the saints were stony-hearted, probably not being in a
+humour to be shouted at, and then the entire body of silky-skinned
+darkies would set to work, laughing and shouting, to clear away the
+bar of sand. Their paddles forming in this operation, very effective
+substitutes for spades and shovels, with much difficulty we reached
+the lake, and about nine o'clock arrived at Baramoula.
+
+Here the river ceases to be navigable, and abandons itself for a
+short time to irregular and wanton habits, before finally sowing its
+wild mountain oats, and becoming the staid and sedate Jhelum of the
+Plains. Unlike some rivers, the Jhelum contains more water in the
+middle of summer than at other times. Its principal resources are
+the snows, and these mighty masses are so wrapped up in their own
+frigid magnificence that it requires a good deal of warm persuasion
+from the sun to melt their icy hearts to tears.
+
+OCTOBER 3. -- Took the road once more, and started for Muree. Our
+train was increased by a couple of volunteer native travellers,
+who were glad of our society in order that they might get clear of
+the Maharajah's dominions with as little questioning as possible. Our
+coolies numbered twenty-six, so that altogether our forces now reached
+to thirty-eight. After a fine march, we halted at Nowshera, where the
+dashing river afforded us an exciting swim before breakfast. Coming out
+of the water, however, I had the ill luck to slip upon a treacherous
+rock, and, falling heavily on my side, and so over into the rapid
+stream, had some difficulty in fishing myself out again, and was very
+near taking an unpleasantly short cut to the Plains. In the evening,
+when the cook came to inspect the larder for dinner, it was discovered,
+that, with an unusual want of presence of mind, a newly-killed sheep
+had been left by mistake in the boats for the benefit of the already
+overpaid boatmen. This was the third animal we had lost, from various
+causes, during our travels, and the mishap most seriously affected
+the success of our dinner arrangements for the day.
+
+OCTOBER 4. -- Found great difficulty in getting up this morning
+after my fall, and still more in walking three miles, which I had
+to do before finding a pony. The view was beautiful the whole way;
+but we had been so gorged with scenery of all sorts and kinds,
+that rugged passes, shady dells, waterfalls, &c., however precious
+they may become in future recollection, were almost thrown away
+upon us for the time being. Breakfasted under the pine trees, near
+an ancient temple, and halted at Uree, where there was a baraduree
+for travellers. Except, however, to very dirty travellers indeed,
+it would be of little use. While descending a very steep part of
+the road, my saddle suddenly slipped over the pony's round little
+carcase on to his neck, and, NOLENS VOLENS, I came to the ground,
+the pony remaining in a position very nearly perpendicular, with
+his tail towards the heavens and his head between my legs, in which
+predicament he luckily remained perfectly quiet, until the bhistie,
+coming up behind, set us both on our proper extremities once more.
+
+OCTOBER 5. -- Started for Chukothee, and thinking, in an evil moment,
+to walk off the effects of my late mishap, I essayed the fifteen
+miles on foot.
+
+Long before reaching half way, however, I began to look about for
+anything in the shape of a pony, that might appear in sight; but,
+none being forthcoming, I was obliged to finish as I had begun, and
+at last reached our destination, a snug little village, buried in
+fields of yellow rice upon the hill-side. On the way, I fell in with
+a fine old Mussulman Zemindar, trudging along on his return to Delhi,
+from paying a visit to Sirinugger.
+
+Being an unusually talkative old gentleman, we fraternized by the way,
+and he told me that he had been to see the civil commissioner of his
+district, now acting as commissioner in the valley, to make his salaam,
+relative to a "jageer," or Government grant of certain villages to the
+amount of some three thousand rupees per annum, which he had succeeded
+in obtaining on account of his loyalty during the recent mutiny.
+
+Of this three thousand rupees, it appeared that only one thousand
+would come into his own pocket, the remainder being payable as rent,
+&c. to Government.
+
+His son had also a jageer of twelve thousand rupees, so that both he
+and his family were loyal and well to do in the world. His ideas of
+Cashmere were rather amusing. He appeared to think it a miserable spot
+enough, compared to his own land, and the only advantage he could hit
+upon, was, in my estimation, quite the reverse, viz: THAT SIRINUGGER
+WAS VERY HOT IN THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER.
+
+The rice he had a supreme contempt for. It was not to be compared
+with the Indian rice, and the Cashmeeries he pooh-poohed, as being
+no judges whatever of its qualities, and, in fact; not fit to eat
+rice at all. He seemed quite unable to understand my walking when I
+could ride; or, indeed, why I should leave such a charming country
+as India to be uncomfortable in Cashmere, without even having any
+jageer business to transact as an excuse.
+
+Our coolies, being an unusually miserable crew, we got breakfast about
+two P.M. To-day our tent lamp finished its erratic life, according to
+the Dhobie's account, by self-destruction! That good for nothing piece
+of charcoal had, however, doubtless dashed the solid cut-glass globe,
+which formed the chief glory of the instrument, against a rock, while
+thinking of his hubble bubble, and his little blackamoors at home.
+
+The lamp had got over all the difficulties of the road from Lahore to
+Ladak and back, and had been quite a peep-show to half the natives of
+Thibet, who were never tired of regarding their multiplied countenances
+in the numerous cut circles of the glass shade, so that we felt quite
+grieved at its melancholy loss. Our water bottle also to-day finished
+its existence, and the table came into camp a bundle of sticks;
+so that everything seemed to betoken the approaching dissolution of
+the expedition. The farm-yard consists of five ducks, all strangers,
+and a pet sheep, and the khiltas look haggard and dilapidated in the
+extreme. The musical cock, alone, of old friends still survives,
+but he appears in weak health, and his constitution is evidently
+undermined by the changes of climate it has undergone. We were here
+worried by a party of strolling mountebanks from the Punjab, who
+persisted in horrifying us by making two young girls and three boys,
+all apparently entirely destitute of bones, stand upon their heads,
+and go through similar performances on the grass. The girl actually
+pattered a measure with her feet upon the back of her head, and
+the proprietors seemed utterly unable to account for our apathetic
+disregard of so extremely talented and interesting a performance.
+
+OCTOBER 6. -- Left for Hutteian, about fifteen miles off. Ponies
+being scarce, I had to walk part of the way; but the sepoy, pitching
+by chance upon our friends, the Punjabees, triumphantly carried
+off a stout little animal of theirs for my use. Before mounting,
+however, I was mobbed by the tumbling family, EN MASSE, who went on
+their knees in their solicitations to be exempt from the seizure
+of their property. Finding me obdurate in retaining the pony at a
+fair valuation, with "the army" to bear me out, they proceeded to
+diplomatic measures to gain their end. First, a very small child,
+choosing a stony place in the path, suddenly stood upon her head,
+and proceeded to form black knots with her body. Finding that this
+only caused me to threaten her father with a stick, they produced
+a blind girl, who threw herself half naked at my feet and cried
+by order. The poor creature had lost her sight by the small-pox,
+and I had remarked her the day before patiently toiling over rocks
+and broken paths with one little child in her arms, and another half
+leading, half obstructing her, endeavouring to guide her footsteps
+down the rocks. She, however, got no immediate benefit from the pony
+of contention; so, giving her some money to console her in her forced
+misery, I still remained inexorable. After this, the encampment broke
+up, with all its pots and pans, cows and fowl, &c. and took to the
+road, leaving me in undisturbed possession of my new conveyance. The
+weather began to astonish us a little to-day, by a renewed accession of
+October heat. Still the climate was delightful. Morning and evenings
+always cool, and sometimes cold, and a bright cheery blue invariably
+over head, while a refreshing breeze made music through the pine trees,
+and waved the golden ears of rice.
+
+Encamped under a spreading sycamore, at the junction of two mountain
+streams. To-day a new order of bridge appeared, consisting merely of
+a single rope, the passengers being tugged across in a basket. From
+its appearance it was rather a matter of congratulation that we were
+not called upon to cross it.
+
+OCTOBER 7. -- Being Sunday, we made a halt, and enjoyed a refreshing
+bathe in the stream, and a rest from the toils of the road.
+
+OCTOBER 8. -- Left "Hutteian," and, winding along the valley,
+arrived, by a steep ascent, at Chukar, a little village boasting a
+fort and a small nest of Sepoys. It also owned a curiously DIRTY,
+and consequently SAINTLY Fukeer, whom we found sitting bolt upright,
+newly decorated with ashes, and with an extremely florid collection
+of bulls, demons, &c. painted about the den he occupied. On the road
+I again picked up the old Mussulman, who seemed delighted to chat,
+and gave me an account of the part he had played in the mutiny.
+
+He appeared frequently to have warned his Commissioner that an outbreak
+was about to take place, but without his crediting the story; and when
+it actually did occur, the latter fled from his station at Lahore,
+and took shelter with a friendly Risaldar until the storm should blow
+over. From thence he sent for the old gentleman, my informant, and
+"Imam Buksh" forthwith mounted his camel and came with five and twenty
+armed followers to his assistance. While here, a party of rebels came
+searching for English, and Mr. Buksh narrated how he went forth to
+meet them, and proclaimed, that they might kill the Englishman if they
+would, but must first dispose not only of himself, but also of his
+five and twenty followers. Upon this they abused him, and asked him,
+"What sort of a Mussulman he called himself?" and denounced him as a
+"Feringee," or foreigner.
+
+The rebels, however, finally went off, and the Commissioner and his
+family, by Imam Buksh's further assistance, succeeded in escaping
+all the dangers of the times. For this service it was that the old
+gentleman had just received his jageer of two villages, now some
+years after the occurrence of the events.
+
+He appeared to think very little of the Maharajah's rule, and
+was of opinion that the people were miserably oppressed, paying,
+by his account, two thirds of the produce of their lands to the
+Government. This was in kind, but, where the revenue was taken in coin,
+a produce of about fourteen pounds of grain was subject to a tax of
+two rupees. On the subject of the cause of the mutiny in India, he
+said that greased cartridges certainly had nothing to do with it; for
+the rest, why, "It was the will of God, and so it happened." To induce
+him to argue on the POSSIBILITY of the mutiny having been successful,
+I found to be out of the question. "It was the power of God which
+had prevented the rebels from gaining over us, and, in the name of
+the Holy Prophet and the twelve Imams, how then could it have been
+otherwise?" As to the probability, however, of there being another
+mutiny, he admitted that he thought there would be one, but that, as
+long as we maintained justice, no other power could hold the country
+against us. On my asking him if we did not maintain justice in the
+land, he said no, and adduced the fact that in every case brought
+before the courts an enormous amount of bribery goes on among the
+Rishtidars, and other understrappers, whereby the man with most money
+wins his cause. No Englishman, he thought, could take a bribe, but he
+seemed to be under the impression that those in authority were aware of
+the system being carried on by those beneath them. He admitted that he
+knew of one native who would not take a bribe! and dwelt largely on the
+subject, as if it were a wonderful fact, which I have no doubt it was.
+
+In the evening we presented Mr. Imam Buksh with some of our sheep,
+which delighted his heart immensely, and he spent the entire evening in
+cooking and eating it, together with a perfect mountain of chupatties,
+which he manufactured with great care and deliberation.
+
+OCTOBER 9. -- Left our camp very early, and had a sharp ascent up the
+mountains. A considerable descent again, brought us to the village
+of Mehra, where we pitched our tents, once more within sight of the
+territories of India.
+
+OCTOBER 10. -- Marched into Dunna, our last halting-place in
+Cashmere. It is situated nearly at the summit of the frontier range
+of hills, and commanded a most extensive view of the mountains of
+Cashmere and Cabul, besides those on the Indian side.
+
+OCTOBER 11. -- Took a last fond glance towards "the valley," and
+descended by a very steep and difficult path to the river Jhelum,
+which forms the boundary between the two territories. Here a couple
+of queerly-shaped, rudely-constructed boats, with two huge oars
+apiece, one astern and one at the side, formed the traveller's flying
+bridge. Into one of these the whole of our possessions and coolies,
+&c. were stowed, and we commenced the passage of the stream.
+
+This we managed by, in the first instance, coasting up the bank for
+several hundred yards, and then striking boldly into the current;
+and it was amusing to see our well-crammed boat suddenly drawn into
+the rapid stream and whisked and whirled about like a straw, while a
+nice calculation on the part of the skipper, and a good deal of rowing
+and shouting on that of the sailors, enabled us to touch the opposite
+shore not very far below the point from which we had started. One
+last lingering look at Cashmerian ground, a step over the side, and
+we were once more standing upon the territories of Queen Victoria,
+and in the burning land of India -- happily, however, still six days'
+journey from the Plains.
+
+OCTOBER 12. -- Marched up the spur of the Muree Hill to Dewul,
+where we found a room in a mud fort converted into a halting-place
+for travellers, reached by a series of break-neck ladders, and
+looking very much like a cell in a prison, with its two chairs
+and clumsy wooden table. Here we found a little amusement in the
+arrival of the Chota Sahib, or "small gentleman," -- otherwise
+the Assistant Civil Commissioner of the district, -- to review the
+fort and its dependencies. On the first tidings of his approach,
+the Thanadar immediately turned out the entire garrison, consisting
+of twelve military policemen, called "Burqundaz," or "Flashers of
+lightning!" These soon appeared in their full dress of crimson turbans
+and yellow tights, and, shouldering their "flint-locks," proceeded to
+perform a series of intricate evolutions, by way of practice for the
+rapidly-approaching inspection. When the great little man did arrive,
+there was, we thought, a good deal of irregularity among the troops,
+such as laughing in the ranks and treading on toes, &c. However,
+the only point the inspecting officer dwelt upon was the absence of
+uniformity in dress, caused by the deficiency of two pairs of yellow
+tights among the lightning flashers, otherwise he appeared perfectly
+satisfied, and all went off well. After his review he invited himself
+to our dinner-party, and honoured our repast with the further addition
+of a kid stew. He turned out to be one of the ex-Company's officers,
+a subaltern of eighteen years' service, FIFTEEN of which had been
+spent away from his regiment on the staff. He was with his corps,
+however, when it mutinied, and escaped without much difficulty. The
+unfortunate colonel of the regiment, finding that none of his men
+would shoot him, had done so with his own hand. He gave it as his
+opinion that the cartridges WERE the cause of the mutiny; but allowed
+that his regiment was in a bad state of discipline some time before,
+and that all the native corps were known to be disaffected years
+before the event occurred, both by the officers present and those
+absent upon staff employ. Altogether, after the Chota Sahib had
+thoroughly discussed both the mutiny and the dinner, we were left
+under the impression that there was quite sufficient cause for the
+disaffection of the Bengal army without ever arriving at the vexed
+question of greased cartridges at all.
+
+OCTOBER 13. -- Marched early into the Hill Station of Muree. Not being
+yet quite in walking trim, I had pressed a mule into the service,
+who carried me in good style as far as the entrance to the town. Here,
+however, he seemed suddenly to remember that we had each a character
+to support, and, stopping short, he utterly refused to budge another
+step. Not being willing even to be led, I finally abandoned him to
+his own devices, and walked on to the Commandant's bungalow, where
+I found my companion already hospitably received, and comfortably
+seated at breakfast, discussing kidneys and beefsteaks, and such like
+unwonted delicacies of the Muree season.
+
+After getting somewhat over the novelty and discomfort of being again
+in a house with doors and glass windows, and other inconveniences,
+we sallied out to inspect the station.
+
+Like its CONFRERES of the Hills -- Simla, Kussowlie, &c. Muree was
+a prettily-situated little settlement, with houses scattered about
+entirely according to the freaks and fancies of the owners, and with
+utter disregard of all system whatever. The Mall was a fine one,
+and its gaily-dressed frequenters, in jhampans and palkees, &c. were
+of the unmistakeable stamp of Anglo India in the Hills. Two or three
+of the ladies, however, were bold enough to walk, and looked none
+the worse for being divorced from their almost inseparable vehicles,
+and unattended by their motley crowd of red, and green, and variegated
+bearers.
+
+OCTOBER 14. -- Spent a quiet day among the hospitalities of Muree, and
+became gradually accustomed to CITY LIFE. Going to church seemed rather
+a strange process, and the building itself was but a bad exchange
+for the grander temples which we had frequented for so many Sundays.
+
+OCTOBER 15. -- Laid our dak by doolie to Lahore, and, with our
+hospitable entertainer to guide us, started at five P.M. by a short
+cut, to meet our new conveyances.
+
+Reaching the main road, we once more packed ourselves away in our
+boxes, and, the sun soon setting his last for us upon the Cashmere
+mountains, left us to make our way down to the miserable plains as
+fast as the flaring and spluttering light of a couple of pine torches
+would allow our bearers to patter along.
+
+From this, until we reach Lahore, we are accompanied by an incessant
+shuffle shuffle of naked feet through the dusty road; jabbering and
+shouting of blacks, flickering of torches, bumping of patched and
+straining doolies against mounds of earth, glimpses of shining naked
+bodies, streaming with perspiration, as they flit about, and the whole
+enveloped in dense and suffocating clouds of dust, which penetrate
+everything and everywhere, and soon become, in fact, a part of one's
+living breathing existence; occasionally, outstripping our procession,
+a vision passes, like the glimmer of a white strip of linen, a
+stick, and a black and polished body, it rushes by like the wind,
+and disappears in the gloom of dust and night, and, in a second, her
+Majesty's mail has passed us on the road! As we near the plains this
+vision undergoes a slight change, and takes the form of an apparition
+of two wild horses tearing away with a red and almost body-less cart;
+this also goes by like a flash, but gives more notice of its coming,
+and our torches, for a second, light up the figure of a wild huntsman,
+with red and streaming turban, who sits behind the steeds and blows a
+defiant blast at us as he also vanishes into the darkness. About seven
+miles from Muree, we halted for dinner, and made renewed acquaintance
+with that interesting object -- the Indian roadside chicken.
+
+OCTOBER 16. -- Arrived early at Rawul Pindee, and breakfasted at
+seven, apparently off guttapercha and extract of sloe leaves. On
+again immediately, and reached Gugerkhan bungalow at seven P.M. hot,
+apoplectic, and saturated with dust.
+
+The room smells thoroughly of the plains; an odour, as it were,
+of punkhas, mosquitoes, and mustiness, not to be found elsewhere,
+and entirely unexplainable to uninitiated sufferers.
+
+The chicken, whose "fate had been accomplished," died as we entered
+the yard, and was on the table in the fashion of a warm SPREAD EAGLE
+in fifteen minutes! After this delicacy is duly discussed, the doolies
+are emptied of dust, the bedding laid down, and jolt, jolt, creak,
+creak, grunt, grunt, on we go again, until sleep good-naturedly
+comes to make us oblivious of all things. The kahars, or bearers,
+however, take a different view of life, and at every relief a crowd
+of sniggering darkies assemble, on both sides, with applications for
+bukshish. At first one hears, "Sahib, Sahib!" in a deprecating tone
+of voice, mindful of sudden wakings of former Sahibs, sticks, and
+consequent sore backs, then piu forte, "Sahib!" crescendo, "Sahib,
+Sahib!" and then at last, in a burst of harmony, "Sahib purana Baira
+kutch bukshish mil jawe?"[33] and the miserable doolie traveller, who
+has been, probably, feigning sleep in sulky savageness for the last
+ten minutes, makes a sudden dive through the curtains with a stick, an
+exclamation is heard very like swearing, only in a foreign language,
+and the troop of applicants vanish like a shot, keeping up, however,
+a yelping of Sahibs, and Purana Bairas, and Bukshishs, until the new
+bearers get fairly under weigh, and have carried their loads beyond
+hearing. None but those who have been woken up in this manner from a
+comfortable state of unconsciousness, to the full realities of doolie
+travelling in Indian heat and dust, can form an idea of the trial
+it is to one's temper; and, from my own feelings, together with the
+sounds I hear from my companion's direction, I can testify as to the
+relief that the use of foreign expletives affords under the affliction.
+
+OCTOBER 17. -- Arrived at Jhelum about eight A.M. to all intents and
+purposes dust inside and out. Flesh and blood can stand no more for the
+present, and we resolve to halt here for the day. The weather appears
+quite as hot as when we started, and the wind comes in, hot and dry,
+and makes one feel like a herring of the reddest; while an infernal
+punkha is creaking its monotonous tune, as it flaps to and fro in the
+next room, making one again realize to the full, "the pleasures of the
+plains." We begin, in fact, to discover that the thorns which were not
+forthcoming on the Cashmere roses are too surely to be found elsewhere.
+
+OCTOBER 18. -- Reached Goojerat at cock-crow; thus completing
+a distinct circle of travel through Bimber, Sirinugger, Ladak,
+Kushtwar, Muree, and back to our present halting-place, from whence
+we had originally branched off.
+
+OCTOBER 19. -- A dusty night's work brought us at two A.M. to
+Goojerwala. Here we found that there was no bungalow between us and
+Lahore, and, consequently, no chance of either a wash or breakfast
+should we go on; we therefore chose loss of time in preference to
+loss of breakfast, with the addition of a day under a broiling sun,
+and halted until the authorities should awake to feed us.
+
+OCTOBER 20. -- Reached Lahore before sunrise, and got our letters
+and papers from the post once more. Afterwards we laid our dak for
+Cawnpore, and made all arrangements for a start in the evening.
+
+OCTOBER 21. -- Arrived at Umritsur about three A.M., and remained in
+our coaches until sunrise, when we set off for a stroll through the
+city. This we found the cleanest, if not the only clean, town we had
+seen since landing in India. The streets were well drained and built,
+and were guarded by a force of yellow-legged, red-turbaned Punjabee
+policemen, who were provided, like their brother blue-bottles at home,
+with staves and rattles instead of the more usual insignia of sword
+and shield. The houses were almost all decorated, outside and in, with
+grotesque mythological and other paintings, such as Vishnu annihilating
+Rakshus, or demons of various kinds, or wonderful battle-pieces,
+wherein pale-faced, unhealthy-looking people, in tailed coats and
+cocked hats, might be seen performing prodigies of valour, assisted
+by bearded and invincible Sikh warriors of ferocious exterior. The
+shops were built with verandahs, and the piazza character of some of
+the streets, in conjunction with the unusual cleanliness, gave one a
+very agreeable impression of Umritsur and its municipal corporation,
+whoever that body may be. The inhabitants are principally Sikhs,
+fine-looking men generally, with long beards turned up at either
+side of their faces, and knotted with their hair under the voluminous
+folds of their turbans.
+
+OCTOBER 22. -- Out at four A.M. to explore the great durbar, or
+head-quarters of the Sikh religion in the Punjab. Entering through a
+highly decorated archway in the kotwalee, or police station, we came
+upon an enormous tank, with steps descending into the water on all
+sides, and planted around with large and shady trees. In the centre
+of this rose the temple of the Sikhs, a light-looking, richly-gilt
+edifice, the lower part of which was constructed of inlaid stones upon
+white marble. From this to one side of the tank, a broad causeway
+led, decorated with handsome railings, and lamps of gilt-work upon
+marble pedestals. Along this, crowds of people were passing to and
+fro, arrayed in every possible variety of costume and colour. Sikhs,
+Hindoos, Mussulmen -- men, women, and children, crowded together like
+bees in a hive. Round the edges of the tank were handsome buildings,
+minarets, &c. with trees and gardens attached to them; and that,
+towards the causeway, was divided in two by a fine and richly-decorated
+archway, in the upper part of which a party of patriarchal old Sikhs
+were squatted on their haunches, discoursing the affairs of the
+nation. This whole scene opened upon our view at a glance. The sun
+had as yet scarcely appeared over the horizon, and the reflection
+of its light shone faintly upon the gold-work and ornaments of the
+central building, tipping it and the lofty minarets with rosy light,
+whilst the rest of the buildings remained shrouded in the morning
+haze. With the incessant bustle of the thronging, brightly-vestured
+crowd, and the accompaniment of the wild discordant tom-toming of a
+band of turbaned musicians, it formed a scene which almost persuaded
+one to put once more confidence in the brightly-coloured descriptions
+of the "Arabian Nights." While waiting for sun-rise, we ascended one
+of the minarets, from which we had a curious bird's-eye view of the
+tank and surrounding city at our feet, while the plains lay stretching
+away before us; the horizon level and unbroken, as if it bounded in
+the ocean. From this we had also a private view of the manners and
+customs of the natives. Just below us was an early morning scene in
+the life of a Sikh gentleman. He was sitting up in his "four-leg,"
+on the open court of an upper story, which formed his bed-room,
+while his attendants were offering him his morning cup of coffee,
+and otherwise attending to his wants. In one corner, another Sikh
+gentleman, with one arm, was having a brass vessel of water poured
+over him, and a number of similar vessels stood upon a sort of rack,
+ready for the master of the house to have his bath.
+
+Scattered about the foot of the bed, which had a grandly decorated
+canopy, was a deputation of white-robed Sikhs paying their morning
+visit, or having an audience upon some matter of business. These by
+degrees got up and went out, each making a profound salaam as he passed
+the bed. One of them only, the old man called back, and with him, as
+he sat upon the "four-leg," he had a long and confidential talk. This
+evidently was the medical adviser, and, judging by the dumb-show of
+the interview which ensued, the Sikh, as evidently, was the victim
+of a cold in his fine old nose, which he had doubtless caught from
+sleeping in the open air. After this we repaired to the kotwallee
+again, and, getting a pair of slippers in exchange for our boots,
+descended to the durbar and mingled with the crowd.
+
+Although we were inadmissible in boots, no objection whatever appeared
+to be made to the entrance of Brahminee bulls; for we found a number
+of them walking about the mosaic pavement with as much confidence
+and impunity as if the place belonged to them.
+
+In the building we found a collection of Sikh padres, or "gooroos,"
+sitting behind a massive volume richly cased in cloth of gold and
+silver, while squatted around under a canopy, were the Sikh faithful,
+offering their presents of cowries, chupatties, balls of sweetmeats,
+and showers of yellow and white necklaces of flowers. The book was the
+original law of Gooroo Gurunth Sahib, which they had just finished
+reading, and, as we entered, they were commencing to cover it up
+again, which they did, with great pomp and ceremony, in a number of
+cloths of various patterns, after which they distributed the votive
+offerings among themselves and the people present, and held a sort of
+banquet over the sweets and flowers. In the midst of the proceedings,
+a very fine specimen of the race of Fukeer came in, and presenting
+an offering of the smallest, laid his head upon the ground before the
+book, and, without a word, took himself off again. He was girt round
+the loins with a yellowish-red cloth; his body, from head to foot,
+was covered with ashes. The hair of his head was matted together in
+strips, like the tail of an uncared cow, and reached to his waist. A
+shallow earthen pot was his hat, and over his shoulders hung two large
+gourds, suspended by a cord, while in his hand he carried a long staff,
+covered over with stuff of the same kind as that round his waist. Such
+was the figure which entered among the gaily-dressed multitude in the
+saintly durbar; and, although to the assembled people there appeared
+nothing whatever either strange or unusual in the arrival, to us,
+who were looking on, the contrast between the unclad dirty mendicant,
+and the pure white vestments of the Sikhs around, rendered it a most
+striking and remarkable apparition.
+
+On entering, he had removed the earthen pot which formed his hat, and,
+one of the two gourds which were round his shoulders having fallen to
+the ground in the act, it was amusing to see him pause for a second,
+and anxiously examine whether any compound fracture had taken place
+in the precious article of his very limited dinner service. One
+extremity of the building we found was occupied for Hindoo worship;
+so that fraternity and equality, worthy of imitation seems to be
+the order of the day among the religions of Umritsur. The interior
+was richly decorated with gilding and mirrors, &c., but was little
+worthy of remark in comparison with the richness of the exterior
+effect. Presenting a "bukshish" to the expectant padres who guarded
+the sacred book, we left them to their devotions, and betook ourselves
+once more to our bungalow.
+
+OCTOBER 23. -- Travelling all night, we reached Jullunder at six
+A.M., and, after breakfast, again started for Loodianah, where we
+dined. We here again crossed the Sutlej, but, the water being low,
+boat navigation was dispensed with, and a shaky bridge, and about
+two miles of sandy river-bed, completed the passage.
+
+At Loodianah we were stormed by a host of merchants, with pushmeena
+and other soft matters, who were rather disappointed at finding we
+had come from the birth-place of such like manufactures. Some of the
+local shawls, however, or "Rampore chudders," were beautifully fine
+and delicate, and seemed worthy of inspection.
+
+OCTOBER 24. -- Reached Umballa at eight A.M., and started again
+shortly after. Our horses to-day were most miserable caricatures,
+and it was with difficulty we managed to progress at all. The last
+stage was accomplished at a walk; and what with this and the delay
+caused by a couple of sandy river-beds, we only reached Kurnaul at
+ten P.M. The miserable condition of the horses was accounted for
+by the enormously high price of grain and the absence of grass,
+in consequence of the want of rain. The general topic, in fact,
+is now the failure of the rains, and consequent apprehensions of a
+famine throughout the land. "Atar" is here eight seers the rupee, or
+in other words, flour sells at one shilling and ninepence a stone --
+an enormous price in these parts.
+
+OCTOBER 25. -- Sunrise found us still half-way to Delhi, and we
+stopped to breakfast at the little bungalow of Ghureekulla. Here we
+found a fine old Khansaman, who gave us an account of the incidents
+of the Mutiny which came under his notice. He had received a flying
+party of two hundred men, women, and children, who arrived at dead of
+night, some on horses, some on foot, and all worn and haggard by their
+march from Delhi, from which they had escaped. These he took care of,
+and supplied with food until the following day, when they departed,
+without, by his own account, giving him anything, either as pay or
+reward. He afterwards assisted others also, and received about one
+hundred and twenty rupees, one way or another, for his services. At
+present he receives six rupees a month, with whatever he can pick up
+from travellers; not a very large amount in the out-of-the-way little
+jungle station of Ghureekulla.
+
+OCTOBER 26. -- Passed through Delhi by moonlight, and reached the
+bungalow at one A.M. At gun-fire we emerged from our locomotives,
+and went to explore the king's palace. In spite of the late lesson on
+the subject of sepoys, we found the gates of the fort held entirely
+by native guards, and a very small body of Europeans located within
+the walls. After rambling through the place, and discovering that
+its only beauty lay at present in its exterior, we went to the Jama
+Musjid, a fine mosque of red granite, inlaid in parts with white
+marble. The cupolas, of great size, were entirely marble, and the
+minarets, also of marble, were closely inlaid. The place had been
+only recently handed over to the Moslems after its late seizure,
+and was not as yet used for worship. Ascending one of the minarets,
+we had a fine view of the city of the Great Mogul dynasty, with its
+minarets and ornamented streets; and in the distance we could discern
+the positions occupied by our besieging force, when the last of the
+kings was brought so rudely to the termination of his reign.
+
+OCTOBER 27. -- Reached Koel, or Allyghur, at eight A.M. Started again
+at five, stopping on the way to inspect the Jama Musjid, and a very
+fine old tower, probably of Buddhist or Jain origin, which was covered
+over with ancient inscriptions. Just as the Muezzin was calling to
+evening prayer, we again resumed our monotonous order of travel,
+and branched off towards Agra to visit the famous Taj Mahul.
+
+OCTOBER 28. -- Reached Agra at two A.M., and finding the bungalow full,
+had to go to the hotel. At sunrise we drove out to the Taj, and here,
+I think, for the first time, we were not disappointed in the difference
+between reality and description. The entrance to the gardens in which
+the Taj is situated was beautiful in itself, but one sight of the
+main building left no room for admiration of anything besides.
+
+It is situated on the banks of the Jumna, with a fine view of the
+magnificent fort, with its mosque and minarets, and is entirely of
+pure white marble, inlaid with stones into shapes of flowers and
+arabesques, &c. At each corner rises a white marble minaret, like a
+pillar of snow, beautifully decorated and carved, but unsullied by a
+single line of any other colour whatever. The interior is profusely
+inlaid with minute stones of considerable value, and is lit by carved
+marble windows of the most beautiful design imaginable. In the centre,
+surrounding the tomb of Mumtaz and her lord, is a marvellous white
+marble screen, in the form of a polygon, carved like perforated ivory,
+and also inlaid with minute stones of every shape and colour.[34]
+The queen, in whose honour the tomb was built, occupies the very
+centre of the enclosure, Shah Jehan's tomb being on one side of it,
+and larger in size, which rather spoils the symmetry of the space.
+
+Exactly underneath the tombs, in the main body of the building,
+one descends to a marble vault, where there are two others precisely
+similar in shape, but without any inscription or ornament whatever,
+and under these latter the mortal remains of the famous Shah Jehan
+and Mumtaz repose in peace. Over the queen's tomb, in the very centre
+of the interior, a single ostrich egg was suspended by an almost
+invisible thread, probably to shadow forth something of the meaning
+of the "Resurgam" affixed to monuments elsewhere. On either side,
+without the mausoleum, are two buildings facing inwards, one of which
+is a mosque, built in red granite and white marble; and the whole are
+profusely ornamented with carvings in marble, which would take an age
+to examine thoroughly, and which produce an effect quite incapable
+of being adequately portrayed by either pen or pencil.
+
+In one of these edifices, among the inlaid work and arabesques,
+and not far from the mortal remains of the departed King and Queen,
+we found a curious and interesting inscription, which seems to have
+been hitherto unmentioned by the many travellers who have visited
+the sacred spot. It was prominently placed and easily decipherable,
+being in unusually large letters, and in that character which might
+be called the "UNEIFORM," of which so many valuable specimens exist
+in all parts of the known globe.
+
+It ran thus : --
+
+
+IN MEMORY OF VALENTINE'S DAY.
+
+
+The sentence appeared unfinished, and one or two words were probably
+required to complete the sense, but from similar existing records
+there could be no difficulty in filling in the missing syllables.
+
+It was curious, however, to reflect what the feeling could have been
+that stayed the writer's hand, and prevented him from finishing his
+graceful tribute to the mighty dead.
+
+Mumtaz, from whose name the word "Taj" is derived (the letter "z"
+being incapable of being pronounced by many natives except as a
+"j"),was the daughter of the famous Noor Jehan's brother Asoph
+Khan. Shah Jehan followed his queen in A.D. 1665, and was laid in the
+building which he had himself originally designed in her honour alone.
+
+With Noor Jehan and Jehangeer the case was reversed. The conqueror
+of the world ended his career in A.D. 1627, and the partner of all
+his Cashmerian wanderings, and many adventures, who wore no colour
+but white after his death, finally rejoined him in a tomb which she
+had raised to his memory at Lahore.
+
+Having paid due homage to the beauty of the far-famed mausoleum, we
+went to the Fort, and, after visiting the Ram Bagh, the Ikmam Dowlah,
+and the various palaces built by Akbar Shah, once more took the road,
+and were soon again galloping through the dust, morning bringing us
+to the bungalow of Bewah. From this we again made for Ghoorsahagunge
+and Cawnpore, and by rail to Allahabad, there completing a circuit
+of travel extending to between two and three thousand miles:
+
+
+        "In heat and cold
+We'd roved o'er many a hill and many a dale,
+Through many a wood and many an open ground,
+In sunshine and in shade, in wet and fair,
+Thoughtful or blithe of heart as might befall
+Our best companions, now the driving winds,
+And now the trotting brooks and whispering trees,
+And now the music of our own quick steps
+With many a short-lived thought that passed between
+And disappeared."
+
+
+And now but one day more remains of our six months' leave. The 31st of
+October sees us again fairly in the hands of the authorities. Brothers
+in arms, who during our absence have been having "all work and no
+play," receive us with warm and disinterested welcome. The Q.M.G. is
+hauled away in triumph by a swarm of fellow black-legs to glad the
+squaw-like partner of his sooty bosom. The last remnants of the
+expedition are fairly broken up, and already the days when we went
+gipsying have passed away "a long time ago."
+
+
+
+Route.
+
+
+                        Miles.
+Allahabad
+Cawnpore                120
+Ghoorsahagunge      72
+Etawah              73
+Kurga               72
+Delhi               51
+Kurnaul             73
+Umballa             45
+Kalka               40
+Kussowlie           9
+Simla               40
+Hureepore           20
+Kalka               29
+Umballa             40
+Thikanmajura            36
+Jullundur           61
+Umritsur                59
+Lahore              35
+Gugerwalla          39
+Goojerat                30
+Bimber              27
+Serai Saidabad      12
+Nowshera                11
+Chungas             11
+Rajaori             12
+Thanna              12
+Burrumgulla         11
+Poshana             6
+Peer Punjal         9
+Poshana             9
+Aliabad             11
+Heerpore                13
+Shupayon                6
+Ramoon              9
+Sirinugger          14
+Wuler               by water
+Islamabad         ,,
+Atchabull           6
+Vernagh             11
+Islamabad           15
+Sirinugger          by water
+Gunberbull            ,,
+Kungur              11
+Gundisursing            12
+Soonamurg           14
+Foot of the Hills   9
+Pandras             24
+Dras                    8
+Tusgam              14
+Chungun             12
+Pushkoom                10
+Waka                    13
+Khurboo             10
+Lamieroo                12
+Nurila              16
+Suspul              14
+Egnemo              10
+Ladak               18
+Chunga              18
+Hemis               2
+Ladak               20
+Pitok               4
+Egnemo              14
+Suspul              10
+Nurila              14
+Lamieroo                16
+Khurboo             12
+Waka                    10
+Pushkoom                13
+Thambis             14
+Sankoo              16
+Sooroo              12
+Among the Mountains 11
+Ditto               14
+Sucknez             11
+Bragnion                14
+Peer                    16
+Nowbogh             9
+Kukunath                10
+Atchabull           8
+Islamabad           6
+Sirinugger          by water
+Baramoula             ,,
+Nowshera                8
+Uree                    15
+Chukothee           15
+Hutteian                14
+Chukar              9
+Mehra               6
+Dunna               6
+Puttun              6
+Dewul               9
+Muree               11
+Rawul Pindee            37
+Gugerkhan           30
+Jhelum              37
+Goojerat                31
+Gugerwalla          30
+Lahore              39
+Umritsur                35
+Jullundur           59
+Loodiana                32
+Umballa             71
+Kurnaul             45
+Ghureekulla         36
+Delhi               36
+Allyghur                79
+Agra                    50
+Bewah               82
+Ghoorsahagunge      79
+Cawnpore                72
+Allahabad           120
+
+
+Parts of the country not having been at the time correctly mapped,
+these distances are in some instances approximations only.
+
+
+
+The Religions of Cashmere and Thibet.
+
+During all our wanderings, whether in India, Cashmere, or Thibet,
+the most striking feature throughout, was the outward display of
+religion and the prominent part which religious forms of worship
+take in the every-day life of the people. Monuments and temples
+everywhere bear testimony to the universal belief in a Supreme Being;
+and Hindoo, Mussulman, and Buddhist alike, by numberless prayers and
+frequent offerings, confess their desire to propitiate His power and
+to cultivate His favour.
+
+Every little village has its "Musjid" or "Shiwala," and everywhere,
+and at all hours, votaries of the different sects may be seen, in
+the fashion they have learnt from childhood, openly REMEMBERING,
+at least, their Creator.
+
+The naked Hindoo, with loosened scalp lock and otherwise closely-shaven
+head, stands in running water, and with his face upturned to the sun
+apostrophises the Divine Essence, whose qualities and attributes he has
+alone been taught to recognise, through the numberless incarnations
+of his degenerate creed. Five times a day the Mussulman kneels in
+open adoration of his Maker, and, doffing his slippers, repeats, with
+forehead to the ground, the formula laid down for him by the only
+Prophet he has learnt to believe in. The Buddhist, too, mutters his
+"Um mani panee" at every turn, and keeps his praying wheel in endless
+motion, with entire confidence in its mystic virtues, and fullest
+faith in the efficacy of those forms which he has thus been taught
+to follow from his cradle.
+
+Each worships after the fashion of his fathers before him, and each,
+by the dim illumination of his own particular light, fancies himself
+upon the true path, and is able plainly to perceive his neighbour
+groping in the outer darkness.
+
+Seeing all this, and turning in imagination to other lands, it is
+curious to consider that the Church which possesses the only Lamp
+of Truth, and who by the help of its light pronounces all these
+zealous worshippers alike, to be but "Infidels and Turks," and
+says to all, in language not quite so polite as that of Touchstone,
+"Truly, shepherds, ye are in a parlous state," herself makes no such
+public demonstration of her faith. To an Eastern infidel travelling
+in the West, she would even appear, to outward eye, a tenfold greater
+infidel than her neighbours. Except on one day in seven, he would
+seldom find a place of public worship open to his gaze, while the Name
+which he himself has learned to reverence to such a degree that every
+scrap of paper that might chance to bear it, is sacred in his eyes,
+he might hear a thousand times, and perhaps not once in adoration;
+and while it commences every action of his own life he would there
+find it utterly excluded from its accustomed place. Even the form of
+parting salutation, which in almost all lands -- Infidel and Heretical
+-- greets him in the name of God, would, in Protestant England, fall
+upon his ear with no such signification. While the benighted Hindoo
+greets his parting neighbour to the present day with "Khuda Hafiz" --
+God the Preserver -- the Englishman's "Good-bye," like well-worn coin,
+has changed so much by use, that now, no stranger could discern in it
+any trace whatever of the image with which it was originally stamped.
+
+And although the comparison between the apparent creeds of East
+and West is truly that between a very large proportion of faithful
+professors of a false religion and, to outward eye, a similarly
+large proportion of unfaithful followers of the true religion, it is
+interesting to form some idea of the different systems which have
+existed for so many ages, and which, though proved alike by reason
+and revelation to be of human origin and unequal to the wants of
+human nature, have yet maintained their influence to the present day,
+and hold among their votaries still such zealous worshippers of an
+unknown God.
+
+The oldest of all these religions appears to be that of the
+Hindoos. The Vedas, or Scriptures, date as far back as the Books of
+Moses, 1100 B.C.; and previously even to their then being committed
+to writing by the Sage Vyasa, they are believed to have been preserved
+for ages by tradition. The primary doctrine of the Vedas is the Unity
+of God. There is, they say, "but one Deity, the Supreme Spirit, the
+Lord of the Universe, whose work is the universe." "Let as adore the
+supremacy of that divine Sun, the Godhead, who illuminates all, who
+recreates all, from whom all proceed, to whom all must return, whom
+we invoke to direct our understandings aright in our progress towards
+His holy seat. What the sun and light are to this world, that are the
+Supreme Good and Truth to the intellectual and invisible universe;
+and as our corporeal eyes have a distinct perception of objects
+enlightened by the sun, thus our souls acquire certain knowledge by
+meditating on the light of truth which emanates from the Being of
+beings; that is the light by which alone our minds can be directed
+to the path of beatitude."
+
+Every Brahmin must pray at morning and evening twilight in some
+unfrequented place, near pure water, and must bathe daily; he
+must also daily perform five sacraments, viz., studying the Vedas,
+making oblations to the manes of the departed, giving rice to living
+creatures, and receiving guests with honour. As to the doctrine of
+a future state, they believe in the transmigration of the soul, but
+that between the different stages of existence it enjoys, according to
+merit or demerit, years and years of happiness in some of the heavens,
+or suffers torments of similar duration in some of the hells. The
+most wicked, however, after being purged of their crimes by ages of
+suffering, and by repeated transmigrations, may ascend in the scale
+of being until they finally enter heaven and attain the highest reward
+of all good, which is incorporation with the Divine Essence.
+
+Like more enlightened systems of religion, the Hindoo faith has
+degenerated from the purity originally inculcated. The Monotheism,
+though still existing, has been almost smothered by a system of
+innumerable incarnations; by means of which the attributes of an unseen
+Deity were to be brought to the understandings of the ignorant; and,
+as might be expected, the hidden symbol has been almost lost in the
+tangible reality. The later Scriptures, or Puranas, are believed to
+have been compiled between the eighth and sixteenth centuries, A.D.;
+and though still upholding the existence of a Supreme Being, by whom
+all things are composed, they introduce a variety of incarnations
+and divinities almost innumerable. Of these, the three principal are
+Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, representing respectively the creating,
+preserving, and destroying principles; and their wives, Sereswutee,
+Lukshmee, and Dewee. These latter are the active powers which develop
+the principles represented by the triad. The divinity most commonly
+portrayed however, though not publicly worshipped, is Gunesh. Almost
+every dwelling has her effigy rudely painted over the entrance; and she
+is invoked at the beginning of all undertakings, and is the remover of
+all difficulties. Her peculiar appearance is accounted for by the fact
+of her having been killed at an early period of life by Siva, who cut
+off her head, and, afterwards relenting, replaced it with the first
+that happened to come to hand, which turned out to be an elephant's!
+
+Gunesh was produced by the intense wishes of Dewee, and is now appealed
+to at the commencement of almost every act in Hindoo life.
+
+The following invocation to this "household god" will give some idea
+of the position she holds in public estimation. It is taken from the
+"Prem Sagur," or Ocean of Love, a history of the life of Krishna,
+a son of Vishnu, who, with Siva and Dewee, or Mahadewee, monopolises
+almost the entire public respect and adoration: --
+
+
+
+"Oh elephant-faced Deity, obviator of difficulties, of exalted fame
+resplendent,
+Grant as a boon, pure language, wisdom, and felicity may be much
+promoted.
+Thou on whose two celestial feet the world is gazing, worshipping
+both day and night,
+O mother of the universe, grant unto me, remembering thee, true skill
+and utterance."
+
+
+The "Ocean of Love" gives a full account of the various incarnations
+of Krishna, the favourite divinity of the Hindoos, and opens with
+the scene of his birth. Kans, his uncle, has placed guards, in order
+that the child may be killed at his first appearance, it having been
+predicted that Kans himself is to fall by the hands of Krishna. The
+Cashmerian artist -- whose powers of colouring were his chief
+recommendation -- has depicted the moment when Vasadeo and Devakee,
+the father and mother, viewing Krishna, with long-drawn sighs, both
+begin to say, "If, by some means, we could send away this child, then
+it would escape the guilty Kans." Vasadeo says, "Without destiny none
+can preserve him; the writing of Fate, that only will be accomplished."
+
+Destiny being propitious, the guards fall asleep upon their posts,
+as shown in the accompanying design, and another child is substituted
+for Krishna. He is afterwards brought up as a herdsman, and spends
+his childhood among the milkmaids of Braj, upon whom he plays all
+sorts of tricks. "One day the divine Krishna played upon the flute
+in the forest, when, hearing the sound of the instrument, all the
+young women of Braj arose in confusion, and hastened and assembled
+in one place. The dark-blue Krishna, with body of the hue of clouds,
+stood in the midst; and such was the beauty of the fair ones, as they
+sported, that they resembled golden creepers growing from beneath a
+blue mountain!"
+
+The description of the state of the world, on Krishna's appearance,
+is given by the saintly Shukadeo to King Parikshah -- "O King, at the
+time of the divine Krishna appearing, in the minds of all such joy
+arose, that not even the name of grief remained. With joy the woods
+and groves began to bear fruits and flowers, their verdure still
+increasing. The rivers, streams, and lakes were filled with water,
+and upon them birds of every kind were sporting; and, from city to
+city, from house to house, from village to village, rejoicings were
+celebrated. The Brahmins were performing sacrifice; the Regents of
+the ten divisions of the horizon rejoiced. Clouds were moving over
+the circuit of Braj. The deities, seated in their cars, rained down
+flowers; the holders of the magic pill, the celestial musicians, and
+heavenly bards, continually sounding drums, kettledrums, and pipes,
+were singing the praises of the divine virtues; and, in one direction,
+Urvasee, and all the celestial dancers, were dancing. In such a time,
+then, on Wednesday, the eighth day of the dark half of the month
+Bhadon, at midnight, while the moon was in the mansion of Rohanee,
+the divine Krishna was born, of the colour of clouds, moon-faced and
+lotus-eyed, with a girdle of yellow cloth passing round his loins,
+wearing a crown, and arrayed in a necklace of five jewels, produced
+from the elements of nature, and with ornaments set with gems, in a
+four-armed form, sustaining the shell, the quoit, the mace, and the
+lotus he presented himself."
+
+Krishna afterwards espouses a fair lady, of the name of Rukminee,
+and the marriage is thus poetically described. Rukminee has written
+a letter, filled with love, and sent it by the hand of a Brahmin, to
+the Root of Joy, Krishna: -- "The Brahmin having arrived at Duarika,
+perceives that the town is in the midst of the ocean, and on the four
+sides of it there are great mountains and woods and groves, which
+add beauty to the scene. In these were various kinds of beasts and
+birds, and the limpid lakes were filled with pure water, and lotus
+flowers were blooming, upon which swarms upon swarms of black bees
+were humming. To the distance of many miles orchards, containing an
+endless variety of fruit and flowers, extended; along these enclosures
+betel gardens were flourishing. The gardeners, standing at the wells,
+were singing with sweet strains; and, working waterwheels and buckets,
+were irrigating the high and low grounds."
+
+Beholding this beautiful scene, and being gladdened thereby, the
+Brahmin, still advancing, beholds that "on four sides of the city
+are very lofty ramparts, with four gateways, in which folding-doors,
+inlaid with gold, are fixed, and, inside the city, houses of five
+and six stories high, of silver and gold, adorned with jewels, so
+lofty as to converse with the sky, are glittering. Their minarets
+and pinnacles are gleaming like lightning, and banners and pennons
+of many colours are fluttering. The warm fragrance of perfumes was
+issuing from windows, air-holes, and lattices. At every door were
+placed pillars of the plantain-tree, with fresh shoots, and golden
+vessels. Garlands and wreathed flowers were festooned from house
+to house, and joyful music was sounding. From place to place, the
+recital of the Puranas and discourse about Krishna was kept up. The
+eighteen classes were dwelling in case and tranquillity."
+
+On hearing the Brahmin's message, the warder says: -- " 'Great
+sir, be pleased to enter the palace; the divine Krishna reposes,
+in front of you, on a throne.' Krishna, descending, bows to him,
+and shows him much respect, and those attentions which a man would
+show to his friend. Having applied fragrant unguents, and caused
+him to be bathed and washed, he partakes of food, possessing the six
+flavours. Afterwards he gave him the betel leaf, made up with areca
+nut, spices, and chunam; and having perfumed his body with saffron
+and sandal wood oil, and arranged his dress, and put upon him a
+necklace of flowers, he conducted him into a palace adorned with
+jewels, and caused him to repose in a fair curtained bed, studded with
+gems." After sleeping profoundly, the Brahmin awakes, and relates his
+mission. Krishna goes to claim his bride, and orders his charioteer,
+Darak, to prepare his chariot. Darak quickly yokes four horses. Then
+the divine Krishna, having ascended, and seated the Brahmin, departs
+from Duarika to Kundalpore. On coming forth from the city, behold! "on
+the right hand herds upon herds of deer are moving, and in front,
+a lion and lioness, carrying their prey, are advancing, roaring."
+
+Having seen this auspicious event, the Brahmin, having mentally
+reflected, said, "Sire, from beholding, at this time, this good
+omen, it appears to my mind that, just as these are advancing,
+having accomplished their object, just so you will return, having
+effected yours." Arrived at Kundalpore, he finds preparations made
+for the marriage:
+
+
+"Swept were the streets, the crossings o'er-canopied, and with perfumes
+sprinkled and sandal oil;
+Clusters were formed of flowers of white and of red, and interspersed
+with cocoa-nuts of gold.
+The green foliage, fruits, and flowers, were in profusion, and from
+house to house flowering wreaths.
+Banners and pennons and flowers, in golden tissues, were suspended,
+and well-fashioned vessels of gold
+And in every house reigned joy!"
+
+
+"As for Rukminee, with agitated frame, she gazed in every direction,
+as the moon is dimmed by the morn. Extreme anxiety showed in the
+heart of the fair one; she gazed, standing in a lofty balcony; her
+frame was agitated, her heart most sad; she drew deep sighs. While,
+through distress, tears rain from her eyes, she says, "Why has not
+Krishna arrived?" When the marriage-day dawns, she sends, by a Brahmin,
+to Krishna: "Receptacle of favour, -- When two hours of the day remain
+I shall go to perform worship in the temple of Dewee, to the east of
+the city." Her companions and attendants, arriving, first filled a
+square place in the courtyard with pearls, and spread a seat of gold
+set with pearls, on which they caused Rukminee to sit, and anointed
+her with oil by the hands of seven married women whose husbands
+were alive. Afterwards, having rubbed her with fragrant paste, they
+adorned her with sixteen ornaments, and put on her twelve trinkets,
+and having arrayed her in a red boddice they seated her, fully
+adorned. Then the young Rukminee, accompanied by all her handmaidens,
+went, with the sound of music, to perform her devotions. Screened by
+a curtain of silk, and surrounded by crowd upon crowd of companions,
+she appeared among the swarthy group who accompanied her as beautiful,
+as amid dark blue clouds, the moon with its company of stars!"
+
+Having arrived at the temple of Dewee, the royal maiden, having washed
+her hands and feet and sipped water, proceeded to offer sandal oil,
+unbroken grains of rice, flowers, incense, lamps, and consecrated food,
+and with earnest faith performed the worship of Dewee according to
+the prescribed ritual.
+
+"After which she fed women of the Brahmin caste with delectable food,
+and having attired them in fair garments, she drew a mark on their
+foreheads with a mixture of rice, alum, turmeric, and acid, and
+having caused to adhere some unbroken grains of rice, she received
+their benediction. Hearing from an attendant that Krishna has
+arrived, the Princess is filled with ecstatic delight, so that she
+cannot contain herself; and leaning on the arm of an attendant, in a
+graceful attitude, remains slightly smiling, in such a manner that no
+description can express her beauty. The guards become fascinated and
+remain immoveable. With trembling frame and coy of heart she finally
+departs with Krishna."
+
+The domestic life and appearance of Krishna and Rukminee is still
+further characteristically described in the imaginative pages of the
+"Ocean of Love:" -- "Once on a time, in a palace of gold, studded with
+jewels, a gem-adorned bedstead, with curtains, was spread, on which a
+bedding white as foam, and adorned with flowers, with pillows for the
+cheek and for the head, continued to exhale perfumes. On all four sides
+of the bed vessels containing camphor, rose-water, saffron, sandal
+oil, and other ingredients, were placed; various kinds of marvellous
+pictures were delineated on the walls on all sides. In recesses, here
+and there, flowers, fruits, sweetmeats, and confections were placed,
+and all that could be required for enjoyment was at hand. Clothed in
+a petticoat and a full loose robe of dazzling splendour, embroidered
+with pearls, and a sparkling boddice, and a long refulgent wrapper,
+and wearing a glittering veil, covered with ornaments from head to
+foot; with red lines drawn across the forehead, having a nose-ring of
+the largest pearls, ornaments for the head, earrings, ornamental line
+at the parting of the hair, marks between the eyebrows, ornaments for
+the ears and forehead, a necklace composed of circular pieces of gold,
+a string of gold beads and coral, a breast ornament, a necklace of five
+strings and of seven, a pearl necklace, double and triple bracelets
+of nine gems, armlets, wristlets, and other kinds of fastenings for
+the arm; bangles, seals; seal rings, a girdle of bells, rings for the
+great toe, toe ornaments, anklets, and other ornaments of all kinds
+studded with jewels; the moon-faced, tulip-complexioned, gazelle-eyed,
+bird-voiced, elephant-gaited, slim-waisted, divine Rukminee, and the
+cloud-coloured, lotus-eyed Krishna, ocean of beauty, splendour of
+the three worlds, root of joy, wearing a diadem like the crest of a
+peacock, and a necklace of forest flowers, a silken robe of yellow
+hue, and a scarf of the same, were reposing, when, all of sudden,
+the divine Krishna said to Rukminee, 'Listen, fair one,' " &c.
+
+Krishna afterwards takes 16,100 wives, and always at early dawn,
+one would wash his face, another would apply a fragrant paste to
+his body, another would prepare for him and give him to eat food of
+six flavours, another would make nice betel, with cloves, cardamums,
+mace, and nutmegs, for her beloved. "Each produced a daughter fair as
+Rukminee; each ten sons, brave sons were they! 161,000 and all alike,
+such were the sons of Krishna!"
+
+Such is part of the history of the favourite divinity of the benighted
+Hindoo as related in the flowery pages of the "Ocean of Love," and
+the history may be, more or less, read in the every-day scenes of
+Indian life which pass around one.
+
+The description of Rukminee, strange as it is, corresponds with many
+other fair portraits in the Hindee; witness that of "Oonmadinee,"
+the daughter of "Rutundutt": --
+
+"Her beauty was like a light in a dark house -- her eyes were those
+of a deer, her curls like female snakes, her eyebrows like a bow,
+her nose like a parrot's, her teeth like a string of pearls, her
+lips like the red gourds, her neck like a pigeon's, her waist like
+a leopard's, her hands and feet like a soft lotus, her face like the
+moon, with the gait of a goose, and the voice of a cuckoo!"
+
+More apparent even than in the earthly nature of the Hindoo's
+conception of the Divine attributes, the falsity and the human
+origin of his Faith may be seen in the effect it produces wherever
+it is allowed to obtain undivided sway. Combining dirt, idleness,
+and religion together, the Hindoo Fukeer, attired in the minutest
+rag of raiment, at times in none at all, wanders from place to place,
+and with long and matted hair, blood-shot haggard eyes, and scowling
+visage, fancies himself upon the path which leads direct to Paradise.
+
+Attenuated to the last degree, he suffers all extremes of heat and
+cold, sleeps upon a bed of ashes, and sits moodily beneath the burning
+mid-day sun, lives on charity while scorning usually to ask for alms,
+and bears the reputation of a saint while reducing himself to the
+very level of the beasts that perish.
+
+Something of the cheerful feelings which actuate these religious
+mendicants may be found in the following passage: -- "He may be
+called a wise 'Jogee,' or 'Fukeer,' who has dried up the reservoir
+of hope with the fire of austere devotion, and who has subdued his
+mind, and kept the organs of sense in their proper place; and this
+is the condition of persons in this world, that their bodies undergo
+dissolution, their heads shake, and their teeth fall out. When men
+become old, they walk about with sticks, and it is thus that time
+passes away. Night succeeds day, and year succeeds month, and old
+age succeeds childhood, and we know not who we are ourselves, and
+who others are; one comes and another departs; and at last all living
+creatures must depart. And, behold! night passes away, and then day
+dawns; the moon goes down and the sun rises; thus does youth depart,
+and old age comes on, and thus Time pursues his course: but although
+man sees all these things, he does not become wise. There are bodies of
+many kinds, and minds of many kinds, and affections or fascinations of
+many kinds, and Brahma has created wickedness of many kinds; but a wise
+man, having escaped from these, and having subdued hope and avarice,
+and shaved his head, and taken a stick and water-pot in his hands,
+having subjugated the passion of love and anger, and become a 'Jogee,'
+who wanders and travels about with naked feet to places of pilgrimage,
+obtains final liberation. And, behold, this world is like a dream."
+
+The derivation of the word "Fukeer," and an illustration of the
+disposition of the mendicant race, is given in a Persian tale,
+called the "Four Dervishes." The story was originally narrated to
+amuse a king of Delhi, who was sick, and was afterwards DONE into
+Hindostanee by a Mussulman author, who styles himself, "This wicked
+sinner, Meer Ammun of Delhi."
+
+The speaker, a certain prince, who aspires to the title of "generous,"
+has built a lofty house, with forty high and spacious doors, where, at
+all times, from morning to evening, he gives rupees and gold mohurs[35]
+to the poor and necessitous, and whoever asks for anything he satisfies
+him. "One day a Fukeer came to the front door and begged. I gave him
+a gold mohur; again he came to a second door, and asked for two gold
+mohurs. I passed over the matter, and gave him two gold mohurs.
+
+"In this manner he came to every door, and asked for an additional
+gold mohur each time, and I gave him according to his request. Having
+come to the fortieth door, and received forty gold mohurs, he came
+in again by the first door, and begged afresh.
+
+"This appeared to me a very bad action on his part. I said to him,
+'O avaricious man! what sort of mendicant art thou, who knowest not the
+three letters of "Fukur" (POVERTY), according to which a Fukeer should
+act?' The Fukeer said, 'Well, O liberal person, do you explain them to
+me.' I replied, 'The three letters are F, K, and R. From F comes "faka"
+(FASTING); from K, "kinaut" (CONTENTMENT); and from R comes "reeazut"
+(ABSTINENCE). He is not a Fukeer in whom these qualities are not. Oh,
+avaricious creature! you have taken from forty doors, from one gold
+mohur to forty. Calculate, therefore, how many you have received. And,
+in addition to this, your avarice has brought you again to the first
+door. Expend what you have received, and return and take whatever you
+ask for. A Fukeer should take thought for one day; on the second day
+there will be some fresh bestower of alms.' Having heard this speech of
+mine, he became angry and dissatisfied, and threw all he had received
+from me on the ground, and said, 'Enough, father; be not so warm;
+take all your presents back again. Do not again assume the name of
+"Liberal." You cannot lift the weights of liberality. When will you
+arrive at that day's journey?'
+
+"When I heard this I was alarmed, and with many solicitations asked
+him to forgive my fault, and to take whatsoever he wished. He would
+not accept my gifts at all, and went away saying, 'If you were now
+to offer me your whole kingdom I would not receive it from you.' "
+
+This studied indifference about a matter of more than a thousand
+pounds, though perhaps not often exercised upon so large a scale, is
+just that which these wandering fanatics display towards every offering
+they receive, and in every action of their useless lives. Whatever
+may be said against them, however, their profession of poverty and
+suffering is no mockery, as was that of the well-fed "monks of old,"
+whose reasonings were something similar on religious points.
+
+The Fukeer soliloquizes: "The condition of our being born is, that
+our griefs are many and our pleasures few, because this world is the
+root of misery. What happiness, therefore, has man? If any man should
+climb to the top of a tree, or sit down on the summit of a hill, or
+remain concealed in water, yet death does not allow him to escape. At
+the most, man's age is a hundred years, half of which passes away in
+night, half of the other half is expended in childhood and old age;
+the remainder is spent in altercation, separation from those we love,
+and affliction, and the soul is restless as a wave of the sea. No
+one who has come into the world has escaped from affliction. It
+is vain to fix one's affections on it, and therefore it is best to
+cultivate and practise religion." And so, as a remedy for the evil
+which he has discovered to exist upon the earth, and to work out a
+successful escape from it, he sits himself down in dust and ashes,
+and, mistaking the sign-post, adopts the path which leads him furthest
+from the point he wishes to arrive at.
+
+As the Hindoo is the most ancient of religions, so the Buddhist
+is the one which is professed by the largest portion of the human
+race. It is the religion of Burmah, Ceylon, China, Siam, Thibet, and
+Russian Tartary, and is computed to claim as many as three hundred
+and sixty-nine millions among its Votaries.[36] "Gautama," or "Sakya
+mounee," its founder, was born in Bengal about the seventh century
+before Christ. Yet India at present contains no modern temples of its
+worship, and no native of India, that I have ever met, knew anything
+of its founder, or was even acquainted with the term "Buddha," or
+"Buddhist." Its doctrines are the most curious of those that have
+ever been promulgated, and appear even now to be scarcely understood
+in all their ramifications. According to original Buddhism, there is
+no Creator, nor being that is self-existent and eternal. The great
+object is the attainment, in this life, of complete abstraction from
+all worldly affairs and passions, and the ultimate result, of entire
+annihilation. Like the Hindoo, the Buddhist believes in transmigration
+of souls, and until utter annihilation is reached, he is doomed to
+shift his earthly tenement, from form to form, according to the deeds
+done in the flesh. It is, therefore, the great object of all beings,
+who would be released from the sorrows of successive birth, to seek
+the destruction of the moral cause of continued existence, that is,
+the cleaving to existing objects or evil desire. It is only possible to
+accomplish this end by attending to a prescribed course of discipline,
+and by fixing the mind upon the perfections of Buddha. Those who after
+successive births have entirely destroyed all evil desires are called
+"Rahuts," and after death the Rahut attains "Nirwana," or ceases to
+exist. The actual meaning of the word "Rahut," is "Tranquillity,"
+and it appears to be the same word which is used on a small scale,
+to express the soothing qualities of that far-famed Eastern sweetmeat,
+the Rahut-lukma, or "Morsels of tranquillity."
+
+The Buddhas themselves are beings who appear after intervals of
+time inconceivably vast. Previous to their reception of the state,
+they pass through countless phases of being, at, one time appearing
+in human form, at another as a frog, or fish, &c., in each of which
+states they acquire a greater degree of merit.
+
+In the birth in which they become Buddha, they are always of woman
+born, and pass through infancy and youth like ordinary mortals,
+until at the prescribed age they abandon the world and retire to the
+wilderness, where they receive the supernatural powers with which
+the office is endowed. Their highest glory is that they receive the
+wisdom by which they can direct sentient beings to the path that
+leads to the desired cessation of existence.
+
+The Buddhism of Thibet appears to be an innovation on the original
+system of religion. It was introduced into the country about the
+seventh century of our era; and although Sakya mounee, who is supposed
+by the Thibetians to have lived one thousand years before Christ,
+is still believed to be the founder of the present system, the Delai
+Lama, at Lassa, is regarded as an incarnation of Buddha, and is the
+supreme infallible head of the whole Thibetian religious community.
+
+The original tenets, too, have been modified, and the modern Scriptures
+have been adapted to three different capacities of mankind -- viz. the
+lowest, mean (or middle), and the highest. The principles thus declared
+are as follows : --
+
+"1. Men of vulgar capacity must believe that there is a God, a future
+life, and that they shall therein reap the fruits of their works in
+this life.
+
+"2. Those that are in a middle degree of intellectual and moral
+capacity, besides admitting the former position, must know that every
+compound thing is perishable, that there is no reality in things,
+that every imperfection is pain, and that deliverance from pain or
+bodily existence is final happiness.
+
+"3. Those of the highest capacities, besides the above enumerated
+articles, must know that, from the body to the supreme soul, nothing
+is existing by itself, neither can it be said that it will continue
+always or cease absolutely, but that everything exists by a dependant
+or casual connexion."[37]
+
+One cause of the extension of the religion of Buddha appears to
+be the broad basis upon which admission to the priesthood has
+'been placed. No one can become a Brahmin except by birth, but the
+privileges of becoming a Lama are open to all who are willing to
+receive them upon the conditions implied in their acceptance. The
+principal duties to be attended to, by one about to become a priest,
+are thus laid down: -- "He who, with a firm faith in the religion
+of Truth, believes in Buddha, shall rise before daylight, and,
+having cleaned his teeth, shall then sweep all the places appointed
+to be swept in the vicinity of the 'Vihara,' or monastery; after
+which he shall fetch the water that is required for use, filter it,
+and place it ready for drinking. When this is done, he shall retire
+to a solitary place, and for the space of three hours meditate on
+the obligations of his vow. The bell will then ring, and he must
+reflect that greater than the gift of 100 elephants, 100 horses, and
+100 chariots, is the reward of him who takes one step towards the
+place where worship is offered. Thus reflecting, he shall approach
+the 'Dagoba,' where relics of holy men are placed, and perform that
+which is appointed; he shall offer flowers just as if Buddha were
+present in person, meditate on the nine virtues of Buddha with a
+fixed and determined mind, and seek forgiveness for his faults,
+just as if the sacred relics were endowed with life. He shall then
+meditate on the advantages to be derived from carrying the alms-bowl
+and putting on the yellow robe." The injunctions on the priesthood
+relative to their abstracting their thoughts and desires from all
+earthly matters whatever, are of the strictest nature. "The door
+of the eye is to be kept shut. When the outer gates of the city are
+left open, though the door of every separate house and store be shut,
+the enemy will enter the city and take possession; in like manner,
+though all the ordinances be kept, if the eye be permitted to wander,
+affection for worldly objects will be produced." A story is told of a
+priest named Chittagutta, who resided once in a cave, upon the walls of
+which the history of Buddha was painted "in the finest style of art."
+
+The cave was visited by some priests, who expressed their admiration
+of the paintings to Chittagutta, but the devotee replied that he had
+lived there sixty years and had never seen them, nor would he, except
+for their information, ever have become aware of their existence. There
+was near the door of his cave a spreading tree; but he only knew that
+it was there by the fall of its leaves or flowers; the tree itself he
+never saw, as he carefully observed the precept not to look upwards,
+or to a distance!
+
+The priest of Buddha must possess but eight articles: three of these
+are matters of dress; the others, a girdle for the loins, an alms-bowl,
+a razor, a needle, and a water-strainer. The bowl receives the food
+presented in alms; the razor is for shaving the head; the needle
+keeps his yellow wardrobe in order; and the water-strainer is the
+most serviceable of all, for "if any priest shall knowingly drink
+water containing insects, he shall be ejected from the priesthood."
+
+The Dagobas, or shrines of relics, which abound in such numbers in
+Thibet, have also been found in India and other countries. Some of
+them when opened have been found to contain what appears to be remains
+of a funeral pile, also vessels of stone or metal, and, occasionally,
+caskets of silver and gold, curiously wrought. "Some of these have been
+chased with a series of four figures, representing Buddha in the act
+of preaching; a mendicant is on his right, a lay follower on his left,
+and behind the latter a female disciple." This somewhat describes the
+appearance of the stone-carved figures at the monastery of Hemis.[38]
+These caskets have been set with rubies and chased with the leaves
+of the lotus. Besides these have also been found small pearls, gold
+buttons, rings, beads, pieces of clay and stone bearing impressions of
+figures, bits of bone, and teeth of animals, pieces of cloth, &c. The
+images are sometimes recumbent, at other times standing upright,
+with the hand uplifted in the act of giving instruction. Sometimes
+they have three heads and six or more arms.
+
+In order to form clear and accurate ideas of the religion of Buddha,
+it would be necessary to study a vast number of volumes, some of them
+contradictory and of very doubtful authority, and the result would
+appear hardly to compensate for the trouble, so altered has modern
+Buddhism become from ancient, and into so many different systems
+has it been divided in the many different countries in which it is
+professed. Among its doctrines there is much that is virtuous and
+true. It preaches benevolence and goodwill towards men, but enjoins no
+active efforts to prove the sincerity of such goodwill. It requires
+its members to "confess their sins with a contrite heart, to ask
+forgiveness of them, and to repent truly, with a resolution not to
+commit such again. To rejoice in the moral merit and perfection of
+human beings, and to wish that they may attain beatitude; further,
+to pray and exhort others to turn the wheel of religion, that the
+world may be benefited thereby." Its general aim seems to be to
+overcome all emotions and preferences of the mind, and all that would
+disturb its repose and quiet. It seeks to destroy the human passions
+and not to regulate them; and with faith in Buddha only as its aid,
+it succeeds about as well as might have been anticipated.
+
+Between these two religions of Brahma and Buddha, that of the "Jains"
+sprang up, apparently a heresy from both. It has nearly died out
+in India, though many ruins of its temples remain. The Jains agree
+with the Buddhists as to the transmigration of souls, and carry
+their respect for life to the still greater extent, that besides a
+strainer to remove all animalculae from the water they imbibe, they
+carry a broom to sweep away the insects from their path. They differ
+from the Brahmins in repudiating their minor incarnations and gods,
+as the following translation will serve to show: -- "A rajah, of the
+name of Gondshekur, had a minister, Abhuechund, who converted him to
+the Jain religion. He prohibited the worship of Vishnu, and all gifts
+of cows, land, and balls of flour and rice, and would not allow any one
+to carry away bones to the Ganges. One day the minister began to say,
+'O great king, be pleased to listen to the judgments and explanations
+of religion: Whosoever takes another's life, that other takes his life
+in another world. The birth of a man after he has again come into the
+world does not escape from this sin; he is born again and again, and
+dies again and again. For this reason it is right for a man, who has
+been born in the world, to cultivate religion. Behold! Brahma, Vishnu,
+and Mahadeo, being under the influence of love, anger, and fascination,
+descend upon the earth in various ways; but a cow is superior to them
+all, for it is free from anger, enmity, intoxication, rage, avarice,
+and inordinate affection, and affords protection to the subject; and
+her sons also behave kindly to, and cherish the animals of the earth,
+and therefore all the gods and sages regard the cow with respect. For
+this reason, it is not right to regard the gods -- in this world,
+respect the cow. It is virtuous to protect all animals, from the
+elephant to the ant, and from beasts and birds to man. In the world
+there is no act so impious as for men to increase their own flesh by
+eating the flesh of other creatures. They who do not sympathise in the
+griefs of animated beings, and who kill and eat other animals, do not
+live long on the earth, and are born lame, maimed, blind, dwarfs, and
+humpbacked, &c.; and it is a great sin to drink wine and eat flesh;
+wherefore to do so is improper. The minister, having thus explained
+his sentiments to the rajah, converted him to the Jain religion,
+so that he did whatever the minister said, and no longer paid any
+respect to Brahmins, Fukeers, Jogies, Dervishes, &c., and carried on
+his government according to this religion."
+
+Next among the religions of the East, whose outward observances so
+forcibly attract attention, comes that of the Moslem -- "The marvellous
+reformation wrought by Mahomet and the Koran in the manners, morals,
+and religious feelings of so many millions."
+
+Mahomet, in truth, although "THE False Prophet," would appear to
+have been a considerable benefactor to his species. The Arabs,
+at the time of his birth, were sunk in idolatry and the worship
+of the stars, while their morals were under no control either of
+law or religion. The Prophet's aim appears, in the first instance,
+to have been, to secure a system of orderly government, and at the
+same time to gain, for his own family, a dignity which should be
+exalted beyond all fear of competition-the dignity of lordship over
+the holy city of Mecca. This was then held under no higher tenure
+than the sufferance and caprice of the Arab tribes. To perpetuate
+this lordship by assuming an hereditary and inviolable pontificate
+was Mahomet's first idea, and at a banquet given to the whole of his
+kinsmen he revealed his scheme. They, however, rejected his appeal,
+and he then proclaimed himself as an apostle to all, and setting
+aside existing forms and traditions proceeded to a higher flight of
+ambition. For election by blood, he substituted election of God;
+and assuming a direct revelation from on high, he, by force of an
+ardent and ambitious will, carried out his project even at Mecca
+itself, where, to all who visited his shrine, he preached without
+distinction. From the powerful opposition brought against him, Mahomet
+was at last obliged to fly; but before doing so, and casting off the
+high position he held among his own tribe and kinsmen, he assembled
+his followers together on a mountain near Mecca, and there, without
+distinction of blood or calling, he enrolled them as equal followers
+in one community, and entered with them into a solemn and binding
+agreement. "That night Mahomet fled from Mecca to Medina, and then
+took its rise a pontificate, an empire, and an era." This hegira, or
+"flight," is believed to have occurred on the 19th June, A.D. 622[39]
+but has been variously stated; it is, however, the era now in general
+use among no less than one hundred and sixty millions of people.
+
+Although himself an undoubted impostor, and the Koran a manifest
+forgery, Mahomet would appear to deserve a larger share of
+appreciation, or at least of charitable judgment, than he usually
+receives.
+
+"He was one richly furnished with natural endowments, showing
+liberality to the poor, courtesy to every one, fortitude in trial, and,
+above all, a high reverence for the name of God. He was a preacher of
+patience, charity, mercy, beneficence, gratitude, honouring of parents
+and superiors, and a frequent celebrator of Divine praise." The great
+doctrine of the Koran is the Unity of God, and in this creed Mahomet
+himself seems to have been a sincere believer. "Its design was to
+unite the professors of the three different religions then followed in
+Arabia -- who for the most part were without guides, the greater number
+being idolaters, and the rest Jews and Christians, mostly of erroneous
+and heterodox belief -- in the knowledge and worship of one eternal
+and invisible God, and to bring them to obedience of Mahomet as the
+only prophet and ambassador of the truth." The "fatiha," or opening
+chapter of the Koran, is said to contain the essence of the whole,
+and forms part of the daily prayers of all zealous Mussulmans. It
+commences with the formula pronounced at the beginning of their
+reading on all occasions whenever an animal is slaughtered for food,
+and upon the undertaking of all important actions whatever:
+
+
+"In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate. Praise
+be to God, the Lord of the Creation, the all-merciful, the
+all-compassionate! Ruler of the day of reckoning!
+
+"Thee we worship, and Thee we invoke for help. Lead us in the straight
+path -- the path of those upon whom thou hast been gracious, not of
+those that are the objects of wrath or that are in error."
+
+
+The Moslem faithful pray five times in the twenty-four hours: in the
+morning before sunrise, at noon, before sunset, after sunset, and
+before the first watch of the night: and that these observances were
+not originally instituted merely that their prayers might be seen
+before men, would appear from the injunction which lays down that
+"what is principally to be regarded in the duty of prayer, is the
+inward disposition of the heart, which is its entire life and spirit,
+the most punctual observance being of no avail if performed without
+devotion, reverence, attention, and hope."
+
+Prayer was held by Mahomet to be the "pillar of religion" and the
+"key of paradise," and in the performance of it, his disciples are
+enjoined to lay aside their ornaments and costly habits, and all that
+might savour of either pride or arrogance.
+
+Its observance, however, at five stated times appears to be nowhere
+mentioned in the Koran, although the custom is now an essential part,
+and the most noticeable and characteristic feature of Mahomedanism.
+
+Saints and sinners join equally in the form. A crime just committed,
+or one in immediate contemplation, in no way interferes with the
+"five-time prayers," and the neglect of them amounts to an abnegation
+of the Faith. The summons to prayer was originally only one sentence,
+"To public prayer." Mahomet, however, afterwards bethought himself
+that a more elaborate and striking call would be an improvement,
+and the present "Azzan," or call to prayer, was introduced.
+
+While the matter was under discussion, Mahomet being unable to decide
+upon any suitable form, a certain Abdallah dreamed that he met a man
+arrayed in green raiment carrying a bell. Abdallah sought to buy it,
+thinking it would just suit the Prophet for assembling together the
+Faithful. The stranger, however, replied, "I will show you a better
+way than that; let a crier call aloud --
+
+
+"Great is the Lord! great is the Lord!
+I bear witness that there is no God but the Lord;
+I bear witness that Mahomet is the Prophet of God!
+Come unto prayer, come unto happiness --
+God is great! God is great! There is no God but the Lord!"
+
+
+Mahomet, learning the particulars of Abdallah's dream, believed it to
+have been a vision from on high, and sent his servant forthwith to
+execute the Divine command. Ascending to the top of a lofty house,
+this first of established Muezzins, on the earliest appearance of
+light, startled all around from their slumbers with the newly-adopted
+call, adding to it, "Prayer is better than sleep! Prayer is better
+than sleep!" And ever since, at the customary five hours, have his
+successors thus summoned the people to their devotions.
+
+Concerning the future state, the Mahomedan believes that all will
+be examined at the day of Judgment as to their words and actions in
+this life.
+
+"Their time, as to how they spent it; their wealth, by what means they
+acquired it, and how they employed it; their bodies, wherein they
+exercised them; their knowledge and learning, what use they made of
+them," &c. "They enter Paradise, however, not by their own good works,
+but by the mercy of God. At that day each person will make his defence
+in the best manner he can, endeavouring to find excuses for his own
+conduct by casting blame on others; so much so, that disputes shall
+even arise between the Soul and Body. The Soul saying, "Lord, I was
+created without a hand to lay hold with, a foot to walk with, an eye
+to see with, or an understanding to apprehend with, until I came and
+entered the Body : therefore punish it, but deliver me." The Body,
+on the other side, will make this apology, "Lord, thou createdst me
+like a stock of wood, being neither able to hold with my hand, nor to
+walk with my feet, till this Soul, like a ray of light, entered into
+me, and my tongue began to speak, my eye to see, and my foot to walk:
+therefore punish it, but deliver me." Then shall the following parable
+be propounded: -- "A certain king having a pleasant garden, in which
+were ripe fruits, set two persons to keep it, one of whom was blind,
+and the other lame -- the former not being able to see the fruit,
+nor the latter to gather it. The lame man, however, seeing the fruit,
+persuaded the blind man to take him on his shoulders; and by that means
+he easily gathered the fruits, which they divided between them. The
+lord of the garden coming some time after, and inquiring after the
+fruit, each began to excuse himself; the blind man said he had no eyes
+to see it with, and the lame man that he had no feet to approach the
+trees. Then the king, ordering the lame man to be set on the blind,
+passed sentence on them both, and punished them together.
+
+"In like manner shall be judged the Body and the Soul."
+
+Such are some few of the religious tenets of those among whom one's
+lot is cast while wandering in the East. Sunk for the most part in
+ignorance, and held as infidels for wanting faith in what they never
+heard, they nevertheless attract attention chiefly by their Faith,
+and by their zealous worship of the Being, whom, although in darkest
+ignorance as to His attributes and laws, their original creed would
+teach them to believe the one Eternal God.
+
+Some idea of the number represented by these different sects may be
+derived from the following table: --
+
+
+Asiatic Religions Buddhists     369,000,000
+        Hindoos         231,000,000
+        Mussulmen       160,000,000
+
+ChristiansRoman Catholics   170,000,000
+        Protestants     80,000,000
+        Greek Church        76,000,000
+
+        Jews                5,000,000
+
+        Other Religions 200,000,000[40]
+
+
+And when we reflect how great is the proportion of those who sit in
+darkness, and that "even all who tread the earth are but a handful to
+the tribes that slumber in its bosom," it is but natural to consider
+what our own belief would bid us hold as to the future destiny of so
+large a portion of the human family.
+
+At the same time, the question, "Are there few that be saved?" not
+having been answered eighteen centuries ago, would appear to be one to
+which no definite reply was intended to be rendered, and which might
+well be left till now unanswered, by those who hold the religion of
+Faith, Hope, and Charity. When, however, the Church to which we belong
+boldly affirms, in words which as the public profession of its faith,
+should be beyond all doubt or misconception by either friend or foe,
+that none CAN be saved but those who hold the Catholic Faith, as she
+would have them hold it, then, at least, we may fairly consider the
+matter so far as to doubt whether the answer thus forced upon us is one
+which, even on such high authority, we are bound to accept. Before, at
+least, concurring in a solution of the question which, thus virtually
+bringing it within the limits of a simple arithmetical calculation,
+would summarily dispose of so many millions of the human race, we
+may remember that some things have been taught as possible which men,
+and even saints, may deem impossible; and, before attempting to reduce
+"goodwill toward men" to human and determinable proportions, we may
+also remember that "good tidings of great joy" were promised to ALL
+people, and that they may possibly prove therefore to have in some way
+benefited even those who have never heard them with their mortal ears.
+
+Meanwhile, in the matter of "Turks and Infidels," we may perhaps learn
+something even from an Infidel creed, and, borrowing a definition
+from the religion of Islam, may be allowed to hold with it, that
+
+
+"Truly to despair of the goodness of God -- this is 'INFIDELITY.' "
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER A type=appendix
+
+The Temples of Cashmere.
+
+Extract from "An Essay on the Arian Order of Architecture, as exhibited
+in the Temples of Kashmir," by Capt. A. Cunningham. "Journal of the
+Asiatic Society," Vol. XVII.
+
+The architectural remains of Kashmir are perhaps the most remarkable
+of the existing monuments of India, as they exhibit undoubted traces
+of the influence of Grecian art. The Hindu temple is generally a sort
+of architectural pasty, a huge collection of ornamental fritters,
+huddled together with or without keeping; while the "Jain" temple is
+usually a vast forest of pillars, made to look as unlike one another
+as possible, by some paltry differences in their petty details.
+
+On the other hand, the Kashmirian fanes are distinguished by the
+graceful elegance of their outlines, by the massive boldness of their
+parts, and by the happy propriety of their decorations.
+
+They cannot, indeed, vie with the severe simplicity of the Parthenon,
+but they possess great beauty -- different, indeed, yet quite
+their own.
+
+The characteristic features of the Kashmirian architecture are its
+lofty pyramidal roofs, its trefoiled doorways, covered by pyramidal
+pediments, and the great width of the intercolumniations.
+
+Most of the Kashmirian temples are more or less injured, but more
+particularly those at Wantipur, which are mere heaps of ruins. Speaking
+of these temples, Trebeck says: "It is scarcely possible to imagine
+that the state of ruin to which they have been reduced has been the
+work of time, or even of man, as their solidity is fully equal to
+that of the most massive monuments of Egypt. Earthquakes must have
+been the cause of their overthrow." In my opinion, their OVERTHROW is
+too complete to have been the result of an earthquake, which would
+have simply PROSTRATED the buildings in large masses. But the whole
+of the superstructure of these temples is now lying in one confused
+heap of stones, totally disjointed from one another.
+
+I believe, therefore, that I am fully justified in saying, from my
+own experience, that such a complete and DISRUPTIVE OVERTURN could
+only have been produced by gunpowder.
+
+The destruction of the Kashmirian temples is universally
+attributed, both by history and by tradition, to the bigoted
+Sikander. (A.D. 1396.) He was reigning at the period of Timur's
+invasion of India, with whom he exchanged friendly presents, and from
+whom, I suppose, he may have received a present of the VILLAINOUS
+SALTPETRE.
+
+As it would appear that the Turks had METAL cannon at the siege of
+Constantinople in 1422, I think it no great stretch of probability to
+suppose that gunpowder itself had been carried into the East, even
+as far as Kashmir, at least ten or twenty years earlier -- that is,
+about A.D. 1400 to 1420, or certainly during the reign of Sikander,
+who died in 1416.
+
+Even if this be not admitted, I still adhere to my opinion, that the
+complete ruin of the Wantipur temples could only have been effected by
+gunpowder; and I would, then, ascribe their overthrow to the bigoted
+"Aurungzib."
+
+"Ferishta" attributed to Sikander the demolition of all the Kashmirian
+temples save one, which was dedicated to Mahadeo, and which only
+escaped "in consequence of its foundations being below the surface
+of the neighbouring water."
+
+In A.D. 1580, "Abul Fazl" mentions that some of the idolatrous
+temples were in "perfect preservation;" and Ferishta describes many
+of these temples as having been in existence in his own time, or
+about A.D. 1600.
+
+As several are still standing, though more or less injured, it is
+certain that Sikander could not have destroyed them all. He most likely
+gave orders that they should be overturned; and I have no doubt that
+many of the principal temples were thrown down during his reign.
+
+But, besides the ruthless hand of the destroyer, another agency,
+less immediate, but equally certain in its ultimate effects, must have
+been at work upon the large temples of Kashmir. The silent ravages of
+the destroyer, who carries away pillars and stone, for the erection
+of other edifices, has been going on for centuries. Pillars, from
+which the architraves have been thus removed, have been thrown down
+by earthquakes, ready to be set up again for the decoration of the
+first Musjid that might be erected in the neighbourhood. Thus every
+Mahomedan building in Kashmir is constructed either entirely or in
+part of the ruins of Hindu temples.
+
+
+
+Takt I Suliman.
+
+The oldest temple in Kashmir, both in appearance and according to
+tradition, is that upon the hill of "Takt i Suliman," or Solomon's
+Throne. It stands 1,000 feet above the plain, and commands a view of
+the greater part of Kashmir.
+
+The situation is a noble one, and must have been amongst the first
+throughout the whole valley which was selected as the position of
+a temple. Its erection is ascribed to Jaloka, the son of Asoka,
+who reigned about 220 B.C.
+
+The plan of the temple is octagonal, each side being fifteen feet in
+length. It is approached by a flight of eighteen steps, eight feet
+in width, and inclosed between two sloping walls. Its height cannot
+now be ascertained, as the present roof is a modern plastered dome,
+which was probably built since the occupation of the country by the
+Sikhs. The walls are eight feet thick, which I consider one of the
+strongest proofs of the great antiquity of the building.
+
+
+Pandrethan.
+
+This name means the old capital, or ancient chief town. The name
+has, however, been spelt by different travellers in many different
+ways. "Moorcroft" calls it Pandenthan, "Vigne" Pandrenton, and
+"Hugel" Pandriton.
+
+The building of this temple is recorded between A.D. 913 and 921;
+and it is afterwards mentioned between the years 958 and 972, as
+having escaped destruction when the King Abhimanyu -- Nero-like --
+set fire to his own capital.
+
+As this is the only temple situated in the old capital, there can be
+very little, if any, doubt that it is the very same building which
+now exists. For as it is surrounded by water, it was, of course,
+quite safe amid the fire, which reduced the other buildings to mere
+masses of quicklime.
+
+Baron Hugel calls the Pandrethan edifice a "Buddhist temple," and
+states that there are some well-preserved Buddhist figures in the
+interior. But he is doubly mistaken, for the temple was dedicated to
+Vishnu, and the figures in the inside have no connexion with Buddhism.
+
+Trebeck swam into the interior, and could discover no figures of any
+kind; but as the whole ceiling was formerly hidden by a coating of
+plaster, his statement was, at that time, perfectly correct.
+
+The object of erecting the temples in the midst of water must have
+been to place them more immediately under the protection of the Nagas,
+or human-bodied and snake-tailed gods, who were zealously worshipped
+for ages through Kashmir.
+
+
+Marttand.
+
+Of all the existing remains of Kashmirian grandeur, the most striking
+in size and situation is the noble ruin of Marttand.
+
+This majestic temple stands at the northern end of the elevated
+table-land of "Matan," about three miles to the eastward of Islamabad.
+
+This is undoubtedly the finest position in Kashmir. The temple itself
+is not now (1848) more than forty feet in height, but its solid walls
+and bold outlines towering over the fluted pillars of the surrounding
+colonnade give it a most imposing appearance.
+
+There are no petty confused details; but all are distinct and massive,
+and most admirably suited to the general character of the building.
+
+Many vain speculations have been hazarded regarding the date of the
+erection of this temple and the worship to which it was appropriated.
+
+It is usually called the "House of the Pandus" by the Brahmins,
+and by the people "Mattan."
+
+The true appellation appears to be preserved in the latter, Matan being
+only a corruption of the Sanscrit Marttand maartta.n.d, or the sun,
+to which the temple was dedicated.
+
+The true date of the erection of this temple -- the wonder of Kashmir
+-- is a disputed point of chronology; but the period of its foundation
+can be determined within the limits of one century, or between A.D. 370
+and 500.
+
+The mass of building now known by the name of Matan, or Marttand,
+consists of one lofty central edifice, with a small detached wing on
+each side of the entrance, the whole standing on a large quadrangle
+surrounded by a colonnade of fluted pillars, with intervening
+trefoil-headed recesses. The central building is sixty-three feet in
+length, by thirty-six in width.
+
+As the main building is at present entirely uncovered, the original
+form of the roof can only be determined by a reference to other
+temples, and to the general form and character of the various parts
+of the Marttand temple itself.
+
+The angle of the roof in the Temple of Pandrethan, and in other
+instances, is obtained by making the sides of the pyramid which forms
+it parallel to the sides of the doorway pediment, and in restoring
+the Temples of Patrun and Marttand I have followed the same rule.
+
+The height of the Pandrethan temple -- of the cloistered recesses,
+porch pediments, and niches of Marttand itself -- were all just double
+their respective widths. This agreement in the relative proportions of
+my restored roof of Marttand with those deduced from other examples,
+is a presumptive proof of the correctness of my restoration. The
+entrance-chamber and the wings I suppose to have been also covered
+by similar pyramidal roofs. There would thus have been four distinct
+pyramids, of which that over the inner chamber must have been the
+loftiest, the height of its pinnacle above the ground being about
+seventy-five feet.
+
+The interior must have been as imposing as the exterior. On ascending
+the flight of steps -- now covered by ruins -- the votary of the
+sun entered a highly-decorated chamber, with a doorway on each side
+covered by a pediment, with a trefoil-headed niche containing a bust
+of the Hindu triad, and on the flanks of the main entrance, as well
+as on those of the side doorways, were pointed and trefoil niches,
+each of which held a statue of a Hindu divinity.
+
+The interior decorations of the roof can only be conjecturally
+determined, as I was unable to discover any ornamented stones that
+could with certainty be assigned to it. Baron Hugel doubts that
+Marttand ever had a roof; but, as the walls of the temple are still
+standing, the numerous heaps of large stones that are scattered about
+on all sides can only have belonged to the roof.
+
+I can almost fancy that the erection of this sun-temple was suggested
+by the magnificent sunny prospect which its position commands. It
+overlooks the finest view in Kashmir, and perhaps in the known world,
+Beneath it lies the paradise of the East, with its sacred streams and
+cedarn glens, its brown orchards and green fields, surrounded on all
+sides by vast snowy mountains, whose lofty peaks seem to smile upon
+the beautiful valley below. The vast extent of the scene makes it
+sublime; for this magnificent view of Kashmir is no petty peep into
+a half-mile glen, but the full display of a valley sixty miles in
+breadth and upwards of a hundred miles in length, the whole of which
+lies beneath "the ken of the wonderful Marttand."
+
+The principal buildings that still exist in Kashmir are entirely
+composed of a blue limestone, which is capable of taking the highest
+polish -- a property to which I mainly attribute the beautiful state
+of preservation in which some of them at present exist.
+
+Even at first sight one is immediately struck by the strong resemblance
+which the Kashmirian colonnades bear to the classic peristyles of
+Greece. Even the temples themselves, with their porches and pediments,
+remind one more of Greece than of India; and it is difficult to
+believe that a style of architecture which differs so much from all
+Indian examples, and which has so much in common with those of Greece,
+could have been indebted to chance alone for this striking resemblance.
+
+One great similarity between the Kashmirian architecture and that of
+the various Greek orders is its stereotyped style, which, during the
+long flourishing period of several centuries, remained unchanged. In
+this respect it is so widely different from the ever-varying forms
+and plastic vagaries of the Hindu architecture that it is impossible
+to conceive their evolution from a common origin.
+
+I feel convinced myself that several of the Kashmirian forms, and many
+of the details, were borrowed from the temples of the Kabulian Greeks,
+while the arrangements of the interior and the relative proportions
+of the different parts were of Hindu origin. Such, in fact, must
+necessarily have been the case with imitations by Indian workmen,
+which would naturally have been engrafted upon the indigenous
+architecture. The general arrangements would still remain Indian,
+while many of the details, and even some of the larger forms, might
+be of foreign origin.
+
+As a whole, I think that the Kashmirian architecture, with its
+noble fluted pillars, its vast colonnades, its lofty pediments,
+and its elegant trefoiled arches, is fully entitled to be classed
+as a distinct style. I have therefore ventured to call it the Arian
+order -- a name to which it has a double right; first, because it
+was the style of the Aryas, or Arians, of Kashmir; and, secondly,
+because its intercolumniations are always of four diameters -- an
+interval which the Greeks called Araiostyle.
+
+
+Extract from Vigne's "Travels in Kashmir."
+
+The Hindu temple of Marttand is commonly called the House of the
+Pandus. Of the Pandus it is only necessary to say that they are the
+Cyclopes of the East. Every old building, of whose origin the poorer
+class of Hindus in general have no information, is believed to have
+been the work of the Pandus. As an isolated ruin, this deserves, on
+account of its solitary and massive grandeur, to be ranked not only
+as the first ruin of the kind in Kashmir, but as one of the noblest
+among the architectural relics of antiquity that are to be seen in
+any country. Its noble and exposed situation at the foot of the hills
+reminded me of that of the Escurial. It has no forest of cork-trees
+and evergreen-oaks before it, nor is it to be compared, in point of
+size, with that stupendous building; but it is visible from as great
+a distance. And the Spanish sierra cannot for a moment be placed in
+competition with the verdant magnificence of the mountain-scenery
+of Kashmir.
+
+Few of the Kashmirian temples, if any, I should say, were
+Buddhist. Those in or upon the edge of the water were rather, I should
+suppose, referable to the worship of the Nagas, or snake-gods. The
+figures in all the temples are almost always in an erect position,
+and I have never been able to discover any inscription in those
+now remaining.
+
+I had been struck with the great general resemblance which the temple
+bore to the recorded disposition of the Ark and its surrounding
+curtains, in imitation of which the Temple at Jerusalem was built;
+and it became for a moment a question whether the Kashmirian temples
+had not been built by Jewish architects, who had recommended them to
+be constructed on the same plan for the sake of convenience merely. It
+is, however, a curious fact, that in Abyssinia, the ancient Ethiopia,
+which was also called "Kush," the ancient Christian churches are
+not unlike those of Kashmir, and that they were originally built in
+imitation of the temple, by the Israelites who followed the Queen
+of Sheba, whose son took possession of the throne of Kush, where his
+descendants are at this moment Kings of Abyssinia.
+
+Without being able to boast, either in extent or magnificence,
+of an approach to equality with the temple of the sun at Palmyra,
+or the ruins of the palace at Persepolis, Marttand is not without
+pretensions to a locality of scarcely inferior interest, and deserves
+to be ranked with them as the leading specimen of a gigantic style
+of architecture that has decayed with the religion it was intended
+to cherish, and the prosperity of a country it could not but adorn.
+
+In situation it is far superior to either. Palmyra is surrounded by
+an ocean of sand, and Persepolis overlooks a marsh; but the temple
+of the sun in Marttand is built upon a natural platform at the foot
+of some of the noblest mountains, and beneath its ken lies what is
+undoubtedly the finest and the most PRONONCE valley in the known world.
+
+We are not looking upon the monuments of the dead. We step not aside
+to inspect a tomb, or pause to be saddened by an elegy. The noble
+pile in the foreground is rather an emblem of age than of mortality;
+and the interest with which we perambulate its ruins is not the
+less pleasurable because we do not know much that is certain of its
+antiquity, its founders, or its original use.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER B
+
+The Mystic Sentence of Thibet.
+
+
+
+Explication et origine de la formule bouddhique: -- "Om mani padme
+houm" Par M. Klaproth. "Nouveau Journal Asiatique."
+
+Les Tubetains et les Mongols ont perpetuellement cette priere dans
+la bouche. Les mots de cette inscription sont Sanscrits, et donnent
+un sens complet dans cette langue. En voici la transcription en
+devanagri: --
+
+
+o.m ma.ni padme hu.m
+
+
+"Om" est, chez les Hindous, le nom mystique de la divinite, par lequel
+toutes les prieres commencent. Cette particule mystique equivaut
+a l'interjection, OH! prononcee avec emphase et avec une entiere
+conviction religieuse. Mani signifie LE JOYAU; Padma LE LOTUS. Enfin
+Houm est une particule qui equivaut a notre "AMEN." Le sens de la
+phrase est tres clair; "Om mani padme houm" signifie "OH! LE JOYAU
+DANS LE LOTUS, AMEN." Malgre ce sens indubitable, les Bouddhistes
+du Tubet se sont evertues a chercher un sens mystique a chacune des
+six syllabes qui composent cette phrase. Ils ont rempli des livres
+entiers de ces explications imaginaires.
+
+Cette formule est particuliere aux Bouddhistes du Tubet.
+
+Selon l'histoire de ce pays la formule Om mani padme houm, y a ete
+apportee de l'Inde vers la moitie du 7e siecle de notre ere.
+
+La legende suivante traduite du Mongol contient des details sur la
+conversion du Tubet par le dieu Padma pani,[41] et sur l'origine
+des six syllabes sacrees, Om mani padme houm. Ce dieu est appele en
+Sanscrit "Avalokites' vara" ou "le maitre qui contemple avec amour;"
+ce que les Tubetains ont rendu par "le tout-voyant aux mille mains
+et aux mille yeux:" Les Chinois on traduit le nom par "celui qui
+contemple les sous du inonde."
+
+"Autrefois, quand le 'GLORIEUX-ACCOMPLI' (Sakya mouni ou Buddh)
+sejournait dans la foret 'd'Odma,' il advint un jour, qu'etant
+entoure de ses nombreux disciples un rayon de lumiere de cinq couleurs
+sortit tout-a-coup entre ses deux sourcils, forma un arc-en-ciel, et
+se dirigea du cote de l'Empire septentrional de neige (Thibet). Les
+regards du Bouddha suivaient ce rayon, et sa figure montra un sourire
+de joie inexprimable. Un de ses disciples lui demanda de lui en
+expliquer la raison, et sur sa priere le glorieux-accompli lui dit:
+
+" 'Fils d'illustre origine! dans le pays qu'aucun Bouddha des
+trois ages n'a pu convertir, et qui est rempli d'une foule d'etres
+malfaisans, la loi se levera comme le soleil et s'y repandra dans
+les temps futurs.
+
+" 'L'apotre de cet Empire de neige apre et sauvage, sera le
+Khoutoukhtou' (Padma pani).
+
+"Apres que 'Sakya mouni' eut prononce ces paroles, un rayon de lumiere,
+eclatant comme un lotus blanc, sortit de son coeur et illumina
+toutes les regions du monde et se plongea dans le coeur du BOUDDHA
+INFINIMENT RESPLENDISSANT. Alors un autre eclat de lumiere sortit du
+Bouddha resplendissant et se plongea dans la mer des fleurs de PADMA
+(lotus), et y transmit cette pensee du Bouddha, qu'il s'en eleverait
+et qu'il en naitrait un Khoubilkhan[42] divin, destine a la conversion
+de l'Empire de neige.
+
+"Le Roi Dehdou qui etait parvenu a participer a la beatitude de
+l'empire de Soukhawatee, voulant un jour offrir au Bouddha un sacrifice
+des fleurs, depecha quelques-uns des siens aux bords de la mer des
+PADMA (Lotus), pour y cueillir de ces fleurs. Ses envoyes apercurent
+dans la mer une tres grande tige de Lotus au milieu de laquelle il
+y avait un bouton colossal entoure d'une foule de grandes feuilles,
+et jetant des rayons de lumiere de differentes couleurs. Les envoyes
+en firent leur rapport au roi, qui, rempli d'etonnement, se rendit
+avec sa cour sur un grand radeau a la place de la mer ou se trouvait
+cette tige merveilleuse.
+
+"Y'etant arrive, il presenta ses offrandes et prononca la benediction;
+le bouton s'ouvrit alors des quatre cotes, et au milieu apparut
+l'apotre de l'empire de neige, ne comme 'Khoubilkhan.' Il y etait
+assis, les jambes croisees, avait mi visage et quatre mains; les deux
+mains anterieures etaient jointes devant le coeur, la troisieme de
+droite tenait un rosaire de cristal, et la quatrieme a gauche une
+fleur de Lotus blanche, qui penchait vers l'oreille.
+
+"Sur sa figure, dont l'eclat se repandait vers les dix regions du
+monde, se montrait un sourire qui penetra dans tous les coeurs.
+
+"Le roi et sa suite porterent le 'Khoubilkhan' au palais, en poussant
+des cris de joie et entonnant des hymnes. Le roi se rendit devant le
+Bouddha eternel et lui demanda la permission d'adopter pour fils, le
+'Khoubilkhan' ne dans la mer de lotus. Mais sa demande ne fut pas
+agree et il apprit, la veritable origine de ce 'Khoubilkhan.' Le
+Bouddha infiniment resplendissant posa alors sa main sur la tete
+de celui-ci et dit 'Fils d'illustre origine! Les etres qui habitent
+l'apre empire de la neige, qu'aucun Bouddha des temps passes n'a pu
+convertir, qu'aucun du temps futurs ne convertira, et qu'aucun du
+temps present n'a converti, le seront par la force et la benediction
+de ton voeu. C'est excellant; c'est excellant! Khoutoukhtou![43]
+
+" 'Aussitot que les habitans de l'apre empire de neige te verront
+et qu'ils entendront le son des six syllabes (Om mani padme houm)
+ils seront delivres des trois naissances de mauvaise nature,
+et trouveront la beatitude par la renaissance comme etres d'une
+nature superieure. Les esprits malfaisans de l'apre empire de neige,
+ainsi que tous les etres donnant des maladies ou la mort, aussitot,
+Khoutoukhtou, qu'ils te verront et qu'ils entendront le son des six
+syllabes, ils quitteront la fureur et la mechancete qui les anime,
+et deviendront compatissans.
+
+" 'Les tigres, les pantheres, les loups, les ours et autres animaux
+feroces, aussitot, O Khoutoukhtou! qu'ils te verront et entendront le
+son des six syllabes ils adouciront leurs hurlemens, et leur fureur
+sanguinaire se changera en douceur bienveillante. Khoutoukhtou! ta
+figure et le son des six syllabes rassaiseront les affames et calmeront
+la soif des alteres; il tombera comme une pluie d'eau benite, et
+elle remplira tous leurs desirs. Khoutoukhtou! tu es l'etre gracieux
+destine a annoncer la volonte du Bouddha a cet empire de neige.
+
+" 'Selon ton example, un grand nombre de Bouddhas s'y montreront,
+dans les temps futurs, et y repandront la foi.
+
+" 'Les six syllabes sont le sommaire de toute doctrine et l'apre
+empire de neige, sera rempli de cette doctrine par la force de ces
+six syllabes --
+
+
+Om ma ni pad me houm.'
+
+
+"Apres cette consecration, le Khoutoukhtou s'agenouilla devant le
+Bouddha, joignit les mains et prononca le voeu suivant: 'Puisse-je
+etre en etat de pouvoir faire parvenir a la beatitude les six especes
+d'etres vivans dans les trois royaumes! Puisse-je, avant tout,
+conduire sur le chemin du bonheur, les etres vivans de l'empire de
+neige (Thibet).
+
+" 'Loin de moi le desir de retourner dans mon Empire de joie, avant
+d'avoir acheve l'oeuvre si difficile de la conversion de ces etres. Si
+une telle pensee, produite par le degout et la mauvaise humeur,
+s'empare de moi, que ma tete se fende en dix parties, et mon corps,
+comme cette fleur de lotus, en mille.'
+
+"Apres ces mots, il se rendit dans le royaume de l'enfer, prononca les
+six syllabes et detruisit les peines des enfers frois et chauds. De
+la il s'eleva au royaume des animaux, prononca les six syllabes et
+detruisit la peine que leur produit la chasse. Puis il se rendit dans
+l'empire des hommes, prononca les six syllabes et detruisit la peine de
+la naissance, de l'age, des maladies et de la mort. Il s'eleva apres
+a l'empire des genies du ciel, prononca les six syllabes et detruisit
+l'envie qui les tourmente pour se disputer et se combattre. Enfin,
+il aborda le grand Royaume de neige (le Tubet).
+
+"Ici, il apercut la mer d' 'Otang' comme un enfer terrible, et il
+vit que derechef, plusieurs millions d'etres y'etaient, bouillis,
+brules, et martyrises.
+
+"Le Khoutouktou se rendit au bord de la mer et dit: 'Oh! que tant de
+milliers d'etres qui se trouvent dans cette mer, ou ils souffrent des
+tourmens inexprimables par la chaleur, le froid, la faim, et la soif,
+puissent rejeter loin d'eux leur enveloppe funeste et renaitre dans
+mon paradis commes etres superieures. Om mani padme houm!'
+
+"A peine le 'Khoutoukhtou' avait-il prononce ces mots que les tourmens
+des damnes cesserent; leur esprit fut tranquillise, et ils se virent
+transportes sur le chemin du Bouddha. Le Khoutoukhtou ayant ainsi
+rendu propres a la delivrance les six especes des etres vivans dans
+les trois royaumes du monde, se trouva fatigue, se reposa et tomba
+dans un etat de contemplation interieure!
+
+"Apres quelques temps il vit qu'a peine la centieme partie des
+habitans de l'empire de neige avaient ete conduits sur le chemin de
+la delivrance. Son ame en fut si douloureusement affectee qu'il eut
+le desir de retourner dans son paradis. A peine l'avait-il concu,
+qu'ensuite de ce voeu, sa tete se fendit en dix et son corps en
+mille pieces.
+
+"Le Bouddha infiniment resplendissant lui apparut dans le meme moment,
+guerit la tete et le corps fendus du Khoutoukhtou, le prit par la main
+et lui dit: "Fils d'illustre origine! Vois les suites inevitables de
+ton voeu; mais parce que tu l'avais fait pour l'illustration de tous
+les Bouddhas, tu as ete gueri sur-le-champ. Ne sois donc plus triste,
+car quoique ta tete se soit fendue en dix pieces, chacune aura,
+par ma benediction, une face particuliere, et au-dessus d'elles sera
+place mon propre visage rayonnant. Cet onzieme visage de L'INFINIMENT
+RESPLENDISSANT, place au-dessus de tes dix autres, te rendra l'objet
+de l'adoration.
+
+" 'Quoique ton corps se soit fendu en mille morceaux, ils deviendront,
+par ma benediction, mille mains qui representeront les mille Bouddhas
+d'un age complet du monde (en sanscrit Kalpa),[44] et qui te rendront
+l'objet le plus digne d'adoration.' "
+
+Cette legende nous explique, non seulement l'extreme importance que
+les Bouddhistes du Tubet attachent a la formule "Om mani padme houm,"
+mais elle nous demontre aussi que son veritable sens est celui que
+j'ai donne plus haut: Oh! le joyau dans le lotus; Amen! Il est evident
+qu'elle se rapporte a "Avalokites' vara" ou "Padma pani" lui-meme,
+qui naquit dans une fleur de lotus.[45]
+
+
+
+Um Mani Panee.
+
+As will be seen by the foregoing extract from M. Klaproth's
+explanation, the mystic sentence, instead of being as I have
+represented it, is in reality, "Om mani padme houm," or, in a form
+of spelling more English, if not more intelligible, "Om muni pudmay
+hoom," and the meaning, supposing its derivation from the Sanscrit to
+be beyond doubt, would, as therein translated, be, "Oh the jewel in the
+Lotus, Amen!" Almost every traveller who has mentioned the inscription
+in question appears to have followed M. Klaproth's pronunciation as
+above; but this, although the one actually given by the value of
+the Thibetian letters, is certainly not that in use by the people
+among whom it is chiefly, if not alone, to be found. This I can vouch
+for, as the words were so incessantly in the mouths of all to whom
+I applied for information, that I had ample opportunity of hearing
+and remembering their sound; and having written them on the spot in
+the Persian character, the pronunciation would not be open to the
+misapprehension or uncertainty to which, after the sounds themselves
+had been forgotten, the English form of spelling might have rendered
+them liable.[46]
+
+A form, however, different from both these, is given by one who, with
+the exception perhaps of M. Hue, had better opportunities than most
+others for ascertaining the meaning of the words and hearing their
+actual pronunciation: this was Captain Turner, who was nominated by
+Warren Hastings, in the year 1783, to undertake an embassy to the
+Court of Thibet, at Lassa.
+
+He, however, makes no mention of the Sanscrit translation above given,
+and confesses his inability to obtain, even at the head-quarters
+of Thibetian Buddhism, a satisfactory explanation of the origin or
+import of the sentence. The following account, taken from Captain
+Turner's Report on his Mission, may be of interest, as it explains
+the circumstances under which an event so unusual as an embassy to
+the Court of Thibet was agreed to by the Grand Lama.
+
+In 1772, a frontier warfare having broken out between the "Booteas,"
+dependants of Thibet, and the English Government, in consequence of
+the aggression of the former, Teshoo Lama, at the time regent of Thibet
+and guardian of the Delai Lama, his superior in religious rank, united
+in his own person the political authority and the spiritual hierarchy
+of the country, subservient only to the Emperor of China. The Lama,
+interested for the safety of Bootan, sent a deputation to Calcutta,
+with a letter addressed to the governor, of which the following
+is a translation: -- "The affairs of this quarter in every respect
+flourish. I am, night and day, employed in prayers for the increase
+of your happiness and prosperity. Having been informed, by travellers
+from your country, of your exalted fame and reputation, my heart, like
+the blossoms of spring, abounds with satisfaction, gladness, and joy.
+
+"Praise be to God that the star of your fortune is in its
+ascension! Praise be to Him that happiness and ease are the surrounding
+attendants of myself and family! Neither to molest, nor persecute,
+is my aim. It is even the characteristic of our sect to deprive
+ourselves of the necessary refreshment of sleep, should an injury
+be done to a single individual; but in justice and humanity, I am
+informed, you far surpass us.
+
+"May you ever adorn the seat of justice and power, that mankind may, in
+the shadow of your bosom, enjoy the blessings of peace and affluence."
+
+The Lama then enters into the subject of the disturbances between
+his dependants and the British Government, and concludes: -- "As to
+my part, I am but a Fakeer; and it is the custom of my sect, with
+the rosary in our hands, to pray for the welfare of all mankind,
+and especially for the peace and happiness of the inhabitants of this
+country; and I do now, with my head uncovered, intreat that you will
+cease from all hostilities in future. In this country the worship of
+the Almighty is the profession of all. We poor creatures are in nothing
+equal to you. Having, however, a few things in hand, I send them to you
+as tokens of remembrance, and hope for your acceptance of them."[47]
+
+The Lama being in this unusually agreeable frame of mind, the British
+Government yielded without hesitation to his intercession.
+
+The governor himself readily embraced the opportunity, which he
+thought the occurrence afforded, of extending the British influence to
+a quarter of the world but little known, and with which we possessed
+hardly any commercial connexion.
+
+In 1774 a deputation was sent to carry back an answer to the Lama, and
+to offer him suitable presents. It was furnished also with a variety
+of articles of English manufacture, to be produced as specimens of
+the trade in which the subjects of the Lama might be invited to
+participate. The result was, that in 1779, when the Lama visited
+the Emperor of China at Pekin, desirous of improving his connexion
+with the Government of Bengal, he desired the British envoy to go
+round by sea to Canton, promising to join him at the capital. The
+Emperor's promise was at the same time obtained to permit the first
+openings of an intercourse between that country and Bengal, through
+the intermediate channel furnished by the Lama.
+
+The death of both the Lama and the envoy, however, which happened
+nearly at the same time, destroyed the plans thus formed.
+
+Soon after the receipt of the letters announcing the Lama's death,
+intelligence arrived of his reappearance in Thibet! His soul, according
+to the doctrines of their faith, had passed into and animated the
+body of an infant, who, on the discovery of his identity by such
+testimony as their religion prescribes, was proclaimed by the same
+title as his predecessor.
+
+Warren Hastings then proposed a second deputation to Thibet, and
+Captain Turner was accordingly nominated on the 9th January, 1783.
+
+His mention of the sculptured stones and inscription is as follows: --
+
+"Another sort of monument is a long wall, on both faces of which
+near the top are inserted large tablets with the words 'Oom maunee
+paimee oom' carved in relief. This is the sacred sentence repeated
+upon the rosaries of the Lamas, and in general use in Tibet. Of the
+form of words to which ideas of peculiar sanctity are annexed by the
+inhabitants, I could never obtain a satisfactory explanation. It
+is frequently engraven on the rocks in large and deep characters,
+and sometimes I have seen it on the sides of hills; the letters,
+which are formed by means of stones fixed in the earth, are of so
+vast a magnitude as to be visible at a very considerable distance."
+
+M. Hue's account of an explanation of the formula, which he received
+from the highest authority at Lassa, is as follows: -- "Living beings
+are divided into six classes -- angels, demons, men, quadrupeds,
+birds, and reptiles. These six classes of beings correspond to the
+syllables of the formula, 'Om mani padme houm.' Living beings by
+continual transformations, and according to their merit or demerit,
+pass about in these six classes until they have attained the apex
+of perfection, when they are absorbed and lost in the grand essence
+of Buddha. Living beings have, according to the class to which they
+belong, particular means of sanctifying themselves, of rising to a
+superior class, of obtaining perfection, and of arriving in process
+of time at the period of their absorption. Men who repeat very
+frequently and devotedly 'Om mani padme houm,' escape falling after
+death into the six classes of animate creatures, corresponding to
+the six syllables of the formula, and obtain the plenitude of being,
+by their absorption into the eternal and universal soul of Buddha."
+
+One traveller only I have been able to find who mentions the sentence
+as I have done. M. Jacquemont writes, in his "Letters from Cashmere
+and Thibet," in 1830: -- "I am returned from afar; I have often been
+very cold; I have had a hundred and eighteen very bad dinners: but
+I think myself amply recompensed for these trans-Himalayan miseries
+by the interesting observations and vast collections which I have
+been able to make in a country perfectly new. The Tartars are a very
+good sort of people. It is true that to please them I made myself
+a little heathen after their fashion, and joined without scruple in
+the national chorus, 'Houm mani pani houm.' "
+
+Judging by the system of spelling he has adopted in other instances in
+his letters, this would be nearly -- as regards the two main words --
+the same pronunciation as I have given. He however, in another part,
+follows it still more closely, and at the same time shows that he
+is aware of a translation which, although probably the true one,
+has no connexion whatever with the words as he himself actually
+represents them.
+
+He says -- "In Thibet they sing a good deal also -- that is, one or two
+inhabitants per square league -- but only a single song of three words
+-- 'Oum mani pani;' which means, in the learned language, 'Oh, diamond
+water-lily!' and leads the singers direct into Buddha's paradise.
+
+"But, though composed of three Thibetian words, it is evidently of
+Indian origin, and I have proved it BOTANICALLY. The lotus is a plant
+peculiar to the lukewarm and temperate waters of India and Egypt. There
+is not one of its genus, or even of its family, in Thibet."
+
+The words, however, are not, as M. Jacquemont says, Thibetian,
+but Sanscrit; and, although one of the characters in which they are
+clothed is the current Thibetian, it would appear that neither their
+true pronunciation nor actual meaning is known to the people who thus
+make such frequent use of them.
+
+The sentence itself is in the mouths of all. In the monastery of Hemis
+alone, probably as many as a hundred wheels are in continual motion,
+bearing it within their folds not less than 1,700,000 times. The very
+stones by the wayside present its well-known characters in countless
+numbers, and the hills repeat it, and yet to those into whose daily
+religious observances it thus so largely enters, it comes but as
+a vain and empty sound, without either sense or signification. The
+Lamas themselves, no doubt, believe that the doctrine contained in
+these marvellous words is immense, and the higher dignitaries of
+the Church may know their derivation; but, to the great majority,
+even the mystic meaning and dim legendary history which the true
+pronunciation and rightful origin of the words would bring to their
+minds, are unknown, and they are thus deprived of that large amount
+of comfort and consolation which they would otherwise derive from
+the glowing and all-powerful sentence --
+
+"Oh, the jewel in the lotus, Amen!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER C
+
+A Sketch of the History of Cashmere.
+
+A Mahomedan Writer, "Noor ul deen," who begins the history of Cashmere
+with the Creation, affirms that the valley was visited by Adam after
+the Fall; that the descendants of Seth reigned over the country for
+1,110 years; and that, after the deluge, it became peopled by a tribe
+from Turkistan.
+
+The Hindoo historians add, that, after the line of Seth became extinct,
+the Hindoos conquered the country, and ruled it until the period
+of the deluge; and that the Cashmerians were afterwards taught the
+worship of one God by "Moses;" but, relapsing into Hindoo idolatry,
+were punished by the local inundation of the province, and the
+conversion of the valley into a vast lake.
+
+It would appear, from chronicles actually existing, that Cashmere
+has been a regular kingdom for a period far beyond the limits of
+history in general. From the year B.C. 2666 to A.D. 1024 it seems
+to have been governed (according to these authorities) by Princes of
+Hindoo and Tartar dynasties, and their names, to the number of about
+a hundred, have been duly handed down to posterity. Of the titles of
+these worthies, "Durlabhaverddhana" and "Bikrumajeet" will perhaps
+be sufficient as specimens. During these years, the religion seems
+at first to have been the worship of snakes, and afterwards Hindooism.
+
+In the reign of Asoca, about the 4th century before Christ, Buddhism
+was introduced, and after remaining for some time, under Tartar
+princes, the religion of the country, was again succeeded by Hindooism.
+
+The first Mahomedan king of Cashmere is believed to be "Shahmar,"
+who came to the throne in A.D. 1341, and during the succeeding reigns
+Thibet appears to have been first subdued, and was annexed for a time
+to the kingdom.
+
+The next monarch, who appears notably on the stage, was "Sikunder,"
+who, influenced by a certain Syud Alee Humudanee and other religious
+fanatics recently arrived in the country, began to destroy the
+Hindoo temples and images by fire, and to force the people to abjure
+idolatry. Previous to this influx of zealots, the country was in a
+transition state as regards religion and Mahomedanism then began to
+make some head in the valley.
+
+After this period nothing of very great importance occurred in the
+kingdom of Cashmere until the year 1584, when the great Akbar summoned
+the then king "Yusuf Shah" to present himself in person at the court of
+Lahore. Finding his orders not complied with, he despatched an army of
+50,000 men to enforce obedience, and Yusuf Shah, preferring apparently
+to die than fight, delivered himself up, and was sent to Lahore.
+
+The imperial army was afterwards, however, repulsed in attempting to
+subdue the country, and it was not finally conquered for two years,
+when Akbar, overcoming all resistance, took possession of the province.
+
+The purity of the emperor's motives in annexing the territory, and
+his opinion of his conquest, are amusingly shown in the following
+letter to his minister Abdullah Khan: --
+
+"On the mirror of your mind, which bears the stamp of Divine
+illumination, be it manifest and evident, that at the time when my
+imperial army happened to be in the territories of the Punjab, although
+I at first had no other views than to amuse myself with sports and
+hunting in this country, yet the conquest of the enchanting kingdom
+of Cashmere, which has never yet been subdued by monarchs of the
+age, which for natural strength and inaccessibility is unrivalled,
+and which, for beauty and pleasantness, is a proverb among the most
+sagacious beholders, became secretly an object of my wishes, BECAUSE
+I received constantly accounts of the tyranny of the rulers of that
+region. Accordingly, in a very short time, my brave warriors annexed
+that kingdom to my dominions. Though the princes of that country were
+not remiss in their exertions, yet, as my intentions were established
+on the basis of equity, it was completely conquered.
+
+"I myself also visited that happy spot, the possession of which is
+a fresh instance of the Divine favour, and offered up my praise and
+thanksgiving to the supreme Lord of all things. As I found myself
+delighted with the romantic bowers of Cashmere, the residence of
+pleasure, I made an excursion to the mountains of that country and
+Thibet, and beheld, with the eyes of astonishment, the wonders of
+the picture of Nature."
+
+This visit was in A.D. 1588.
+
+The emperor then appears to have entered the valley by the Peer Punjal
+Pass, and to have been received with every demonstration of joy by
+the people in whom he took such a fatherly interest. The loyalty of
+his children, however, was but short-lived, for about the year 1591
+he again writes to Abdullah: --
+
+"I must acquaint your Highness, that just at this time certain persons,
+under the predominance of an unlucky destiny, raised an insurrection
+in Cashmere and breathed the air of rebellion and dissatisfaction at
+the bounty of Providence.
+
+"As soon as the intelligence of this tumult arrived, regardless of
+deluges of rain, I hastened away by forced marches, but before the
+troops could get through the passes and enter into that kingdom,
+certain Omrahs, attached to my interests, who had been obliged by
+compulsion to join in that rash enterprise, availing themselves of
+an opportunity, brought me the head of the rebel commander.
+
+"As my forces were near, I visited a second time that ever-verdant
+garden, and gratified my mind and senses with the beauties of that
+luxuriant spot."
+
+With a view to keeping the capital in order, the Fort of Huree Purbut
+was built, about A.D. 1597, at a cost of over 1,000,000L.
+
+Means were at the same time adopted of rendering the Cashmerians less
+warlike, and of breaking their independent spirit. To effect this,
+it is generally believed in Cashmere that the Emperor Akbar caused a
+change to be made in the dress of the people. Instead of the ancient,
+well-girdled tunic, adapted to activity and exercise, he introduced
+the effeminate long gown of the present day, a change which may have
+led to the introduction of the kangree, or pot of charcoal, now used
+in the valley.
+
+During Akbar's reign much was done towards the improvement of the
+province. The country was adorned with palaces and gardens, and
+various trees and shrubs were introduced and cultivated.
+
+About the beginning of the seventeenth century, Akbar visited
+Cashmere for the third and last time, being succeeded, after a reign
+of fifty-two years, by his son Selim, or Jehangeer, A.D. 1605.
+
+Jehangeer, during the early part of his reign, visited Cashmere
+many times, and the valley having been surveyed and brought to
+order by Akbar, nothing remained for his successor but to enjoy the
+delights of the country in company with his empress, the famous Noor
+Jehan. In 1621, and in 1624, he repeated his visit, when he built many
+summerhouses and palaces at Atchabull, Shalimar, &c., and in A.D. 1627
+he visited the valley for the last time. He was succeeded in that
+year by Shah Jehan, who, in 1634, also visited his territories; and,
+besides improving the country by the introduction of fruit-trees,
+flowers, &c. from Cabul, he invaded Thibet, and taking the Fort of
+Ladak, annexed the country to Cashmere.
+
+In 1645 he again visited the valley, and also in the following years,
+being accompanied by many poets and savants; among the former was
+a certain Hajee Mahomet Jan, a Persian, who composed a poem on the
+country; but the difficulties of the road appear to have impressed
+his mind rather more than the beauties of the scenery. He compares
+the sharpness of the passes to "the swords of the Feringees," and
+their tortuous ascents to "the curls of a blackamoor's hair!"
+
+In 1657, Shah Jehan, being deposed by his son Aurungzib, was confined
+in the Fort of Agra for life; and in the year 1664 the new emperor
+also paid a visit to his Cashmerian dominions. Of this magnificent
+expedition, M. Bernier, the monarch's state physician, gives an
+amusing and detailed description, purporting to be
+
+"A relation of a voyage made in the year 1664, when the Great Mogul,
+Aureng-Zebe, went with his army from, Dehly to Lahor, from Lahor
+to Bember, and from thence to that small kingdom of Kachemere, or
+Cassimere, called by the Mogols the Paradise of the Indies, concerning
+which the author affirms that he hath a particular history of it,
+in the Persian tongue."
+
+"The weighty occasion and cause of this voyage of the Emperor's,
+together with an account of the state and posture of his army,
+and some curious particulars observable in voyages of the Indies,"
+are thus given by M. Bernier: -- "Since that Aureng-Zebe began to
+find himself in better health, it hath been constantly reported
+that he would make a voyage to Kachemere, to be out of the way of
+the approaching summer heats, though the more intelligent sort of
+men would hardly be persuaded, that as long as he kept his father,
+Chah-Jean (Shah Jehan), prisoner in the Fort of Agra, he would think
+it safe to be at such a distance. Yet, notwithstanding, we have found
+that reason of State hath given place to that of health, or rather,
+to the intrigues of Rauchenara Begum, who was wild to breathe a more
+free air than that of the Seraglio, and to have her turn in showing
+herself to a gallant and magnificent army, as her sister had formerly
+done during the reign of Chah-Jean."
+
+The Emperor appears to have made preparations on this occasion for
+a voyage of a year and a half.
+
+He had with him, not only thirty-five thousand horse, or thereabouts,
+and ten thousand foot, but also "both his artilleries, the great or
+heavy, and the small or lighter.
+
+For the carriage of the Emperor's baggage and stores, no less than
+30,000 coolies were required, although, for fear of starving that
+little kingdom of Kachemere," he only carried with him the least
+number of ladies and cavaliers he could manage, and as few elephants
+and mules as would suffice for the convenience of the former.
+
+Crossing the Peer Punjal, some of the ladies of the Seraglio
+unfortunately paid the penalty of their too ardent desires to show
+themselves off to "a gallant and magnificent army," for "one of the
+elephants fell back upon him that was next, and he upon the next, and
+so on to the fifteenth, so that they did all tumble to the bottom of
+the precipice. It was the good fortune of those poor women, however,
+that there were but three or four of them killed; but the fifteen
+elephants remained upon the place." The historian rather ungallantly
+adds, "When these bulky masses do once fall under THOSE VAST BURDENS
+they never rise again, though the way be ever so fair."
+
+On reaching the summit of the pass after this accident, the expedition
+appears to have encountered more misfortunes, for "there blew a wind so
+cold that all people shook and ran away, especially the silly Indians,
+who never had seen ice or snow, or felt such cold."
+
+Aurungzib appears to have remained three months in the valley on
+this occasion.
+
+After his death there is no mention of his successors having visited
+Cashmere, and the local governors became in consequence, in common
+with those of other provinces of the tottering Mogul throne, little
+short of independent rulers. Under the tender mercies of most of these,
+the unfortunate Cashmeeries appear to have fared but badly.
+
+In 1745, however, a series of misfortunes from another source burst
+forth upon the inhabitants of the happy valley. A dreadful famine
+first broke out, during which it is said that slaves sold for four
+pice (three half-pence) each. The famine produced its natural result,
+a pestilence, which swept away many thousands of the people; an
+eclipse also added to their terror, and storms of rain followed by
+floods carried away all the bridges.
+
+In the year 1752, the country passed from the possession of the Mogul
+throne, and fell under the rule of the Duranees, and during many
+years was convulsed by a series of wars and rebellions, and subject
+to numerous different governors. In A.D. 1801, Runjeet Singh began to
+come into notice, and, having consolidated the nation of the Sikhs,
+had, in the year 1813 become one of the recognised princes of India. In
+that year Futteh Shah entered into a treaty with him for a subsidiary
+force for the invasion of Cashmere. The price of this accommodation
+was fixed at 80,000L. yearly; but, before the expiration of the second
+year, the Lion of the Punjab, on pretence of the non-fulfilment of
+the treaty, invaded the valley on his own account at the head of a
+considerable army. He was repulsed, however, and forced to retreat to
+Lahore with the loss of his entire baggage. In A.D. 1819, encouraged
+by recent successes against Moultan, Runjeet Singh collected an army
+"as numerous as ants and locusts," and invaded the valley a second
+time, and being successful, the country again fell under the sway of
+a Hindoo Sovereign.
+
+It, however, remained for some time afterwards in a disturbed state;
+and for signal services against the rebellious frontier chiefs, who
+were averse to Runjeet Singh's rule, Gulab Singh (the late Maharajah)
+obtained possession of the territory of Jumoo, now included in the
+kingdom of Cashmere.
+
+Runjeet Singh, dying in 1839, was succeeded by his son and grandson,
+successively, both of whom died shortly after their accession; and
+the state of anarchy and confusion which ensued among the Sikh Sirdars
+was terminated by Shere Singh being installed as Maharajah of Lahore.
+
+Under his rule, in 1842, Gulab Singh further brought himself into
+notice by reducing the kingdom of little Thibet with the army under
+Zorawur Singh, and on the termination of the Sikh Campaign of the
+Sutlej -- Duleep Singh being established on the throne of Lahore --
+he was admitted, "in consideration of his good conduct," to the
+privileges of a separate treaty with the British Government.
+
+The result of these privileges was, that he was shortly afterwards
+put in possession, for "a consideration," of the entire kingdom
+of Cashmere.
+
+As indemnification for the expenses of the Sikh Campaign, the British
+Government had demanded from the Lahore State the sum of a crore and
+a half of rupees, or 1,500,000L. The whole of this amount, however,
+was not forthcoming, and it was agreed by Article 4 of the treaty
+of 9th March, 1846, with the Maharajah Duleep Singh, that all the
+hill-country between the rivers Indus and Beas, including the province
+of Cashmere, should be ceded to the Honourable East India Company,
+in perpetual sovereignty, as an equivalent for one million sterling.
+
+Article 12 of the same treaty guaranteed to Gulab Singh, in
+consequence of his services to the Lahore State, its recognition of his
+independence in such territories as might afterwards be agreed upon;
+and on the 16th March, 1846, the British Government, by special treaty,
+made over for ever, in independent possession to Maharajah Gulab Singh
+and the heirs male of his body, the greater part of the territories
+previously mentioned in Article 4. In consideration of this transfer,
+the Maharajah was to pay to the British Government, within the year,
+the sum of seventy-five lakhs of rupees (750,000L.). To acknowledge
+the supremacy of that Government, and, in token of such supremacy,
+to present it annually the following tribute, viz.: -- One horse,
+twelve perfect shawl goats of approved breed (six male and six female),
+and three pairs of Cashmere shawls.
+
+Thus, "on the 16th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1846,
+corresponding with the 17th day of Rubbeeoolawul, 1262, Hijree, was
+DONE at Umritsur," the treaty of ten articles, by which Gulab Singh
+was raised to the rank and dignity of an independent ruler.
+
+For seventy-five lakhs of rupees the unfortunate Cashmeeries were
+handed over to the tender mercies of "the most thorough ruffian that
+ever was created -- a villain from a kingdom down to a half-penny,"
+and the "Paradise of the Indies," after remaining rather less than
+a week a British possession, was relinquished by England for ever.
+
+The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NOTES
+
+[1] -- VIDE Appendix A
+
+[2] -- ROADS -- I. There are four authorized routes for European
+visitors to Cashmere.
+
+FIRST. The principal road from the plains by Bimbhur and Rajaoree. This
+road over the "Peer Punjal" range is not open until May, and is closed
+by snow at the beginning of November: it is the old imperial route,
+and the stages are marked by the remains of serais.
+
+[3] -- A hill conveyance something similar to a hammock, suspended from
+a pole, with straps for the feet and back, and carried by two bearers.
+
+[4] -- M. Jacquemont, in his "Letters from Kashmir and Thibet,"
+carried away no doubt by the ardour of Botanical research, mentions
+having made a similar discovery, in the following glowing terms:  --
+"The mountains here produce rhubarb; celestial happiness!"
+
+[5] -- The Pass of the Peer Punjal is 13,000 feet above the level of
+the sea; the highest peak of the range being 15,000.
+
+[6] -- Supposed to designate "The City of the Sun;" Surya meaning in
+Sanscrit "the Sun," and Nugger "a City."
+
+[7] -- Cashmere seems to have been regarded for many ages merely as
+a source of wealth to its absentee lords or present governors, and
+to have suffered more than ever, since falling under the dominion of
+Hindoo rulers.
+
+Of the first of this dynasty, who subdued and took possession of
+the valley in the year 1819, Vigne remarks, in his Travels, "Runjeet
+Singh assuredly well knew that the greater the prosperity of Kashmir,
+the stronger would be the inducement to invasion by the East India
+Company. 'Apres moi le deluge' has been his motto, and its ruin
+has been accelerated not less by his rapacity than by his political
+jealousy, which suggested to him at any cost the merciless removal
+of its wealth and the reckless havoc he has made in its resources."
+
+[8] -- The Tukt-i-Suliman, an old Hindoo temple, the throne of Solomon
+the magnificent, the prophet, the mighty magician, whom all pious
+Mussulmans believe to have been carried through the air on a throne
+supported by Dives or Afrites, whom the Almighty had made subservient
+to His will. -- Vigne. The summit stands 1,000 feet above the level
+of the plain, and the date of its erection is believed to be 220
+B.C. VIDE Appendix A.
+
+[9] -- "There is no God but God;" "In the name of God."
+
+[10] -- This was written without being aware that the native name
+of Mutton is a corruption of Martund, by which name the temple is
+also designated.
+
+The meaning of Martund being in Sanscrit "the Sun," additional grounds
+have thus been furnished for determining the origin of the ruin. VIDE
+Appendix A.
+
+[11] -- On this subject a good deal of difference of opinion seems
+to exist, and from Moore's descriptions of the furniture of his
+terrestrial paradise, which have added so much to the fame of the
+valley, it appears probable that his "muse," thinking it useless
+to search abroad for materials which existed in abundance at home,
+supplied him with what he supposed to be Eastern celestial creations,
+entirely from his native shores. Vigne, however, says, "I do not think
+that the beauty of the Kashmirian women has been overrated. They are,
+of course, wholly deficient in the graces and fascinations derivable
+from cultivation and accomplishment; but for mere uneducated eyes,
+I know of none that surpass those of Kashmir." On the other hand,
+M. Jacquemont, who found "celestial happiness" in a plant of rhubarb,
+is unable to discover any beauty whatever in the Cashmerian ladies,
+and has no patience with his neighbour's little flights of fancy in
+depicting their perfections. "Moore," he writes, in his "Letters from
+India," "is a perfumer, and a liar to boot. Know that I have never
+seen anywhere such hideous witches as in Cashmere. The female race is
+remarkably ugly." Instead of adding to such conflicting evidence, I
+have endeavoured to subpoena a credible witness to speak for herself;
+and the right of private judgment being thus reserved to the reader,
+Gulabie will no doubt be charitably dealt with, and will find her
+proper position somewhere within the limits of a "hideous witch"
+and a "celestial being."
+
+[12] -- This place is mentioned in the "Tuzuk Jehangeery," or "Precepts
+of Jehangeer," in a way which shows that the Conqueror of the World
+had not included himself among his victories.
+
+The name appears on a Persian inscription as Wurnagh, but is called
+by the natives Vernagh, and is mentioned by Jehangeer in his journal
+as Tirnagh: --
+
+"The source of the river Bhet (Jhelum)[*] lies in a fountain in Cashmeer,
+named Tirnagh, which, in the language, of Hindostan, signifies a
+snake -- probably some large snake had been seen there. During the
+lifetime of my father (Akbar) I went twice to this fountain, which
+is about twenty kos from the city of Cashmere. Its form is octagonal,
+and the sides of it are about twenty yards in length.
+
+"I accompanied my father to this spot during the season of flowers. In
+some places the beds of saffron-flowers extend to a kos. Their
+appearance is best at a distance, and when they are plucked they
+emit a strong smell. My attendants were all seized with a headache,
+and though I was myself at the time intoxicated with liquor, I felt
+also my head affected. I inquired of the brutal Cashmeerians who were
+employed in plucking them, what was their condition, and they replied
+that they never had a headache in their lifetime."
+
+[*] -- The Jhelum is called in Cashmere, Behat -- a contraction of the
+Sanscrit VEDASTA, which the Greeks slightly altered to Hydaspes.
+
+[13] -- The title of Noor-ul-deen is also mentioned by Jehangeer in
+his Journal from Lahore to Cabul, and its origin is thus accounted
+for in his own words:
+
+"Now that I had become a king, it occurred to me that I ought to change
+my name, which was liable to be confounded with that of the Caesars,
+of Rome.
+
+"The Secret Inspirer of thoughts suggested to me that, as the business
+of kings is the conquest of the world, I ought to assume the name of
+Jehangeer, or Conqueror of the World; and that as my accession to the
+throne had taken place, about sunrise, I ought therefore to take the
+title of Noor-ul-deen, or the Light of Religion. I had heard during
+the time of my youth from several learned Hindoos, that after the
+expiration of the reign of Akbar, the throne would be filled by a
+kin, named Noor-ul-deen. This circumstance made an impression on me,
+and I therefore assumed the name and title of Jehangeer Badshah."
+
+[14] -- These ruins appear to be in the greatest dilapidation of any
+in the valley. The date of their erection is believed to be A.D. 852.
+
+[15] -- See Appendix A.
+
+[16] -- VIDE Appendix A.
+
+[17] -- These monuments would appear to be of the kind designated
+Chod-tens and Dung-tens, which have been thus described: -- "In the
+monuments which are dedicated to the celestial Buddha, the invisible
+being who pervades all space, no deposit was made; but the Divine
+Spirit, who was light, was supposed to occupy the interim. Such are
+the numerous Chod-tens in Tibet dedicated to the celestial Buddha,
+in contradistinction to the Dung-tens, which are built in honour of
+the mortal Buddhas, and which ought to contain some portion of their
+relies, real or supposed. The first means an offering to the Deity,
+the latter a bone or relic receptacle. In the Sanscrit these are
+termed Chaitya and Dagoba." -- Cunningham.
+
+[18] -- This appears to have been one of the Dagobas or bone-holders,
+which are erected either over the corse of a Lama or the ashes of some
+person of consequence. "The tribute of respect is paid in Tibet to
+the manes of the dead in various ways. It is the custom to preserve
+entire the mortal remains of the sovereign Lamas only. As soon as
+life has left the body of a Lama, it is placed upright, sitting
+in an attitude of devotion, his legs being folded before him, with
+the instep resting on each thigh, and the sides of the feet turned
+upwards. The right hand is rested with its back upon the thigh, with
+the thumb bent across the palm. The left arm is bent and held close
+to the body, the hand being open and the thumb touching the point of
+the shoulder. This is the attitude of abstracted meditation.
+
+"The bodies of inferior Lamas are usually burnt, and their ashes
+preserved with the greatest care, and the monuments in which they
+are contained are ever after looked upon as sacred, and visited with
+religious awe." -- Turner.
+
+[19] -- jo khula kariga so kui nahin kariga
+
+[20] -- "Tibet may be considered the head-quarters of Buddhism in
+the present age, and immense volumes are still to be found in that
+country (faithful translations of the Sanskrit text), which refer to
+the manners, customs, opinions, knowledge, ignorance, superstition,
+hopes and fears of a great part of Asia, especially of India in former
+ages." -- Csoma de Koros, PREFACE TO TIBETAN GRAMMAR.
+
+[21] -- These stones would appear to be peculiar to Thibet, although
+the sentence inscribed upon them has been occasionally discovered
+elsewhere. Mention of it is thus made in the Journal of the Asiatic
+Society of Bengal: -- "On the main road from the Valley of Nipal to
+Tibet stands a diminutive stone, 'Chaitya.' Upon this is inscribed
+a variety of texts from the Buddha Scriptures, and amongst others
+the celebrated Mantra, or charmed sentence of Tibet. The system of
+letters called Lantza in Tibet, and there considered foreign and
+Indian, though nowhere extant in the Plains of India, is the common
+vehicle of Sanscrit language among the Buddhists of Nipal Proper,
+by whom it is denominated Ranja, in Devanagri ra.mjaa
+
+"Ranja, therefore, and not, according to a barbarian metamorphosis,
+Lantza, it should be called by us, and by way of further and clearer
+distinction, the Nipalese variety of Devanagri. Obviously deducible
+as this form is from the Indian standard, it is interesting to observe
+it in practical collocation with the ordinary Thibetan form, and when
+it is considered that Lantza or Ranja is the common extant vehicle
+of those original Sanscrit works of which the Thibetan books are
+translations, the interest of an inscription traced on one slab in
+both characters cannot but be allowed to be considerable. The habit
+of promulgation of the doctrines of their faith by inscriptions
+patent on the face of religious edifices, stones, &c., is peculiar
+to the Buddhists of Thibet. The Mantra is also quite unknown to the
+Buddhists of Ceylon and the Eastern peninsula, and forms the peculiar
+feature of Thibetan Buddhism."
+
+[22] -- This was the only explanation of the mounds of inscribed stones
+which I was able to obtain from a native source; and some foundation
+for the story may be traced in the legend -- which will be found in
+Appendix B -- upon which M. Klaproth has founded the only explanation
+of the mystic inscription, which I have been as yet able to discover.
+
+By the Lamas themselves I never heard these mounds alluded to
+otherwise than by the words "Mani panee." Cunningham, however,
+who had ample opportunity of ascertaining their meaning and origin,
+terms them "Manis" (in another form of spelling, "Munees"), and thus
+describes them: -- "The Mani -- a word naturalized from the Sanscrit
+-- is a stone dyke, from four to five feet high, and from six to
+twelve in breadth; length from ten or twenty feet to half a mile The
+surface of the Mani is always covered with inscribed slabs; these
+are votive offerings from all classes of people for the attainment
+of some particular object. Does a childless man wish for a son, or a
+merchant about to travel hope for a safe return; each goes to a Lama
+and purchases a slate, which he deposits carefully on the village
+'Mani,' and returns to his home in full confidence that his prayers
+will be heard."
+
+[23] -- This was in all probability intended to represent the form
+of the lotus. VIDE Appendix B.
+
+[24] -- Of this custom Turner remarks, alluding to Thibet Proper: --
+"Here we find a practice at once different from the modes of Europe,
+and opposite to those of Asia. That of one female associating her fate
+and fortune with all the brothers of a family, without any restriction
+of age or numbers. The choice of a wife is the privilege of the elder
+brother; and singular as it may seem, a Thibetan wife is as jealous
+of her connubial rites as ever the despot of an Indian Zenana is of
+the favours of his imprisoned fair."
+
+[25] -- "As the inscription of course begins at opposite ends on each
+side, the Thibetans are careful in passing that they do not trace
+the words backwards." -- Turner.
+
+[26] -- This is Mount "Everest," which has been called, the King
+of the South. The King of the North, "Nunga Purbut," is 26,629 feet
+above the level of the sea.
+
+[27] -- VIDE illustration, Hemis Monastery.
+
+[28] -- The only information I here again received was "Um mani
+panee!" The wheel consisted of a roll of the thinnest paper, six
+inches in diameter, and five and a half in width, closely printed
+throughout with the eternally recurring words, which all appeared so
+ready to pronounce and none seemed able to explain. The roll was sixty
+yards long, and was composed of a succession of strips, one foot nine
+inches in length, and all joined together. The whole was inclosed in
+a coarse canvas cover, open at both ends, and marked with what was no
+doubt the official seal of the particular society for the diffusion of
+ignorance at Lassa, from which it had originally emanated. Each of the
+strips contained the mystic sentence, one hundred and seventy times,
+so that I was thus at once put into possession of all the valuable
+intelligence to be derived from "Um mani panee," repeated between
+seventeen and eighteen thousand times. VIDE Appendix B.
+
+[29] -- The origin of this divinity is probably derived from the
+legend of Khoutoukhtou, which will be found in Appendix B.
+
+[30] -- The most remarkable of these were "Ser" and "Mer," otherwise
+called "Nanoo" and "Kanoo;" respectively 23,407 and 23,264 feet above
+the level of the sea.
+
+[31] -- The true version of the story appears to be that Gulab Singh
+had quarrelled with the Rajah of Cashmere, his rightful master, and
+entered into the service of the Rajah of Kushtwar. After about three
+years, hearing that Runjeet Singh was preparing an expedition against
+Cashmere, he went to him and offered his services. Being accepted,
+he was successful against his old enemy, and took possession of
+the country for Runjeet Singh; after which he wrote to the Rajah
+of Kushtwar, falsely telling him that the Maharajah was going to
+send a force against him also. The Rajah and his people prepared
+for resistance, and Gulab Singh then forged a paper containing an
+invitation from the chief men in the army of Kushtwar to the Maharajah,
+encouraging him to come forward and invade the country.
+
+This paper Gulab then forwarded to the Rajah himself, with a note,
+in which he told him that it was folly to talk of resistance when
+the chief men of his country were opposed to him. The Rajah, who had
+been in possession of Kushtwar for twenty-seven years, was completely
+deceived, and repaired, by invitation, with only a few followers to
+Gulab's camp. Here he was kept for three months upon an allowance of
+10L. a-day, which was afterwards reduced to 10S., and Gulab Singh in
+the meantime took possession of Kushtwar without opposition.
+
+[32] -- The value which a Kashmirian sets upon his Kangri may be
+known by the following distich: --
+
+
+"Oh Kangri! Oh Kangri!
+You are the gift of Houris and Fairies;
+When I take you under my arm
+You drive away fear from my heart."
+ -- Vigne.
+
+
+[33] -- "Won't the old bearers get something, your honour?"
+
+[34] -- According to M. Voysey, in his Asiatic Researches, "A single
+flower in the screen contains a hundred stones, each cut to the
+exact shape necessary, and highly polished; and, although everything
+is finished like an ornament for a drawing-room chimney-piece, the
+general effect produced is rather solemn and impressive than gaudy.
+
+"In the minute beauties of execution, the flowers are by no means equal
+to those on tables and other small works in Pietra dura at Florence. It
+is the taste displayed in outline and application of this ornament,
+combined with the lightness and simplicity of the building, which gives
+it an advantage so prodigious over the gloomy portals of the chapel of
+the Medici. The graceful flow, the harmonious colours, combined with
+the mild lustre of the marble on which the ornamentation is displayed,
+form the peculiar charm of the building, and distinguish it from any
+other in the world. The materials are Lapis Lazuli, Jasper, Heliotrope
+or blood stone, Chalcedony, and other agates, Cornelian, Jade, &c."
+
+[35] -- A coin of the value of thirty-two shillings.
+
+[36] -- Hardy's "Eastern Monachisms."
+
+[37] -- Csoma de Koros.
+
+[38] -- VIDE page 202.
+
+[39] -- Muir's "Life of Mahomet."
+
+[40] -- M. Dietrici.
+
+[41] -- Padma pani, fils celeste du Bouddha divin du monde actuel,
+est, dans cette qualite, entre en fonction depuis la mort du Bouddha
+terrestre Sakya mouni, comme son remplacant, charge d'etre apres
+lui le protecteur constant, le gardien et le propagateur de la foi
+bouddhique renouvelee par Sakya. C'est pour cette raison qu'il ne
+se borne pas a une apparition unique comme les Bouddhas, mais qu'il
+se soumet presque sans interruption a une serie de naissances qui
+dureront jusqu'a l'avenement de Maitreya, le futur Bouddha.
+
+On croit aussi qu'il est incarne dans la personne du "Dalai Lama,"
+et qu'il paraitra en qualite de Bouddha, le millieme de la periode
+actuelle du monde.
+
+Le Tibet est sa terra de predilection; il est le pere de ses habitants,
+et la formule celebre: Om mani padme hom, est un de ses bienfaits. --
+RELATION DES ROYAUMES BOUDDHIQUES, par Chy Fa Hian, traduit par
+M. Remusat.
+
+[42] -- Le mot Khoubilkhan, en Mongol, designe l'incarnation d'une
+ame superieure.
+
+[43] -- Khoutoukhtou, en Mongol, signifie "UN SAINT MAITRE."
+
+[44] -- Le plus petit "Kalpa" est de seize millions huit cent mille
+ans, et le grand "Kalpa" est d'un milliard trois cents quarante-quatre
+millions d'annees.
+
+[45] -- Je ne l'ai encore trouvee cette phrase dans aucun ouvrage
+chinois ou japonais, et notre savant collegue M. Bournouf, m'a dit
+aussi qu'il ne l'a jamais rencontree dans les livres palis, birmans
+et siamois.
+
+[46] -- um maani padmi
+
+[47] -- Amongst these were sheets of gilt leather, stamped with the
+black eagle of the Russian armorial; talents of gold and silver, bags
+of genuine musk, narrow cloths of woollen the manufacture of Thibet,
+and silks of China.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet
+
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+Project Gutenberg Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet
+by William Henry Knight
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+Title: Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet
+
+Author: by William Henry Knight
+
+Original Release Date: July, 2002   Etext #3309
+RErelease Date: January, 2003  [Etext #3639]
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+This Etext Created by Jeroen Hellingman <jehe@kabelfoon.nl>
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+
+
+
+Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet.
+
+Captain Knight
+
+
+
+
+To those for whose perusal the following pages were originally written
+they are affectionately dedicated.
+
+
+
+
+Preface.
+
+With the fullest sense of the responsibility incurred by the addition
+of another volume to the countless numbers already existing, and daily
+appearing in the world, the following Diary has been committed to the
+press, trusting that, as it was not written WITH INTENT to publication,
+the unpremeditated nature of the offence may be its extenuation, and
+that as a faithful picture of travel in regions where excursion trains
+are still unknown, and Travellers' Guides unpublished, the book may
+not be found altogether devoid of interest or amusement. Its object
+is simply to bring before the reader's imagination those scenes and
+incidents of travel which have already been a source of enjoyment to
+the writer, and to impart, perhaps, by their description, some portion
+of the gratification which has been derived from their reality. With
+this view, the original Diary has undergone as little alteration of
+form or matter as possible, and is laid before the reader as it was
+sketched and written during the leisure moments of a wandering life,
+hoping that faithfulness of detail may atone in it for faults and
+failings in a literary and artistic point of view.
+
+Although the journey it describes was written without the advantages
+of a previous acquaintance with the writings of those who had already
+gone over the same ground, subsequent research has added much to the
+interest of the narrative, and information thus obtained has been
+added either in the form of Notes or Appendix. Under the latter head,
+acknowledgment is principally due to an able and interesting essay
+on the architecture of Cashmere, by Capt. Cunningham, and also to a
+paper by M. Klaproth, both of whom appear to have treated more fully
+than any other writers the subjects to which they refer.
+
+As differences will be found to occur in the names of places,
+&c. between the parts thus added and the remainder of the book,
+it may be well to explain that in the former only are they spelt
+according to the usually received method of rendering words of Eastern
+origin in the Roman character. By this system the letters A, E, I,
+O, and U, are given the sounds of the corresponding Italian vowels;
+I and U are pronounced as in "hit" and "put;" and the letter A is
+made to represent the short U in the word "cut." In this way it is
+that Cashmere, correctly pronounced Cushmere, comes to be written
+Kashmir, and Mutun, pronounced as the English word "mutton,"[1] is
+written Matan, both of which, to the initiated, represent the true
+sound of the words. Those who have adopted the system, however, have
+not always employed it throughout, nor given with it the key by which
+it alone becomes intelligible; and the result has been that in many
+ways, but principally from the un-English use made of the letter A,
+it has tended quite as much to mislead and confuse, as to direct.
+
+In the narrative, therefore, wherever custom has not already
+established a particular form of spelling, the explanation of the
+sound has been attempted in the manner which seemed least liable to
+misconception, and, except as regards the letters A and U no particular
+system has been followed. These have been invariably given the sounds
+they possess in the words "path" and "cut" respectively, a circumflex
+being placed over the latter to denote the short U in the word "put."
+
+Such names, therefore, as Cushmere, Tibbut, Muhummud, Hijra, &c. have
+been left as custom has ruled them, and will appear in their more
+well-known costume of Cashmere, Thibet, Mahomet, and Hegira.
+
+The concluding sketch was originally intended to accompany a series
+of brightly-coloured Cashmerian designs illustrative of the life of
+"Krishna;" and the reproduction of these, in their integrity, not
+having been found feasible, the sketch itself may appear DE TROP.
+
+It has, however, been retained on the possibility of the translations
+which occur in it being of interest to those who may not be acquainted
+with the style of Eastern religious literature; while the outline it
+presents of some of the religions of the East, bare and simple as
+it is, may be acceptable to such as are not inclined to search out
+and study for themselves the necessarily voluminous and complicated
+details.
+
+London.
+
+
+
+
+
+Contents.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Illustrations.
+
+
+Ladak
+View in Sirinugger
+Solomon's Throne
+Hurree Purbut
+Martund
+Pandreton
+Lamieroo
+Road to Egnemo
+Rajah's Palace, Ladak
+Monastery of Hemis
+Seventh Bridge, Sirinugger
+Hindoo Temple in the Himalayas
+Gunesh
+Birth of Krishna
+Temple Decoration, Himalayas
+Ancient Jain Temple
+
+
+
+Chubootra, or Resting-place in the Himalayas
+The Head of Affairs
+An Unpropitious Moment
+Kismut
+Crossing the Sutlej
+A Halting-place in Cashmere
+Latticed Window, Sirinugger
+Sacred Tank, Islamabad
+Painting VERSUS Poetry
+Love-lighted Eyes
+Vernagh
+Cashmerian Temple Sculpture
+Patrun
+Roadside Monument, Thibet
+Road to Moulwee
+Rock Sculpture
+Thibetian Monument
+Natives and Lama
+Thibetian Religious Literature
+Inscribed Stones
+Inscribed Stones
+Monument at Hemis
+Painted Stone
+Buddha
+Snow Bridge
+Kangree
+Ancient Hindoo Temple
+Fukeer of Solomon's Throne
+
+
+
+Erratum.
+
+Page 116, line 5, FOR A.D. 1612, READ A.D. 1619.
+
+
+
+
+"Who has not heard of the Vale of Cashmere,
+With its roses the brightest that earth ever gave,
+Its temples, and grottoes, and fountains as clear
+As the love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave?"
+
+
+
+
+Introduction.
+
+More than a year and a half had been spent in the hottest parts of the
+plains of India, and another dreaded hot season was rapidly making its
+approach, when, together with a brother officer, I applied for and
+obtained six months' leave of absence for the purpose of travelling
+in Cashmere and the Himalayas, otherwise called by Anglo-Indians
+"The Hills."
+
+We had been long enough in the country to have discovered that the
+gorgeous East of our imagination, as shadowed forth in the delectable
+pages of the "Arabian Nights," had little or no connexion with the
+East of our experience -- the dry and dusty East called India, as it
+appeared, wasted and dilapidated, in its first convalescence from the
+fever into which it had been thrown by the Mutiny of 1857 -- 58. We
+were not long, therefore, in making our arrangements for escaping from
+Allahabad, with the prospect before us of exchanging the discomforts
+of another hot season in the plains, for the pleasures of a sojourn in
+the far-famed valley of Cashmere, and a tramp through the mountains of
+the Himalayas -- the mountains, whose very name breathes of comfort and
+consolation to the parched up dweller in the plains. The mountains of
+"the abode of snow!"
+
+Our expeditionary force consisted at starting of but one besides the
+brother officer above alluded to -- the F. of the following pages
+-- and myself. This was my Hindoo bearer, Mr. Rajoo, whose duty
+it was to make all the necessary arrangements for our transport
+and general welfare, and upon whose shoulders devolved the entire
+management of our affairs. He acted to the expedition in the capacity
+of quartermaster-general, adjutant-general, commissary-general,
+and paymaster to the forces; and, as he will figure largely in the
+following pages, under the title of the "Q.M.G.," and comes, moreover,
+under the head of "a naturally dark subject," a few words devoted to
+his especial description and illumination may not be out of place.
+
+With the highest admiration for England, and a respect for the
+Englishman, which extended to the very lining of their pockets,
+Mr. Rajoo possessed, together with many of the faults of his race,
+a certain humour, and an amount of energy most unusual among the
+family of the mild Hindoo. He had, moreover, travelled much with
+various masters, in what are, in his own country, deemed "far lands;"
+and having been wounded before Delhi, he had become among the rest of
+his people an authority, and to the Englishman in India an invaluable
+medium for their coercion and general management.
+
+To us he proved a most efficient incumbent of the several offices
+we selected him to fill. His administration no doubt did display an
+occasional weakness; and his conduct as paymaster to the forces was
+decidedly open to animadversion; for, in this capacity, he seemed to
+be under the impression that payments, like charity, began at home,
+and he also laboured under a constitutional and hereditary infirmity,
+which prevented him in small matters from discerning any difference
+between MEUM and TUUM.
+
+Having been employed collectively, however, it would be unfair to judge
+of his performances in detail; and from his satisfactory management
+of the expedition, occasionally under such trying circumstances as a
+break-down in the land transport, or an utter failure in his tobacco
+supply, we had every reason to be satisfied with our choice. The
+latter misfortune was the only one which really interfered at any time
+with his efficiency, or upset his equanimity, and it unfortunately
+occurred always at the most inopportune seasons, and at a time when
+he was undergoing his greatest hardships.
+
+As long as the supply lasted, the mysterious gurglings of his "Hubble
+Bubble," or cocoa-nut water-pipe, might be heard at almost any hour of
+the day or night. "Hubble bubble, toil and trouble," was the natural
+order of his existence; and when in some peculiarly uncivilised region
+of our wanderings, the compound of dirt, sugar, and tobacco, in which
+his soul delighted, was not forthcoming, he and his pipe seemed at
+once to lose their vitality, and to become useless together. The
+temporary separation which ensued, being in its way a MENSA ET THORO,
+was a source of trouble and inconvenience to all concerned, and we had,
+more than once, cause to regret not having given the tobacco question
+that forethought and consideration to which it would be well entitled
+by any one undertaking a similar expedition.
+
+Overlooking these weaknesses, Mr. Rajoo's character was beyond
+reproach, and for the particular work he had to perform, his
+combination of efficiency, portability, and rascality, rendered him
+in every respect "the right man in the right place."
+
+Such was our "head of affairs," and such the small force he had at
+first to provide for. As we passed out of India, and got further from
+regions of comparative civilisation, his cares increased: cellar,
+kitchen, larder, farm-yard, tents, &c. had then to accompany our
+wandering steps, and the expedition gradually increased in size,
+until it attained its maximum of nearly forty. From this it again as
+gradually decreased, and as one by one our retainers disappeared, it
+dwindled in dimensions until it finally reached its original limited
+proportions, and then "we three met again," once more upon the plains
+of India.
+
+All our necessary preparations having been completed, and a sacrifice
+of three precious weeks having been duly offered to the inexorable
+genius who presides over public correspondence, we reduced our
+impedimenta to the smallest possible compass, and with about a
+hundred pounds to commence life with, all in two shilling pieces,
+that being the only available coin of the realm in this our second
+century of British administration, we took our departure by railway for
+Cawnpore. Here we found ourselves located and hospitably entertained in
+the house in which our unfortunate fellow-countrywomen were confined
+on their recapture from the river by the Nana Sahib, one of the few
+mementos of the mutiny still left standing at Cawnpore.
+
+Next day we laid our dak for Simla, and about six o'clock in
+the evening, with the Q.M.G. on the roof, and ourselves and our
+possessions stowed away in the innumerable holes and corners of
+the rude wooden construction called a "Dak garee," or post coach,
+we took our departure. After a few mishaps with our steed, involving
+the necessity of getting out to shove behind, we entered upon the
+Grand Trunk Road, and with a refreshing sense of freedom and relief,
+soon left Cawnpore in all its native dust and dreariness behind us.
+
+
+
+
+
+The Pleasures of the Plains.
+
+MAY 21, 1860. -- Being fairly under weigh, our first attention was
+directed towards the machine which was to be, in a great measure, our
+home for many days to come. Not overburdened with springs, and not much
+to look at, though decidedly an extraordinary one to go, our conveyance
+was by no means uncomfortable; and, stretched upon a mattress extending
+its entire length, F. and I chatted over our plans and projects, and
+star-gazed, and soon fell asleep, in spite of the ruts on the road
+and the wild discordant bugling of our ragged coachman, who seemed
+to consider that, however inferior in other respects, in a matter
+of music we were not to be outdone, not even by Her Majesty's own
+royal mail. At first sight, the necessity of trying to clear such
+lonely roads as we were travelling was not altogether apparent;
+but a slight acquaintance with the general principles and laws of
+progression of the national Indian institution called a bullock-cart,
+or "beil-garee," soon clears up the difficulty. Built entirely of wood,
+and held together by scraps of ropes and cord, a more hopeless-looking
+machine cannot exist; and drivers and bullocks alike share in the
+general woodenness and impassibility of the structure. The animals,
+too, having probably lost all the better feelings of their nature
+in such a service, are appealed to entirely through the medium of
+their tails, and the operation occasionally results in the whole
+creaking mass being safely deposited in some capacious rut, there to
+remain until "the Fates" -- assuming, perhaps, the appearance of three
+additional bullocks -- arrive to draw it out again. Occasionally, too,
+the institution comes to a halt for the night, comfortably drawn up
+in the centre of the line of traffic, with a delightful disregard
+for aught but the present, and an air of supreme contempt for the
+most eloquent music of all the ragged coachmen on the Grand Trunk Road.
+
+Every five miles we stopped to change our horse, and miserable
+indeed was the raw-boned little animal that made his appearance on
+every occasion. Still the pace was kept up in spite of appearances,
+and at seven A.M. we reached "Ghoorsahagunge" -- more generally known
+as GOOSEYGUNGE -- sixty miles from Cawnpore, and 197 from Delhi.
+
+Here we slept in peace until eleven o'clock, and awoke from dreams
+of Cashmere to the unpleasant realities of a violent dust-storm. The
+usual "Khus-khus tatties," or screens of fragrant grass, which are
+kept in a continual state of moisture at door and window, and convert
+the dust-charged scorching blast into a comparative coolness, were
+not forthcoming, and our halt was not a pleasant one by any means:
+still our faces were towards the mountains, and the pleasures of hope
+enabled us to take our misfortunes with entire philosophy. We started
+again about five P.M., when the power of the sun was somewhat abated,
+and encountered the usual difficulties with refractory horses at every
+change. A start was in no case effected without much management and
+exertion. A half-naked black generally attaches himself to each wheel;
+the driver, from a post of vantage, belabours the miserable horse with
+all his might and main; the Q.M.G. takes a firm hold of the rails on
+the roof; and all shouting, grunting, and using bad language together,
+away we go at full gallop, if we are in unusual luck, for about 300
+yards. Then comes a dead stop: the same operation commences again,
+and so on, until the animal is sufficiently far from his last stable
+to be able to look forward with some confidence to the one ahead,
+and resigns himself to circumstances accordingly. One peculiarity in
+this peculiar country we found to be, that in putting our steed-to,
+the English custom is reversed. The cart is "put-to," not the horse;
+and the latter being left standing anywhere on the road, the lumbering
+"garee" is dragged up to his tail, and fastened up with a combination
+of straps and ropes, marvellous to behold.
+
+MAY 23. -- To-day we arrived at "Etawah," where we found a very
+comfortable little staging bungalow, but no supplies of either beer
+or butter procurable. On the road in the early morning there were
+herds of deer and antelope in sight, but time being precious we left
+them unmolested.
+
+As yet very little change makes its appearance in the character of
+the country. Level plains, with patches of trees, mango and palm,
+as far as the eye can reach, and everywhere dust, dust, dust! The
+palm-trees, however, with toddy parties scattered about among them,
+serve to make the scene look cheerful, and, for an eastern one,
+comparatively lively. In the evening we again took the road, with a hot
+wind blowing strongly and steadily, and before long we were overtaken
+by a dust-storm, which completely enveloped us in its murky folds,
+and interfered with our happiness a good deal. Got through the night
+much as usual, with the addition of a midnight vocal entertainment,
+which some hundreds of wolves and jackals treated us to, while the
+"authorities" were looking to our welfare, by taking off and greasing
+our wheels. Of travellers we meet but few, generally bullock-train
+parties, with soldiers, &c., return daks, and an occasional old
+Mussulman, or other native, taking advantage of the early morning
+for his journey, and wrapped and swaddled up as if afraid of being
+congealed by the coolness of the morning air.
+
+Every day's journey leaves one more and more at a loss to discover the
+sources of the wealth of this enormous country. The soil, for miles
+and miles a dead flat, is now barren as a desert, and we meet hardly
+a sign of active traffic. During the night we certainly did encounter
+a long train of heavily-laden bullock-waggons; but the merchandize
+was gunpowder, and its destination was up, instead of down the road.
+
+MAY 24. -- Arrived at "Kurga," where we found neither bread nor butter
+forthcoming -- nothing but -- "plenty fowl, Sahib!" In the evening
+we again encountered a heavy dust-storm, the worst of the season;
+the whole night it continued to blow in our teeth; and between
+the fierce dryness of the wind and the searching particles of dust,
+which visited us without ceremony, we spent anything but an agreeable
+night. At three A.M. we reached the "Hingus Nuddee," or river; and
+changing our solitary horse for two fat bullocks, we crossed its
+sandy bed, and over a bridge of boats -- not so genteelly, perhaps,
+but much more securely, than we could have otherwise done. There were
+the remains here of a handsome suspension bridge; but the chains had
+been cut by the rebel Sepoys, and nothing but the pillars now remained.
+
+MAY 25. -- At four A.M. we crossed the bridge of boats over the Jumna,
+and found ourselves under the gloomy battlements of the Fort of Delhi.
+
+Entering by the Calcutta Gate, we drove through large suburbs, lighted
+up with rows of oil lamps, reminding one, in the dim light, a good
+deal of Cairo. Arriving at the dak bungalow, we found it such a dirty
+looking deserted building, and the interior so much of a piece with
+the exterior, that we mounted again, and set off to try the Hotel, or
+"Pahunch Ghur," -- a name originally intended to convey the meaning
+"An arriving house," but neatly and appropriately corrupted into the
+term "Punch Gur," which speaks for itself, and troubles no one much
+about its derivation. We were rather disappointed with the general
+appearance of the city: dirt and grandeur were closely combined,
+and the combination gave the usual impression of shabby genteelness
+in general, not at first sight prepossessing. After driving through
+what might have been an Eastern Sebastopol, from the amount of ruin
+about, we reached a cut-throat-looking archway; and the coachman, here
+pointing to a dirty board, above his head, triumphantly announced the
+"Punch Gur!" Hot and thirsty, we got out, with visions of rest and
+cooling sherbets, too soon to be dispelled. Passing through long dirty
+halls, and up unsavoury steps, we at last reached a sort of court,
+with beds of sickly flowers, never known to bloom, and from thence
+issued to a suite of musty hot Moorish-looking rooms, with gold-inlaid
+dust-covered tables, and a heavily-draped four-post bedstead, the
+very sight of which, in such a climate, was almost enough to deprive
+one of sleep for ever. Our speech forsook us, and without waiting to
+remark whether the lady of the house was an ogress, or possessed of a
+"rose-coloured body" and face like the full moon, we fairly turned
+tail, and drove in all haste to our despised dak bungalow, where,
+meekly and with softened feelings towards that edifice, we were
+glad to deposit ourselves on a couple of charpoys, or "four-legs,"
+as the bedstead of India is called, and endeavour to sleep the best
+way we could. "Delhi," we found, quite kept up its reputation of being
+the hottest place in India. All idea of sight-seeing was out of the
+question, and the whole of our energies we were obliged to expend in
+endeavouring to keep moderately cool.
+
+After enjoying the two first of blessings in a hot climate -- viz. a
+plentiful supply of cold water and a change of raiment, we felt
+ourselves able to undergo the exertion of meeting the traditional
+grilled fowl at breakfast, and of inspecting the curiosities from the
+bazaars. At the first wish on the latter subject, we were invaded by
+a crowd of bundle-carrying, yellow-turbaned, rascally merchants, who,
+in half a minute, had the whole of their goods on the floor -- rings,
+brooches, ivory ornaments, and inutilities of all sorts and kinds,
+all of them exorbitantly dear, and none of any real value.
+
+We left Delhi again at about six P.M., after loitering about the
+city for a short time, among the teeming bazaars, some parts of
+which were picturesque and "Eastern" enough. Outside the city walls,
+the country was ruined and dilapidated in the extreme; demolished
+houses and wasted gardens telling their tale of the loss of Delhi,
+and our struggle for its recapture.
+
+MAY 26. -- During the night, we got over seventy-three miles, and
+reached "Kurnaul" at seven A.M. The bungalow we found unusually
+comfortable, being a remnant of the old regime, and one of the few
+which escaped from the hands of the rebels during the mutiny.
+
+The country here begins to improve in appearance -- more trees and
+cultivation on all sides; and the natives appear finer specimens
+than their more southern relations. The irrigation, too, seems to be
+carried on with more systematic appliances than further south -- the
+water being raised by the Persian wheel, and bullock-power introduced
+in aid of manual labour.
+
+MAY 27. -- Arrived at Umballa at three A.M., and found the staging
+bungalow full. The only available accommodation being a spare
+charpoy in the verandah, F. took a lease of it, while I revelled in
+the unaccustomed roominess of the entire carriage, and slept till
+six, when we got into our lodgings. Although so near the foot of
+the Himalayas, the weather was so oppressive here that exploring
+was out of the question; and at six P.M., changing our carriage for
+palankeens, or dolies, we commenced a tedious and dusty journey to
+the village of "Kalka," the veritable "foot of the hills," where we
+were met by a string of deputies from the different "DRY-LODGINGS" in
+the neighbourhood, soliciting custom. The first house we came to was
+guarded by an unmistakeable English hotel-keeper, of some eighteen
+stone; and so terrible was the appearance she presented, with her
+arms akimbo, rejoicing in her mountain air, that in our down-country
+and dilapidated condition, we felt quite unequal to the exertion of
+stepping into HER little parlour; and passing her establishment --
+something in the small bathingplace-style of architecture -- we went
+on to the next, very much of the same order, and called the "Brahminee
+Bull." Here, to my dismay however, standing in the selfsame position,
+weighing the same number of stone, and equally confident in the
+purity of her air as her neighbour, stood another female "Briton,"
+with the come-into-my-parlour expression of countenance, regarding us
+as prey. Under the circumstances, exhausted nature gave in; though
+saved from Scylla, our destiny was Charybdis, and we accordingly
+surrendered ourselves to a wash, breakfast, and the Brahminee
+Bull. During the day, we had a visit from a friend and ex-brother
+officer, whom we had promised to stay with, at "Kussowlie," on our
+road up. Kalka was not HOT, but GRILLING, so that a speedy ascent to
+the station was soon agreed upon. Not caring to risk a sun-stroke,
+I resigned myself to the traditional conveyance of the country, a
+"jhampan," while the other two rode up; but here, for the second
+time, it was "out of the fryingpan into the fire." Such an infernal
+machine as my new conveyance turned out never could have existed in
+the palmiest days of the Inquisition. It was a sort of child's cradle,
+long enough for a creature of some five or six summers, made like a
+tray, and hung after the fashion of a miniature four-post bedstead,
+with goat's-hair curtains. The structure is suspended, something in the
+fashion of a sedan-chair which has been stunted in its growth, between
+two poles; between the projections of these again, before and behind,
+connected by a stout strap, are two shorter bars, each supported, when
+in travelling order, on the shoulders of two bearers. When the machine
+is in motion, therefore, there are four men in line between the shafts.
+
+The pace is always rather fast, and down a declivity the torturers
+go at a run; the result is, that prominent parts of one's body are
+continually in collision with the seat or sides of the machine,
+coming down from various altitudes, according to the nature of the
+ground and the humour of the inquisitors. After getting over about
+six miles in this graceful and pleasing manner, we reached the first
+of the fir-trees, and as we rose still higher a delicious breeze came
+over the hills, as precious to the parched and travel-stained pilgrim
+from the plains as a drop of water to the thirstiest wanderer in the
+desert. Kussowlie appeared a picturesque little station, perched at
+the summit of one of the first of the hilly ranges, and here I found
+my two companions, burnt and red in the face as if they, too, had had
+their sufferings on the road, occupied in looking over the goods of a
+strolling Cashmere merchant; luckily for themselves, however, it was
+under the protecting superintendence of our hostess. Our friends were
+living on a miniature estate commanding a magnificent view of the
+mountain ranges on one side, and, on the, other, the plains of the
+Punjab, the scorching country from which we had just made our escape
+lying stretched out before us like an enormous map in relief. Towards
+the mountains were the military stations of "Dugshai" and "Subathoo,"
+and the boys' asylum of "Senore," the latter rather marring the face
+of nature by the workhouse order of its architecture. "Simla" we could
+just distinguish, nestled among the blue mountains in the far distance.
+
+Here we spent a couple of days very pleasantly with our hospitable
+entertainers, and satisfactorily pulled up all arrears of sleep --
+a luxury none can really appreciate who have not travelled for six
+days and nights in the different local conveniences I have mentioned.
+
+Before leaving we had an opportunity of seeing how England in the
+Himalayas makes its morning calls. Walking, which amounts almost to an
+impossibility in "the plains," seems to be voted INFRA DIG. in "the
+hills," and Mrs. Kussowlie according made her appearance seated in
+state in a jhampan, and borne on the shoulders of four of her slaves.
+
+These were active, wiry-looking natives, dressed in long green coats,
+bound with broad, red, tight-fitting pantaloons, and with small turbans
+of red and green on their heads. Altogether, a more startling-looking
+apparition to the uninitiated than this Himalayan morning visitor
+could hardly be imagined, even in a tour through the remotest regions
+of the earth.
+
+MAY 29. -- About six o'clock in the evening we remounted our
+instruments of torture and took the road to Simla. For about seven
+miles the path was down hill, and the bearers being fresh, they
+huddled us along at a pace calculated to outrage our feelings most
+considerably, and, at the same time, with no more consideration
+for our welfare than if we were so many sacks of coal. In spite of
+the sufferings of the principal performers, the procession was most
+amusing; and as we jolted, bumped, and bundled along, it was impossible
+to keep from laughing, although crying, perhaps, would, under the
+circumstances, have been more appropriate. My machine led the way,
+four of the inquisition being in the shafts, and four in waiting,
+running along at the side with pipes, bundles, sticks, &c. Then came
+F. similarly attended, and finally the Q.M.G., hubble bubble in hand,
+and attired in a gold embroidered cap, surrounded by a lilac turban:
+seated in a sort of tray, and reclining at his case in full enjoyment
+of his high position, he looked the priest of the procession, and
+managed to retain his dignity in spite of the rapid and unceremonious
+way in which he was being whirled along. As the moon went down we had
+the additional effect of torchlight to the scene, three bearers having
+the special duty of running along to show the pathway to the rest. This
+seemed a service of some danger, and our torch-bearers at times verged
+upon places where a stumble would have apparently extinguished both
+themselves and their torches for ever. About half way we stopped for
+about an hour for the bearers to partake of a light entertainment of
+"ghee and chupatties" -- otherwise, rancid butter and cakes of flour
+and water. This was their only rest and only meal, from the time they
+left Kussowlie at six P.M. until they reached Simla at eight A.M. The
+same set of bearers took us the entire distance, about thirty-five
+miles; and the four men who were not actually in the shafts used to
+rest themselves by running, ahead and up precipitous short cuts, so as
+to insure a few minutes' pull at the pipe of consolation before their
+turn arrived again. To us, supposed to be the OTIUM CUM DIG. part of
+the procession, the road seemed perfectly endless. No sooner were we
+up one ascent than we were down again on the other side; and when we
+thought Simla must be in sight round the next turn, it seemed suddenly
+to become more hid than ever. In one of these ups and downs of life
+my machine, during a heavy lurch, fairly gave way to its feelings,
+and with a loud crash the pole broke, and down we both came, much to
+my temporary satisfaction and relief. A supply of ropes and lashings,
+however, formed part of the inquisitors' stores, and we were soon
+under weigh again to fulfil the remainder of our destiny.
+
+The entrance to Simla led us through a fine forest of oaks, firs,
+cedars, and other large trees; and winding along through these we
+could, every now and then, discern, towering over the backs of endless
+ranges of blue and hazy mountains, ridge upon ridge of glittering snow,
+which cast its icy breath upon us even where we were, helping us to
+forget the horrors of the night, and giving us a renewal of our lease
+of existence. Simla itself soon opened on our view, a scattered and
+picturesque settlement of houses of the most varied patterns perched
+about over the mountain top, just as an eligible spot presented
+itself for building purposes. It is situated 8,000 feet above the
+level of the sea and 7,000 over the average level of "the plains,"
+Umballa, which is near the foot of the range, being 1,000 above the
+sea-level. From our halting-place we could discern the scene of
+our night's journey, with Kussowlie looking like a mere speck in
+the distance, and we felt a proud sort of consciousness of having
+accomplished a desperate undertaking in very good style. Passive
+endurance was, under the circumstances quite as worthy of praise
+as the more active virtues displayed by those who were the cause of
+our sufferings. After the first good breakfast I had eaten for three
+months, we pulled up arrears of sleep till four P.M. and found, on
+awaking, that our much expected letters had arrived from the post,
+and among them the necessary permission from the Punjab Government
+to travel in Cashmere, and instructions for our guidance while in
+the territory. From among the routes laid down in the latter we chose
+No. 1.[2] The direct line across the mountains from Simla would have
+entailed additional delay and permission, and as time was precious
+we decided upon descending again to the plains and making our way
+through Lahore, not, however, without a severe pang at leaving so
+soon the terrestrial paradise of which we had got a glimpse. After
+arranging our movements with the "authorities," we sallied out to see
+fashionable Simla airing itself, which, as far as dress is concerned,
+it appeared to do very much in the fashionable watering-place style at
+home. The jhampans, palkies, dandies,[3] &c. which took up the entire
+road, however, loudly proclaimed India, Simla being much too dainty
+to touch the ground with its pretty feet, and too lazy to use its own
+legs for purposes of out-door locomotion. The station seems a curious
+combination of many styles and places; the scenery and houses, Swiss;
+the people Anglo Indians, Affghans, Cashmeeries, &c.; the conveyances,
+Inquisito-Spanish; and the bazaars, in their native dirt, pure Indian.
+
+MAY 31. -- After making our leave secure, we made up our minds for a
+plunge into the plains again and a forced march to Lahore, being rather
+expedited in the determination by hearing that several travellers had
+been recalled from leave in consequence of there being a scarcity of
+officers with their regiments.
+
+With a fine moonlight night in our favour we again took the road; and
+practice slightly assuaging our sufferings, we got on smoothly enough
+till within a few hours from Hureepore Bungalow, when my machine again
+broke with a crash, and the nature of the fracture being compound,
+I walked on and left the executioners to repair the instrument at
+their leisure.
+
+JUNE 1. -- Reached Hureepore at four A.M., and found the place in
+possession of a crowd of monkeys of all sorts and sizes, taking an
+early breakfast. Here, chicken and eggs being again written in our
+destiny, we halted for an hour or two, and at eleven again took the
+road with our cast-iron bearers, and hurried along in the noonday sun,
+up hill and down dale, through Kussowlie, and on and on till we were
+once more fairly deposited at the feet of "Mrs. Charybdis." A slight
+dinner here, and at 8.30 P.M. we were again in train, shuffling along
+through several feet of dust, which the bearers, and torch-carriers,
+and the rest of our numerous train, kicked up about us, in clouds
+nearly dense enough to cause suffocation.
+
+JUNE 2. -- At 8.30 A.M. we arrived again at Umballa, and with
+nothing to comfort us in our dusty and worried condition but the
+reflection that our start from Simla was a magnificent triumph of
+stern determination over present enjoyment and unwonted luxury, we
+again resumed our forced march. At six P.M. we took our departure,
+in a very magnificent coach, but in an "unpropitious moment," for the
+horse was unusually averse to an advance of any sort, and when we did
+get clear of the station his opinions were borne out by a terrific
+storm of dust, with a thunder, lightning, and rain accompaniment,
+which effectually put a stop to all further progress. The horse
+for once had his wish, and was brought to a regular stand. The
+wind howled about us, and the dusty atmosphere assumed a dull red
+appearance, such as I had only once before seen at Cawnpore, and the
+like of which might possibly have prevailed during the last days of
+Pompeii. After getting through the worst of the storm, we pushed along,
+and had reached the twentieth mile-stone, when, catching a flavour of
+burning wood, I looked out and found the wheel at an angle of some 30
+degrees, and rubbing against the side preparatory to taking its leave
+altogether. Here was another effect of starting in an unpropitious
+moment. The interruption in the great forced march preyed heavily upon
+our minds, but, on the principle of doing as "Rome does," we took
+a lesson from the religion of "Islam," and concurring in the views
+expressed by our attendant blacks, viz. that "whatever is written in
+a man's destiny that will be accomplished," we ejaculated "Kismut"
+with the rest, and resignedly adapted ourselves to the writings in
+our own particular page of fate. Having sent back to Umballa the news
+of our distress, a new conveyance in a few hours made its appearance;
+and hauling it alongside the wreck, we unshipped the stores, reloaded,
+and eventually reached "Thikanmajura" at eight A.M.
+
+JUNE 3. -- Starting at about three o'clock P.M., we found the
+unpropitious moment still hanging over us: first a violent dust-storm,
+and then a refractory horse, which bolted completely off the road,
+and nearly upset us down a steep bank, proved to demonstration that
+our star was still obscured.
+
+About midnight we reached the river "Sutlej," and exchanged our horse
+for four fat and humpy bullocks, who managed, with very great labour
+and difficulty, to drag us through the heavy sands of the river-bed
+down to the edge of the water. Here we were shipped on board a
+flat-bottomed boat, with a high peaked bow; and, after an immensity
+of hauling and grunting, we were fairly launched into the stream, and
+poled across to the opposite shore. The water appeared quite shallow,
+and the coolies were most of the time in the water; but its width,
+including the sands forming its bed, could not have been less than two
+miles and a half. It was altogether a wild and dreary-looking scene,
+as we paddled along -- the wild ducks and jackals, &c. keeping up a
+concert on their own account, and the patient old bullocks ruminating
+quietly on their prospects at our feet.
+
+On arriving at what appeared to be the opposite bank, we were taken
+out, and again pulled and hauled through the deep sand, only to be
+reshipped again on what seemed a respectable river in its own right;
+and here, getting out of patience with a stream that had no opposite
+bank, I fell asleep, and left the bullocks to their sorrows and
+their destiny.
+
+JUNE 4. -- Arrived at Jullundur, where we had to share the bungalow
+with another traveller and a rising family, who kept us alive by
+howling vigorously all day. The road from this being "Kucha," literally
+UNCOOKED, but here meant to express "unmetalled," we had yet another
+form of conveyance to make acquaintance with. It was a palkee, rudely
+strapped upon the body of a worn-out "Dak garee;" and although a more
+unpromising-looking locomotive perhaps never was placed upon wheels,
+the actual reality proved even worse than the appearance foreboded.
+
+Anybody who has happened to have been run away with in a dust-cart
+through Fenchurch Street, or some other London pavement, the gas pipes
+being up at the time, might form some idea of our sensations as we
+pounded along, at full gallop, over some thirty miles of uneven,
+UNCOOKED road; but to anybody who has not had this advantage,
+description would be impossible. About half way, it appeared that
+it was written in my miserable destiny that the off fore-wheel of my
+shay was to come off, and off it came accordingly; so that once more
+I became an involuntary disciple of Islam, and went to sleep among
+the ruins, with rather a feeling of gratitude for the respite than
+otherwise. On awaking, I found myself again under way; and effecting
+a junction with my companion, we had a light supper off half a
+water-melon; and, after crossing the River Beas by a bridge of boats,
+and being lugged through another waste of sand by bullocks, we once
+again reached a "cooked" road, and arrived at "Umritsur" at six A.M.
+
+JUNE 5. -- Found the heat so great here that we were unable to
+stir out.
+
+As a consolation, we received a visit from four "Sikh Padres," who
+rushed in and squatted themselves down without ceremony, previously
+placing a small ball of candied sugar on the table as a votive and
+suggestive offering. The spokesman, a lively little rascal, with a
+black beard tied up under his red turban, immediately opened fire, by
+hurling at us all the names of all the officers he had ever met or read
+of. The volley was in this style: First, the number of the regiment,
+then Brown Sahib, Jones Sahib, Robinson Sahib, Smith Sahib, Tomkins
+Sahib, Green Sahib, and so on, regiment after regiment and name after
+name, his brother Padres occasionally chiming in in corroboration
+of their friend's veracity and in admiration of his vast stock of
+military information. After much trouble, we got rid of the pack,
+at the price of one rupee, which was cheap for the amount of relief
+afforded by their departure.
+
+JUNE 6. -- Reached Lahore at ten P.M. and had a night in bed, for
+the third time only since leaving Cawnpore. The Q.M.G. being at once
+set to work to make the necessary arrangements for our final start
+for Cashmere, we paid a hurried visit to the Tomb of Runjeet Singh
+and the Fort and City of Lahore. These were worth seeing, but they
+abounded in sights and perfumes, which rendered the operation rather
+a trying one, considering the very high temperature of the weather.
+
+JUNE 7. -- Drove out in a dilapidated buggy, and with an incorrigible
+horse, to Mean Meer, the cantonments of Lahore. The place looked
+burnt up and glaring like its fellows, and a fierce hot wind swept
+over it, which made us glad enough to turn our backs on it and hurry
+home again as fast as our obstinate animal would take us. The Q.M.G.,
+we found, had collected our staff of servants together, and was
+otherwise pushing on our preparations as fast as the dignity and
+importance of the undertaking would admit.
+
+The staff consisted of khidmutgar, bawurchie, bhistie, dhobie, and
+mihtar; or, in plain English, butler, cook, water-carrier, washerman,
+and sweeper.
+
+Of these, the washing department only brought with it its insignia and
+badge of office. This was an enormous smoothing-iron, highly ornamented
+with brass, decorated with Gothic apertures, and made to contain an
+amount of charcoal that would have kept an entire family warm in the
+coldest depths of winter. Being of great weight, we rather objected
+to such an addition to our stores -- the more so as our linen was
+not likely to require much GETTING-UP. The DHOBIE, however, declared
+himself unable to get on without it, and it accordingly had to be
+engaged with its master.
+
+JUNE 8. -- To-day Rajoo is still hard at work laying in stores from
+the bazaars and arranging means of transport for them; the weather hot
+beyond measure; and as neither our food nor quarters are very good,
+we begin to forget our lessons of resignation, more especially as
+the mosquitoes begin to form a very aggravating item in our destiny.
+
+JUNE 9. -- About four P.M. the Q.M.G. came in triumphantly with about
+sixteen tall baskets covered with leather, which he called "khiltas;"
+and having ranged them about the room like the oil-jars of "Ali Baba,"
+he proceeded to cram them with potatoes, tea, clothes, brandy, and the
+whole stock of our earthly goods, in a marvellous and miscellaneous
+manner, very trying to contemplate, and suggestive of their entire
+separation from us and our heirs for ever.
+
+Coolies not being procurable in sufficient numbers to carry away
+all our stores together, F. and I agreed to start in the morning,
+leaving the head of affairs with the rearguard to follow at his
+leisure. Got away at last in two "palkees," with four "banghy
+wallahs," or baggage-bearers, carrying our immediate possessions,
+guns, &c. Spent the night wretchedly enough, the roads being of the
+worst, and covered nearly a foot deep everywhere with fine dust,
+which our bearers very soon stirred up into an impenetrable cloud,
+enveloping us in its folds to the verge of suffocation.
+
+The sensation is strange enough, travelling in this way along a lonely
+road at dead of night, closely shut up in an oblong box, and surrounded
+by some twenty or more dusky savages, who could quietly tap one on
+the head at any time, and appropriate the bag of rupees -- inseparable
+from Indian travelling -- without the slightest difficulty. That they
+do not do so is probably from the knowledge they possess that with
+the bag of rupees there is generally to be found a revolver, and that
+an English traveller is of so generous a disposition that he seldom
+parts from his money without giving a little lead in with the silver.
+
+JUNE 10. -- After a dusty jolt of forty miles, we reached "Gugerwalla"
+at eight A.M., and felt the change from Lahore most refreshing. The
+village seemed a quiet little settlement, very little visited by
+Englishmen, and the inhabitants, probably on that account, appeared
+of a different stamp from those we had hitherto met. The women, in
+particular, were more gaily dressed, and not so frightened at a white
+face as more south. The rearguard not having come up at six P.M. we
+started off without it. Crossed the Chenab during the night. The
+fords, by torchlight, were most picturesque, and rather exciting,
+in consequence of the water at times taking it into its head to see
+what was inside the "palkee." The Chenab makes the fourth out of the
+"five waters" from which the "Punjab" takes its name. The Jhelum only
+remains -- the ancient Hydaspes of Alexandrian notoriety.
+
+JUNE 11. -- Reached "Goojerat" at five A.M. and enjoyed a few hours
+of quiet sleep in a very comfortable bungalow. The "khiltas" not
+making their appearance, we halt here for the night. In the evening
+we explored the city -- a straggling rabbit-barrow settlement,
+inclosed by a mud wall, and boasting the narrowest streets I had
+ever seen. In an open space we came upon a marvellously-ornamented
+"mundir," or Hindoo temple, painted in the most florid style, with
+effigies of dark gentlemen in coloured pants riding on peacocks,
+antelopes, and other beasts of burden common in the country. It seemed
+the centre of attraction to a numerous concourse of strangers from the
+north; among others, a bevy of young ladies with loose trousers and
+fair complexions, evidently "Cashmeeries," who seemed to regard the
+"heathen temple" as one of the wonders of the world. In the middle
+of the night the rearguard came in with the supplies, and we at
+once turned it into an advanced-guard, and packed it off to make
+preparations for our arrival at "Bimber."
+
+JUNE 12. -- Spent a very hot day at Goojerat, and amused ourselves by
+inspecting the gold-inlaid work for which the place is famous. At 5.30
+P.M. we started for our last night's journey in British territory;
+and thus terminated, for the present, our experiences of all the hot
+and dusty "pleasure of the Plains."
+
+
+
+Cashmere.
+
+JUNE 13. -- About two A.M. we passed out of India into the territory
+of His Highness the Maharajah of Cashmere, and halted at Bimber. The
+accommodation here turned out to be most indifferent, although
+in our route the edifice for travellers was called a "Baraduree,"
+which sounded grandly. It means a summer-house with twelve doors;
+but beyond the facilities it afforded of rapid egress, we found it
+to possess but few advantages.
+
+Putting a couple of charpoys outside, we managed a few hours' sleep
+AL FRESCO, in spite of the flies and mosquitoes innumerable, who lost
+no time in taking possession of their new property. On being able
+to discern the face of the country, we found ourselves at the foot
+of a range of hills of no great height, but still veritable hills;
+and although the sun was nearly as hot as in the plains, we felt
+that we were emancipated from India, and that all our real travelling
+troubles were over. In the evening we inspected the Maharajah's troops,
+consisting of eight curiously-dressed and mysteriously-accoutred sepoys
+under a serjeant. These same troops had rather astonished us in the
+morning by filing up in stage style in front of our two charpoys just
+as we awoke, and delivering a "Present arms" with great unction as we
+sat up in a half-sleepy and dishevelled condition, rubbing our eyes,
+and not exactly in the style of costume in which such a salute is
+usually received. We now found the "army" in the domestic employment
+of cooking their victuals, so that we were unable to have much of a
+review. However, we looked at their arms and accoutrements; ammunition
+they had none; and saw them perform the "manual and platoon." Their
+arms had been matchlocks, but had been converted, these stirring
+times, into flintlocks! In addition to these, which were about
+as long as a respectable spear, they had each a sword and shield,
+together with a belt and powder-horn, all clumsy in the extreme. In
+loading, we found an improvement on the English fashion, for, after
+putting the imaginary charge in with the hand, they BLEW playfully
+down the muzzle to obviate the difficulty of the powder sticking to
+the sides. After presenting the troops with "bukhshish," we strolled
+through the village and met the "thanadar," or head man, coming out
+to meet us, arrayed in glorious apparel and very tight inexpressibles,
+and mounted on a caparisoned steed. Dismounting, he advanced towards us
+salaaming, and holding out a piece of money in the palm of his hand;
+and not exactly knowing the etiquette of the proceeding, we touched
+it and left it where we found it, which appeared to be a relief to
+his mind, for he immediately put it in his pocket again.
+
+His chief conversation was on the subject of the Maharajah and the
+delights of Cashmere, and anxiety as to our having got all supplies,
+&c. which we required, as he had been appointed expressly for the
+purpose of looking after the comfort of the English visitors. What
+with our friend and his train, and the detachment of "THE ARMY" which
+had accompanied us, our retinue began to assume the appearance of
+a procession; and it was with great difficulty that we induced them
+all to leave us, which they did at last after we had expressed our
+full satisfaction at the courtesy displayed by the Maharajah's very
+intelligent selection of a "thanadar."
+
+JUNE 14. -- Broke up our camp about three A.M. and started our
+possessions at four o'clock, after some difficulty in prevailing upon
+the coolies to walk off with their loads. On mustering our forces, we
+found that they numbered thirty-seven, including ourselves. Of these
+twenty-four were coolies, carrying our possessions -- beer, brandy,
+potatoes, &c.; our servants were six more; then there were four ponies,
+entailing a native each to look after them; and, last of all, one of
+the redoubtable "army" as a guard, who paraded in the light marching
+order of a sword, shield, bag of melons, and an umbrella. F. and I
+travelled on "yaboos," or native ponies -- unlikely to look at, but
+wonderful to go. Mine was more like a hatchet than anything else,
+and yet the places he went over and the rate he travelled up smooth
+faces of rock was marvellous to behold.
+
+About eight o'clock we found ourselves once more among the pine-trees;
+and, although the sun was very powerful, we had enough of the freshness
+of the mountain air to take away the remembrance of the dusty plains
+from our minds. No rain having fallen as yet, the springs and rivers
+were all nearly dry; but we saw several rocky beds, which gave good
+promise of fly-fishing, should they receive a further supply of water.
+
+About nine A.M. we reached our halting-place, "Serai Saidabad," a
+ruined old place, with a mud tenement overlooking, at some elevation,
+the banks of a river.
+
+Here we were again received with a salute, by a detachment of
+warriors drawn up in full dress -- viz. red and yellow turbans,
+and blue trousers with a red stripe.
+
+After undergoing a refreshing bath of a skin of water, taken in our
+drawing-room, we got our artist to work at breakfast, and shortly
+after found, with considerable satisfaction, that we were in for the
+first of the rains. This welcome fact first proclaimed itself by the
+reverberation of distant thunder from among the mountains to the north;
+then an ominous black cloud gradually spread itself over us, and,
+with a storm of dust, down came the rain in torrents, making the air,
+in a few minutes, cool and delicious as possible, and entirely altering
+the sultry temperature which had previously prevailed. The thirsty
+ground soaked up the moisture as if it had never tasted rain, and the
+trees came out as if retouched by Nature's brush; while as, for F. and
+myself, we turned the unwonted coolness to the best account we could,
+by setting ourselves to work to pull up all arrears of sleep forthwith.
+
+JUNE 15. -- Started at four A.M., with our numerous train, and found
+the road all the pleasanter for the rain of the previous evening,
+and all things looking green and fresh after the storm. Our path led
+us up a rocky valley, with its accompanying dashing stream, in the
+bed of which we could see traces of what the brawler had been in his
+wilder days, in huge and polished boulders and water-worn rocks, which
+had been hurled about in all directions. We afterwards went straight
+up a precipitous mountain, wooded with pine, which was no light work
+for the coolies, heavily laden as they were. No sooner, however,
+were we on the top of this than down we went on the other side; and
+how the ponies managed their ups-and-downs of life was best known
+to themselves; certainly, nothing but a cat or a Cashmere pony could
+have got over the ground. About nine A.M. we reached "Nowshera," under
+another salute, where we found an indifferent-looking "Baraduree,"
+completely suffocated among the trees of a garden called the "Bauli
+Bagh," or "Reservoir Garden," from a deep stone well in the centre of
+it. Here we got on indifferently well, the weather being close after
+the rain, and the place thickly inhabited by crowds of sparrows,
+all with large families, who made an incessant uproar all day long;
+besides an army of occupation of small game, which interfered sadly
+with our sleeping arrangements at night. In the evening we made the
+acquaintance of a loquacious and free-and-easy gardener, entirely
+innocent of clothes, who came and seated himself between F. and myself,
+as we were perched upon a rock enjoying the prospect. According to his
+account, the Maharajah's tenants pay about seven rupees, or fourteen
+shillings, per annum for some five acres of land. In the middle of
+the night we came in for another storm of thunder and lightning,
+which took a good many liberties with our house, but cooled the air;
+and only for the mosquitoes, and other holders of the property, whose
+excessive attentions were rather embarrassing, we would have got
+on very well. As it was, however, I hardly closed an eye all night,
+and spent the greater part of it in meandering about the Bauli Bagh,
+VESTITO DA NOTTE -- in which operation I rejoice to think that, like
+the Russians at the burning of Moscow, I at least put the enemy to
+very considerable inconvenience, even at the expense of my own comfort.
+
+JUNE 16. -- About half-past four A.M. we got under weigh again,
+heartily delighted to leave the sparrows and their allies in undisputed
+possession of their property.
+
+The "kotwal," and other authorities, who had been extremely civil in
+providing supplies, coolies, &c., according to the Maharajah's order,
+took very good care not to let us depart without a due sense of the
+fact, for they bothered us for "bukhshish" just as keenly as the lowest
+muleteer; and when I gave the kotwal twelve annas, or one shilling and
+sixpence, as all the change I had, he assured me that the khidmutgar
+had more, and ran back to prove it by bringing me two rupees. I gave
+the scoundrel one, and regretted it for three miles, for he had robbed
+the coolies in the morning, either on his own or his master's account,
+of one anna, or three-halfpence each, out of their hardly-earned
+wages. To-day we find ourselves once more among the rocks and pines,
+and as we progressed nothing could exceed the beauty of the views
+which opened upon us right and left. A mountain stream attended our
+steps the whole way sometimes smoothly and placidly, sometimes dancing
+about like a mad thing, and teasing the sturdy old battered rocks and
+stones which long ago had settled down in life along its path, and
+which, from the amount of polish they displayed, must themselves have
+been finely knocked about the world in their day. Rounding a turn of
+the river, where it ran deeply under its rocky bank, we came suddenly
+upon the ghastly figure of a man carefully suspended in chains from a
+prominent tree. His feet had been torn off by the wolves and jackals,
+but the upper part of the body remained together, and there he swung
+to and fro in the breeze, a ghastly warning to all evildoers, and
+a not very pleasing monument of the justice of the country. He was
+a sepoy of the Maharajah's army, who had drowned his comrade in the
+stream below the place where he thus had expiated his crime. Not far
+from this spot we discovered traces of another marauder, in the shape
+of a fresh footprint of a tiger or a leopard, just as he had prowled
+shortly before along the very path we were pursuing.
+
+From this we gradually got into a region of fruit-trees, interspersed
+with pines; and sometimes we came upon a group of scented palms, which
+looked strangely enough in such unusual company. Through clustering
+pomegranates, figs, plums, peach-trees, wild but bearing fruit, we
+journeyed on and on; and, as new beauties arose around us, we could
+not help indulging in castles in the air, and forming visions of
+earthly paradises, where, with the addition only of such importations
+as are inseparable from all ideas of paradise, either in Cashmere or
+elsewhere, one might live in uninterrupted enjoyment of existence,
+and, at least, bury in oblivion all remembrance of such regions as the
+"Plains of India."
+
+About ten A.M., after a continuous series of ups-and-downs of varied
+scenery, we arrived at "Chungas," a picturesque old serai, perched
+upon a hill over the river. It was marked off in our route as having no
+accommodation, but, located among the mouldering remnants of grandeur
+of an old temple in the centre of the serai, we managed to make
+ourselves very comfortable, and thought our "accommodation" a most
+decided improvement upon our late fashionable but rather overcrowded
+halting-place. From the serai we can see, for the first time, the
+snowy range of the Himalayas, trending northwards, towards the Peer
+Punjal Pass, through which our route leads into the Valley of Cashmere.
+
+JUNE 17. -- Another ride through hill and dale to "Rajaori," or
+"Rampore," a most picturesque-looking town, built in every possible
+style of architecture, and flanked at one extremity by a ruined
+castle. Our halting-place was in an ancient serai, with a dilapidated
+garden, containing the remains of some rather handsome fountains. It
+was situated on a rock, several hundred feet above the river which
+separated us from the town; and, from our elevated position, we had
+a fine view of the whole place, and got an insight into the manners
+and customs of the inhabitants, without their being at all aware of
+our proximity.
+
+The women and children appeared to be dressed quite in the Tartar
+style: the women with little red square-cornered fez caps, with a
+long strip of cloth thrown gracefully over them, and either pyjamas
+of blue stuff with a red stripe, or a long loose toga of greyish
+cloth, reaching nearly to the feet. The little girls were quite of
+the bullet-headed Tartar pattern, of Crimean recollection, but wore
+rather less decoration. The Crimean young ladies generally had a three
+cornered charm suspended round their necks, while the youthful fashion
+of Rajaori, scorning all artificial adornment, selected nature only
+as their mantua-maker, and wore their dresses strictly according to
+her book of patterns. After enjoying a delightfully cool night in
+our elevated bedroom, we started for "Thanna."
+
+Our path led through a gradually ascending valley, cultivated, for
+the rice crop, in terraces, and irrigated by a complicated net-work
+of channels, cut off from the mountain streams, and branching off
+in every direction to the different elevations. The ground was so
+saturated in these terraces that ploughing was carried on by means of
+a large scraper, like a fender, which was dragged along by bullocks,
+the ploughman standing up in the machine as it floundered and wallowed
+about, and guiding it through the sea of mud.
+
+JUNE 18. -- Reached Thanna at nine A.M. and came to a halt in a shady
+spot outside the village. There was an old serai about half a mile
+off, but it was full of merchants and their belongings, and savoured
+so strongly of fleas and dirt, that we gave it up as impracticable.
+
+This was the first instance of our finding no shelter; and, as ill
+luck would have it, our tents took the opportunity of pitching
+themselves on the road, a number of coolies broke down, and one
+abandoned our property and took himself off altogether. Under these
+interesting circumstances, we were obliged to spend the day completely
+AL FRESCO, and to wait patiently for breakfast until the fashionable
+hour of half-past two P.M. The inhabitants took our misfortunes very
+philosophically, and stopped to stare at us to their heart's content
+as they went by for water, wondering, no doubt, at that restless
+nature of the crazy Englishman, which drives him out of his own
+country for the sole purpose, apparently, of being uncomfortable in
+other people's. Our position, although at the foot of the grander
+range of mountains, we found very hot, and a good deal of ingenuity
+was required in order to find continued shelter from the scorching
+rays of the sun. The natives here, seemed to suffer to a great extent
+from goitre, and one of our coolies in particular had three enormous
+swellings on his neck, horrible to look at. During the night, Rajoo
+came in with the missing baggage, except two khiltas, for which no
+carriage could be procured, and which he was in consequence obliged
+to abandon on the road until assistance could be sent to them.
+
+JUNE 19. -- Started at daybreak from our unsatisfactory quarters, and
+enjoyed some of the finest scenery we had yet encountered. The road
+ascended pretty sharply into what might be called the REAL mountains,
+and finding our spirits rise with the ground, we abandoned our ponies
+and resolved to perform the remainder of our wanderings on foot. As we
+reached the summit of our first ascent, and our range of view enlarged,
+mountain upon mountain rose before us, richly clothed with forest
+trees; while, overtopping all, peeped up the glistening summits of
+the snowy range, everything around seems cool and pleasant, in spite
+of the hot sun's rays, which still poured down upon us. Our road from
+this, descending, lay among the nooks and dells of the shady side of
+the mountain; and the wild rose and the heliotrope perfumed the air
+at every step as we walked along in full enjoyment of the morning
+breeze. Our sepoy guide of to-day was not of the educated branch of
+the army. He was the stupidest specimen of his race I had ever met;
+and as his language was such a jargon as to be nearly unintelligible,
+we failed signally in obtaining much information from him.
+
+Among other questions, I made inquiries as to woodcock, the cover
+being just suited to them, and after a great deal of difficulty
+in explaining the bird to him, he declared that he knew the kind
+of creature perfectly, and that there were plenty of them. By way
+of convincing us, however, of his sporting knowledge, he added that
+they were in the habit of living entirely on fruit; and he was sadly
+put out when F. and I both burst into laughter at the idea of an old
+woodcock with his bill stuck into a juicy pear, or perhaps enjoying a
+pomegranate for breakfast. Shortly after, we came suddenly upon quite
+a new feature in the scene -- a strange innovation of liveliness in
+the midst of solitude.
+
+At a bend in the road, what should appear almost over our heads but
+a troop of about a hundred monkeys, crashing through the firs and
+chestnuts, and bounding in eager haste from tree to tree, in their
+desire to escape from a party of natives coming from the opposite
+direction. They were large brown monkeys, of the kind called lungoors,
+standing, some of them, three feet high, and having tails considerably
+longer than themselves. Their faces were jet black, fringed with
+light grey whiskers, which gave them a most comical appearance.; and
+as they jumped along from tree to tree, sometimes thirty and forty
+feet, through the air, with their small families following as best
+they could, they made the whole forest resound with the crashing of
+the branches, and amused us not a little by their aerial line of march.
+
+After crossing a dashing mountain-torrent by a rude bridge of trees
+thrown across it, we arrived at the village of Burrumgulla. Here our
+guide wanted us to halt in a mud-built native serai, but, with the
+recollection of past experience fresh upon us, we declined, preferring
+to choose our own ground and pitch our first encampment. The ground
+we selected was almost at the foot of a noble waterfall, formed by a
+huge cleft in a mass of rugged rock. The water, dashing headlong down,
+was hidden in the recess of rock below, but the spray, as it rose up
+like vapour and again fell around us, plainly told the history of its
+birth and education. Even had we not seen the snowy peaks before us
+from the mountain top, there was no mistaking, from its icy breath,
+the nursery in which its infant form had been cradled. Just at our
+feet was one of the frail and picturesque-looking pine bridges spanning
+the torrent; while just below it another mountain river came tumbling
+down, and, joining with its dashing friend, they both rolled on in
+life together. As soon as our traps arrived, F. and I had a souse in
+the quietest pool we could find, and anything so cold I never felt;
+it was almost as if one was turned into stone, and stopping in it
+more than a second was out of the question. After breakfast and a
+SIESTA, we sallied out to try and explore the head of the cataract
+above us. After rather a perilous ascent over loose moss and mould,
+and clutching at roots of shrubs and trees, we were brought to a
+stand by a huge mass of perpendicular rock, which effectually barred
+us from the spot through which the water took its final leap. The
+upper course of the torrent, however, amply repaid us for our labour,
+for it ran through the most lovely dell I ever saw; and as it bounded
+down from rock to rock, and roared and splashed along, it seemed to
+know what there was before it, and to be rejoicing at the prospect
+of its mighty jump. Torrent as it seemed, it was evidently nothing
+to what it could swell to when in a rage, for here and there, far
+out of its present reach, and scattered all about, were torn and
+tattered corpses of forest trees, which had evidently been sucked up
+and carried along until some rock more abrupt than its neighbours,
+had brought them to a stand and left them, bleached and rotting, in
+the summer's sun. At night we found ourselves glad to exchange our
+usual covering of a single sheet for a heavy complement of blankets,
+and found our encampment not the least too warm. The authorities here
+were particularly civil and obliging, and supplied us with the best
+of butter, eggs, and milk. The latter was particularly good, and,
+not having often tasted cow's milk in the Plains, we did it ample
+justice here.
+
+JUNE 20. -- Found it rather hard to turn out this morning, in
+consequence of the great change in the temperature, but got under weigh
+very well considering. Our path led us up the main torrent towards the
+snow, and in the first three miles we crossed about twenty pine-tree
+bridges thrown across the stream, some of them consisting of a single
+tree, and all in the rudest style of manufacture. Near one of these,
+under an immense mass of rock, we passed our first snow. It looked,
+however, so strange and unexpected, that we both took it for a block of
+stone; and being thatched, as it were, with leaves and small sticks,
+&c., and discoloured on all sides, it certainly bore no outward
+resemblance to what it really was.
+
+After an almost perpendicular ascent up natural flights of steps, we
+reached our next stage, Poshana -- a little mud-built, flat-roofed
+settlement on the mountain-side. Here we engaged a couple of
+"shikarees," or native sportsmen, and made preparations for a DETOUR
+into the snows of the Peer Punjal in search of game.
+
+JUNE 21. -- Having made a division of our property, and sent the
+Q.M.G. with an advanced guard two stages on to Heerpore, F. and
+I started at daybreak for a five-days' shooting expedition in the
+mountains.
+
+We took with us a khidmutgar and bhistie -- both capital servants,
+but unfortunately not accustomed to cold, much less to snow. Besides
+these, we had ten coolies to carry our baggage, consisting of two
+small tents, bedding, guns, and cooking utensils, &c.; and our two
+shikarees with their two assistants. The two former wore named Khandari
+Khan and Baz Khan, -- both bare-legged, lightly clothed, sharp-eyed,
+hardy-looking mountaineers, and well acquainted with the haunts of
+game, and passes through the snow.
+
+For the first time we had now to put on grass shoes or sandals;
+and though they felt strange at first, we soon found that they were
+absolutely necessary for the work we had before us. Our shoemaker
+charged us six annas, or ninepence, for eight pairs, and that was
+thirty per cent. over the proper price. However, as one good day's
+work runs through a new pair, they are all the better for being rather
+cheap. Along the road in all directions one comes across cast-off
+remains of shoes, where the wearer has thrown off his worn-out ones
+and refitted from his travelling stock; and in this way the needy
+proprietor of a very indifferent pair of shoes may, perchance, make
+a favourable exchange with the cast-off pair of a more affluent
+pedestrian; but, to judge from the specimens we saw, he must be
+very needy indeed in order to benefit by the transaction. On leaving
+Poshana, we immediately wound up the precipitous side of a mountain
+above us, and soon found that, from the rarification of the air, and
+the want of practice, we felt the necessity of calling a halt very
+frequently, for the purpose, of course, of admiring the scenery and
+expatiating upon the beauties of nature. About two miles on the way
+we came to a slip in the mountain-side, and just as we scrambled,
+with some difficulty, across this, our foremost shikaree suddenly
+dropped down like a stone, and motioning us to follow his example,
+he stealthily pointed us out four little animals, which he called
+"markore," grazing at the bottom of a ravine. Putting our sights to
+about 250 yards, we fired both together, with the best intentions, but
+indifferent results; for they all scampered off apparently untouched,
+and we again resumed our march.
+
+Our encamping ground we found situated among a shady grove of
+fir-trees, with a mountain-torrent running beneath, bridged over, as
+far as we could see, with dingy-looking fields of snow and ice. Here,
+in the middle of June; with snow at our feet, above us, and around
+us, we pitched our tent, and had breakfast, and laid our plans for a
+search for game to-morrow. Though the wind blew cold and chilly off the
+snows, we soon found that the midday sun still asserted his supremacy,
+and our faces and hands soon bore witness to the fierceness of the
+trial of strength between the two. Our camp, although so high up,
+was not more than six miles from Poshana, and from thence we drew all
+our supplies, such as milk, eggs, and fowls, &c., the coolies' and
+shikarees' subsistence being deducted from their pay. Our own living
+was not expensive: fowls, threepence each for large, three-halfpence
+small; milk, three-halfpence per quart, and eggs, twelve for the
+like amount, or one anna. For the rest, we lived upon chupatties, or
+unleavened cakes of flour -- very good hot, but "gutta-percha" cold --
+potatoes from Lahore, and, in the liquid line, tea and brandy. At night
+we slept upon the ground -- pretty hard it was while one was awake to
+feel it -- and not having any lamp, we turned in shortly after dark,
+while in the morning we were up and dressed before the nightingales
+had cleared their voices. These latter abounded all about us, and
+formed a most agreeable addition to our establishment.
+
+JUNE 22. -- Left our camp before sunrise, and crossing a large field
+of snow over the main torrent, we clambered up the precipitous side
+of our opposite mountain. The snow at first felt piercingly cold as
+it penetrated our snow-shoes, but before we reached the top, we had
+little to complain of in the way of chilliness. Our sharp-sighted
+guides soon detected game on the rocks above us, and off we went on
+a stalk, over rocks and chasms of snow -- now running, now crawling
+along, more like serpents than respectable Christians, and all
+in a style that would have astonished nobody more than ourselves,
+could we have regarded the performance in the cool light of reason,
+and not influenced by the excitement of chasing horned cattle of such
+rare and curious proportions.
+
+The markore, however, were quite as interested in the sport as we were,
+and after an arduous and protracted stalk, they finally gave us the
+slip, and we called a halt at the summit of a hill for breakfast and a
+rest during the heat of the day. The former we enjoyed as we deserved,
+but for the latter I can't say much : occasionally a cold blast from
+off the snow would run right through us, while the sun bore down upon
+our heads with scorching power, making havoc with whatever part of us
+it found exposed to its rays, and blistering our hands and legs. The
+guides helped us out by building up a most ricketty-looking shanty
+with sticks and pieces of their garments and our own, and under this
+apology for shelter, with our feet almost in the snow, we passed the
+day, until it was cool enough again to look for game. In the evening
+we came suddenly upon a kustura, a sort of half goat, half sheep,
+with long teeth like a wolf. He was, however, in such thick cover,
+that we were unable to get a shot at him.
+
+Our camp, we found, moved, according to order, some three miles higher
+up, to facilitate the shooting on that side: it was still, however,
+among the firs and nightingales.
+
+JUNE 23. -- Up again before sunrise, and off to the tops of the
+mountains in search of game. The pull-up took us about an hour and a
+half, and on reaching the summit, we found ourselves above the pass
+of the Peer Punjal, the rocky and snow-covered ranges of mountain
+around us gradually trending off on all sides, and losing themselves in
+pine-covered slopes, till they finally blended with the blue outlines
+of the ranges of Pills we had crossed on our route from Bimber. While
+taking a sharp look around us for a herd of some twenty animals which
+we had seen the day previously, we suddenly found ourselves close
+to a party of five markore, but they scampered off so fast over rock
+and snowdrift, that they gave us no opportunity of getting a shot.
+
+Following them up, we came, while clinging to an overhanging ledge of
+rock, upon one solitary gentleman standing about 150 yards below. We
+both fired together, but the pace we had come, and the ground we had
+crossed, had unsteadied our aim, and though my second bullet parted
+the wool on his back, it was not written that our first markore
+was to fall so easily. After this we tracked the first herd for
+a long distance over the snow, until they scampered down an almost
+perpendicular face of snow and ice, and here we gave them up, halting
+on a spur of the mountain for a repast of chicken, eggs, chupatties,
+and cold tea. During our morning's work we had come across some
+most break-neck places, and had one or two narrow escapes, which,
+at the time, one was hardly conscious of. The snow was wedged into
+the ravines like sheets of ice, and being most precipitous, and
+continuing to the very foot of the mountains, terminating in the
+numerous torrents which they fed, a single false step in crossing
+would have sent one rolling down, without a chance of stopping, to be
+dashed to pieces at the bottom. In this way, a couple of years before,
+two coolies and a shikaree had been killed, while shooting with an
+officer. F. and I generally crossed these places in the footsteps
+of the guides, or in holes cut by them for our feet with a hatchet;
+but the men themselves passed them with a dash, which only long
+practice and complete confidence could have imitated. During our halt
+we suffered a good deal from the sun, although the snow was only six
+inches off. In spite of the shade which our guides constructed for
+us out of mysterious portions of their dress, both our wrists and
+ankles were completely swollen and blistered before evening, while
+our faces and noses in particular began to assume the appearance so
+generally suggestive of Port wine and good living.
+
+Our descent to the camp was a good march in itself, and we arrived
+there about five P.M. hot and tired, 'but quite ready for our mountain
+fare. On our road, we luckily discovered a quantity of young rhubarb,
+growing in nature's kitchen-garden, and pouncing on it, we devoted it
+to the celebration of our Sunday dinner.[4] We also saw a number of
+minaur, or jungle-fowl, something of the pheasant tribe; but they were
+so wild that nothing but slugs would secure them, and they entirely
+declined the honour of an invitation to our Sunday entertainment.
+
+JUNE 24. -- We were not at all sorry to remember this morning,
+as the sun rose, that it was a day of rest, for after our last
+few days of work we were fully able to enjoy it. Amused ourselves
+exploring all about us, and picking wild flowers in memory of our
+camp. The commonest were wild pansy and forget-me-not, and the
+rhododendron grew in quantities. In the afternoon we made a muster
+of our standing provisions, having only brought four days' supply,
+and seeing little chance of getting back for ten. The result was.,
+that tea was reported low, potatoes on their last legs, and brandy
+in a declining state. Under these melancholy circumstances, we
+agreed to stop another day for shooting, and then march over the
+snows for Aliabad and Heerpore, to join our main body at the latter
+place. A road by Cheta Panee was declared impracticable for coolies,
+in consequence of the hardness of the snow; so we gave it up.
+
+JUNE 25. -- All over the mountains again this morning before daybreak,
+and up to breakfast-time without seeing game. However, one of our
+sharp-sighted guides then detected markore, grazing at a long distance
+up the mountains; even through the glasses they were mere specks,
+and, to our unpractised eyes, very like the tufts and stones around
+them; but in all faith that our guides were right, off we started in
+pursuit. The first step was to lose all our morning's toil by plunging
+for a mile or so down a steep descent. After that being accomplished,
+up we went again, up and up an apparently interminable bank of snow, at
+an angle of about sixty degrees, and slippery as glass. At the summit,
+exhausted and completely out of breath, we did at last arrive, and from
+this our friends of the morning were expected to be within shot. Not a
+sign of a living creature appeared, however, to enliven the solitude
+around us, and we began to think that our guides were a little TOO
+clear-sighted this time, when what should suddenly come upon us but
+a solitary old markore, slowly and leisurely rounding a rugged point
+of rock below. We were all squatted in a bunch upon a space about as
+large as a good-sized towel; but, hidden as we thought ourselves,
+I could discern that our friend had evidently caught a glimpse of
+something which displeased him in his morning cogitations. Still,
+on he came, and just as he crossed a small field of snow, F. opened
+fire at him across the ravine: the ball struck just below his body,
+and, as he plunged forward, I followed with both barrels. On he went,
+however, and before another shot could be fired he was coolly looking
+down upon us from a terrace of inaccessible rocks, completely out of
+range. Nothing remained but to descend again, and this we accomplished
+very much more speedily, though perhaps not quite in such a graceful
+style as we had ascended. The shikarees merely sat down on the inclined
+plane, and with a hatchet or a stick firmly pressed under the arm as
+a lever to regulate the pace, or a rudder to steer clear of rocks as
+occasion might require, down they went at a tremendous pace, until
+the slope was not sufficient to propel them further.
+
+Our own wardrobe being limited in dimensions we declined adopting this
+mode of locomotion, and slipping and sliding along, soon accomplished
+the descent, in a less business-like but equally satisfactory
+manner. While taking the direction of our camp, we espied seven more
+animals, perched apparently upon a smooth face of rock; and after a
+short council of war off we started on a fresh stalk, down another
+descent, over more fields of snow, and up a place where a cat would
+have found walking difficult.
+
+While accomplishing this latter movement, our guides detected two
+huge red bears, an enormous distance off, enjoying themselves in
+the evening air, and feeding and scratching themselves alternately,
+as they sauntered about in the breeze. Abandoning our present stalk,
+which was not promising, down we went again, and crossing about a
+mile and a half of broken ground, snow, rocks, &c., we reached a wood
+close to the whereabouts of our new game. F. and I, separating, had
+made the place by different routes, and just as I had caught sight of
+one enormous monster, F. and the shikaree appeared, just on the point
+of walking into his jaws. Having, by great exertion, prevented this
+catastrophe, we massed our forces, and taking off our hats, just as if
+we were stalking an unpopular landed proprietor in Tipperary, we crept
+up to within sixty yards of the unsuspicious monster, and fired both
+together. With a howl and a grunt, the huge mass doubled himself up,
+and rolled into the cover badly wounded. Being too dangerous a looking
+customer to follow directly, we reloaded and made a circuit above him;
+and after a short search, discovered him with his paws firmly clasped
+round a young tree. By way of finishing him, I gave him the contents of
+my rifle behind the ear, and we then rolled him down a ravine on to the
+snow beneath, where, a heavy storm of rain, hail, and thunder coming
+on, we left him alone in his glory. Putting our best legs foremost,
+we made for our camp, amid a pelting shower of hail like bullets and
+an incessant play of lightning around us, as we pushed our way along
+the frozen torrent. About five P.M., tired and drenched, we reached
+the camp, when we discovered that our tents, though extremely handy
+for mountain work, were not intended to keep out much rain, and that
+all our rugs, and other comforts, were almost in as moist a state as
+ourselves. During the entire night it continued to hail, rain, thunder,
+and lighten; and with the exception of the exact spots we were each
+lying on, there was not a dry place in the tent to take refuge in.
+
+JUNE 26. -- After an exceedingly moist night, we made the most of a
+little sunshine by turning out all our property, and hanging it around
+us on stones and bushes to dry. After we had distinguished ourselves in
+this way, for a couple of hours, down came the rain again; and after
+stowing our half-dried goods, we assembled under a tree, and held a
+council of war as to our future movements. The rain had swelled the
+mountain torrents considerably, and the hail, lying on the old snow,
+had made it slippery as glass, so that we were obliged to give up
+the mountain pass we had agreed upon, and decided on a retreat to
+"Poshana," our present ground being fairly untenable. Sending off
+our tents and traps, and half-drowned servants, who were completely
+out of their element, we remained behind under the pines till the
+rain a little abated, and having secured the bear-skin for curing, we
+started off with our rear-guard for Poshana. The road was so slippery,
+that even with grass-shoes we could hardly keep from falling; and
+the snow we found as hard as ice, and proportionately difficult to
+cross. The consequence was, that in passing a steep incline with the
+guide, he slipped, and I followed his example, and down we both went
+like an engine and tender, the guide fishing about with his legs for
+obstacles, and I above him, endeavouring to use my pole as an anchor
+to bring us to.
+
+Luckily, we both reached TERRA FIRMA safely, after a perilous run,
+though at the same side we started from, and a long distance from our
+point of previous departure. On at length reaching the opposite side,
+we found a disconsolate coolie bemoaning himself and reckoning his
+bones, having also fallen down the snow, while a little further on we
+came upon the bhistie lamenting over a similar disaster. The latter
+functionary had also lost a valuable pot of virgin honey, which had
+only come up from Poshana the day before, and which we had not had
+time to see the inside of even, ere it was thus lost to us for ever,
+and made over as a poetical reparation to the bears of the country for
+the ruthless murder we had committed on one of their number. Found the
+hut at Poshana empty, and were glad to get into its shelter again. The
+rain seeming quite set in, we determined to discharge our shikarees,
+and after paying them three rupees each for their week's work, we
+sent them away perfectly happy, with a few copper caps and a good
+character apiece.
+
+JUNE 27. -- Left Poshana at five A.M., and made for the Peer
+Punjal pass. A sharp struggle brought us to the summit, where we
+found a polygon tower erected, apparently as a landmark and also
+a resting-place for travellers to recover themselves after their
+exertions.[5] At the Cashmere side of the pass I had expected to see
+something of the far-famed valley, but nothing met the eye but a wild
+waste of land, bounded on all sides by snow, while a few straggling
+coolies toiled up towards us with some itinerant Englishman's baggage
+like our own.
+
+This turned out to belong to a party returning to Sealkote, and
+we were rather elated by seeing among their possessions several
+enormous antlers, which promised well for sport at the other side
+of the valley. They turned out, however, to have been bought, and,
+as their owners informed us, there was no chance of meeting such game
+until October or November. About two miles down the pass we reached
+the old serai of Aliabad, and found the only habitable part of it
+in possession of a clergyman and a young Bengal artilleryman bound
+for the shooting-grounds we had just left. With much difficulty we
+obtained a few eggs, and a little milk with which we washed down the
+chupatties we had brought with us; but the coolies were so long getting
+over the path, that no signs of breakfast made their appearance until
+about two o'clock. At mid-day it came on to rain heavily, and we took
+up our quarters in a miserable den, with a flooring of damp rubbish
+and a finely carved stone window not very much in keeping with the
+rest of the establishment. Here we spent the day drearily enough,
+the prospect being confined to a green pool of water in the middle
+of the serai, around which the Pariah dogs contended with the crows
+for the dainties of offal scattered about. As soon as it was dark,
+we were glad enough to spread our waterproof sheets on the ground,
+and sleep as well as the thousands of tenants already in possession
+would allow us.
+
+JUNE 28. -- Up at sunrise, and packed off our things down the mountain
+for Heerpore, where the main body of our possessions were concentrated.
+
+Shortly after their departure it began to rain an Irish and Scotch
+combined mist, and after warming our toes and blinding our eyes over a
+wood fire for about three hours, in hopes of its clearing, we donned
+grass-shoes and, putting our best legs foremost, accomplished about
+thirteen miles of a most slippery path without a halt, except for
+the occasional purpose of adjusting our dilapidated shoes.
+
+After the first five or six miles the path entered a beautifully-wooded
+valley, and at one spot, where two torrents joined their foaming waters
+at the foot of a picturesque old ivy-grown serai, the landscape was
+almost perfection. Passing this, we entered a thickly-shaded wood,
+studded with roses and jessamine, and peopled with wood-pigeons
+and nightingales, who favoured us with a morning concert as we
+passed. Crossing a wooden bridge over the torrent, we reached a fine
+grass country, and here the presence of a herd of cows told us we were
+near our destination. At Heerpore we found Mr. Rajoo located with all
+our belongings in a little wooden sort of squatter's cabin, where we
+were glad to take shelter out of the dripping rain. It reminded one
+strongly of Captain Cuttle's habitation and a ship's cabin together,
+and made one feel inclined to go on deck occasionally. It was on
+the whole, however, very comfortable, and seemed, after our late
+indifferent quarters, to be a perfect palace. After breakfast, we
+made inquiries as to our worldly affairs, and found that all were
+thriving with the exception of the potatoes, which had been taken
+worse on the road, and were already decimated by sickness. We added
+a sheep to our stock, for which we paid three shillings, and laid
+in a welcome supply of butter. The khidmutgar and bhistie, we found,
+had retailed the history of their many sorrows to the other servants,
+and, having expatiated most fully on the horrors they had endured
+among the snows and thunderstorms of the mountains, were promising
+themselves a speedy end to all their woes among the peace and plenty
+of the promised land of Cashmere.
+
+JUNE 29. -- After some trouble in procuring coolies, we started at
+eleven in a shower of rain, and found ourselves gradually passing
+into the valley, and exchanging rocks and firs for groves of walnut;
+and moss and fern for the more civilized strawberry and the wild
+carnation. The strawberries, though small, had a delicious flavour,
+and we whiled away the time by gathering them as we passed. About
+two o'clock we reached the village of Shupayon, and here began to
+perceive a considerable change in the style of architecture from what
+we had been accustomed to; the flat mudden roof giving place to the
+sharply-pitched wooden one, thatched with straw, or coarsely TILED
+with wood.
+
+Our halting-place we found, for the first time, to possess a staircase
+and upper story. A little square habitation it was, with a verandah all
+round it, and built entirely of wood. From this, as the clouds lifted
+from the mountain-tops around, a most lovely view opened out before us.
+
+Wherever the eye rested toward the mountains, the snow-capped peaks
+raised themselves up into the clear blue sky; while at our feet lay
+the far-famed valley, reaching towards the north, to the very base
+of the mountain range, and rising gradually and by a gentle slope
+to our halting-place, and so back to the pass from which we had
+just descended.
+
+As the sun appeared to have come out again permanently, we took the
+opportunity of getting our tents and other property which had suffered
+from the wet out for a general airing.
+
+JUNE 30. -- Marched about nine miles through fertile slopes of
+rice-fields, shaded by walnuts and sycamores, and found our
+halting-place situated in a serai, shrouded in mulberry and
+cherry trees, and with a charming little rivulet running through
+it, discoursing sweet music night and day. Our habitation was a
+baraduree, or summer-house, of wood, and having an upper room with
+trellised windows, where we spent the day very pleasantly. At dinner
+we had the first instalment of the land of promise, in the shape of
+a roly-poly pudding of fresh cherries, a thing to date from in our
+hitherto puddingless circumstances.
+
+JULY 1. -- Started at daybreak for our last march into the
+capital. The first appearance of the low part of the valley was rather
+disappointing, for there was nothing striking in the view; still, the
+country was extremely fertile, and its tameness was redeemed by the
+glorious mountain range, which bounded the valley in every direction,
+with its pure unsullied fringe of snow. Our path was occasionally
+studded with the most superb sycamores and lime-trees; and as we
+approached the town we entered a long avenue of poplars, planted as
+closely together as possible, and completely hiding all the buildings
+until close upon them. Passing through the grand parade-ground, we
+found a bustling throng of about four hundred Cashmeeries, with heavy
+packs beside them, waiting for an escort to take out supplies to the
+Maharajah's army, now on active service at a place called Girgit,
+in the mountains. The said army seemed to be fighting with nobody
+knew who, about nobody knew what; but report says that his Highness,
+having a number of troops wanting arrears of pay, sends them out
+periodically to contend with the hill tribes, by way of settlement
+in full of all demands.
+
+Having engaged a boat's crew at Ramoon, we were, on arriving at the
+River Jhelum, which runs through the city, immediately inducted to the
+manners and customs of the place; and being safely deposited in a long
+flat-bottomed boat, with a mat roof and a prow about twelve feet out of
+the water, we were paddled across by our six new servants, and landed
+among a number of bungalows on the right bank, which were erected by
+the Maharajah for the reception of his English visitors. These are
+entirely of wood, of the rudest construction, and are built along
+the very edge of the river, which is here about a hundred yards broad.
+
+We were received on landing by the Baboo and Moonshee, the native
+authorities retained by the Maharajah for the convenience of his
+visitors; and learning from them that there were no bungalows vacant,
+we pitched our little camp under a shady grove of trees close by; and
+thus, in the capital of the land of poetry and promise, the far-famed
+paradise of the Hindoo, we brought our wanderings to an end for the
+present, and gave ourselves and our retainers a rest from all the
+toils and troubles of the road.
+
+
+
+A Halt in the Valley.
+
+Being fairly settled in our quarters, we were not long in putting our
+new staff of dependants into requisition; and, taking to our boat,
+sallied forth to get a general view of the city of Sirinugger.[6]
+Finding, however, a review of the army going on, we stopped at the
+parade-ground to witness the interesting ceremony. The troops we found
+drawn up in lines, forming the sides of a large square, and dressed in
+what his Highness Rumbeer Singh believes confidently to be the ENGLISH
+COSTUME. As far as one could see, however, the sole foundation for
+this belief lay in the fact of their all wearing trousers! These were
+certainly the only articles of their equipment that could in any way
+be called English in style; and they bore, after all, but a slender
+resemblance to the corresponding habiliments of the true Briton.
+
+The head-dress, generally speaking, was a turban. One regiment,
+however, had actually perpetrated a parody on the English shako --
+a feat which I had always hitherto considered absolutely impossible.
+
+The cavalry were mounted upon tattoos, or native ponies, and wore
+white trousers, with tight straps, which rendered them for the time
+being the most miserable of their race.
+
+A few of them had imitations of Lancer caps, some had boots, some
+slippers, some spurs, others none; some had wondrous straps of tape
+and cord, others wore their trousers up to their knees; but one and
+all were entirely uniform in looking completely ill at ease and out
+of their element in their borrowed would-be-English plumage. Just
+as we had finished taking a general view of the army, the Maharajah
+appeared upon the stage, dressed in a green-and-gold embroidered gown
+and turban and tight silk pantaloons, mounted on a grey caparisoned
+Arab steed. After riding round the lines with his retinue, he came up,
+and we were presented in due form; and after asking us if we had come
+from Allahabad, and expressing his opinion that it was a long way off,
+in which we entirely concurred with him, he shook hands in English
+style; and, taking his seat in a chair which was placed for him, we
+collected ourselves around, and, similarly seated, prepared to inspect
+the marching past of his highness's redoubtables. Before this began,
+however, the Maharajah's little son made his appearance, dressed in all
+respects like his papa, with miniature sword and embroidered raiment;
+and to him we were also introduced in form. During the marching past,
+I congratulated myself upon being several seats distant from his
+highness's chair, for the effect was so absurd that it was almost
+impossible to preserve that dignity and composure which the occasion
+demanded.
+
+The marching was in slow time, and the step being fully thirty-six
+inches the fat little dumpy officers nearly upset themselves in their
+efforts to keep time, and at the same time prevent their slippers
+from deserting on the line of march; while, in bringing their swords
+to the salute, they did it with a swing which was suggestive of
+their throwing away their arms altogether. Besides artillery, five
+regiments of infantry and two of cavalry marched past -- in all,
+little over 2,000 men -- colours flying and bands playing "Home,
+sweet home!" After this the irregulars began to appear; and although
+the first part of the army might have almost deserved the name, these
+put them completely in the shade. One colonel had a pair of enormous
+English gold epaulettes and a turban; another a black embroidered suit,
+with white tape straps, and slippers; and as for the men, there were
+no two of them dressed alike, while in the way of arms, each pleased
+his own particular fancy also. A long gun over the shoulder was the
+most popular weapon; but each had, in addition, a perfect armoury
+fastened in his girdle: pistols with stocks like guns, daggers and
+even blunderbusses made their appearance; and the general effect, as
+the crowd galloped independently past, dressed in their many-coloured
+turbans, and flowing apparel, was most picturesque. As soon as the
+last of the flags and banners and prancing horses had gone past, the
+Maharajah set us the example of rising, and mounting his grey steed,
+cantered off in state, surrounded by the crowd of dusky parasites,
+arrayed in gold and jewels, who formed his court.
+
+His Highness appeared to be about thirty-eight years old, and was as
+handsome a specimen of a native as I had ever seen. He wore a short,
+jet-black beard, and mustachios, turned up from the corners of his
+mouth, and reaching, in two long twists, nearly to his eyes. He
+appeared absent and thoughtful which, considering the low state of
+his exchequer, was perhaps not to be wondered at.[7] His English
+visitors spend a good deal of money every summer in his kingdom;
+and for this reason alone, he is anxious enough to cultivate their
+acquaintance, and gives naches, or native dances, and champagne
+dinners periodically to amuse them. He presents, also, an offering to
+each traveller that arrives, and we in due course received two sheep,
+two fowls, and about fourteen little earthen dishes containing rice,
+butter, spices, eggs, flour, fruit, honey, sugar, tea, &c., all of
+which were laid at the door of our tent, with great pomp and ceremony,
+by a host of attendants.
+
+After the review, we took boat again and paddled down the stream to
+look at the town, and a quainter and more picturesque-looking old
+place it would be hard to conceive. The, houses are built entirely
+of wood, of five and six stories, and overhanging the river, and
+are as close as possible to each other, except where here and there
+interspersed with trees. Communication is kept up between the banks
+by means of wooden rustic bridges, built on enormous piles of timber,
+laid in entire trees, crossing each other at equal distances. Not a
+single straight line is to be seen in any direction -- the houses being
+dilapidated and generally out of the perpendicular; and everywhere the
+river view is bounded by the snow-capped ranges of mountain, which,
+towards the north, appear to rise almost from the very water's edge.
+
+JULY 2. -- Taking the Q.M.G. as a guide, we sallied out
+immediately after breakfast to explore the land part of this Eastern
+Venice. Entering at the city gate, on the left bank of the river, near
+the Maharajah's palace, we walked past a row of trumpery pop-guns, on
+green and red carriages, and so through the most filthy and odoriferous
+bazaar I ever met with, till we reached the residence of Saifula Baba,
+the great shawl merchant of Sirinugger. Here we found a noted shawl
+fancier inspecting the stock, and were inducted to the mysteries of
+the different fabrics. Some that we saw were of beautiful workmanship,
+but dangerous to an uninitiated purchaser. They ranged from 300 to
+1,000 rupees generally, but could be ordered to an almost unlimited
+extent of price. After inspecting a quantity of Pushmeena and other
+local manufactures, Mr. Saifula Baba handed us tea and sweetmeats,
+after the fashion of his country; and we adjourned to the abode of a
+worker in papier mache, where we underwent a second edition of tea
+and sweetmeats, and inspected a number of curiosities. The chief
+and only beauty of the work was in the strangeness of the design;
+and some of the shawl patterns, reproduced on boxes, &c., were
+pretty in their way, but as manufacturers of papier mache simply,
+the Cashmeeries were a long way behind the age.
+
+On reaching home, we found that the Maharajah had sent his salaam,
+together with the information that he was going to give a nach and
+dinner, to which we were invited.
+
+JULY 3. -- After continuing our explorations of Sirinugger, we
+repaired, about seven o'clock, to the Maharajah's palace, where we
+were received by a guard of honour of sixty men and four officers.,
+the latter in gold embroidered dresses, and hung all over with
+ear-rings and finery of divers sorts and kinds.
+
+Ascending the stairs, we were met by the DEEWAN, or prime minister,
+who conducted us into an open sort of terrace over the river, where
+we found the Maharajah with the few English officers already arrived
+seated on either side of him, and the nach-girls, about twenty in
+number, squatted in a semicircle opposite them. Standing behind his
+Highness were colonels of regiments and native dignitaries of all
+sorts, dressed in cloth of gold and jewels, and in every variety
+and hue of turban and appointments. A number of these were Sikhs;
+and magnificent-looking men they were, with their flowing dress and
+fiercely-twisted whiskers and mustachios. The nach-girls, too --
+a motley group -- were attired in all the hues of the rainbow, and
+with the white-robed musicians behind them, awaited in patience the
+signal to commence. In singular contrast to this glittering throng,
+which formed the court, were the guests whom the Maharajah, on this
+occasion, delighted to honour. The British officer appeared generally
+in the national but uncourtly costume of a shooting jacket! and
+though some few had donned their uniform, and one rejoiced in the
+traditional swallow-tail of unmistakeable civilization, neither the
+one nor the other contrasted favourably in point of grace with the
+Cashmerian rank and fashion.
+
+After shaking hands with his Highness, who prides himself upon his
+English way of accomplishing that ceremony, and does it by slipping
+into one's hand what might be taken for a dying flat fish, we took
+our seats, and the dancing began shortly afterwards. Though on a
+more magnificent scale than anything I had seen of the kind before,
+the programme was flat and insipid enough. The ladies came out two and
+two, and went through a monotonous die-away movement, acting, dancing,
+and singing all at the same time, and showing off their red-stained
+palms and the soles of their feet to the best advantage. Some of the
+women were very pretty, but very properly they modified their charms
+by dressing in the most unbecoming manner possible. Their head-dress
+was a little cloth of gold and silver cap hung all round with pendent
+ornaments, and these were becoming enough, but the remainder of the
+dress was much more trying. A short body of shot silk was separated
+by a natural border from a gauze skirt, which hung down perfectly
+straight and innocent of fulness, and allowed a pair of white pyjamas
+to appear beneath. These were fastened tightly round the ancles,
+which were encircled by little bunches of the tinkling bells, which
+the ladies make such use of in the dance. Round the shoulders comes
+a filmy scarf of various colours, which also plays a prominent part
+in all their movements, and answers in its way to the fan of more
+accomplished Western belles.
+
+After each couple had gone through the whole of their performances,
+they used to squat themselves down suddenly in the most ungraceful
+style imaginable, and were then relieved by another pair of artistes
+from the group.
+
+One lady, in addition to the dance, favoured us with "the Marseillaise"
+with the French words, being occasionally prompted by the head
+of the orchestra, who nearly worked himself into a frenzy while
+accompanying the dancers with both vocal and instrumental music at
+the same time. The Maharajah himself was plainly dressed in white
+robes, with a pair of pale-green striped silk pantaloons fitting his
+legs like stockings from the knee down, and terminating in a pair of
+English socks, of which he seemed immensely proud. His turban was of
+the palest shade of green, and (in strong contrast to the rest of his
+court) without any ornament whatever. The little heir to the throne --
+a nice little blackamoor of about eight years of age -- was, like his
+father, perched upon a chair, and arrayed in a green and gold turban,
+pants, and socks, with the addition of a velvet gold-embroidered coat,
+while round his neck were three or four valuable necklaces, one of
+pear-shaped emeralds of great size and beauty. After a few dances the
+doors of the banqueting-room were thrown open, and his Highness led
+the way into dinner with the commissioner. On entering, we found a
+capital dinner laid out English fashion, and with a formidable army
+of black bottles ranged along the table. The Maharajah, however, had
+disappeared, and we were left to feed without a host. The grandees,
+meanwhile, remained outside, and still enjoyed the dances, ranging
+themselves upon their haunches in front of the rows of chairs which
+not one among them would have dared to trust himself in for either
+love or money. Considering that our entertainer was a Hindoo, and
+that his dinner-giving appliances were limited, each person having
+to bring his own knife, fork, spoon, and chair, we fared very well,
+and after having drunk his health, again assembled in the court,
+where we found Rumbeer Singh still occupied with the wearisome nach,
+and reattired in a gorgeous dress of green velvet and gold. After a
+short stay he got up, and we all followed his example, glad enough
+to bring the entertainment to an end, and betake ourselves to our
+boats. At the stairs there was a desperate encounter with innumerable
+boatmen, each boat having six, eight, or ten sailors, and all being
+equally anxious to uphold the credit of their craft by being the
+first to land their masters safe, at home. We were fortunate enough to
+reach our own at once, and, with a shouting crew, away we dashed up
+the river, leaving the others struggling, fighting, and flourishing
+their paddles in the air, in a way which was more suggestive of an
+insurrection scene in Masaniello than the departure of guests from
+a peaceable gentleman's own hall door on the night of an evening party.
+
+On the stairs there was an extraordinary assemblage of slippers, which
+seemed to hold the same relative position that hats and cloaks do in
+more enlightened communities -- that is, the good ones were taken by
+the owners of the bad, and the proprietors of the bad ones were fain
+to make the best of the exchange. Next morning our khidmutgar came up
+with a most doleful countenance and presented to our notice a pair of
+certainly most ill-favoured slippers, which a fellow true-believer had
+INADVERTENTLY substituted for a pair of later date. The lost ones had,
+in fact, only recently been received from the boot-maker; and the
+blow was difficult to bear with resignation, even by the saintliest
+follower of Islam -- a reputation which our retainer came short of
+by a very long way indeed.
+
+JULY 4. -- Having an accumulation of letters to answer, we devoted the
+day to writing -- merely enjoying a little OTIUM CUM DIG. -- in the
+evening, reclining in our boat while serenaded by the crew of boatmen.
+
+JULY 5. -- Walked up, before daybreak, to the Tukht e Suleeman,
+or Solomon's throne, "the mountainous Portal," which Moore speaks
+of in LALLA ROOKH, and which forms the most striking landmark in
+the valley.[8]
+
+From the summit there was a curious view of the multitudinous wooden
+houses and the sinuous windings of the river, which could alone be
+obtained from such a bird's-eye point of inspection. An old temple
+at the top was in the hands of the Hindoo faction, being dedicated
+to the goddess Mahadewee, and in charge of it I found two of the
+dirtiest fukeers, or religious mendicants, I ever had the pleasure
+of meeting. One was lying asleep, with his feet in a heap of dust and
+ashes, and the other was listlessly sitting, without moving a muscle,
+warming himself in the morning sun. Both were almost naked, and had
+their bodies and faces smeared with ashes and their hair long and
+matted. They appeared to have arrived at a state of almost entire
+abstraction, and neither of them even raised his eyes or seemed to
+be in the slightest degree aware of my presence, although I took a
+sketch of one of them, and stared at both, very much as I would have
+done at some new arrival of animals in the Zoological Gardens.
+
+In the evening we went again to Saifula Baba's and visited the
+workrooms, where we were much astonished by the quickness with which
+the people worked the intricate shawl patterns with a simple needle,
+and no copy to guide them.
+
+The first stages of the work are not very promising, but the finished
+result, when pressed and rolled and duly exhibited by that true
+believer Saifula Baba, in his snowy gown and turban, was certainly
+in every way worthy of its reputation.
+
+Returning home, we visited a garden where any of the English visitors
+who die in the valley are buried -- the Maharajah presenting a
+Cashmere shawl, in some instances, to wrap the body in. There were
+about eight or ten monuments built of plaster, with small square
+slabs for inscriptions. One of these was turned topsy-turvey, which
+was not to be wondered at, for a native almost always holds English
+characters upside-down when either trying to decipher them himself
+or when holding them to be read by others.
+
+JULY 6. -- In the early morning I ascended to the throne of Solomon,
+in order to get a sketch of the Fort of Hurree Purbut, and in the
+afternoon we repaired to the lake behind the town, where there was a
+grand Mela or fair, on the water, to which the Maharajah and all his
+court went in state. The lake is beautifully situated at the foot of
+the mountains, and was covered so densely in many parts with weed and
+water-plants that it bore quite the appearance of a floating garden;
+and as the innumerable boats paddled about, with their bright and
+sunny cargoes, talking and laughing and enjoying themselves to their
+heart's content, the scene began to identify itself in some measure
+with Moore's description of the "Sunny lake of cool Cashmere," and
+its "Plane-tree isle reflected clear," although the poet's eyes had
+never rested on either lake or isle. Putting poetry on one side,
+however, for the present, we made our way to the extremity of the
+lake, in order to pay a visit to his Highness's gaol, where we were
+received by a very civil gaoler, equipped with a massive sword and
+dilapidated shield. We found 110 prisoners in the place, employed
+generally in converting dhan into chawul, or, in other words,
+clearing the rice-crop. There was also a mill for mustard oil, and
+the most primitive machine for boring fire-arms ever invented, both
+worked by water-power. The prison dress was uniform in the extreme:
+it consisted simply of a suit of heavy leg-irons and nothing more!
+
+After seeing the fair, we paddled across through a perfect water-meadow
+to the Shalimar gardens, where we found the Rajah and his suite
+just taking their departure. The vista on entering the gardens was
+extremely pretty: four waterfalls appear at the same moment, sending
+a clear sheet of crystal water over a broad stone slab, and gradually
+receding from sight in the wooded distance. A broad canal runs right
+through the gardens, bridged at intervals by summer-houses and crossed
+by carved and quaintly-fashioned stepping stones. At the extremity
+there is a magnificent baradurree of black marble, which looks as if
+it had been many centuries in existence, and had originally figured in
+some very different situation. The pillars were entire to a length of
+seven feet, and were highly polished from the people leaning against
+them. Around this, in reservoirs of water, were about two hundred
+fountains, all spouting away together, and on one side a sheet of
+the most perfectly still water I ever saw. It appeared exactly like
+a large looking-glass, and it was impossible to discern where the
+artificial bank which inclosed it either began or terminated.
+
+In these gardens it was that Selim, or Jehangeer the son of Akbar,
+used to spend so many of his days with the far-famed Noor Jehan in the
+beginning of the seventeenth century, and here was the scene of their
+reconciliation, as related by Feramorz to Lalla Rookh ere he revealed
+himself to her as her future lord, the king of Bucharia. From these
+founts and streams it was that the fair Persian sought to entice her
+lord, with "Fly to the desert, fly with me!"
+
+
+"When breathing, as she did, a tone
+To earthly lutes and lips unknown;
+With every chord fresh from the touch
+Of Music's spirit, -- 'twas too much!"
+
+
+"The light of the universe" overcomes even the "conqueror of the
+world." Thinking it, after all, wiser to kiss and be friends than be
+sulky, he surrenders at discretion: --
+
+
+
+"And, happier now for all their sighs,
+As on his arm her head reposes,
+She whispers him with laughing eyes,
+'Remember, love, the Feast of Roses!' "
+
+
+Leaving the favourite haunts of the "magnificent son of Akbar," we
+crossed the lake again to see the Maharajah inspect a party of about
+2,000 soldiers, who were departing for the war at Girgit. Nothing
+in the way of supplies being procurable near the scene of action,
+the greater part of the review was taken up by the marching past of a
+horde of Cashmeree and mountain porters, heavily laden with the sinews
+of war. According to report, the pay of the army here is about five
+shillings per mensem, with a ration of two pounds of rice per diem.
+
+In the evening, the number of boats congregated on the lake
+was marvellous. All were perfectly crammed with Cashmerian
+pleasure-seekers; but the turbaned faithful, in spite of the pressure,
+in no way lost their dignity, but with pipes and coffee enjoyed
+themselves in apparently entire unconsciousness of there being a soul
+on the lake beside themselves. The most wonderful sight, however,
+was the immense crowd of many-coloured turbans congregated on shore,
+witnessing the departure of the Cashmerian Guards; and as they thronged
+the green slopes in thousands, they gave one quite the idea of a mass
+of very violent-coloured flowers blooming together in a garden. On
+our way home we had great jostling, and even fighting, in order to
+maintain our position among the crowds of boats, the result of which
+was that our crew managed to break two paddles in upholding the dignity
+and respectability of their masters. The Maharajah himself, however,
+gave us the go-by in great style, in a long quaint boat, propelled by
+thirty-six boatmen, and built with a broad seat towards the bows, in
+shape like the overgrown body of a gig in indifferent circumstances,
+on which his Highness reclined. By his side was the little prince,
+in glorious apparel, while half a dozen of his court, arrayed in
+spotless white, appeared like so many snow-drifts lying at his feet.
+
+JULY 7. -- Made our arrangements to-day for a trip by water to the
+Wuler Lake, and spent the afternoon in inspecting the jeweller's and
+other shops in the city. The native workmen appear to engrave cleverly
+both on stone and metal, and some of their performances would bear
+comparison with any European workmanship of a similar kind. They
+also work in filagree silver, charging about sixpence in every two
+shillings' worth of silver for their labour. About nine P.M. we took to
+our boats; F. and I occupying one together, in which we stowed bedding,
+dressing-things, &c. while the cooking apparatus and servants occupied
+the other. Passed the night very comfortably, and found the situation
+most conducive to sleep, as we glided gently along with the stream.
+
+JULY 8. -- Awoke to find an innumerable swarm of mosquitoes buzzing
+about our habitation, and apparently endeavouring to carry it
+off bodily. Letting down, however, the muslin curtains, which the
+foreknowledge of the faithful Q.M.G. had provided us with, we succeeded
+in puzzling the enemy for the time being. About eight o'clock, the
+fleet came to an anchor at a luxuriant little island at the entrance
+of the great lake; to all appearance, however, it might have been
+situated in a meadow, for we had to force our way to it through a
+perfect plain of green water-plants, whose slimy verdure covered the
+face of the lake for miles around. It was wooded by mulberry trees,
+very prettily entwined with wild vines, and in the midst were the
+remains of an old Musjid, in which we discovered a slab of black
+marble, covered with a beautifully carved inscription in Arabic, and
+appearing as if it had not always held the ignoble position which it
+now occupied. Scattered about the island, also, were many scraps of
+columns and carved stones, which gave evidence of having belonged
+to some ancient temple or palace. While thus surveying our island,
+we were pestered to death by swarms of prodigious mosquitoes, for
+which the Wuler Lake is justly celebrated, and during breakfast the
+eating was quite as much on their side as ours; so that we were glad
+to weigh anchor, and with our curtains tightly tucked in around us,
+we floated away, in lazy enjoyment of climate and scenery, towards the
+centre of the lake. As we cleared the margin of the water-plants, we
+found ourselves on a glassy surface, extending away towards the west
+as far as the eye could see, and bordered on all sides by gorgeous
+mountains and ranges of snow. Around the edges of the lake a sunny
+mirage was playing tricks with the cattle and the objects on the banks,
+and as we glided lazily on with the stream, and the splashing paddles,
+and even the foiled mosquitoes, made music about us, we began to
+enter more into the spirit of our situation, and to appreciate the
+peculiar beauties of the "sunny lake of cool Cashmere," with the
+DOLCE FAR NIENTE existence which of right belongs to it. About one
+o'clock we reached Sompoor, at the Baramoula extremity of the lake,
+and as it came on to blow a little, it was not too soon: our boats
+were totally unadapted for anything rougher than a mill-pond, and in
+the ripple excited by the small puffs of wind, I had the misfortune
+to ship what was, under the circumstances, a heavy sea, and so
+sacrificed the prospects of a dry lodging for the night. Sompoor we
+found a picturesque but dirty village, with promise of good fishing,
+in the river below it. We unfortunately had no tackle, but the boatmen
+succeeded in catching five or six good fish with a hook baited with a
+mulberry only : a very favourite article of consumption, apparently,
+among the Cashmerian little fishes.
+
+Dropping down the river, we dined on the bank among the mulberry trees,
+and I afterwards essayed to take a sketch of the village; such a firm
+and determined body of mosquitoes, however, immediately fell upon
+me, that, after a short but unsuccessful combat, I was fairly put to
+flight, and Sompoor remained undrawn. We passed the night above the
+town, ready for an early start in the morning.
+
+JULY 9. -- Left our moorings before sunrise, and halted about eight
+A.M. at a little island stacked with elephant-grass, where, after
+as good a swim as the tangled weeds would permit, we breakfasted
+pleasantly under the trees.
+
+From this point we adopted a new mode of progression, the boatmen
+towing us from the bank; and the motion was a great improvement on
+the paddling system, except that it had a tendency to set one to
+sleep altogether. Reached Sirinugger, and our camp again, at four P.M.
+
+JULY 10. -- Paid Saifula Baba, the shawl merchant, a visit to-day,
+in order to get a bill of exchange on Umritsur cashed. Found
+him just going out to Mosque, in his snow-white robe and turban,
+cleanly-shaved pate, and golden slippers. Not having any money,
+he promised us a hundred rupees of the Maharajah's coinage to go on
+with. These nominal rupees are each value 10 annas, or 1S. 3D., the
+most chipped and mutilated objects imaginable. On one face of the coin
+are the letters I.H.S. stamped, a strange enough device for a heathen
+or any other mint to have adopted. While floating about the Eastern
+Venice, we discovered a number of finely-cut old blocks of stone in
+the built-up wall which bounded the river; and on inspecting the place,
+we came upon an ancient Mussulman cemetery and ruined Musjid, in which
+there were some very antique-looking carvings, which apparently had
+commenced life elsewhere than on Mussulman ground. The graveyard,
+however, was itself extremely old, although many of the turbaned and
+lettered tombstones of the faithful were in perfect preservation. All
+began with the "La Ulah ila Ullah," or "B'ism Ullah,"[9] with which
+everything connected with a Mussulman does commence, either in life
+or death.
+
+All through the city one can trace the remains of some much more
+ancient structure in the huge blocks of carved stone which are
+scattered about among their more plebeian brethren, and serve to form
+with them, in humble forgetfulness of past grandeur, the foundations
+of the lofty rattletrap but picturesque wooden structures which line
+both sides of the river and form the city of Cashmere in the year of
+grace 1860.
+
+Some of these houses, as one looks into the narrow lanes leading to
+the river and sees them in profile, are apparently in the last stage
+of dissolution, leaning out of the perpendicular and overtopping their
+lower stories and foundations in a way that would put even the leaning
+tower of Pisa to shame. One six-storied house, of long experience
+in this crooked world, had made the most wonderful efforts to redeem
+his character and to recover his equilibrium by leaning the contrary
+way aloft from what he did below. Poor fellow! he had been but badly
+conducted in his youth, and was nobly endeavouring to correct his
+ways in a mossy and dilapidated old age. The tracery of much of the
+wood-work carvings, and particularly of the windows, varies greatly,
+and in some places is so minute that it requires close inspection to
+find out the design. Of these the Zenana windows of the Maharajah's
+palace are about the finest specimens; but as there is no way of
+approaching them closely, it is impossible to make out their details.
+
+JULY 11. -- Started this evening by water for Islamabad, the ancient
+capital of Cashmere.
+
+We made a slight change in our arrangements, rather for the better,
+by hiring a large boat for ourselves and handing our own over to the
+servants and culinary department in general.
+
+JULY 12. -- Found ourselves not very far on our road on awakening
+this morning, the night having been very dark, the current strong
+against us, and the sailors lazy.
+
+Another cause of delay also, if these were insufficient, was, that
+the proprietor of the boat dropped his turban overboard, with two
+rupees in the folds of it, and the old lady his spouse had stopped
+the fleet for at least an hour to cry over the misfortune. Before
+breakfast we had a swim, and found ourselves only just able to make way
+against the stream. Breakfasted on the river bank, under the trees,
+and surrounded by rocky snow-capped mountains. Reading, scribbling,
+and eating apricots brought us to about an hour before sunset, when
+F. and I landed and went ahead to pick out a spot for a dining-room
+for ourselves. In the search, we passed through orchards and gardens
+innumerable, and finally decided upon a grove of magnificent sycamores
+on the river bank, where we laid out our table just as the sun went
+down. Within view was a picturesque old wooden bridge, on the mossy
+tree-formed piles of which the bushes were growing, as if quite at
+home, and hanging gracefully over the flowing river.
+
+JULY 13. -- Found ourselves at sunrise at the end of our boat journey,
+bathed in the river, and started for Islamabad, about half a kos off.
+
+On the bank we found three other travellers encamped, and leaving them
+fast asleep, we pushed ahead and took possession of the baraduree. This
+we found a charming little place in a garden, full of ponds of sacred
+fish, with old carved stones scattered about, belonging to the Hindoo
+mythology. Through one corner of an upper tank a stream of crystal
+water flowed in from the mountain which rose perpendicularly behind
+it -- the water welling up from below in a constant and abundant
+stream. Round this corner were some most grotesque stones; and here
+the sacred fish were assembled in such shoals as to jostle each other
+almost out of the water; but whether they were attracted by the fresh
+supply of water or the sacred images covered as they were with votive
+offerings of milk and rice, flowers, &c., the fish or the Brahmins
+alone can tell.
+
+Tradition states that an infidel Christian officer once killed three of
+these fish, and having eaten one of them, died shortly after. Putting
+their sanctity out of the question, however, the little creatures
+are so tame and so numerous that few people would be inclined either
+to kill or to eat them. While feeding them with bread, I could have
+caught any number with my hand; and holding a piece of tough crust
+under water, it was amusing to feel them tugging and hauling at it,
+making occasional snaps at one's fingers in their efforts. They were
+generally about half a pound in weight.
+
+Our baraduree was built of wood, in the usual style, with latticed
+windows of various designs, and having one room overhanging the
+stream which ran through the centre of the house from the sacred
+tanks. Directly below the place we occupied was a little waterfall,
+which conversed pleasantly day and night; and by taking-up a loose
+plank in the floor we could see as well as hear it. Learning that
+there were some ruins in the neighbourhood, supposed to have existed
+from before the birth of our Saviour, we started in the afternoon for
+a place called Bowun, or more popularly Mutton, about two and a half
+kos off.
+
+The sun to-day we found very hot in this same valley of coolness,
+its rays coming down on the backs of our heads in a very searching
+and inquisitive manner. Along the entire path there were running
+streams in every direction: and what with these and the magnificent
+sycamores and walnut-trees which shaded us as we walked, our opinions
+of the beauty of the country got a considerable rise. The path from
+the Peer Punjal Pass by which we entered appears to be the worst
+point of view from which to see the valley. From either the Peshawur
+or Murree roads the effect is much finer; and from the north-east,
+from which direction it is perhaps seldomer seen than any other, it
+looks greener and more beautiful than from either of the other points.
+
+At Mutton we found our three lazy friends of the morning, encamped
+under the trees reading green railway-novels, and evidently very much
+puzzled how to kill time. Beyond a tank teeming with sacred fishes,
+there appeared nothing whatever to be seen here. Taking warning
+from this, we thought it not worth while proceeding to Bamazoo,
+where we were told there were caves; but, treating the fishes to a
+small coin's worth of Indian maize, we retraced our steps and diverged
+about a kos off the Islamabad road to Pandau. Here we were rewarded by
+coming suddenly upon a magnificent old Cyclopeian ruin of grey stone,
+bearing, from a little distance, the appearance rather of an ancient
+Christian Church -- such as may be seen occasionally in Ireland --
+than of a heathen place of worship. On entering, we found a number of
+ancient carvings on the massive stone walls, but they were much worn,
+and the designs to us were unintelligible. Some of them were like
+the Hindoo divinities, while others were more like Christian devices,
+such as cherubims, &c. Altogether, it puzzled us completely as to its
+origin; but there was no doubt whatever as to its having existed from
+an extremely ancient date; and from its general style, as well as the
+absence of any similitude to any other place of heathen worship we have
+met, we set it down in our own minds as most probably a temple to the
+Sun.[10] Most of the figures, as far as their worn state would allow
+one to judge, appeared to be female; and there was an entire absence
+of any symbol at all resembling a cross. Many of the huge pillars had
+been eaten away as if they were of wood, by the combined effects of
+wind and weather; but hands had also been at work, as pieces of the
+decorations and figures appeared scattered about in every direction.
+
+Passing through the town of Islamabad on our return, we went into some
+of the houses to see the people at work at the loom-made shawls. Very
+hard-working and intricate business it seemed to be, and very hard
+and MANCHESTERY the production looked to my eye, far inferior to the
+hand-made, shawl, though not generally considered so.
+
+I tried to negotiate a shawl with the overseer, but he assured me
+that the pieces were all made separately, and were sent in to the
+merchant at Sirinugger to be put together, and that he in fact had
+nothing whatever to do with the sale of them.
+
+In the evening we dined at a fashionably late hour, and were lulled
+to sleep by the simple music of our domesticated waterfall.
+
+JULY 14. -- Started at daybreak for Atchabull, three and a half kos
+off towards the north-east. The baraduree we found situated in the
+middle of a large reservoir, in a beautiful but half-ruined garden;
+and here, the commissariat being unusually late in arriving, we
+took the edge off our appetites with a quantity of small apricots,
+red plums, cherries, &c.
+
+While exploring the gardens, we found, among other remains of grandeur,
+a Humaam, or hot-bath room, which was in very good preservation, and
+had probably in its day been honoured by the fair presence of Noor
+Jehan, with whom Atchabull was a favourite resort, and who has been,
+at one time or another, over all these gardens, during her lord's
+visit to the valley.
+
+About thirty yards from the house, at the base of an almost
+perpendicular hill, were the great sources of interest which the place
+possesses -- viz., a number of springs of ice-cold water, bubbling up
+to a height of two or three feet above the surrounding water level,
+and forming three separate rivers: one in the centre which expanded
+round our house, and one on either side. Around were fruit-trees of
+all sorts and kinds, and from every quarter came the gurgling sound
+of rushing water mingled with the singing of innumerable birds. Here
+sweetly indeed do the "founts of the valley fall;" and their number
+and beauty, as well as the purity of the clear and crystal streams
+which they pour over the length and breadth of the land, it is which
+forms one of its chief and pleasantest features, and has, no doubt,
+mainly contributed to its reputation as a terrestrial paradise. To
+the abundance of these streams the inhabitants are indebted for the
+crops of waving rice which spread their delicately-green carpetting
+over the entire valley; the purity of the waters give to the silks
+the brightness of their dyes and to their shawls their fame; and from
+its virtues also the love-lighted eyes are supposed to derive their
+far-famed lustre. No wonder, therefore, that to the Hindoo at least,
+"Cashmere is all holy land." From his sun-burnt plains and his home
+by the muddy banks of his sacred Ganges, he can form but a small
+conception of these cooling streams and shady pleasures. Should he
+happen to read the glowing descriptions of Lalla Rookh, and be perhaps
+led to reflect that --
+
+
+
+"If woman can make the worst wilderness dear,
+What a heaven she must make of Cashmere!"
+
+
+He no doubt ejaculates "Wa, wa!" in admiration of the poetry of
+the West, and thinks complacently of the partner of his joys as all
+his fancy painted her. His highest flights of imagination, however,
+probably fail to transplant him very far beyond the actual wilderness
+which bounds his mortal vision, while Pudmawutee and Oonmadinee,
+as here depicted by his own artistic skill, present, in all their
+loveliness of form and feature, his best conceptions of ideal worth
+and beauty. No wonder, therefore, that the reality of
+
+
+"Those roses, the brightest that earth ever gave,
+Those grottoes and gardens and fountains so clear!"
+
+
+and above all of --
+
+
+"Those love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave,"[11]
+
+
+should shed its influence largely on his imagination, and that,
+in contrast to his own dry and dusty native plains, Cashmere should
+well be called the Hindoo's Paradise.
+
+JULY 15. -- Marched at dawn for Vernagh, a distance of eight kos,
+rather over a Sabbath-day's journey. Here we had to wait a considerable
+time for our breakfast, the cook being an indifferent pedestrian and
+the day a very hot one. The baradurree was curiously built, close to
+an octagon tank, the water from which ran at a great pace through an
+arch in the middle of the house.[12] The tank was supplied with
+water in great volume, but
+from no apparent source, and was filled with fine fish, all sacred,
+and as fat as butter, from the plentiful support they receive from the
+devout among the Hindoos, not to mention the unbelieving travellers,
+who also supply them for amusement. The tank itself, the natives
+informed us, was bottomless, and it really appeared to be so; for
+from the windows of the baradurree, some fifty feet over the water,
+we could see the sides stretching back as they descended, and losing
+themselves in the clear water, which looked, from the intensity of
+its blue, both deep and treacherous to an unlimited extent. The water,
+too, was so intensely, icily cold, that an attempt to swim across it
+would have been a dangerous undertaking, and neither F. nor I could
+summon courage to jump in. We, however, bathed in the stream which
+ran out of the inexhaustible reservoir, and its effect we found very
+similar to that of hot water, so that a little of it went a very Iong
+way with us. As for the fish, they swarmed in such numbers that they
+jostled each other fairly out of the water in a dense living mass,
+while striving for grains of rice and bread.
+
+This also was a favourite resort of Jehangeer and Noor Jehan; and I
+found an inscription in the Persian character which, in a sentence
+according to Eastern custom, fixed the date of the erection of the
+building attached to the tank as A.H. 1029, or, about A.D. 1612. The
+inscription runs thus: --
+
+
+"The king of seven climes, the spreader of justice, Abdool, Muzuffer,
+Noor-ul-deen[13] Jehangeer Badshah, son of Akbar, conqueror of kings,
+on the day of the 11th year of his reign paid a visit to this fountain
+of favour, and by his order this building has been completed. By
+means of Jehangeer Shah, son of Akbar Shah, this building has raised
+its head to the heavens."
+
+"The 'Inventor of Wisdom' has fixed its date in this line, viz : --
+'Aqsirabad o Chushma Wurnak.' "
+
+
+The fountain or reservoir, and the canal, &c. seem to have been the
+work of Shah Jehan, Noor Jehan's son, or were probably remodelled in
+his reign. The inscription referring to them runs also in the Persian
+character on a slab of copper:
+
+
+"Hyan, by order of Shah Jahan, King, thanks be to God, built this
+fountain and canal. From these have the country of Cashmere become
+renowned, and the fountains aye as the fountains of Paradise."
+
+"The poet Survashi Ghaib has written the date in this sentence, viz: --
+'From the waters of Paradise have these fountains flowed.' "
+
+
+JULY 16. -- On the road again at daybreak, with the intention of
+going to a place called Kukunath, where there were more springs, and
+which, from information obtained from the sepoy who accompanied us,
+was on our road to Islamabad. However, like most information relative
+to either direction or to distance in this country, it turned out to
+be wrong, and we accordingly altered our course and made for our old
+quarters. Breakfasted under a huge walnut-tree, at a village about six
+kos off, and reached Islamabad about one P.M., after a very hot tramp
+of ten kos, through groves of sycamore and walnuts, and hundreds and
+hundreds of acres of rice-fields, immersed in water, and tenanted by
+whole armies of croaking frogs. The people were principally employed
+in weeding their rice-crops, standing up to their knees in mud and
+water, and grubbing about, with their heads in a position admirably
+adapted to give anybody but a native, apoplexy in such a hot sun.
+
+JULY 17. -- In the middle of the night we were awoke by a tremendous
+uproar in our wooden habitation, as if some one was crashing about the
+boards and panels with a big stick; immediately afterwards something
+jumped upon my bed, and with a whisk and a rush, clattered through the
+room to F.'s side, over the table, and back again to my quarter. Half
+asleep and half awake, I hit out energetically, without encountering
+anything of our uninvited guest; and the faithful Rajoo coming in
+with a light, I found F. brandishing a stick valiantly in the air,
+everything knocked about the room; an earthenware vessel of milk spilt
+upon the floor, a tumbler broken, and a plate of biscuits on the table
+with marks of teeth in them. This latter discovery was quite a relief
+to my mind, for the visitation had a most diabolic savour about it,
+and we were just beginning to fancy that there was a slight smell of
+sulphur. However, the milk and the biscuits being such innocent food,
+we were enabled to fancy that the intruder might have been no worse
+than a wild cat, which had frightened itself by breaking, our tumbler,
+and had eventually jumped through the window and made its escape. This
+interpretation, however satisfactory to ourselves, was apparently
+not so to the Q.M.G., and to his dying day he will probably remain
+rather doubtful of the kind of company we kept that night.
+
+At sunrise I paid another visit to the ruins of Pandau, or Martund,
+and sketched it from the north-east; a view which took in the only
+columns of any perfection that remained standing.
+
+Islamabad being, as its name implies, the "abode of Mahomedanism,"
+I had set the kotwal to work to procure me a good copy of the Koran.
+
+On returning, however, I found that he had collected together a
+bundle of the common editions printed in the Arabic alone, without
+interlineations. He assured me, however, that they were rare and
+valuable specimens; and I was amused by the old gentleman reading out
+a passage in a sonorous voice, following each word with his finger,
+and astonishing the bystanders by the display of his erudition; but
+at the same time holding the precious volume upside down, and thus
+failing in impressing at least one of his audience. In the evening
+we started again for Sirinugger.
+
+JULY 18. -- Found ourselves, according to sailing directions, at
+anchor this morning, or in other words, tied to an upright stick,
+at Wentipore, on the left bank of the river, where there were some
+old ruins to be seen.
+
+The architecture we found very similar to the Pandau temple. One
+column, however, was left standing, which was more perfect than any
+we had seen before.
+
+The ruins consisted of a large quadrangle, with cloisters all round,
+and the remains of a temple in the centre; both these were completely
+decayed, but the enormous stones piled together in grand confusion
+showed that the buildings had been of considerable extent.[14] The
+corner stones here alone pointed out the position of the cloisters,
+which at Pandau had been in very fair preservation.
+
+About fifty yards from the entrance there were three columns of
+different form, sunk in the ground, their capitals just reaching a
+little below the surface, and connected by trefoil arches, all in
+pretty good preservation.
+
+A few hundred yards down the river we found another large ruin, but
+in a more dilapidated state than either of the others. In both, the
+designs carved in the huge stones were something similar in pattern
+-- viz. a female figure, with what appeared to be a long strip of
+drapery passing round either arm and descending to the ancles. It
+was impossible to decipher the exact device, but the breast and head,
+in most instances, were plainly distinguishable.
+
+About three kos from Sirinugger, we stopped at another very extensive
+site of Cyclopeian ruins, at a place called Pandreton. Here we found
+the most perfect building of any we had met; and for a considerable
+distance around were traces of what must have been, in ages past,
+a city of some extent.
+
+Among other interesting remains, there was the base of a colossal
+figure standing in the midst of a field of cut corn. Only from the
+knees down remained, but this block alone was over seven feet high;
+the toes were mutilated a good deal, but the legs were in wonderful
+preservation. There was also, about half a, mile off, an enormous
+base of a column, resting on its side, at the summit of a little
+eminence, where a, considerable amount of mechanical power must have
+been required to place it. Its diameter was about six feet; and at
+some distance we found the remainder of the column, split into three
+pieces. It was about twelve feet long, the lower part polygon, the
+upper round, and the top a cone similar in form to the stones dedicated
+to Mahadeo in the temples of the Hindoos. The building which alone
+remained in at all a perfect state was situated in a sort of pond or
+tank of slimy green, and was quite inaccessible without a boat.[15]
+Sending on the cooking apparatus and servants, I remained with the
+smaller boat; and with a rug and a supply of biscuits, set to work to
+sketch the ruins. The operation, however, was not performed without
+very great difficulty. Innumerable mosquitoes made the spot their
+home, and at critical moments they persisted in settling themselves
+in the most uncomfortable positions. The ants, too, took a fancy to
+my paint-box, and even endeavoured to carry off some of the colours;
+so that between the two I was soon fairly put to flight, and obliged
+to evacuate the territory.
+
+On consulting my Hindoo authority, Rajoo, on the subject of Cyclopeian
+ruins, he tells me that they were built, not by man but by "the gods,"
+in the Sut Jug, or golden age, an epoch which existed no less than
+2,165,000 years ago, or thereabouts!
+
+This view of the matter increases the interest of the ruins immensely,
+besides being very complimentary to the style of building practised by
+"the gods" in that age.
+
+The Hindoo ages are four, and we are believed to be at present
+in the last of the four, of which 5,000 years have been already
+accomplished. The names and duration are as follows, viz : -- Sut Jug,
+1,728,000 years; Treth Jug, 1,296,000 years; Duapur Jug, 864,000 years;
+and Kul Jug. 432,000 years. This makes the present age of the world
+to be about 3,893,000 years!
+
+About five P. M. I reached Sirinugger, and found the advanced guard in
+possession of one of the bungalows. Spent the night in a succession
+of skirmishes with innumerable fleas, who appeared to have been out
+of society for a considerable time previous to our arrival. Up to
+this moment I fancied that I knew something of the natural history
+of the race, having studied them and fought with them and slept with
+them in their happiest hunting grounds. Greek fleas, Albanian fleas,
+Tartar fleas, Russian fleas, I had combated on their own soil, but
+never before was I put to such utter confusion. All night long the
+enemy poured in upon me, and several times during the action was I
+forced to leave the field and recruit my shattered forces outside
+in the moonlight. As day dawned, however, I fell upon the foe at a
+certain advantage, and managed at last to get a few hours of sleep.
+
+JULY 19. -- Made an expedition to the small lake to see a building
+which we were informed was built by the Puree, or fairies -- the Peri
+of poetical licence.
+
+After a sharp struggle up a steep hill, under a hot sun, we reached
+the building; but, to all appearance, the fairies had less to do
+with the edifice than a race of very indifferent engineers. It was
+evidently the remains of a hill fort, built of stones and mortar,
+and with nothing wonderful in its construction whatever. It was
+tenanted by buffaloes and a few natives; and having seen specimens
+of both before, we took our departure again rather in a bad humour
+with both the fairies and their partisans.
+
+In the plain below we found the remains of Cyclopeian ruins in an
+enormous block of stone, part of a column.
+
+JULY 22. -- Started this evening in the direction of the water-lake
+in further search of ancient ruins.
+
+JULY 23. -- Found ourselves at daybreak among the mosquitoes in a
+little stream about two kos from Patrun. After breakfasting, we started
+for the vicinity of the ruins. As usual, in the villages we passed
+through, we found traces of cut stone doing duty as washing-stones,
+or corners of walls, &c; and at Patrun we found
+rather a fine old ruined temple, something similar in style to those
+towards Islamabad.[16] It was surrounded at some distance by trees,
+which had tended apparently to preserve the building, for the stone
+carvings were clearer and less decayed by time than any others we
+had seen. Being caught here in a heavy rain, we had a scamper for
+our boats, and after a wet journey, reached Sirinugger about eight P.M.
+
+JULY 26. -- Finding ourselves rather tired of Sirinugger, and with
+no other books than Hindostanee to beguile the time, we resolved
+upon an expedition across the mountains into the regions of Little
+Thibet. Began preparations by hiring twelve coolies, at thirteen
+shillings each per mensem, and a mate or head man to look after
+them. Increased our stock of ducks to twelve, and otherwise added to
+our necessary stores, and completed the arrangements for a move.
+
+To-day a number of arrivals and departures took place, and the whole
+settlement was in a state of excitement and confusion. Boatmen swarmed
+about in rival application for employment, while all the rascals in
+the place seemed to have assembled together for the occasion: those
+who had bills, wanting to get them paid; and those who were either
+lucky or unfortunate enough to have none, wanting to open them as
+soon as possible with the new comers. What with these and pistol
+practice and rifle shooting from upper casements across the river,
+in order to expend spare ammunition, the European quarter was a very
+Babel all day long, and we were not sorry to escape the turmoil and
+get under weigh to new scenes as soon as possible.
+
+About dusk we embarked in two large boats with Rajoo, the cook, and the
+bhistie, the other servants remaining behind, much to their delight,
+to take charge of spare baggage, &c. left in the bungalow. One of
+the Maharajah's army also accompanied us, a rough-and-ready-looking
+sepoy irregular, whose duty it was to ferret out supplies and coolies,
+&c. during our march, and at the same time, perhaps, to keep a watch
+over our own movements and desperate designs. Passed the night under
+gauze fortifications, the disappointed mosquitoes buzzing about
+outside in myriads, and striving hard to take a fond farewell of
+their much-loved foreign guests.
+
+By strange sounds from the direction of my companion's quarters,
+as if of smacking of hands, &c., I was led to infer that they had
+partially succeeded in bidding him good-bye. I, however, luckily
+escaped without receiving even as much as a deputation from the enemy,
+and slept in happy unconsciousness of their vicinity.
+
+
+
+Little Thibet.
+
+JULY 27. -- About six o'clock this morning we found ourselves at
+anchor under the mountains at the northern extremity of the lake,
+and at the mouth of a dashing river of ice-cold water, into which we
+lost no time in plunging. On mustering our forces after breakfast,
+we found that our possessions required fourteen coolies for their
+transport. Our own immediate effects took four, viz. bedding two,
+guns one, and clothes, &c. one; the kitchen required four more;
+tent one, charpoys one, servants' reserve supply of food one,
+brandy, one, plank for table and tent poles one, and last though
+not least, the twelve ducks took up the services of the fourteenth
+all to themselves. The rest of our train consisted of the faithful
+Rajoo, who came entirely at his own request to see a new country,
+the two servants, the sepoy, and the coolie's mate, who was to act as
+guide, carry small matters, and make himself generally useful. After
+a most affectionate parting with our boatmen, Messrs. Suttarah,
+Ramzan, Guffard, and Co., we started on our new travels at about ten
+A.M. under a broiling sun. After several halts under shady chestnuts,
+groves of mulberry, &c., and passing by a gentle ascent through a
+lovely country, we came to our first encamping ground, at Kungur, and
+pitched our tent under a chestnut grove, considerably hot and tired by
+our first march, after all the ease and comparative idleness we had of
+late been enjoying in the valley. Here we saw the first of the system
+of extortion which goes on among the government authorities and the
+people; for after the paymaster to the forces had settled with the
+seven coolies who were not in our permanent employ, not being able
+to take all as we had originally intended, they assembled round us,
+and complained most dolefully of the smallness of their pay. The
+sepoy, who appeared a most pugnacious customer, cuffed some of them,
+and made desperate flourishes at others with a big stick, and seemed
+altogether so anxious to prevent, as he said, the "cherishers of
+the poor," from being inconvenienced by the "scum of the earth,"
+that we suspected something wrong, and on inquiring, ascertained,
+that out of the amount due to the seven, viz. one rupee five annas,
+or about two shillings and eightpence, the organ of government had
+actually stopped eight annas, or one shilling. The mistake we soon
+rectified, much to the delight of the "scum of the earth," -- who had
+certainly earned their three annas, or fourpence halfpenny per man,
+by carrying our impedimenta eight kos under a hot sun, -- and equally
+to the disgust of "the organ" who handed over the difference with
+a very bad grace indeed, and was rather out of tune for the rest of
+the day. Our hearts being expanded by this administration of justice,
+we proceeded to a further act of charity, and emancipated our twelve
+ducks from their basket, into a temporary pond constructed for them
+by the bhistie, where they dabbled about to their hearts' content,
+and soon forgot the sorrows of the road in a repast of meal and rice.
+
+JULY 28. -- Marched at six A.M., and after proceeding about a kos
+found that we were in for a regular wetting. Our path lay through a
+beautifully wooded ravine with precipitous mountain peaks appearing
+ahead in every direction: these, however, were soon shrouded in
+impenetrable mist, which gradually gathered in about us, and proceeded
+to inspect us in a most searching and uncomfortable way.
+
+The road however, though beautiful, was by no means a good one, and it
+was in many places difficult work to keep one's feet in the wet slush,
+over wooden bridges, or along the side of a dashing torrent which kept
+us company, and which seemed to be labouring just now under an unusual
+degree of temporary excitement, in consequence of having had too
+much to drink. We had arranged to breakfast on the road, but the rain
+made us push on, and on reaching the vicinity of our halting-place,
+we stopped to inspect the condition of our garments, and to satisfy
+ourselves as to our future prospects in the matter of dry changes of
+raiment. On opening our small reserve, of which the mate had charge,
+I found that sad havoc had been made in the precious articles we had
+been so hopefully depending upon for comfort and consolation at the
+end of our soaking march. The last efforts of our generally rather
+useless dhobie had been brought to bear upon our present equipment. The
+massive brass smoothing-iron and its owner had alike done their best
+to start us creditably in life with the only clean linen we were
+likely to behold for many weeks, and now nothing remained of the
+first instalment of these spotless results, but a wringing mass of
+wet and dirty linen. The sun, however, coming out opportunely to our
+assistance, we made the best of our misfortune by spreading out our
+small wardrobe to the greatest advantage in its rays. Our guide, who
+by the way appeared to know nothing whatever about the path, proceeded
+to unroll his turban, and divesting himself of his other garments,
+took to waving his entire drapery to and fro in the breeze, with a
+view to getting rid of the superfluous moisture. Leaving him to this
+little amusement, in which he looked like a forlorn and shipwrecked
+mariner making signals of distress, I repaired to a torrent close by,
+and after a satisfactory bathe in the cold snow water, and very nearly
+losing the whole of my personal property in the rushing stream, donned
+the few dry articles I was possessed of, and proceeded to pick out
+our camping ground. We fixed it among the scattered cottages of the
+little village of Gundisursing, and while waiting for the main body,
+stayed our appetites with the few apricots we managed to discover on
+the already rather closely picked trees.
+
+Got breakfast at two P.M. just as the rain began to come down upon us
+again. The supplies procurable here were flour, milk, fowls, and eggs;
+butter, however, was not forthcoming.
+
+JULY 29. -- Marched early after enjoying a drier night than I had
+anticipated from the look of the evening and the fine-drawn condition
+of our tent.
+
+Our road continued up a beautifully wooded and watered valley, and
+reaching a gorge in the mountains, about five kos from our start, we
+halted at a log hut a little way beyond a wooden settlement dignified
+by the name of Gugenigiera.
+
+Here we had a bathe in the rushing snow torrent, a curious combination
+of pain and pleasure, but the latter considerably predominating,
+particularly when it was all over.
+
+After breakfast we sent the coolies on again, intending to halt three
+kos off; however, on reaching the ground, they unanimously requested
+to be allowed to go on to the village of Soonamurg, the halting-place
+shown on our route. It was altogether considerably over a Sabbath-day's
+journey, being nine kos of a bad mountain-path; but as no supplies
+whatever were procurable short of it, we held on our course. After
+leaving our halt, the path led us close to the torrent's edge, and
+the gorge narrowing very much, we were completely towered over in our
+march by gigantic peaks of rock, blocks of which had come down from
+their high estate at some remote period of their existence, and now
+occupied equally prominent though humbler positions in the torrent's
+bed below. Occasionally they presented themselves in our actual path,
+and at one place we found that our course was blocked completely, the
+inaccessible mountain side descending precipitously to the torrent,
+and leaving us no option but to take to the water, roaring and boiling
+as it was. Our guide went first with great deliberation and groping
+his way with a stick, and after an ineffectual attempt to scale the
+rock above, F. and I also unwillingly followed his example. The water
+was piercingly cold as it swept against us, and the pain was so great
+that we were glad to blunder over as quickly as possible, without
+taking very much trouble about picking our steps. After passing
+this in safety we came suddenly upon a band of hill-men with their
+loads, from Thibet; they were the first natives we had encountered,
+and wild and weird-looking savages they appeared as they congregated
+about us, gibbering to each other in their astonishment at our sudden
+appearance. With them, was a strange-looking bullock, with long black
+mane and tail, and hind quarters like a horse, which they apparently
+used for carrying their merchandize. To-day we passed the first snow
+since leaving the valley, although in the distance there was plenty
+of it to be seen.
+
+Nothing could exceed the beauty of the view as we approached our
+intended halting-place. Having crossed the torrent by a wooden bridge,
+the mountains we had been winding through showed out in all their
+grandeur, while above us, inaccesible peaks, with sharp and fanciful
+projections, nestled their mighty heads among the fleecy clouds, which
+hung about after the recent rains. In advance again, other mountain
+ranges rose behind each other, clothed on their southern faces with
+delicate grass up to the point where the snow lay lightly on their
+rocky top-knots and hid itself among the clouds. From the bridge,
+a rustic structure of entire pine-trees, we passed through an upper
+valley carpeted with the brightest soft green pasturage, until we
+reached the usual little cluster of dilapidated wooden tenements
+which constitute a village in these mountains. This was Soonamurg,
+and crossing another bridge, formed of two single giant pines, we
+came to a halt and pitched our camp close to a huge bank of snow on
+the river's brink. What with our halt, and the badness of the path,
+we did not arrive until five P.M., and as the sun set, the spray from
+our snowy neighbour began to wrap its chilling influence about us,
+and we were glad enough to invest ourselves in some thick cashmere
+wraps of native manufacture, which we had hitherto considered merely
+as standbyes in case of extraordinary cold on mountain tops.
+
+According to general report, however, we only reach THE FOOT OF THE
+MOUNTAINS to-morrow. This sounds well, considering that we have been
+ascending steadily for three days, and have left huge avalanches of
+snow beneath us, not to mention the mountains which we traversed on the
+Peer Punjal side before even entering the Valley of Cashmere at all.
+
+At Soonamurg, where we had been warned that there were no supplies,
+we found large herds of sheep and goats. The, people, however,
+were not at all inclined to sell them, and we had some trouble in
+getting hold of a couple of fine fat sheep from them, for which we
+paid, what was here considered a high price, viz. two rupees, or four
+shillings each. We also enlisted the temporary services of two hairy,
+horny goats, which are to accompany us for the next three marches as
+portable dairies, no supplies being procurable on the road. Butter and
+milk are both forthcoming here in abundance, and occasionally rice is
+to be got. Penetrated with the freshness of the mountain air and the
+freedom of our vagabond life, we came unanimously to the conclusion
+that we had made a wise exchange from the FAR NIENTE DOLCES of
+Sirinugger, and passed a vote of general confidence in the expedition.
+
+JULY 30. -- The wind this morning blew bitterly cold over the snow
+and into our tent, rendering the operation of turning out rather more
+unpopular than usual.
+
+Got off, however, about six, and had a fine bracing march over a
+grassy valley among the mountains. After about four kos, the sun began
+again to assert his supremacy, and, in conjunction with the cold of
+the morning, rather took liberties with our faces and hands. About
+half-way we came upon the merry ring of axes among the trees, and
+found a party of natives constructing a log-house for the benefit of
+travellers towards Ladak. Pitched our camp in a wild spot at the foot
+of the mountains, bathed in the snow water, and had a sheep killed
+for breakfast.
+
+One of the live stock died this morning: an unfortunate hen had been
+sat upon by the ducks, and the result was asphyxia, and consignment
+to the torrent.
+
+JULY 31. -- Finished up the month by a difficult march of four and
+twenty miles, encamping at Pandras about eight P.M. and no longer at
+the FOOT of the mountains. Immediately on leaving our halting-place we
+commenced the ascent of a steep glacier, and for upwards of four miles
+our path lay entirely over the snow: so dense and accumulated was it,
+that even when the sun came out and burned fiercely into our faces
+and hands, there was no impression whatever made on its icy surface.
+
+The glacier was surrounded on all sides by peaks of perpetual snow,
+while parts of it were of such ancient date that, ingrained as it was
+with bits of stick and stones &c., it bore quite the appearance of
+rock. The path was in some places so indistinct, that on one occasion
+I found myself far ahead of the rest of the party, and approximating
+to the clouds instead of to the direction of Ladak. About five kos
+on our journey we halted to let the kitchen come up, and had our
+breakfast on the snow in the company of a select party of marmots. The
+little creatures appeared to live in great peace and seclusion here,
+for they let us up, in their ignorance of fire-arms, to within thirty
+yards of them before scuttling into their habitations. They were all
+dressed in blackish brown suits of long thick fur, and considering
+that they live in snow for at least eight months out of twelve,
+they appeared not the least too warmly clothed. As we went by they
+used to come out and sit up on their hind legs, with their fore
+paws hanging helplessly over their paunches, while, with a shrill
+discordant cry, they bid us good-morning and then hurried back to
+their houses again. Not having our rifles handy they escaped scot
+free, otherwise we might have borrowed a coat from one of them as a
+reminiscence of the country. After another kos or two we began to get
+clear of the glacier; but occasionally we came upon enormous masses of
+snow jammed up on either side of the torrent, the action of the water
+having worn away the centre. The path gradually led us through rocky
+passes, over torrents spanned by snow among the magnificent mountain
+range; and although the march was, rather long for a hill country,
+we found no fault with it until about the last three kos, when it
+was getting late in the day, and although fast becoming hungry,
+we saw no immediate prospect of getting anything to eat.
+
+The last few kos we find invariably longer than their fellows;
+one kos by DESCRIPTION, at this stage of the proceedings, being
+generally equal to two in reality. Asking a native, how far we are
+from a halting-place, is invariably answered in one of two ways:
+either THOREE DOOR, not very far, or NUZDEEK, close. THOREE DOOR means
+generally about four miles, while NUZDEEK may be translated five at
+least. A kos too, which ought to be from one and a half to two miles,
+means here anything between one mile and seven. Delaying as much as
+possible, to let our servants up, we reached Pandras at last, and
+found all the inhabitants turned out to see our arrival; they were
+dressed in long woollen coats and sheepskins, and looked something
+between Russians and Tartars, with a strong flavour of the Esquimaux,
+as depicted by Polar voyagers. As the sun went down it became bitterly
+cold, and we found the natives even, shuddering under the influences
+of the snowy wind, which, setting in from the mountains, appeared to
+blow from all points of the compass at one and the same time. What
+the village of Pandras must be in mid-winter it is hard to imagine,
+so covered with snow as the mountains around it are even in August,
+and so bleak and so barren the valley in which it is situated.
+
+In spite of the cold, we astonished the entire swaddled population
+by taking off our clothes, and bathing in a little crystal stream
+close by: two operations, in all probability, which they themselves
+had never perpetrated within the memory of the oldest inhabitant,
+This feat accomplished, we were much astonished by the arrival of a
+RARA AVIS, in the shape of a British traveller, from the direction
+of Ladak. He turned out to be an officer of the Government survey,
+now being carried on in the mountains, and we took the opportunity
+of deriving from him all the information we could, relative to the
+prospect before us. He strongly recommended us to go to the monastery
+of Hemis, beyond Ladak, and also to the Lakes, but the latter would
+appear to be beyond the limits of our time. The only natives we had met
+during our unusually long march to-day, were four hairy-looking savages
+from the interior, from whom, after much difficulty, I succeeded
+in purchasing an aboriginal tobacco-pouch, flint, and steel, all
+combined in one, paying for the same about three times its actual and
+local value, viz. two rupees. They were dressed in long woollen coats,
+with thick bands of stuff rolled round their waists; and all four had
+bunches of yellow flowers stuck in their caps, and pipes, knives,
+tobacco-pouches, &c. hung round their girdles. Their shoes were of
+the Esquimaux pattern, the soles sheepskin, coming up all round the
+front of the foot, where they were joined by woollen continuations --
+shoes, socks, and leggings, being thus conveniently amalgamated into
+one article of apparel.
+
+AUGUST 1. -- On the road a little later than usual, all hands being
+tired after yesterday's exertions. The path to-day lay among huge
+boulders of rock, which had come down as specimens from the mountains
+above, and after a short march of five kos, we reached Dras, a little
+assemblage of flat-roofed houses, with a mud fort about half a mile
+from it, in the valley. This was built with four bastions and a ditch
+scarped with paving-stones, which surrounded it on all sides except
+one, where it was naturally defended by the torrent. On the road we
+passed a curious bridge, built entirely of rope manufactured from
+twigs of trees. The cables thus formed were swung across the torrent,
+from piles of loose stones, in a most scientific way, though not one
+calculated to inspire confidence in any traveller with weak nerves who
+might have to trust himself to its support. It appeared, nevertheless,
+a most serviceable structure, and was decidedly picturesque. At Dras
+we were able to get all supplies except fowls.
+
+AUGUST 2. -- Having a long and up-hill march before us, we were up and
+dressed by moonlight. Outside the village, we came upon two curious
+old stones, standing about six feet high, upright, and carved in the
+way we had already seen at the ruins of Pandau and elsewhere. These
+stones were of irregular form, and carved on three sides, and the
+designs, though much worn, were distinctly traceable. They represented,
+apparently, a male and female figure, standing about five feet high,
+and surrounded by three smaller figures each. Like all the other
+sculptured figures we had seen, they were innocent of clothes, with
+the exception of the rope, or very scant drapery, which ran across
+their ancles and up either side to the shoulders.
+
+Leaving these, we passed through a wild and rugged valley among the
+mountains, cultivated in patches, and watered by numerous little
+sparkling crystal streams. At short intervals, there were little
+settlements of mud huts, built, Tartar fashion, one on top of another,
+and peopled by a few miserable-looking natives, who appeared, in
+their woollen rags, to be cold, even in the middle of this summer's
+day. The few travellers we met during our march were flat nosed,
+heavy-looking creatures, with Chinese skull-caps and pig-tails,
+and were employed in conveying salt to Cashmere, packed in bags of
+woven hair, and laden on cows and asses as weird and strange-looking
+as their owners. About five kos off, we called a halt for breakfast,
+and reached Tusgam about four P.M.
+
+Here we found a few ARBOR VITAE, and other shrubs, in bad health,
+the first of the tree species we had encountered since ascending
+the glacier.
+
+AUGUST 3. -- Struck our camp at sunrise, and crossing the torrent,
+which still accompanied us, descended the Pass by a slight
+decline. During the day we passed through numerous gorges, studded
+with giant masses of rock, and bounded on all sides by rugged and
+inhospitable mountains. We only saw one village, and that some way
+off the road -- Kurroo, the guide called it. Breakfasted under an
+overhanging rock on the mountain side, just where our path was, hemmed
+in by the torrent, and were disturbed during our repast by several
+volleys of stones which rattled down over us from above. They were set
+free by the melting of some large masses of snow, which, being covered
+with sticks and dirt, we had not noticed when we chose our breakfast
+parlour so close to their uncomfortable proximity. To-day we met
+more salt-carrying parties -- uncouth-looking savages in pig-tails,
+speaking a language that not one of our party could understand. We
+also encountered an original-looking gold-washing association of
+five, who were wending their way towards the snow with their wooden
+implements. They were all also weighted with bags of grain, to keep
+them alive during their search. Their labour consists in sifting
+the fine sand which comes down in the snow-torrents, charged with
+minute particles of gold; and the proceeds, from the appearance of
+"the trade," would not seem to be very great. They say it amounts
+only to a few annas a day, but would probably not allow to the full
+amount for fear of being taxed.
+
+At our breakfast-halt we saw the most primitive specimen of a smoking
+apparatus probably ever invented. It consisted of a dab of mud stuck
+in a hole of a tree, about five feet from the ground. Two small sticks,
+inserted in this from above and below and then withdrawn, had evidently
+served to form the smoke passage; while the bowl as evidently had
+been fashioned by the simple impression of a Thibetian thumb, the
+whole forming, for the use of needy travellers, as permanent and
+satisfactory a public pipe as could well have been devised. It had
+just been in requisition before we passed, for a small quantity of
+newly-burned tobacco lay in the bowl; and a fresh patch of clay on
+the mouthpiece had probably been added, either in the way of general
+repairs or by some extra-fastidious traveller, who preferred having
+a private mouthpiece of his own. After rather a severe march through
+rocky mountain gorges, we reached Chungun, a little oasis of about
+five acres of standing barley, with three or four flat-roofed houses
+dotted about it in the usual Tartar style of architecture. It also
+boasted four poplar-trees, standing in a stiff and reserved little
+row, evidently in proud consciousness of their family importance
+among such rugged, treeless, iron mountains.
+
+It was altogether a refreshing little spot for a halt, after the
+savage scenery we had marched through; and pitching our camp in it,
+we were not long in introducing ourselves to the little brawling
+stream of clear cold water to which it owed its existence.
+
+AUGUST 4. -- Started this morning in a mountain mist. Just outside
+the village we passed the scene of the fall of an avalanche, which
+gave one some faint idea of the enormous forces occasionally at work
+among these mountains. It had taken a small village in its path, and
+over the place where it had stood we now took our way, among a perfect
+chaos of masses of rock, and uptorn earth, trees, &c. The whole ground
+was torn and rent, as by the eruption of volcanoes or the explosion
+of enormous magazines of powder. Passing this, our path continued
+to descend the gorge until about two kos from Chungun, when another
+torrent came down to join its forces to the one we were accompanying;
+and leaving our old companion to roar its way down to join the Indus,
+we proceeded up the valley in the society of our new friend. Passing a
+series of little villages nestled among the rugged rocks, we crossed
+the stream by a tree bridge and causeway, to the Fort of Kurgil,
+where, after a long consultation, we breakfasted. The differences
+of opinion between the guide and the rest of the natives as to the
+distance of a village ahead, where milk and supplies were forthcoming,
+were so wide, some saying three kos, others six, &c., that we finally
+determined upon getting some breakfast before deciding the true
+distance for ourselves. The village Hundas was another most perfect
+little oasis. It was only about five or six acres in extent, under
+the frowning mountain, and was terraced and planted in the neatest
+and most economical way imaginable. The fields were beautifully clean,
+and were quaintly adorned in many instances by huge blocks of rock from
+the mountain above, bigger considerably than the whole of the houses
+of the village put together. Leaving Kurgil, we made a sharp ascent,
+and crossed a plateau bounded by some extremely curious formations
+of rock and sandstone.
+
+The mountains appeared to have been reared on end and cut with a knife,
+as if for the especial benefit of geologists in general, although the
+hues of their many-coloured strata were calculated to attract even
+the most ungeological mind by their brightness. Descending from this
+plateau, we came to a pass dotted with three or four little villages,
+wooded with poplars, and adorned with a few shrubs of different
+kinds. Here every available inch of ground which the grudging rocks
+bestowed was cultivated, although all around, the mud-built native huts
+were broken down and deserted, in such numbers as to give the idea
+of an Irish settlement whose inhabitants had transplanted themselves
+to America. At the last of these little villages, called Pushkoom,
+we pitched our camp, the retainers taking a fancy to the place from
+the promise it gave of abundant supplies.
+
+AUGUST 5. -- Made our first day's halt, and enjoyed it considerably
+-- not the least of its advantages being the immunity it gave us
+from being torn out of bed at grey hours in the morning. The rest
+of the force also appreciated the day of rest, and made themselves
+comfortable after their fashion under our grove of trees.
+
+In the afternoon I ascended the mountain opposite to reconnoitre and
+inspect the curious formation of strata, which formed the principal
+feature of the place.
+
+The ascent I found at first to be over a soft crumbling small stone,
+resembling ashes, but of various colours, and in distinctly-marked
+strata. These were generally of pinkish red and grey, and from them
+in large masses, rose enormous blocks of concrete, in all manner
+of forms and shapes, some like towers and fortifications, and
+others standing out boldly by themselves, worn by the weather into
+holes and ridges. After a considerably difficult ascent, from the
+crumbling nature of the stones, I reached the summit of the mountain,
+and climbing a concrete monster which capped it, had a magnificent
+survey of the mountain ranges and country around. In every direction
+the eye rested on snowy summits, and the wind from them fell coolly
+and refreshingly after the toil of ascent under a hot sun.
+
+Returning through the village, I found the natives hard at work
+collecting their crops of wheat and barley, and stowing them away,
+generally upon the flat tops of their houses. They seemed altogether
+a peaceful, primitive race; but, although their ground appears in
+first-rate order, they themselves are uncultivated and dirty in the
+extreme. The ladies, I am sorry to say, are even rather worse in this
+matter than the gentlemen. The female costume consists generally of
+robes of sheep and goat skins thrown across the shoulders; while
+a long tail of twisted worsted plaits, looking like a collection
+of old-fashioned bell-ropes, forms the chief decoration. This is
+attached to the back hair, and hangs down quite to the heels, where it
+terminates in a large tuft, with tassels and divers balls of worsted
+attached to it. On a hill overhanging the village were the remains
+of a mud fort, which had been pulled down by Gulab Singh in one of
+his excursions to Thibet, with a view to bringing the inhabitants
+to a proper sense of their position, and enforcing the payment of
+his tribute.
+
+The number of battered and deserted huts about the village is accounted
+for by the erratic habits of the people, which induce them never to
+stay long in one set of houses, but to flit from one side of the valley
+and from one settlement to another as the fancy strikes them. That the
+large increase of the flea population among such a race, however, may
+have something to do with their restlessness, seems more than probable.
+
+Except when impressed for government employ, they seldom leave the
+vicinity of their villages, and one old gentleman told me he had
+never been even as far as a place called Lotzum, which is only two kos
+off! The religion seems to be a mixture of Buddhism and Mahomedanism --
+the latter on the decrease as we get farther into the country.
+
+The dress assimilates to the Chinese -- pig-tails and little skull-caps
+being the order of the day. We obtained here good supplies of cow's
+milk, butter, &c., and among other things, some peas. These enabled
+us to celebrate our Sunday's dinner by a "duck and green peas," and
+never since the first invention of ducks could a similar luxury have
+been so thoroughly appreciated.
+
+AUGUST 6. -- Started early again, and marched five kos, through the
+little half-deserted settlement of Lotzum to the village of Shergol,
+where we halted for breakfast. Here we found ourselves fairly among
+the Buddhists, and saw an entirely new description of monuments
+connected with religion, from anything we had yet encountered. The
+most striking objects were a series of tomb-like buildings, without
+entrances, and adorned on all sides by the most hideous effigies,
+rudely executed in coloured mud.[17]
+
+Some of these were men, depicted in bright red on a yellow ground, with
+horrible staring countenances; others women, adorned with numberless
+necklaces and other ornaments; besides these, there were peacocks,
+griffins with human arms, deer, &c., and all in the most flaring
+colours and the very rudest designs.
+
+In the perpendicular face of a rock beyond was a very curious
+monastery, or abode of the Lamas. It was built completely IN the rock,
+and was reached by a natural cavity on the face of the stone.
+
+Jutting out from the upper part, balconies had been erected overhanging
+the precipice, and these were decorated with red copings, spotted with
+white. From the fact of only one of our party knowing the language,
+it was difficult to ascertain from the natives the history of this
+curious abode, but they gave us to understand that it was the home
+of their Lamas, or spiritual preceptors. Here we met another of
+the race of wandering Englishmen, who was wending his way back to
+the valley. He was returning from a shooting tour, was all alone,
+and appeared to have had very hard work indeed of it, if his face
+and hands and generally dilapidated appearance might taken as a
+criterion. Not being quite in such light marching order ourselves,
+we were able to ask him to breakfast, and from his ready acceptance
+and the entire justice he did to our offer, I don't think he could
+have had anything to eat for a week.
+
+He appeared to be a thorough sportsman, and had bagged several head of
+large game, which he showed us. They were principally a kind of wild
+sheep with enormous heads and horns, each of his trophies being almost
+a coolie load in itself. Leaving Shergol, we entered a curious valley
+with rocks of concrete standing out like towers and fortifications,
+and on the summits of these again, airy-looking habitations with
+red streaks adorning them, and entered, as that at Shergol, by holes
+in the face of the rock. These were, or had been, the abodes of the
+Lamas; numbers of them now however, as well as the mud settlements
+at their feet, appeared in ruins, and gave no sign of habitation,
+beyond having about them a number of little flags stuck on long poles,
+which fluttered about in the breeze. According to the account of our
+interpreter, which had to pass from Thibetian into Hindostanee before
+it could clothe itself in English, the cause of this dilapidation
+was the state of wealth and ambition at which the Lamas had arrived,
+and the consequent interposition of Gulab Singh to take down their
+pride and ease them of a little of their wealth, both of which he
+accomplished in the style to which he was so partial, by slaughtering
+some hundreds of them and reducing their airy habitations to ruins.
+
+At a place called Moulwee we came to a curious block of massive rock
+standing close beside the path, with one of the red-topped houses
+built into its side. Above this was a colossal figure with four arms,
+rudely cut on the face of the rock, and above all was perched an
+implement, something after the fashion of a Mrs. Gamp's umbrella of
+large proportions, together with sundry sticks and rags, which seem
+to be the common style of religious decoration in these parts.
+
+The figure was about eighteen feet high, the lower extremities being
+hidden behind the building at the base of the rock. It resembled in
+some measure the sculptures occasionally seen among Hindoo temples,
+but no one appeared to know anything whatever of its origin or history.
+
+Close to this there were an immense number of stones collected
+together, bearing inscriptions in two different characters, one of
+which resembled slightly the Devanagree or Sanscrit. Seeing such a
+profusion about, I appropriated one which happened to be conveniently
+small, and carried it off in my pocket.
+
+The sun being intensely powerful, we called a halt at a village
+named Waka, perched among the rocks, where we found a rattletrap of a
+baradurree, which saved us the trouble of pitching our tents. Opposite
+to us was a curiously worn mass of concrete mountain, which might
+easily have been mistaken for artificial lines of fortification,
+had not the scale been so large as to preclude the possibility of any
+but giants or fairies having been the engineers. At the head of the
+valley there was a fine snow-covered mountain, which helped to keep
+us cool in an otherwise excessively hot position. The cook having
+been rather overcome by his exertions to-day, we got our dinner at
+the fashionable hour of nine P.M.
+
+AUGUST 7. -- Starting from Waka at cock-crow, we marched up a steep
+ascent, through a bleak-looking range of hills, to Khurboo, where we
+bivouacked under a tree and got breakfast about noon.
+
+Afterwards, I examined more minutely the inscription on the
+stones, which, as we advanced into the country, appeared to
+increase considerably in number. They consisted in almost every
+case of the same word, containing five letters in one character
+and six in the other, though I occasionally there were additional
+letters, and sometimes, though very rarely, a stone with a different
+inscription altogether. After a good deal of difficulty I succeeded
+in unearthing a Lama from the village to help me in my researches,
+and a strange-looking dignitary of the Church he turned out to be when
+he did make his appearance. He was a bloated and fat old gentleman,
+dressed in a yellowish red garment of no particular shape, and looked
+altogether more like a moving bundle of red rags than anything else,
+human or divine.
+
+Finding that nothing was required of him more expensive than
+information, he appeared delighted to show off his learning, and by
+means of the sepoy, who was the only one of our party acquainted with
+both Thibetan and Hindoostanee, I ascertained that the words carved
+upon the stones were "Um mani panee," and meant, as far as I could
+make out, "the Supreme Being." As the old gentleman repeated the
+mystic syllables, he bobbed and scraped towards a strange-looking
+monument close by, in an abject, deprecatory way, as if in extreme
+awe of its presence.[18]
+
+On inquiring the origin of this new structure, which was built of
+stones and plaster, and decorated with red ochre, all we could get out
+of him was a fresh string of "Um mani panees," and a further series
+of moppings and mowings, accompanied by a sagacious expression of
+his fat countenance, indicative of the most entire satisfaction at
+the clearness of his explanations, and a sense of his own importance
+as a Lama and an expositor of the doctrines of Buddh.
+
+He also explained the only other inscription which I had seen;
+and according to the interpretation of the sepoy, it ran thus: --
+" As God can do so none other can."[19]
+
+
+
+Not another piece of information could I elicit relative to the
+religion beyond the continual "Um mani panee, Um mani panee!" which
+our friend seemed never tired of mumbling; and although the sepoy was,
+I believe, considerably more adapted for the extraction of reluctant
+supplies of food for our kitchen than for eliciting such information
+on the subject of theology as I was in search of, the real cause of
+failure was more to be attributed to the extreme ignorance of the
+particular pillar of the Church that we had got hold of, than to any
+little literary failings of the interpreter. Such were the quantities
+of the inscribed stones about this place, that in one long wall I
+estimated there must have been upwards of 3,000, and this in a country
+where inhabitants of any sort are few and far between, and where none
+appear who seem at all capable of executing such inscriptions.
+
+AUGUST 8. -- Having suffered a good deal yesterday from the heat
+of the sun, we started this morning by a bright moonlight, at about
+half-past four A.M.
+
+Entering the Pass of Fotoola, we ascended gradually for some five kos,
+and reached a considerable elevation, with a good deal of snow lying
+about on the mountains. A peak on the right was 19,000 feet above
+the sea level, and few of those in our immediate vicinity were under
+17,000 feet. From the summit of this pass we descended about three
+kos to Lamieroo, without passing a single hut or village on the entire
+road. The only natives we encountered were a party of three from Ladak,
+on their way to Cashmere, with a couple of fine native dogs, as a
+present from the Thanadar to some of his visitors. The pedestrians one
+generally meets now are old ladies, carrying conical baskets filled
+with sulphur or saltpetre, in the direction of Cashmere, and so shy
+are they, that on beholding "the white face" they drop their loads as
+if shot, and scuttle away among the mountains, so that, if inclined,
+we could seize upon the Maharajah's munitions of war and carry them
+off without difficulty. On reaching the vicinity of Lamieroo, the
+inscribed stones became more frequent than ever. They were placed
+generally upon long broad walls, the tops of which sloped slightly
+outwards, like the roof of a house. Supplies of uncut stones were also
+in many instances collected together in their vicinity, as if for the
+benefit of any pedestrian who might feel inclined to carve out his
+future happiness by adding to the collection. Lamieroo, as its name
+would seem to imply, appears to have been a headquarters of the Lamas
+and their religion. It contains a curious monastery, or Lamaserai,
+built upon the extreme top ledge of a precipice of concrete stone,
+and at its base (some hundred feet below) the habitations which
+constitute the village are also perched on pinnacles of rock, and
+scattered about, often in the most unlikely spots imaginable. Entering
+the bason formed by the valley in which this curious settlement is
+situated, one opens suddenly by an ascending turn upon the whole
+scene, and anything more startlingly picturesque it would be hard to
+conceive. As the view appears, the first objects presented are a host
+of little monument-like buildings, which line the path and are dotted
+about in groups of from three to twelve or fourteen together. They
+stand about seven feet high, and, as far as we could make out from
+the natives, are erected over the defunct Lamas and other saints of
+the Buddhist religion, after which they become sacred in the eyes
+of the living, and are referred to with scrapings and bowings and
+"Um mani panees" innumerable. In the monastery we found twenty Lamas
+at present domiciled -- fat, comfortable-looking gentlemen  they all
+were, dressed in orange-yellow garments, and not a bit cleaner than the
+rest of the natives, nor looking by any means more learned. Mounting
+the side of the bill, and passing under one of the red-ring pillared
+monuments, we entered the precincts of the monastery, and threading
+some very steep and dark passages in the interior of the rock, were
+received by a deputation of Lamas, with the salutation of "Joo, Joo!"
+
+We were then ushered with great ceremony into their temple, much to the
+awe and consternation of our guides, who apparently expected to see
+us as much overcome by the sanctity of the place as they themselves
+were. The temple we found a small square room with a gallery round
+it, from which were suspended dingy-looking Chinese banners, flowers,
+&c., and at one end were about twenty idols of various designs, seated
+in a row staring straight before them, and covered with offerings of
+Indian corn, yellow flowers, butter, &c. They were for the most part
+dressed in Chinese fashion, and in the dusky light had certainly a
+queer weird-looking appearance about them, which was quite enough
+to overawe our village guide; not being accustomed to such saintly
+society, he could hardly raise his eyes or speak above his breath,
+but stood with hands joined together and in a supplicating posture,
+enough to melt the heart of even the very ugliest of idols. The service
+(by particular desire) began by three of the most unctuous of the
+Lamas squatting down on some planked spaces before the divinities,
+and raising a not unmusical chaunt, accompanying themselves at the same
+time with a pair of cymbals, while two large double-sided tom-toms or
+drums gradually insinuated themselves into the melody. These were each
+fixed on one long leg and were beaten with a curved stick, muffled
+at the end. The performance of the cymbals was particularly good,
+and the changes of time they introduced formed the chief feature
+of the music, and was rather pleasing than otherwise. The service
+as it drew to a close, was joined by a duett upon two enormous brass
+instruments like speaking-trumpets grown out of all decent proportions;
+they were about five feet long, and were placed on the ground during
+the performance, and as two of the fattest of the Lamas operated and
+nearly suffocated themselves in their desperate exertions, the result
+was the most diabolical uproar that ever could have been produced
+since the first invention of music.
+
+Not being able to trust the sepoy in such a delicate undertaking, I was
+unable to get any information from the Lamas on religious subjects;
+and all signs and suggestive pointings, &c. were immediately and
+invariably answered by "Um mani panee," so that we left about as wise
+as we entered. The most interesting object in the place was a library
+of Thibetian books. It consisted of an upright frame divided into
+square compartments, each with a word cut deeply into the wood over
+it, and containing the volumes. These were merely long narrow sheets,
+collected between two boards, also carved on the outside with a name
+similar to the one on the shelf. The characters were beautifully
+formed, and I tried to purchase a small volume, if a thing about two
+feet long could be called so, but without effect. There were about
+thirty of these books in the place, ponderous tomes, carefully covered
+up, and little read, to judge by the quantity of dust collected on
+them. They read us, however, a small portion of one, in a drawling,
+sonorous tone, and with no very great facility.
+
+These books, together with a number of rudely-printed papers, of the
+nature of tracts, one of which I carried away, containing some of the
+characters similar to that on the inscribed stones, appear to have been
+printed at Lassa,[20] the capital of Thibet Proper, and from there,
+the head-quarters of the religion in these parts, all the musical
+instruments and other paraphernalia belonging to the temples are
+also sent. One exception, however, I discovered; this was an empty
+brandy-bottle, bearing a magnificent coloured label, which certainly
+could not have been issued from the Grand Lama's religious stores. To
+the English eye, or rather nose, it had but little of the odour of
+sanctity about it; but here it evidently held a high position, and
+was prominently placed among the temporal possessions of "the Gods."
+
+The women here, and those we met on the road during the last two
+marches, wore a curious head-dress, differing from anything of the kind
+we had before seen. It consisted of a broad band extending from the
+forehead to the waist behind, and studded thickly with large coarse
+turquoises. These generally decrease in size from the forehead, where
+there is a larger turquoise than the others, down to the waist, and
+where the hair ends, it is joined into a long worsted tail terminating
+at the heels. Some of these bands must be of considerable value,
+but the proprietors, although otherwise in complete rags, will not
+part with them for any consideration. One lady whom I accosted on
+the subject, thought I was going to murder her, and took to her
+heels forthwith. In general, however, the fair sex here carefully
+hide both their charms and their turquoises behind the nearest rock
+or the most convenient cover that presents itself, and vanish like
+phantoms whenever they discern a white man in the distance.
+
+The cooking department being delayed by the ascent, we got no breakfast
+to-day until one o'clock, unless a drink of milk and a biscuit on
+arrival could be called by courtesy a breakfast.
+
+AUGUST 9. -- Descended from Lamieroo through a precipitous pass
+for about three kos and a half, to Kulchee, a tidy little village
+of fifteen huts, situated in an oasis of apricot and walnut-trees,
+the first we had encountered since leaving Cashmere.
+
+The people here seemed particularly simple and happy among their waving
+corn-fields and wild fruit-trees, and they were most anxious to supply
+us with apricots and milk, and whatever they could produce. The Gopa,
+or head-man of the village, could speak a little Hindostanee, besides
+being able to read and write his own language in two characters, and
+as he seemed unusually sharp and intelligent, I was very glad to have
+a chat with him while waiting for the commissariat to come up. The
+character most common on the inscribed stones, and one of those now in
+actual use, he told me was Romeeque; the other, the square character
+on the stones, is obsolete, and is called Lantza;[21] while a third
+character, which was the one he was most conversant with, but which
+did not appear upon any of the stones, he called Tyeeque.
+
+His explanation of the stones was, that at the last day a certain
+recording angel, whom he called Khurjidal, would pass through the
+land, and inspecting these mounds of inscribed stones, would write
+down the names of all those who had contributed to the heap. What the
+inscription was he seemed unable clearly to explain, but believed it to
+refer in some manner to the Supreme Being. Whatever it was, all those
+who had contributed their share towards its dissemination, by adding
+stones to the mounds, were certain of future rewards, while those
+who had omitted to do so were as equally certain of punishment.[22]
+
+This explanation of the difficulty caused me some qualms of conscience
+on account of the future prospects of the unfortunate writer whose
+particular stone I had appropriated; but for fear the Gopa himself
+might be the sufferer, I thought it better not to confide my emotions
+to him, but to leave the case in the hands of Khurjidal.
+
+Regarding the state of the people here, he told me that each house
+paid a tax of seven rupees per annum to the Maharajah. This, for
+the entire village, would only give 105 rupees per annum towards the
+enrichment of the Treasury.
+
+The Lamas, who have no ground of their own, appear to be a further
+burden on the population. They are supplied gratuitously with food,
+and appear to be somewhat similar to the Hindoo Fukeer, devoting
+themselves to religion and remaining unmarried. They, however, are
+not so violent in their opinions, and are more conversable, to say
+nothing of being decidedly cleaner.
+
+We breakfasted under the spreading walnuts, among an audience composed
+of the entire village, who seemed much edified and amused by our
+novel manners and customs. Some of our English possessions took their
+fancy immensely. A cut-glass lantern and the label of a bottle of
+cherry-brandy in particular, seemed to them the very essence of the
+rare and curious, and they seemed never tired of admiring them. After
+breakfast we again took the road, and marched three kos to another
+little wooded settlement, called Nurila, situated, like Kulchee,
+upon the Indus, or, as it is here called, the Attock. The noisy,
+dirty torrent, as it here appears, however, gives little promise of
+becoming, as it does in after life, one of the largest of the stately
+Indian rivers.
+
+AUGUST 10. -- From Nurila we travelled along the Indus bank to Suspul,
+a distance of seven kos or thereabouts, stopping for breakfast at
+a village whose entire population consisted of one woman! The river
+being shut in by high and rocky mountains, our path took several most
+abrupt turns and startling ascents and descents in its meanderings, and
+proved altogether the worst for coolies to travel that we had as yet
+encountered. The greater part of our march, too, was under a burning
+sun, whose rays the rocks on either side of us reflected in anything
+but an agreeable way, giving thereby a considerable addition of colour
+to our already well-bronzed countenances. Near Suspul we had to take
+to the water, as a mass of overhanging rock jutted into the river and
+completely obstructed the path; and here one of our coolies, stumbling,
+dropped his load into the torrent. It was a particularly precious part
+of our expeditionary stores, containing, among other things, the small
+stock of brandy which was to last us back to Sirinugger. However,
+on inspecting the contents of the basket, the precious liquid was
+safe and sound, and the only damage was the conversion, PRO TEM. of
+our stock of best lump sugar into MOIST. Suspul we found situated in
+a half-moon shaped break of fertility among the barren mountains. The
+snow was within half an hour's climb, while at the same time the sun
+shone with such power as to blister our faces, and even to affect the
+black part of the expedition, rendered somewhat tender, no doubt, by
+the unusual mixture of heat and cold to which they had already been
+exposed. We encamped here under a grove of apricot and apple-trees,
+which resulted in the production of an apple-dumpling for dinner.
+
+AUGUST 11. -- Leaving Suspul, we ascended considerably to the village
+of Buzgo, another of the cloud-built little settlements so dear to
+the Lamas. The tenements were most picturesquely pitched upon the
+extreme tips of almost perpendicular rocks, and to many of them
+access seemed apparently impossible. Leaving this, we entered upon
+a desert of shifting sand and stones, in the midst of which there
+was an unusually long wall of the inscribed stones, one of which,
+although containing the same inscription, was of a different pattern
+from any I had hitherto discovered.[23]
+
+The next oasis was Egnemo, formed, like all the others, by the
+existence of numerous little springs of crystal water, which enabled
+the waving corn to raise its golden head, and the apricot and the
+apple-tree to flourish in refreshing contrast to the general barrenness
+and sterility which reigned around.
+
+After a grilling march, we enjoyed the delights of a bathe under a
+waterfall of clear cold water, and got our breakfast by eleven o'clock.
+
+To-day, some of our brigade of coolies begin to complain of sickness,
+which sounds alarming, not only to themselves, but to us, for none
+others are now procurable. This results from their making too free
+with unripe apricots, and drinking too many gallons of cold water on
+the road; also, however, from the fact of my having doctored the first
+patient who had presented himself, with a couple of pills and some
+tea -- a piece of generosity which drove all the others nearly mad
+with jealousy and envy, and set them thinking how they also might be
+participators in similar luxuries. The pills, although in this instance
+selected promiscuously from a varied stock, were the great objects of
+desire, and such was their confidence in the virtuous properties of
+the remedy, that the character of the particular bolus that fell to
+their share was to them a matter of no consequence whatever. So great
+a rage is there for medicine among people who have never known the
+luxury of paying for it, that even the blind and deformed continually
+applied to us for it on the road.
+
+AUGUST 12. -- Halted to-day, and gave all hands a day of rest, which
+was rather required after our incessant marching. In the afternoon
+we explored the village, and enjoyed a magnificent sunset behind the
+ranges of distant snowy mountains. The crops here were more backward
+than those met hitherto, although the power of the sun was rather
+on the increase than otherwise, as we advanced. Some of the fields
+were occupied by beans, peas, and wheat, all growing like a happy
+family together.
+
+AUGUST 13. -- Made an unusually early start, this morning, for
+our final march into Ladak. The first part of the journey was up a
+precipitous ascent, and over shifting gravel, which was very trying
+to our already well-worn boots; and it was a relief when, on arriving
+at the summit, we found a long and gradual descent before us, with
+an entirely new panorama of snow-clad mountains extending away
+towards Ladak.
+
+In the distance, close to the river Indus, which here branched out into
+several small and separate streams, there was a high mound, topped with
+buildings, which we made for, under the full impression that it was
+our journey's end: however, on reaching it, and turning confidently
+round the corner, we found nothing but a deserted-looking building,
+surrounded by an immense number of the monuments which the natives
+call Permessur; while, stretched out at our feet, and forming, as it
+were, the bottom of a large basin among the mountains, was a dreary
+desert of glaring, burning sand. The place altogether looked like a
+city of the dead: not a soul appeared in sight, except one solitary
+old woman, who was slowly traversing the weary waste of sands, and
+all around was still and silent as the grave. In order to gain some
+intelligence of our whereabouts, I was obliged to give chase to this
+only inhabitant, and from her I discovered, that to reach Ladak --
+a green-looking speck which she pointed out in the far distance --
+we had to cross the desert sands, and still hold on our course for
+several miles. The sun was by this time high in the heavens, and we
+had already come a longish march, so that by the time I had traversed
+the arid plain under the blinding glare, and reached the green fields
+beyond, it was nearly twelve o'clock, and I had had nearly enough of
+the journey. It was, however, a couple of miles farther to the grove
+of trees, where, under very indifferent shade, travellers are in the
+habit of halting to pitch their camps; and on reaching this, I was
+glad to throw myself down on the grass, and, after a drink of milk,
+and the slight refreshment afforded by a leathery chupattie, to go
+to sleep on the grass, until the arrival of our servants and baggage
+should give us a prospect of breakfast. These made their appearance
+about two P.M., and all hands requiring a little rest from the toils
+of the road, we pitched our camp under the trees, and set ourselves
+to the enjoyment of a few days' halt in the city of Ladak.
+
+
+
+Ladak and the Monastery of Hemis.
+
+The first event after being settled in our new quarters was the
+arrival of a sheep, presented to us by the Kardar, or chief dignitary
+of the town, as a mark of affection and distinction. This, according
+to the strict letter of the law, we should have refused to accept;
+twenty days marching, however, while it had sharpened our appetites,
+had rather diminished our stores. Sheep were not to be got every day,
+and an ill-looking animal which we had succeeded in purchasing at
+Egnemo, had been overcome by the heat of the weather and taken itself
+off on the road. Other supplies, also, were a good deal weakened by
+successive attacks; potatoes had been extinct many days, and the stock
+of ducks, which formed our main stay in case of future difficulties,
+was rapidly succumbing to the knife of the assassin. Under these
+circumstances we felt that we would be in no way justified in hurting
+the Kardar's feelings at the expense of our own, by refusing his
+present, and believing ourselves to be in this instance fit subjects
+for out-door relief, the new arrival was soon swinging about in the
+breeze, a welcome addition to our unfurnished larder.
+
+Having thus ended the struggle between our duty and our feelings,
+we turned our attention to the exploration of the surrounding country.
+
+The town of Ladak, although in a commercial point of view by no means
+a flourishing-looking settlement, was, as far as picturesqueness was
+concerned, everything that could be desired. It was built in the style
+so popular throughout the country -- on pinnacles of rock, and such
+out of the way positions as seemed, of all others, the least adapted
+for building purposes -- immediately outside the town, occupying a
+sort of bason among the surrounding mountains, and was what might
+fairly be called a "city of the dead." It was of considerable extent,
+and was formed of groups of the numerous monumental buildings which
+I have described, and which in a country where the habitations of
+the living appear so few in proportion to those of the dead, form so
+curious and remarkable a feature. These tombs, although by no means
+of very modern date, bear traces, in many instances, of the more
+recently departed of the Buddhist population. Burnt fragments of
+bone, hair, &c., were scattered about in various directions, while,
+collected together in one corner, were the little mounds of mud with
+a rise at one extremity, where the sculptured turban ought to rest,
+which denoted the last resting-place of the Moslem faithful. Meeting
+with the Kardar's chupprassie, I entered into conversation with
+him about the manners and customs of the Thibetians, a subject on
+which he seemed to have very hazy ideas indeed, although not on that
+account at all the less inclined to impart them to one more ignorant
+than himself. His opinion of the inscribed stones was that they were
+all written by the Lamas, but he failed completely in explaining
+for what reason they were collected together. He was aware, however,
+of Khurjidal, who was to inspect them at the last day. The tomb-like
+erections, he said, were considered in the light of gods; the bones and
+ashes of departed Lamas having been pounded up together and deposited
+beneath them, together with such valuables as turquoises, Pushmeena,
+rupees, &c. This fact would perhaps account for their being so often
+in a ruined state -- Gulab Singh having, probably, taken a look at
+their foundations in search of such valuable pickings. The reason my
+informant gave me for the unwillingness of the people, however poor,
+to sell their superabundant ornaments, was that they regarded them as
+sacred, and held them as their own property during their lifetime only;
+on decease the jewels reverted to the possessions of the Church. The
+Lamas are provided, by the custom of dedicating in every family of two
+or more, one to that office; should there be a number of girls in a
+family, all those that do not marry become nuns, and adopt the male
+attire of red and yellow. The nuns, however, seem to be by no means
+kept in confinement; they work in the fields, and one of them enlisted
+with us as a coolie, and brought her load into camp before any of her
+male coadjutors. Among other curious information my friend told me,
+that the Thibetians by no means consider that each man is entitled
+to the luxury of a wife all to himself; but that a family of four
+or five brothers frequently have but one between them, and that the
+system is productive of no ill-feeling whatever among the different
+members.[24] He also pointed out a fact which I had not before noticed,
+viz., that the Thibetians invariably pass to the right hand of these
+piles of stones and other monuments, but for what reason he was
+unable to inform me.[25] Having finished his stock of information,
+which I received thank-fully in default of better, he told me, with
+delightful coolness, that it was the proper thing for me to give him
+a bottle of brandy for the Kardar, and that it would be necessary to
+send also a corkscrew with the bottle, to enable him to get at it! The
+impudence of the request was almost worth the bottle, but brandy
+was too scarce and precious a commodity to justify us in pleasing
+the Kardar, so that all I could do was politely to decline sending
+the corkscrew or the bottle either. In the afternoon we explored
+the Bazaar, where we found abundance of dogs, dirt, and idlers,
+but little else. What little there was in the way of merchandise
+the proprietors seemed utterly indifferent about disposing of, and
+after visiting a few shops we went away in disgust. The people were
+a mixture of Cashmeeries, Chinese, Tartars, Bengalees, and Indians of
+all sorts and sects, and more idle, good-for-nothing looking scoundrels
+I never laid eyes on. One most amusing group of Mahomedan exquisites
+reminded one forcibly of PUNCH'S Noah's ark costumes and Bond Street
+specimens of fashion. They were dressed in exaggerated turbans and
+long white Chogas, or loose coats, which reached down to their heels;
+and, as arm in arm, with gentle swagger, they sauntered through the
+bazaar, they had, in addition to their heavy swellishness, an air of
+Eastern listlessness to which the most exquisite of their European
+prototypes could never hope to attain. On reaching our camp we found
+another traveller had added his little canvas to the scene; it was
+one of the Government Survey, whom the natives invariably designate
+by the comprehensive title of "the Compass Wallahs." Wallah is,
+in Hindostanee, as nearly as possible an equivalent to "fellow,"
+and in explaining the character of this particular order of Wallah,
+the accent is always strong on the second syllable of the compass. The
+Compass Wallah in question we found quite a wild man of the mountains;
+his face, from changes of heat and cold and long exposure, was burnt
+and blistered into all sorts of colours, and, to make his appearance
+more generally striking, he wore as head-dress, a flyaway, puggery,
+or turban of blue cotton, of the most voluminous dimensions and
+wonderful construction imaginable. He gave us an amusing account
+of his operations among the clouds; how he always rode a cow! and
+was so much alone that he at times began to doubt the existence of
+other white men in creation besides himself; how he was SEA sick at
+first, and unable to sleep at night from the great rarification of the
+atmosphere, &c. He joined us during dinner, just in time for a triumph
+of a plum pudding which our cook had unexpectedly produced, and his
+heart was so gladdened and expanded by either the suet, the raisins,
+or the brandy, that he chatted away until the dissipated mountain
+hour of eleven o'clock, when we sent him off to bed, much pleased
+with his entertainment, and again reassured, at least for a time,
+of the continued existence, not only of white men in the world, but
+of their plum puddings. Among other statistics he gave us the height
+of Ladak, as 11,000 feet, and that of the recently discovered monarch
+of the mountains, now set at rest as belonging to the Himalayan range,
+as being 29,003 feet above the level of the sea.[26]
+
+AUGUST 15. -- Employed all the morning in endeavouring to procure
+supplies of tea, and after unearthing a queer-looking package
+containing seven pounds and a half, we differed about the price,
+the proprietor demanding twenty-four shillings, or about twice its
+local value.
+
+AUGUST 16. -- There being no tidings of the arrival of expected
+caravans, we marched for the monastery of Hemis, crossing the Indus
+immediately after leaving Ladak, and following it up towards its
+source. Outside the town we passed a mound of the inscribed stones,
+which must have been nearly a quarter of a mile in length, and probably
+contained as many as 30,000. The left bank of the river, which
+thus formed our path, was a continuation of detached huts, forming
+no regular villages, and affording very little shade or apparent
+prospect of shelter for man or beast. The right bank, however, was
+studded with picturesque-looking little villages, built generally on
+rocky summits, and surrounded by tombs and Mani panees, to an extent
+almost to rival the towns themselves in size and importance. About
+nine miles on the road we halted for breakfast, on the confines of a
+desert of smooth stones, from which the heat ascended like vapour,
+and made our eye-balls ache again. There was no shade in sight,
+however, and milk was here forthcoming, so we made the best of a bad
+situation, and, after our repast, lost no time in getting again under
+weigh. After a hot tramp over a perfect desert, we reached the wooded
+little village of Chunga, where, as it was getting late, we called
+a halt and pitched our camp. All hands being tired by their march,
+we got our dinner at nine o'clock.
+
+AUGUST 17. -- Started early for Hemis. From the formation of the
+mountains in which it is situated, the entrance to the village opens
+upon the traveller suddenly and as if by magic; and as we tramped
+this morning along the parched and sandy desert, welcome indeed was
+the unexpected vision of trees and rushing water which the sharp turn
+presented to our astonished gaze.
+
+The entrance to the gorge in which the monastery is situated was, as
+usual, quite covered with Mani panees and walls of inscribed stones;
+one of the former was studded with human skulls, and otherwise
+ornamented, in a way that proved the vicinity of some stronghold of
+Lama talent, though not perhaps of the very highest order.
+
+The monastery we found situated in a beautifully-wooded valley,
+thickly planted, and having a dashing little torrent foaming through
+the centre.
+
+It was built as usual, on the very face of the rock, and towering
+above it was an airy fort, ensconced among a number of crows'-nest
+habitations, perched about apparently with more regard to effect
+than comfort.
+
+While waiting for the kitchen to come up, we inspected the monastery,
+and were waited upon by half-a-dozen Lamas, who showed us through the
+various temples of the gods. Originally containing some two hundred
+Lamas, its numbers had now dwindled down, by their account, to fifteen
+or sixteen. We, however, saw actually more than that number ourselves
+while wandering through the building.
+
+They owned to having treasure in the monastery to the amount of three
+lakhs of rupees ([pound sterling]30,000), but of this we saw small
+signs during our inspection.
+
+Some of the divinities were, however, provided with vestments of
+cloth of gold, and were seated upon thrones, studded with would-be
+precious stones. Others were accommodated with large silver bowls,
+placed on pedestals, filled to the brim with "ghee," or rancid butter,
+and unless blest with inordinate appetites, these, from their enormous
+size, might fairly last them all till doomsday. We were altogether
+conducted through four temples, each inhabited by a number of Chinese
+figures, seated in state, with offerings of corn, flour, rice and
+ghee, &c. before them, and these were generally served in valuable
+cups of china, and precious metals. Hanging from the ceiling and
+the walls around were scrolls, decorated in the Chinese fashion,
+with figures of tightly-robed, narrow-eyed ladies and gentlemen,
+scattered about with the usual perspective results.
+
+Some of these scrolls were decorated with scenes which it would take
+hours to decipher and appreciate. One, in particular, of the last day,
+was covered with innumerable little figures, and appeared well worthy
+of a close inspection.
+
+The bad people might here be seen, falling into the hands of some of
+the most disrespectable looking monsters I have ever beheld; while
+the good were sitting up in a bunch, looking on at the dreadful scene,
+in a satisfied and undisturbed way, beautiful to behold.
+
+The most curious things in the place, however, were the praying wheels,
+which I here saw for the first time. They were little wooden drums,
+covered round the sides with leather, and fitted vertically in niches
+in the walls.[27] A spindle running through the centre, enabled them
+to revolve at the slightest push. They were generally in rows of
+eight and ten, and well thumbed and worn they looked, but others of
+larger dimensions were placed by themselves, decorated with the words
+"Um mani panee," in the Lanza character, all round the barrel.
+
+In the vicinity of the monasteries were various small temples,
+probably chapels of ease, rudely decorated with grotesque figures,
+in red and yellow, and having queer-looking structures fastened on
+the top of them, generally a trident, with tufts of hair attached,
+or strips of coloured calico, horns of animals, and other rude devices.
+
+In one place we came upon a praying-wheel, turned by water, but I was
+unable to ascertain whether the benefit accrued to the water, or to
+the possessor of the stream, or to the public generally. Sometimes
+the people carry portable wheels, and one old gentleman we met was
+provided with a huge brass one, with a wooden handle. It was suspended
+from his neck, in company with a collection of square leather charms,
+fastened by a string to his coat.
+
+On my asking him what the structure meant, he immediately begun to
+set it in motion, and piously ejaculating "Um mani panee," passed on
+without another word, but in evident pity for my benighted spiritual
+condition.
+
+Among other curious sights, we saw one of the Lamas sitting at a
+chapel door, having, before him seven little brass pots. In each
+of these there was a letter of the words "Um mani panee," and the
+pots being filled with water, he was employed in strewing each with
+a few grains of corn from a heap at his side, keeping up at the
+same time a loud mournful chant, and swaying himself to and fro,
+in time with the music. To have inquired the meaning of this would
+only have again resulted in the comprehensive information contained
+in "Um mani panee," so we rested in our ignorance, and passed on,
+much to the relief of the chaunter. After going all through this
+curious monastery, we repaired to our tents, which had arrived in
+the interim, and which we found pitched pleasantly among the trees,
+within a few yards of the torrent. After a bathe and breakfast, we
+came unanimously to the conclusion that the water was so cold, and
+the air so cool and refreshing, we could not do better than halt for
+a couple of days, under the protection of the Church, before again
+taking the road on our homeward route.
+
+AUGUST 18. -- Out early for a day's stalk over the mountains, after
+deer, or anything there might be forthcoming. One of the coolies being
+a "shikaree," or what they call in Ireland a "sportsman," I took him
+with me, and with another to carry some breakfast, off we started at
+about five A.M. The ascent at first was so abrupt, that, although in
+pretty good walking condition by this time, I found myself halting very
+frequently to admire the prospect. Having attained the greatest height
+actually attainable, we spied quietly grazing, about half a mile off,
+some half dozen little animals, which my "sportsman" declared to be
+Ibex, and down Aye went again, best pace, with a view to making a
+circumbendibus, to get behind them. With a view to accomplish this,
+we had to pass across some very difficult ground, and at last came to
+a smooth face of rock, with nothing whatever about it to hold on by,
+and, moreover, an overhanging ledge, which fairly seemed to bar all
+further progress.
+
+The coolie, however, whose every toe was as useful to him as
+a finger, managed to scramble up; and not to be outdone, I also
+attained some height, when, holding on fly-fashion, and clinging to
+the rock with my fingers and grass shoes, suddenly the pole which
+partly supported me slipped away, and my whole attention had to be
+directed to again reaching the ground in as soft and comfortable a
+manner as possible. In this I succeeded beyond my expectations, and,
+a second attempt being more successful, finally reached the top. On
+attaining our hardly-earned post of vantage, however, there was no
+sign of our friends, but, suddenly, on the mountain below us a herd
+of about five-and-twenty more appeared to our delighted view. They
+were standing gazing up at us in astonishment, and for some moments
+we remained fixed and motionless, hoping to be taken for the stones we
+were habited in imitation of. Then, crouching down and crawling along
+as if on velvet, down we went again, and after another long and trying
+stalk, over broken ground formed apparently of small slates placed
+edgeways, and crumbling rocks, whose slightest fall would have been
+destruction to our plans, we attained a rock about two hundred yards
+from the herd, and paused for breath once more. They were lying about
+sunning themselves, with an outlying sentinel posted here and there
+on either side of them on the look-out; and seeing an eligible spot
+some fifty yards nearer, we stole along to reach it. We were not,
+however, destined to take this unfair advantage of the enemy. Just
+as we had half crossed the distance, an ill-fated, abominable little
+fragment of rock suddenly broke off, and at its first bound away went
+the herd like lightning over the precipitous rocks, and with a little
+chirrupping noise like sparrows, were in a few seconds well out of
+range of bullets. As the natives express it, "they became wind,"
+and we were left behind our rock, looking, after all our toils, to
+say the least of it, extremely foolish. A shot which I took at some
+250 yards was more to relieve ourselves by making a noise than with
+any hopes of bringing down one of the light-heeled little creatures,
+for their bounding powers put all correctness of aim at that range
+out of the question.
+
+The next part of the programme was breakfast, but alas! there were
+no signs in any direction of the bearer of our supplies, and I now
+recollected that the rock which had so puzzled us would be quite
+inaccessible to the coolie and his precious charge, without which
+he himself was useless. All we could do was to ascend a high peak of
+mountain, in hopes that the breakfast would ascend another, and that
+we could then exchange signals of distress and obtain relief. However,
+after reaching our look-out station, which took us some climbing,
+we could discern nothing around us bearing the slightest resemblance
+to a coolie, and our hopes began to descend below zero.
+
+It was now about twelve o'clock, and taking advantage of the produce
+of the country, I made a light breakfast off two stalks of rhubarb,
+and tying a handkerchief to the top of my pole as a signal, lay down
+in the very minute portion of shade procurable under a midday sun,
+and indulged in the pleasures of imagination, conjured up by absent
+chicken legs and cold chupatties. After a long wait, I came to the
+conclusion that the two pieces of rhubarb were entirely insufficient
+to continue the day's work upon, so I reluctantly gave the order to
+retreat upon our camp, and turned from thoughts of breakfast to those
+of dinner. My grass shoes were by this time completely worn out by the
+pointed rocks and flinty ground we had traversed, and my spare ones
+were in the society of the cold chicken and the chupatties, so that
+I was soon walking in nothing but socks. Before long, this portion of
+my property was also run through, and I was finally obliged to borrow
+the sportsman's pointed slippers, in which I managed to get along over
+the ruggedest piece of creation I ever traversed, and reached our camp
+about three P.M. Tired, hungry, and burnt by the sun, a bathe in the
+rushing torrent and a visit to the kitchen were soon accomplished,
+and I then learnt that the coolie, being stopped by the rock, had
+come back at once, and, having been again immediately packed off by
+F. to search for us, had not been since heard of.
+
+AUGUST 19. -- Found the Q.M.G. to-day laid up with fever and influenza,
+and administered some quinine pills to him, besides ordering a steed
+to carry him on to Ladak to-morrow.
+
+Explored the Lama's habitations and temples, and saw some very curious
+carvings and paintings on stones, some of them not altogether in the
+Church order of design.
+
+Some of the ceilings were beautifully decorated, and must have cost
+a good deal of money in their day, but they were now rapidly falling
+into decay.
+
+During the day we had a good opportunity of seeing the Lamas go through
+their private devotions. The operation appeared simple enough. Each
+as he entered the court and passed along the rows of wheels, by
+simply stretching out his arm set the whole of them in motion,
+at the same time repeating "Um mani panee" in a dolorous voice to
+himself. Coming then to the large wheel with painted characters,
+he gave it an extra energetic spin, which sufficed to keep it in
+motion for several minutes, and having thus expended his energies
+for the time being, he again disappeared as he had come. One of the
+smaller wheels I found in a state of neglect and dilapidation as
+to its outer case, and thinking it a good opportunity to discover
+something as to the meaning of the system in general and of "Um mani
+panee" in particular, I quietly abstracted the inner contents, in
+full assurance that it would never be missed; that the wheel itself
+would go round as merrily as ever, and that, as far as the prayers
+were concerned, there were still sufficient left behind, considering
+the reduced state of the monasteries, to satisfy the conscience even
+of the devoutest of Lamas.[28]
+
+As I passed out, however, a huge black dog, which was chained up in the
+yard, seemed, by the rabid manner in which he made feints at my legs,
+to be quite aware of what I had done, and he snapped and howled, and
+strained and tore at his chain as I went by, just as if he detected
+the holy bundle sticking out of my pocket, and thoroughly understood
+my consequent guilty appearance. The principal designs upon the stones
+here -- some of which, in colour, were in wonderful preservation --
+appear to be cross-legged effigies of Buddha, seated in that state
+of entire abstraction from all passions and desires, which seem to
+be the end and object of Buddhists' aspirations.
+
+A certain rotundity of form, however, and appearance of
+COMFORTABLENESS, rather tend to suggest that the pleasures of the
+table at least have not quite been renounced among the other pomps
+and vanities of Buddhist life.
+
+AUGUST 20. -- Started for Ladak again, nominally at some desperately
+early hour of the morning, but in reality at about half-past five,
+the sun not shining upon our position until late, in consequence of
+our proximity to the mountains. Mr. Rajoo being still indisposed,
+and, in his own belief, dying, we mounted him upon a hill horse,
+where he looked like a fly on a dromedary. Halted for breakfast half
+way, and had a hot wearisome march afterwards into Ladak, the sun
+being intensely powerful, and the greater part of the journey over
+a glaring desert of shifting sand and loose stones. So deep was this
+in some places, that it was with difficulty we could drag our steps
+along. The latter part seemed perfectly interminable, and not until
+four o'clock, burnt, tired, and parched with thirst, did we reach our
+old halting place. Since our departure, the Thanadar had changed his
+fancy as to brandy, and now requested a bottle of vinegar. This we
+promised in the event of his procuring us some tea, our stock being
+low, and none other procurable without government assistance. By this
+means we obtained a decorated bundle of pale-looking tea for thirteen
+rupees, or 1L. 6S. The bundle contained 71/2 lbs., so that the price
+was heavy enough, considering our proximity to the land of tea.
+
+My shoe-leather being in a doubtful state, I invested in a pair of the
+sheepskin Chino-Esquimaux ones of local manufacture, but soon found
+that the old saw of "nothing like leather" was quite a fallacy, when
+the leather savoured so strongly of mutton as that composing my new
+boots did. In the morning they were absent, and it was not until after
+much search that the mutilated remains of one foot was discovered,
+gnawed and sucked out of all semblance to Blucher, Wellington,
+or any other known order of shoe or boot, while the other appeared
+irretrievably to have gone to the dogs. Our lantern here was also
+carried off by some of the canine race, and left beautifully cleaned,
+but unbroken, not far from our tent door.
+
+Finding that there was no news of caravans, or probability of their
+arriving, we determined upon striking our camp, and retiring again
+towards Cashmere, having attained the furthermost point which the
+limits of our leave allowed.
+
+
+
+A Retreat to the Valley.
+
+AUGUST 21. -- Left Ladak about four P.M. and halted for the night on
+the confines of the desert-plain at Pitok. On the road I succeeded --
+much to my astonishment -- in getting a necklace of bits of amber,
+and a turquoise, from an old lady, whom I found at her cottage-door
+weaving goat's-hair cloth. She took two rupees for the family jewels,
+and, when the bargain was struck, seemed in a desperate fright at
+what she had done, looking about in every direction to see that no
+avaricious old Lama was near, nor any of her gossiping acquaintance,
+who would be likely to tell THE MINISTER of what she had done.
+
+For the first time during our travels, the retainers turned a little
+rusty to-day. The scarcity of the tobacco supply and dislike to quit
+the amusements of city life were the chief causes, and the consequence
+was that the cook, who was sent off at two o'clock to have dinner
+ready for us on arrival, made his appearance about sunset and gave us
+dinner at nine P.M. The Q.M.G. and the Sipahee sauntered in afterwards
+at their leisure, having left the coolies and ourselves to pitch the
+camp how and where we liked. Smarting under these indignities, and
+knowing that the Sipahee was the head and front of the offending, I,
+in a weak moment, committed an assault upon that ferocious warrior. The
+consequence was that the representative of "The Army," feeling its
+dignity insulted in the face of the populace, immediately set to work
+upon the unfortunate natives, and assaulted even the gopa, or kotwal,
+of the village; and so severely was one of the coolies handled, that
+I was obliged to interfere in the cause of peace, and not without
+difficulty succeeded in stopping the stone I had thus so unwittingly
+set rolling.
+
+This same Sipahee rejoiced in the name of Dilour Khan, which might be
+loosely translated the "Invincible One," and such we always called
+him. He was a fierce-looking soldier beyond measure to look at,
+and very terrible among the miserable Thibetians, making desperate
+onslaughts upon the unfortunate boors, to obtain supplies fit, as he
+said, for the Grandees, the Cherishers of the Poor, the Protection
+of the World, &c.
+
+The style of head-dress generally worn among the natives facilitated
+his efforts immensely in these matters; for, throwing aloft his
+sword, and relinquishing his umbrella, he used to seize suddenly
+upon a pig-tail, and, handling it after the fashion of a bell-rope,
+proceed to insist upon the production of impossible mutton and other
+delicacies in a way that was almost always successful, even under
+circumstances apparently the most hopeless.
+
+He had a sharp, detonating way, too, of delivering a volley of
+Thibetian, at the same time curling up his fierce-looking moustaches
+and whiskers, and gesticulating with both arms, which always had
+a great effect, the more so that the expletives were generally in
+Hindostanee, and not being understood, were all the more terrible to
+the unfortunate pig-tails on that account.
+
+AUGUST 22. -- Left for Egnemo, over our old ground, which, wanting
+the attraction of novelty, appeared to us rather longer than on
+first acquaintance. The sun, too, was more powerful than ever and
+the deep soft sand more trying, so that we were glad enough to get
+under shelter at our journey's end. Here we found the apricot trees,
+which were teeming with fruit when we passed, completely stripped
+and bare, and it was with difficulty we got a few from the houses
+for preserving purposes.
+
+AUGUST 23. -- Made an early start, and arrived at Suspul after a
+pleasant march, a cool breeze from the mountains fanning our faces
+the entire way. Here we pitched upon a cool and shady camping-ground,
+close to a rushing torrent, where we were soon immersed in ice-cold
+water. While making a short cut back to breakfast up a precipitous
+face of concrete stone, I very nearly finished my wanderings in Thibet
+with an unpleasantly abrupt full stop. I had nearly reached the top,
+which was higher than I had imagined, when the treacherous lumps
+of stone to which I was clinging, came away in my hands, and, with
+a tremendous crash, down I came in a perfect storm of dirt, dust,
+and stones, very much to the fright and astonishment of F. and the
+mate, who were quietly finishing their toilet below. A broken bone
+in such a place as Egnemo would have been a serious misfortune, and
+it was therefore a matter of considerable satisfaction to find that,
+although half-stunned and doing but little credit in appearance to
+my recent washing, I had escaped with no worse injuries than torn
+hands and what the doctors would call abrasions of the side and elbow.
+
+AUGUST 24. -- Marched as usual, and reached Nurila about noon. From
+the hilliness of the road and the laziness of the coolies combined,
+they did not arrive until two P.M., so that we breakfasted at three
+o'clock. To occupy the time, however, we took advantage of the
+products of the country, and set to work upon a quantity of apples,
+and having both thirst and hunger to assuage, I think we got through
+about sixteen each before the kitchen appeared. While bathing we were
+suddenly caught in a pouring shower of rain, which obliged us to snatch
+up our only garments and beat a hasty and not to say dignified retreat
+into a little den of a water-mill, where we crouched until it was
+over. After the rain had stopped, a curious fall of stones and rocks
+took place down the precipitous face of mountain which bounded the
+opposite side of the Indus to our camp. The noise and the commotion
+the stones made in their descent, reminded one exactly of volleys of
+grape, and to any traveller unfortunate enough to get in their way,
+the results would probably have been quite as disastrous.
+
+Our larder having been low of late, we effected the purchase of a
+sheep here, for which we paid two shillings.
+
+AUGUST 25. -- Left for Lamieroo. The khitmutgar, having reported
+himself sick to-day, we mounted him on a pony, the efficiency of that
+branch of the service being of vital importance to the future prospects
+of the expedition. Having discovered, by yesterday's experience, that
+nature abhors a vacuum, and no apples being forthcoming at Lamieroo,
+we halted for breakfast at the village of Kulchee.
+
+Here I tried hard to purchase a curiously contrived praying-wheel
+from an old Lama, but without success. My old acquaintance, the gopa,
+however, brought me one for sale, but it was in such a dilapidated
+state, and so highly valued as church property, that I let him keep
+his shaky religious curiosity at his own price. Leaving Kulchee,
+we crossed the Indus at a mud fort, and bid the roaring, dirty river
+a final good-bye. Near this the bhistie and khitmutgar, journeying
+together, lost the path, and found themselves well on the road to
+Iscardo before discovering their mistake. The road to-day, like
+all our return journeys, appeared twice the length it did on first
+acquaintance. The hills, too, were very severe on the coolies, and
+it was fortunate we halted for breakfast on the road.
+
+At Lamieroo, we found a great change in the temperature; a strong cold
+breeze blowing, and a general winteriness prevailing, which affected
+our retainers considerably more than it did ourselves. The Q.M.G. in
+particular, not having entirely recovered his health, and being low in
+the article of tobacco, still believed himself to be dying, and was
+most unusually low-spirited and down in the mouth. As it threatened
+rain, we pitched our camp close to an old serai, in order to allow
+our servants to ensconce themselves under a roof, and to derive the
+full benefit of their wood fire, which they lost no time in kindling.
+
+AUGUST 26. -- Exactly a mouth to-day since leaving Sirinugger. The
+live stock begin to show signs of time on their constitutions;
+the four surviving ducks wandering about, with a melancholy sort of
+consciousness that the mysterious fate that has overtaken their late
+companions is also hanging over themselves, and appearing entirely
+changed in consequence from the joyous birds they used to be on first
+starting for their Thibetian travels. To-day being Sunday, we all
+enjoyed a rest; and the feeling on waking at dawn, and remembering that
+we were not to be rudely turned out of bed, was quite a delightful
+and novel sensation. The wind, too, was unusually chill, and as it
+made nothing of the trifling obstacle presented by the walls of our
+tent, we were some time before we finally emerged from among the
+bed-clothes. The people here we found employed in PULLING their corn
+crops, and stacking them upon the roofs of their houses. At Suspul,
+although much hotter than here, they had hardly begun to take in
+their crops, and at Ladak, the harvest was untouched when we left.
+
+In the afternoon, while rambling about the crow's nests of
+Lamieroo, I discovered by chance a very curious temple in course of
+construction, and a number of Lamas and Zemindars superintending the
+proceedings. The principal decorative work was being carried on by a
+Chinese-looking, pig-tailed artist, evidently not a local celebrity,
+who was embellishing the walls most profusely with scenes, portrayed
+in the purest style of pre-Raphaelite colouring. The figures in these
+had only been furnished with flesh-coloured spots where their faces
+were to be, and the foreign "pigtail" was employed, seated on a high
+platform, in furnishing them with features and casts of expression
+in accordance with the spirit of the scenes which they helped
+to compose. This he did certainly with very great skill, and the
+operation was a most interesting one to watch. The floor was covered
+with pigments, and materials of all kinds, and the little community,
+in the midst of the surrounding apparent solitude, were working away
+like a hive of bees. They appeared to have a hive-like dislike also
+of the approach of a stranger, and one old Lama, with a twisted mat
+of hair erected on the top of his head -- a drone of the hive --
+took a particular dislike to me, and scowled savagely as I quietly
+examined the curious designs upon the walls.
+
+The eternal "Um mani panee" formed a very large part of the decoration,
+being painted over the walls in every variety of coloured letters. In
+the inner part of the temple was a large coloured statue, with eight
+arms, and two-and-twenty heads.
+
+The heads were placed in threes, looking every way, in the shape of
+a pyramid, a single head crowning the whole.[29] One of the hands
+held a bow, but the implements contained in the others were entirely
+Buddhist in character, and to me unknown.
+
+Behind this figure was a star, with innumerable radiating arms from
+the centre, while from the points of the fingers were five other
+rows of hands, continuing the star-like circle. These were in half
+relief on the wall, the figure itself standing out some feet, as
+if to receive and appropriate the offerings of corn, flowers, oil,
+&c., which already began to be laid at its feet. Among the litter
+I remarked several tame partridges and "chickore" walking about,
+probably sacred to the newly installed divinities.
+
+The whole scene was a very curious one, and not the less so from being
+entirely unexpected, and occurring in such an apparently deserted
+spot. One might have explored the place a dozen times without hitting
+upon the hive of workmen, and, even when discovered, the excellence
+of the designs and workmanship in so uncivilized a region, was in
+itself remarkable.
+
+Some of the paintings were of rather startling a character to find
+occupying places in the order of church decoration, or indeed any
+other, but they were not perhaps more unsuitable than many I have
+seen in more avowedly civilized temples of worship.
+
+AUGUST 27. -- We found it very hard, in spite of our day of rest,
+to turn out early again this morning. The wind was sharp and cold,
+and the temperature altogether decidedly changed from that we had
+been having. The head of the cooking department being still sick,
+proceeded on a pony, and, having a certain air of the Sepoy about him,
+very grand and imposing he looked. The road being long and up hill,
+we breakfasted at a tomb in the pass of Fotoola, reaching Khurboo
+about three P.M.
+
+In the evening, the comptroller of the household made his appearance
+upon the cook's pony, having from want of tobacco, and other causes,
+become done up on the road. The bhistie alone holds out, and seems,
+as far as servants go, the only hope of the expedition. To-day's
+march has again spoiled F.'s and my own lately amending complexions,
+the icy wind and the burning sun together completely blistering our
+faces. In the evening we enjoyed a lovely sunset, which tinted the
+magnificent range of mountains we had crossed with the most beautiful
+hues imaginable.
+
+AUGUST 28. -- Another bitterly cold morning. Got away well considering,
+and arrived at Waka in time for a late breakfast in the little
+native serai, where we had before halted. Mr. Rajoo and the cook
+came in with an air of great magnificence. They were each mounted,
+and each pony was provided with a well-grown foal, so that the two
+departments may be said to have performed their march with four horses.
+
+AUGUST 29. -- Descended the Waka Valley, leaving Shergol to our left,
+and thereby saving about a kos and a half of already explored road.
+
+Breakfasted under a shady grove of pollards, at the little village
+of Lotzum, a cold refreshing bathe in a snow torrent enabling us
+to do full justice to our cook's very excellent performances in
+this line. That dignitary was upon his legs again to-day, and Rajoo
+convalescent once more. Arriving about three P.M. at our old ground
+at Pushkoom, we found the peaceful, quiet-looking little spot we
+had left, a scene of the greatest noise and bustle imaginable. We
+were now received in due form by the Kardar, and Thanadar of Kurgil,
+not to mention the Wuzeer, or Vizier of Pushkoom. This dignitary had
+formerly been its Rajah, but during Gulab Singh's time was reduced
+to the post of Vizier, or Prime Minister to nobody in particular,
+with a salary of some thirty rupees per annum. Where our last camp
+was pitched, we found a circle of natives congregated, some standing,
+some sitting on their haunches, but all accompanying to the full extent
+of their voices -- at the same time clapping time with their hands --
+the efforts of a band of six or seven artists on the pipe and tabor,
+who kept up a quavering strain of what they doubtless believed to be
+music. To the united melody thus produced, a string of a dozen or so
+of ladies, in their full war paint, were decorously going through the
+monotonous evolutions of a popular dance, waving their arms about,
+gesticulating, and at the same time lingering, as it were, over the
+ground, and comporting themselves in that staid, yet fitfully lively
+way, which seems to be the general style of Eastern dancing. They
+were attired most picturesquely, and evidently in their very fullest
+ball costume, so that we were fortunate in hitting upon such a good
+opportunity of seeing their gala manners and customs. They all wore
+caps of some kind, either of a small, close-fitting pattern, like a
+fez, or in the shape of a large, and very ultra Scotch cap, black,
+and very baggy; these were hung round with little silver ornaments,
+something in the shape of wine labels for decanters, but studded
+with turquoises; some of them, also, wore brooches, generally formed
+of three cornelians, or turquoises, in a row. The broad bands of
+turquoise, worn usually on the forehead, were for the time disrated
+from their post of honour, and were suspended instead from the nape of
+the neck, over a square piece of stiff cloth, embroidered with strings
+of red beads. Round the shoulders, and hanging low, in order to show
+off the turquoises, lumps of amber, and other family jewels, were
+the sheepskin cloaks, inseparable from Thibetian female costume; they
+were, however, of larger size than those of every day life, and were
+gorgeously decorated outside in red and blue, the FUR merely appearing
+at the edges. Below this, everything merged in some mysterious way
+into the variegated sheepskin boots of the country, also decorated
+with red, blue, and yellow cloth patterns on the instep. These bore a
+very conspicuous position in the dance, as the ladies, contrary to the
+principles of modern art, were continually regarding and showing forth
+the aforesaid boots, as they glided about, and pattered the time to the
+well-marked music. The dance was altogether much more pleasing than
+the Indian nach, and the ladies, in spite of their savage jewellery,
+and rude manner, were much more womanly and respectable than their
+gauzy, be-ringed and bare-footed southern rivals.
+
+After the dance was over, there was a general move to a large, open
+space of ground, where the male part of the community were to show
+off their prowess in the native games. To my astonishment, some fifty
+or sixty Thibetians here assembled, each provided with a veritable
+hockey stick, not on foot, however, but each man mounted on his own
+little mountain pony, and prepared to play a downright game of hockey
+on horseback. In the centre of the battle-field, between the two
+"sides," the pipes and tabors forming THE BAND took their station,
+and each time the wooden ball of contention was struck off, set up a
+flourish to animate the players. The Thibetians, however, required no
+such artificial excitement, but set to work with an energy and spirit,
+quite refreshing to behold, and the scene soon became most animated and
+amusing. The Thibetians, unlike Englishmen under similar circumstances,
+appeared to think the more clothes they had on the better, and in
+their long woollen coats and trowsers, and their huge sheepskin boots,
+they quite overshadowed the wiry little horses they bestrode. Besides
+having to carry all this weight, the ponies, most unfairly, came
+in also for all the SHINNING; but in spite of these disadvantages,
+they performed their parts to admiration, dashing about in the most
+reckless manner, at the instigation of their riders, and jostling
+and knocking against one another in a way that would have disgusted
+any other pony in the world. Conspicuous among the crowd of riders,
+was the thirty-rupee Prime Minister, who on a most diminutive little
+animal, charged about in a way he never could have condescended to
+do, had he had the misfortune to have still remained a Rajah. Each
+time that the ball was sent into the goal, the striker, picking it
+up dexterously, without dismounting, came again at full speed down
+the course, the band struck up, and throwing the ball into the air,
+he endeavoured to strike it as far as possible in the direction
+of the adverse party. Behind him, at best pace, came his own side,
+and a desperate collision appeared the inevitable result; however,
+not a single man was unhorsed during the entire struggle, nor were
+there any violent concussions, or accidents of any kind on either side.
+
+The men rode very short, and their clumsy boots, stuck through the
+heavy stirrup-irons, gave them a ludicrous appearance, which was
+little indicative of the firm seat and active part they displayed
+in the games. After seeing the last of the hockey we pitched our
+camp under a grove of trees, and had an audience of the Kardar,
+with a view to obtaining information as to our new line of march,
+which here branches off from the old route. He, however, was unable to
+afford us much intelligence, and we were glad to get rid of him again,
+with a present of fifteen bullets, which were the objects he appeared,
+at the time, to covet most in the world.
+
+To-day a charge was brought against our immaculate bhistie, by the
+Q.M.G., of secreting about half-a-pound of precious white sugar in
+his sheepskin bag. On being confronted with the Bench he confessed
+the crime, improving on it, like most natives, by declaring that it
+was for medicine for his little boy at home, who had sore eyes! The
+cook, being taken up with the festivities and the turquoises, gave
+us our dinner at an unusually fashionable hour.
+
+AUGUST 30. -- Started for a fresh line of exploration, not without
+some difficulty and opposition, in consequence of a desire on the
+part of the Sipahee and the servants to revisit Kurgil, with a view
+to the tobacco supplies supposed to exist there.
+
+The consequence was that they obtained all sorts of information for us
+as to the badness of our proposed road, and the insuperable obstacles
+to be overcome from unbridged rivers, snow, &c. Persevering in our
+plans, however, we were rewarded by finding a great improvement in
+the scenery, and, from the novelty of the day's work, a corresponding
+benefit to the spirits of the entire expedition. Passing through
+a little village called Menzies, we halted for breakfast within
+view of the northern face of an entire new range of snow-capped
+mountains. Everything gave promise of fine scenery in advance, and
+about four P.M. we reached Thambis, a lovely piece of cultivation,
+surrounded on all sides by monster rocks, and overlooked by a peak of
+pure white virgin snow, and here we pitched our little camp. Entering
+the village suddenly from the rocky mountain-pass, the little place
+looked inexpressibly green and refreshing, and we were soon under the
+shade of a row of pleasant pollards, which lined the bank of a stream
+near which we halted. As at Pushkoom, the second crops were down,
+and the people employed in thrashing and grinding their corn. The
+new crop consisted principally of pulse of various kinds, radishes,
+and a few fields of tobacco, and nestled in pleasant nooks and corners
+there were occasional gardens of melons.
+
+Here we got two fine sheep for one rupee ten annas, or 3S. 3D., and
+one of them formed a sumptuous repast for the coolies and retainers,
+who held a most convivial banquet round their camp-fires in the
+evening. The primitive inhabitants seemed quite unaccustomed to the
+sight of strangers, and we found on this account, better and more
+plentiful supplies procurable, while the assembling of the entire
+village to behold the wonderful arrival, formed a pleasant excitement
+after the day's march.
+
+To-day we had the choice of two roads, one on either side of the
+torrent; that on the right bank was reported bad, and we accordingly
+decided upon the other, but an unexpected obstacle then presented
+itself in the shape of a bridge of rope of a very considerable length,
+crossing the torrent. It was formed of the twigs of trees, and being
+in an unpleasantly dilapidated condition, the passage was a matter
+of some difficulty if not danger. To save the direct strain a number
+of the villagers took up their position to distend the side ropes,
+and having to get over the outstretched legs of these officious
+aids, made the affair a very much more nervous proceeding than it
+would otherwise have been. The lowness of the side-ropes, and the
+oscillation of the ricketty structure rendered the feat altogether a
+rather more amusing performance to the looker on than to the actual
+performer, and I was not to reach the opposite shore. On the arrival
+of the coolies, they all hung back, and regarded the machine with
+utter astonishment, and when one of them did essay the passage,
+his coat caught in one of the twigs, about half way across, and not
+having the use of his hands, he was completely caught as in a trap,
+and unable either to advance or retire. In endeavouring to turn,
+his load nearly upset him, and there he remained until extricated
+by one of the villagers. A few of the coolies afterwards got across,
+and also the servants, with great trepidation, but the greater number,
+with the main body of the baggage, including, alas! all the cooking
+department, except one load, were afraid to essay the passage, and had
+to take to the bad road in despair. The fraction of the commissariat
+stores which did reach our side of the water turned out to be plates,
+knives, forks, and kettles, so that we had before us no prospect of
+breakfast until we arrived at a village some ten kos off, where a
+more respectable bridge was to re-unite us with our goods and chattels.
+
+As promised, the path on our side was pretty good, and led us
+through several peaceful little villages, overhung by giant rocks,
+and dotted with enormous blocks of stone, which had descended to
+disturb the harmony of the scene during some convulsion or commotion
+in the interior economy of the mountains. Some of these were taken
+advantage of by the natives to serve as canvas for their designs,
+and were carved with effigies of four-armed divinities, and other
+SACRED subjects. With the exception of these, we saw few traces of
+Buddhism about us here. Passing through one of the villages, I bought
+a medicine-book, or charm, from one of the natives. It was in Arabic,
+and was rolled and swathed like a mummy, and worn round his arm. He
+told me that he had inherited it from his father, and appeared by no
+means happy when it was gone.
+
+Arriving at Sankoo, we found it a well-wooded thinly-inhabited
+valley, about a kos and a half in length. Here we had a new specimen
+of bridge architecture to pass. It was formed simply enough of
+two crooked trunks of trees, and, considering the torrent below,
+it required a considerable amount of confidence to enable one to
+traverse it successfully. From the scarcity of the population, I had
+great difficulty in finding anybody to procure me a drink of milk,
+and when I at last discovered a woman and two children, she was so
+thunderstruck that, catching up one of her offspring in her arms and
+shrieking to another to follow her, like a hen and chickens swooped at
+by a hawk, away they went as fast as their legs would carry them. As
+this was no satisfaction to me, however productive it might be of
+milk to the baby, I began to make signs of bringing down the family
+mansion that short distance required to raze it to the ground, and
+thus succeeded in calling forth from its interior a half-naked old
+gentleman out of his study to my assistance.
+
+He, however, in an abject way informed me that he had no milk himself,
+but would introduce me to a friend who had. I accordingly followed
+him, "at the point of the stick," until we reached another mud hovel,
+where we found the lady of the house sitting in her porch working,
+and a supercilious-looking gentleman reclining at her side.
+
+Neither of them, however, seemed to pay the slightest attention to my
+wants, and savage with thirst, I charged the whole trio, saluting the
+gentleman at the same time with an application of my stick. Instead of
+his jumping up, however, as I expected, I found that the unfortunate
+man was kept in his recumbent position by rheumatism, or some such
+ailment, and that, in my ignorance of Thibetian, and want of milk
+and patience combined, I had committed an atrocious and unwarrantable
+assault upon an invalid. Meantime, however, the lady was off like a
+shot, and soon returned from the dairy bearing both milk and flour,
+wherewith to appease the ferocity of her visitor. Having nearly
+choked myself with the meal and brought myself round again with the
+milk, I gave the invalid full compensation and satisfaction as far
+as I was able, for my attack, and again took to the road in search
+of the bridge which was to re-unite us with our baggage and our
+breakfast. Before reaching it, however, I was the unfortunate cause
+of the entire abandonment of some half-dozen houses, by merely halting
+to sit down for a few minutes under a tree in their vicinity. Whether
+the inhabitants -- who appeared to be all women -- thought that I
+was going to open trenches and beleaguer them or not I don't know,
+but, after a few minutes, I used to see one of them dart out from
+behind a mud wall and scuttle away like a rabbit; then another
+lady would steal out, carefully lock the door, and with a child
+on her back and a couple of olive branches in rear, crawl over the
+housetop and out at the back garden, there taking to her heels, and
+vanishing with her convoy suddenly from sight. This operation being
+repeated in other tenements, I found myself at last left in full and
+uninterrupted possession of the entire settlement I happened to be
+in the vicinity of, including the cocks, hens, firewood, dwelling,
+places, and messuages, &c. thereunto appertaining and belonging. When
+they re-occupied the evacuated premises I don't know, but Rajoo, I
+ascertained, wished them all no future happiness when, on coming up
+some time afterwards, he knocked at every door and looked down every
+sky-light and chimney in the village without being able to procure
+as much as a light to ignite the tobacco in his "hubble bubble." The
+coolies having found the path on the right bank of the torrent quite as
+bad as prognosticated, we got our breakfast shortly before sunset. From
+the proximity of a high rocky mountain, towards the westward of our
+camp, however, this was considerably earlier than might be imagined.
+
+SEPTEMBER 1. -- Commenced our last month but one of leave, by a
+fine march of some sixteen miles from Sankoo to Tesroo, or Sooroo,
+at the foot of the grandest snowy range we had yet encountered. The
+path led us over a gigantic fall of rocks, evidently the deposits
+formed by successive and destructive avalanches.
+
+In some parts the traces were quite fresh, the rocks being rent and
+uptorn in a wonderful way; and, in one place, we passed the ground
+where two villages had been entirely overwhelmed by an avalanche,
+the entire population of twenty-five having been killed in the ruins.
+
+After walking about five or six kos, in the finest and freshest of
+morning air, we suddenly opened upon a noble mountain of pure unbroken
+snow, rearing its head proudly into the blue sky among a train of
+courtiers, not so noble, nor so purely, whitely, clad as itself,
+but still arrayed in robes of glistening snow. Here the path emerged
+from the side of the rugged mountain torrent, and brought us about
+two kos over fine turfy grass to within some three miles of Sooroo;
+and here we halted, under a grove of trees, for breakfast. After this,
+we had another rope bridge to pass, which was so little to the taste
+of the coolies, that they were glad to get the natives to carry over
+their loads for them. On crossing we found the Thanadar, a fine old
+black-muzzled Cashmeeree, with his Moonshee, and a train of eight
+Sipahees waiting to receive us, and were conducted in due form to
+our camping ground. Here the breeze, as it whistled over our tent,
+savoured strongly of the snow, and reminded us of the vicinity of
+the chilly mountain Grandees we had seen on our road, and which still
+presided over us.
+
+The natives even appeared to feel the cold, though in the winter months
+they are entirely snowed up, and ought to be pretty well inured to
+it by this time.
+
+The entire valley is, in winter, totally submerged in snow,
+and a stranger might then pass over it without knowing there were
+villages beneath his feet. The bridges are annually swept away, and
+so suddenly does the hard weather make its appearance, that even now
+the inhabitants were in fear and trembling lest the snows should come
+down on them before their crops of wheat and barley were carried for
+the winter's use.
+
+Numbers of fields of corn are still within a week or so of ripening,
+and, should they be lost, the chance of winter's subsistence would
+be small indeed.
+
+The appearance of a Thibetian settlement here, as one looks down upon
+it from a height, is very much that of an ant-hill. The huts are built
+on the top of each other, and generally on mounds, and the people,
+like ants, are busily and laboriously employed in laying up their
+winter store, not only of grain, but also of firewood, and anything
+capable of serving in its place, to enable them to struggle through
+their dreary mouths of captivity.
+
+Huge loads of corn and stacks are to be seen moving about, apparently
+spontaneously, disappearing through queer holes and corners of the
+earth, and again appearing on the housetops, where they are stacked
+and stored. The bundles of fire-wood being placed with the branches
+outside, and neatly ranged, they give the peaceful settlement quite
+a bristling and warlike appearance, as if defended by CHEVAUX DE
+FRISE. The Zemindars here pay but two rupees a year to the Maharajah,
+but it seems a hard case that such hardly-subsisting people should
+have to pay anything whatever in such a sterile dreary territory as
+they possess.
+
+To-day we came across one solitary mound of the inscribed stones,
+probably the last, as we now cross the mountains into Cashmerian
+territory again.
+
+To the south of our camp, the road from Ladak through Zanskar joins
+the valley, and we half regretted not having risked the chances of
+that road; however, it was uncertain whether it was passable, and,
+as time was valuable, we had but little option in the matter.
+
+SEPTEMBER 2. -- Being Sunday, we had a regular rest, explored the
+country, and made the acquaintance of the few Thibetians who inhabited
+the villages.
+
+Everywhere there were signs of the invasion of Gulab Singh, some
+twenty years ago. Houses in ruins, and forts reduced to dust and
+rubbish. To replace these latter, a new fort had been constructed by
+Rumbeer Singh, in what appears about the worst possible position in
+the entire valley to render it of any use whatever.
+
+The people were busily employed in their fields, pulling and carrying
+corn, and treading it out with oxen. A team of six I saw, most
+uncomfortably performing this work. They were tied together by the
+noses, and so small a piece of ground had they to revolve upon, that
+the innermost animal had to go backward continually, while the centre
+ones were regularly jammed together by the outsiders. Two deformed
+natives were employed in driving this unhappy thrashing machine.
+
+In the evening, the Thanadar's Moonshee came to beg a "razee nama,"
+or "letter of satisfaction," which we gave him, together with a
+"bukshish," with which he seemed well pleased.
+
+SEPTEMBER 3. -- Got up this morning with a peculiarly cold feel, and
+started with a fine piercing breeze in our teeth, blowing directly
+off the snows.
+
+Our force was augmented to-day by three goats, as portable dairy, and a
+party of natives, with three days' supplies, also a guide, for our path
+lay over ground neither much frequented nor well known. To-day's has
+been the grandest scene of the panorama yet unfolded to us. From the
+last halt, no inconsiderable height in itself, we mounted continually
+towards the huge white masses of snow, which so lately towered above
+us in the distance. Passing the remains of mighty avalanches firmly
+fixed across the foaming torrent, we ascended the snow valley by the
+side of a perfect mountain of ice and snow, the accumulations of,
+possibly, as many years as the world has existed, which had formed
+itself immoveably between the mighty mountain's sides. The terrific
+force, with which the masses of snow had come down each season, to
+repair the ravages in the frozen monster's constitution caused by the
+melting away of his lower extremities, could be seen by the enormous
+blocks of stone which rested on its surface in all directions. In
+some places fantastic arches of snow were thus formed, with blocks of
+rock resting on their summits, and such a distance were these central
+accumulations of rocks, and snow, and ice, from the cradles in which
+they were reared, that it was impossible to conceive, without the
+occurrence of an earthquake, how they could ever have reached their
+present positions.
+
+One begins now faintly to understand how it is that the enormous number
+of torrents dashing about are kept supplied with icy life. The vast
+quantities of snow wedged into solid masses, which must have existed
+since all time among these mighty mountains, would serve to feed rivers
+innumerable, and the supply, as long as rivers and mountains exist,
+would appear to be inexhaustible.
+
+Our path, if path it could be called, was very bad in parts, and
+so difficult for the coolies that we were fortunate in getting our
+breakfast at two P.M., and, when we did get it, a snowstorm which
+came down upon us rather hurried our procedings in discussing it.
+
+The entire afternoon it continued snowing, and the mountain-tops
+soon hid themselves and sulked away among the leaden mists. Our tent
+was pitched among a low sort of scrub, the only apology for fire-wood
+procurable, and here we soon had a fine carpet of fresh snow, which put
+the unfortunate coolies, and the servants, and the three goats and the
+four ducks, and, in fact, everybody but F. and myself, who now begin to
+feel thoroughly AT HOME, to considerable discomfort and inconvenience.
+
+About a hundred yards from us rises the central mountain of
+consolidated old snow; while the monarchs of the place, whose
+hospitality we have been enjoying, overtopped our diminutive little
+worn canvas dwelling with proud and gloomy magnificence, or hid
+themselves from us in their ermine mantles, with aristocratic
+frigidity.[30] Before us, the path continues towards the clouds,
+hemmed in, to all appearance, by a mighty glacier, which it would
+seem impossible to avoid in our tomorrow's route. To-day we again
+find the society of the little shrieking marmots, who seemed more than
+over astonished at what could bring so strange and motley a group of
+creatures to disturb the universal quiet of their solitude. Of all
+our party the cook, perhaps, here fares the worst. The only things
+growing about us are a few plants of rhubarb and the miserable scrub,
+which he is obliged to use with all faith as firewood! this being
+thoroughly wet requires much coaxing to ignite, and what with the
+difficulties of his profession, the cold, the falling snow, and the
+increased appetites of the SAHIBS, the unfortunate head of the cooking
+department becomes for the time the most intensely miserable being,
+black or white, upon the whole face of the globe.
+
+SEPTEMBER 4. -- Awoke this morning to find the encampment, and its
+vicinity, covered with snow, and every prospect of a snow-stormy march
+before us. The coolies and servants were in a deplorable state of
+frozen discomfort, but all kept up their spirits by laughing at each
+other's woes. Just as the sun appeared above the mountains for a few
+minutes only, we got under weigh; the tent, however, took some time
+to disencumber of its load of frozen snow, and to pack, and all the
+baggage required excavating previous to becoming capable of removal.
+
+The path up to the great glacier above us was wild and barren, it
+lay over a little plain watered by branching streams, and covered
+over with ice and newly fallen snow. Crossing one of these streams,
+I flushed a solitary woodcock, the only inhabitant of the wild,
+and shortly afterwards, our guide, an uncouth bundle of sheep-skins,
+slipped over a frozen stone, and came down in the freezing water with
+a splash, which, at that hour of the morning, made one shudder all
+over involuntarily. The snow-shoes which F. and myself had donned,
+alone saved us several times from a similar, uncomfortable fate. Our
+path, properly speaking, should have led over the very centre of the
+glacier; but, in consequence of the numerous crevasses and the early
+appearance of the new snow, our guide steadily refused to take us
+over the pass by that route. To have taken it without a guide would
+have been simply impossible; so we diverged to one side, and, after a
+sharp ascent of two hours over the snow, reached a sort of upper basin
+among the very mountain-tops. Here the scene which opened on us was
+wild beyond description. We were now about 18,000 feet above the sea,
+and in every direction around us snow hemmed in our view. Under our
+feet was a plain of pure white snow; the mountain-tops were snowy
+HILLOCKS, standing white against the leaden sky; and from above the
+fleecy snow-flakes fell around us thickly as we trudged along. The
+ground was most treacherous, and required great care m traversing, and
+in one place, being ahead of the guide, the snow and ice suddenly gave
+way beneath me, and with a most unpleasant sensation of uncertainty
+as to where I might be going, I found myself standing up to my waist
+in snow and to my knees in freezing water.
+
+The guide, almost at the same moment, came to the same end, and it was
+not without much floundering and blundering that we both extricated
+ourselves from our difficulties. Shortly after this we crossed the
+highest point of the pass, and here the guide said his prayers to the
+presiding "peer," or divinity of the place, previous to asking for
+bukshish; after which he and the sepoy proceeded to smoke a pipe of
+peace and tranquillity together. The most trying part of our day's work
+we found to be waiting for breakfast, the coolies being much retarded
+both by the road and the state of the weather. We stopped at a sort
+of temporary abode, where some slight protection from rain and snow
+was obtained by the piling up of stones against an eligible rock,
+and here, after a long and dreary wait, we breakfasted in a little
+smoke-dried, draught-inviting den, the snow all the time coming down
+in a way not altogether adapted for the enjoyment of such AL FRESCO
+entertainments. Descending from this, we came to a grassy slope at
+last, and so by a most precipitous path to the valley on the southern
+side of the mountains, down which a formidable torrent rolled along,
+dividing itself into a number of channels not very promising as to our
+prospects of reaching the opposite side. Here we saw an enormous flock
+of sheep grazing on the mountain-side, seeming, as they moved to and
+fro in search of pasture, like a floating cloud against the hill. There
+must have been several thousands, though accurate computation was out
+of the question. They made, however, all the other mountain-flocks
+we had met, appear as nothing in point of numbers.
+
+Arriving at the many-branching river, I was for some time quite at a
+loss for a ford, until a native, seeing the dilemma I was in, crossed
+to my assistance. Finding me stripping to the work, he insisted on
+my mounting upon his back, and in an evil moment I consented. The
+consequence was that, after passing safely a couple of the streams,
+in the deepest spot of the whole torrent, he tottered and fell,
+and down we both came, he in the most ungraceful position in which
+man can fall, and I, luckily, upon my feet. The sensation, however,
+on suddenly finding the water rushing past, and one's feet slipping
+about among the clinking stones, was anything but pleasant, and it
+was with difficulty that I collected myself together and completed
+the uncomfortable passage. The tent being luckily pitched about a mile
+farther on, the loss of dignity in the eyes of the bystanders was the
+only evil result of the misfortune. Towards night it came on again to
+snow, and the coolies and retainers had another hard bivouac of it,
+while F. and I were obliged to keep all hands at the pumps, or, in
+other words, to fasten all available rags and wraps under our canvas,
+to keep out the soaking wet.
+
+The cold was very great, and everything gave token of coming winter,
+and testified to what the Himalayas can do in the snow and ice line
+of business when their full time shall arrive.
+
+SEPTEMBER 5. -- After a damp night's bivouac, we awoke to find "A
+MIXTURE AS BEFORE" falling -- a mixture of rain, sleet, and snow --
+anything but promising for the comfort of our day's march. To avoid
+having to wait in the wet for breakfast, we sent on the kitchen and
+the cook, and, after some time, followed leisurely ourselves.
+
+An overhanging ledge of rock afforded us some shelter for our meal,
+and, after warming and drying ourselves to some extent in this
+smoke-blackened and not very commodious little Himalayan hotel, we
+again pressed on. This was our third day away from either villages or
+regular shelter of any sort, and the retainers were naturally anxious
+to reach some settlement where they could, for a time at least,
+protect themselves from the rain and snow which still continued to
+fall. The consequence was, they pressed on some sixteen miles farther
+at a good pace, to reach a little wooden village at the head of the
+Wurdwan valley, and we saw nothing of them on the road. On reaching
+our halting-place, however, lo and behold, our unfortunate cook was
+absent, and nobody seemed to know anything whatever about him! The
+cooking things and the larder were all present, and dinner-hour was
+at hand; but, alas! the pots and kettles were without a lord, and the
+question of where was our dinner began to give way in point of interest
+to where was our cook. At the time F. and I left the "cave-hotel,"
+the whole of the coolies, Rajoo, the three goats, and the two sheep,
+had all gone on ahead, as also the "Invincible One," the sepoy.
+
+The bhistie and the missing cook had therefore only remained
+behind. The road, soon after leaving, entered a wooded gorge, and,
+as the valley narrowed, the torrent began to get considerably more
+rapid and boisterous, as it took to leaping down the giant rocks,
+which bound it in between their iron grasp and formed its only bed.
+
+The path was wet and sloppy, and led in parts along the tops of rather
+dangerous precipices. Passing cautiously over these, and through
+wooded paths lined with mosses and wild flowers, whose perfume scented
+the entire air, we came upon a curious bridge of well-packed snow,
+which spanned the torrent. A treacherous-looking specimen it was,
+and after taking its likeness in my pocket-book, I was passing it as a
+matter of course, when I suddenly heard a shout, and perceived F. and
+the mate at the other side of the torrent beckoning me to cross the
+snow. I accordingly, with no very good grace and some astonishment,
+essayed the passage. The snow I found hard as ice, and not liking the
+look of its treacherous convex sides, I held my course straight up the
+centre, and then descended with great care and deliberation along the
+junction of the snow and the mountain. So slippery was the passage,
+that without grass shoes I should have been sorry to have attempted
+it, and, as I halted to regard the curious structure from a distance,
+I could not help thinking what a likely spot it was for a traveller to
+lose his life without anybody being the wiser, and what a small chance
+he would have in the deep and rapid torrent below if he should happen
+to slip into its remorseless clutches. The path from this continued
+its perilous character, in one place traversing a precipitous face
+of rock only passable on all fours, beneath which a thick cover of
+long grass and weeds hung over the deep, treacherous-looking pools of
+the torrent. Having on a pair of grass shoes which had already done
+one day's work, I had broken down about half way, and was now nearly
+bare-footed. I consequently did not arrive till nearly the last of
+the party, and found the tent pitched and fires lit under a group of
+large trees, in the wooden village of about a dozen houses, called
+Sucknez. It was then getting dusk, and after waiting a reasonable
+time, we sent out a party from the village to make search for our
+missing man, while F. and I, lighting a fire almost in the tent door,
+proceeded to cook our own dinner.
+
+The materials consisted of an unlimited supply of eggs and a box
+of sardines, hitherto neglected, and despised among the artistic
+productions of our lost professor. F. superintended the frying
+of the eggs, and produced a conglomeration of some eight of them,
+which we pronounced unusually delicious, while I laid the table and
+looked after the kettle, for we thought it better, under our bereaved
+circumstances, to knock tea and dinner into one meal. Although we had
+made a longish march, we managed, with the aid of the kettle and the
+brandy, to sit up by the light of a roaring pine fire until late, in
+the hopes of some news arriving of our searching party. None however
+came, and we went to bed HOPING that the man had lost his way, and
+FEARING that he had fallen either over the slippery snow-bridge or
+down one of the many precipices into the torrent.
+
+SEPTEMBER 6. -- Morning came, but neither news of our cook nor of
+the party who went out in his search, and, after breakfast, donning
+a pair of grass shoes, and provided with some matches and a small
+bottle of cherry-brandy, I sallied out with the mate on a voyage of
+discovery. Outside the village I met the searching party, who had
+been out all through the bitter night, but had found no traces of
+the object of their search.
+
+Sending a note to F. to dispatch all the coolies to search, I pressed
+on to the most dangerous precipice of our yesterday's route, and,
+descending to the torrent, searched about the grass and weeds at the
+bottom, but without finding any traces. About this place I met three
+lonely travellers, laden with meal, who had come along the entire
+path, but had seen no sign of a human creature anywhere. I now gave
+up our man as lost, but still held on, in a pouring mixture of sleet
+and snow, which added considerably to the gloom of the scene. Every
+now and then the old mate, who was in very low spirits, would raise
+a lugubrious wail at the top of his voice of "Ai Khansaman Jee! Ai
+Khansaman Jee?" "Oh, cook of my soul! oh, cook of my soul, where
+art thou?" at the same time apparently apostrophizing the deepest
+whirlpools of the torrent, while the roar of the waters effectually
+prevented his magnificent voice from reaching more than a dozen
+yards from the spot where he stood. Arriving at the snow-bridge,
+we examined it closely for signs of footmarks; it was, however,
+so hard that it baffled all our efforts.
+
+At the other side I explored the path which I myself had followed
+in the first instance. It, however, only led to a small shelter
+among the rocks and trees, where the natives had evidently been in
+the habit of lighting their fires and halting for the night. After
+continuing the search to another snow-bridge above, we returned
+to our camp, and made the sepoy issue a notice that twenty rupees
+reward would be given for the recovery of our cook, dead or alive,
+and also that a reward would be given to any person who should bring
+us any reliable information about him. At the same time we sent the
+notice to the villages below, and spread it as much as possible; but
+though twenty rupees would be a small fortune to one of these people,
+they took but little interest in the matter, and looked upon the whole
+thing as "Kismut," or destiny. "If it was the will of God that the
+body should be found, it would be found, if not, where was the use
+of looking for it;" and so they took no steps whatever in the matter.
+
+To add to the probabilities of the snow-bridge having been the
+cause of our loss, it appeared that a short time before, a coolie
+carrying Pushmeena &c. had fallen there, and had never since been
+heard of; while another, who had also fallen into the torrent, was
+only discovered six days afterwards miles and miles below.
+
+Having now despatched several searching parties, and received no
+tidings, we decided upon retreating to the next village down the
+valley, and halting there for a few days, in order to do all we could
+for our unfortunate man.
+
+SEPTEMBER 7. -- Started on our march again in heavy sleet and rain,
+which, higher up the mountains, took the form of downright snow. The
+valley descended by a slight incline, through fir and other forest
+trees, and about four kos down, we reached another little wooden
+city, where, being wet through and through, we were glad to halt,
+and getting a good fire lit in one of the log-houses, we set to work
+to dry our clothes. The house was reached by a most primitive ladder,
+made of half the trunk of a tree, hollowed out into holes for the
+feet; and, as for the shelter afforded by the tenement, it certainly
+kept off the rain, but was not intended to keep out the wind, for the
+trees which composed the walls were so far apart, that we could see
+the face of nature between them, and, in spite of the open windows,
+which the architect had thought necessary to provide the building with,
+the breeze whistled through the chinks in a way that might be very
+pleasant in hot weather, but was not so cheery when snow and rain was
+the order of the day. The roofs were the most novel structures I had
+ever seen. They consisted merely of rudely split blocks of wood, some
+five or six feet long, through the upper ends of which stout pegs had
+been driven, and, thus suspended, these weighty wooden tiles overlapped
+each other, and formed a rude covering, which, unpromising as it was to
+outward appearance, answered its purpose sufficiently well, and was at
+least quite in keeping with the remainder of the wooden mansion. The
+people here were something like the Cashmeerees in appearance, and
+as we descend into civilization, fowls, and other hitherto foreign
+animals begin to show themselves once more. The entire substitution
+of wood for mud and stones effectually marks the difference between
+the Cashmerian and Thibetian sides of the snowy range we had just
+crossed. About eight kos from Sucknez we reached Bragnion, where we
+found the camp pitched in a most promising position, having a fine
+view of the valley below, and the distant ranges of mountains. The
+torrent here spread itself into several channels, and the valley,
+widening to allow it fuller liberty to pursue its joyful existence,
+descended in a succession of wooded slopes, one beyond the other,
+while the eternal snows again bounded the view in the distance.
+
+The small portions of comparatively level ground in sight were
+covered with crops of the richest colours. One in particular, which
+the people called "gunhar," was of the hue of beetroot, and grew upon
+its stalk in heavy, gorgeous masses, which added considerably to the
+richness of the landscape. The seed of this consists of myriads of
+little semi-transparent white grains, very like ant's eggs, and the
+taste is something similar to that of wheat. Above our camp, in a
+ravine of the hills, is the place where an officer had been killed
+by the fall of an avalanche, while out on a shooting expedition. His
+companion, a noted sportsman, was saved, by making a tremendous jump;
+but he himself, and three shikarees, were swept away, their bodies
+not being recovered for two months afterwards.
+
+SEPTEMBER 8. -- After a cold night, during which I dreamt of our lost
+cook, we were awoke by a shout of "Jeeta hy!" -- "He is living!" then,
+"Rusta bhool gya!" -- "He lost his way!" and gradually it dawned upon
+us that the man we had fancied floating down the torrent a mangled
+corpse was still actually in the land of the living.
+
+It appeared that he had been discovered, sitting helplessly upon the
+mountain side, by a chance and solitary traveller from Thibet. He had
+lost his way at the snow-bridge, and, in trying to retrace his steps,
+completely got off the only track existing, and had consequently
+wandered about among the wood and cover as long as his strength
+enabled him.
+
+The accounts of his movements amid the general excitement were rather
+conflicting, but this being the fourth day since his disappearance,
+and the weather having been very bad all that time, he must have
+had a very narrow escape of his life, from the combined effects of
+cold and hunger. By the man's account who found him, he was so weak,
+that he was unable to eat the chupatties thrown across to him; and,
+his rescuer accordingly leaving with him some meal, and means to make a
+fire, came on to Sucknez, and from thence sent out a party to carry him
+in. Sending a horse and some supplies for him, we looked forward with
+some interest to his own account of his most unsought-for adventures.
+
+The villagers here, we found, were in the habit of making regular
+expeditions among their crops at night, to keep off the bears who
+prowl about in search of food. Armed with torches, they keep up
+a tremendous shouting all through the dark hours, during the time
+their grain is ripening; and thinking to get a daylight view of the
+robbers, I started up the mountain with a native guide and a rifle. My
+"sportsman," however, in spite of many promises, failed in showing
+me anything more savage than a preserve of wild raspberry-trees,
+on which I regaled with much satisfaction.
+
+A curious custom in the valley is that of hanging quantities of hay
+up among the branches of trees, and its object puzzled me immensely,
+till my guide informed me that in the winter the snow lies five and six
+yards in depth, and that the supplies of hay, which now look only meant
+for camel-leopards, are then easily reached by the flocks of sheep
+which abound in the valley. At present these were all collected among
+the mountains, to be out of the way of the harvest, and this accounts
+for the enormous herd we had seen while descending from the pass.
+
+SEPTEMBER 9. -- Found the sun brightly shining again this morning,
+and everything looking fresh and beautiful after the rain. The man
+who had gone with supplies to the cook returned with news that he was
+ill from the effects of cold and fasting, and not able to come on to
+us. While at breakfast, my yesterday's guide brought us in a bowl of
+raspberries, which gave pleasant token of the change from the desolate
+country we had recently passed through, to the land of plenty we had
+reached. We also got about eleven seers (22 lbs.) of virgin honey,
+for which we paid three rupees. While trying it for breakfast,
+a dense swarm of the original proprietors came looking for their
+stores, and the noise they made buzzing about, made one fancy they
+contemplated walking off bodily with the jars. In the evening our
+long-lost cook again returned to the bosom of his family. The poor
+creature looked regularly worn out. From the combined effects of snow
+and fire he was quite lame; his turban, most of his clothes, and all
+his small possessions, had vanished while struggling through the thick
+cover, and he himself had subsisted for two nights and three days,
+unsheltered and alone, upon nothing but tobacco and snow! On losing
+his way, not thinking of crossing the snow-bridge, he struck right
+up the mountain side, in search, first of the path, and afterwards
+of some hut or shelter. He then gradually got into thick and almost
+impervious cover; not a habitation of any sort was within miles of him,
+and thus he wandered about for two days and nights. On the third day
+he descended again towards the torrent, and, falling and stumbling,
+reached a rock on its bank, and there seating himself, was, by the
+merest chance, seen by the passing traveller from the other side
+of the torrent. Making signs that he was starving, this man threw
+him some chupatties, and these, wonderful to relate, the cook put
+in his pocket without touching. Supposing him to be either too weak,
+or else, even while starving, too strict a Hindoo to eat cooked food,
+his rescuer then threw him across some meal in his turban, and went
+off for assistance. The poor creature was rather proud, I think, to
+find himself the centre of attraction, as well as of being valued at
+twenty rupees; and, as he falteringly related his sorrows and escape
+from death, the coolies and the rest of the forces gathered round
+him, listening with wide open mouths to the wonderful narrative of
+his adventures.
+
+SEPTEMBER 10. -- Took another day's rest to give our unfortunate cook
+a little time to recover his energies. In the evening, the villagers
+produced us a couple of hives of honey, which we packed away in
+earthen jars for transport to the plains. The amount was 391/2 seers,
+or 79 lbs. for which we paid ten rupees.
+
+The unwillingness of the people to produce their honey the "Invincible
+One" accounted for by saying that they were afraid of OUR not paying
+them. On inquiry, however, the real cause turned out to be, that the
+Sepoy himself was in the habit of exacting a heavy tax on all purchases
+on our part, and fear of him, not us, was the true difficulty.
+
+In the evening, we took a tour through the village, and DISCOURSED,
+as well as we could, a native Zemindar, whom we found with his
+household around him, gathering in his crop of grain, which had been
+partially destroyed by the early snow. His land appeared to be about
+four acres in extent, and for this, he told us, he paid twelve rupees
+per annum to the Maharajah of Cashmere. He failed signally, however,
+in explaining how he produced that amount by his little farm. The
+produce of his land sufficed only to feed himself and his family,
+and the proceeds of the sale of wool, belonging to his twelve sheep,
+he estimated at only two rupees. Besides these, he possessed a few
+cows, and appeared as cheery and contented a landholder as I ever met,
+in spite of his losses by the snows, and his inability to make out,
+even by description, his ten rupees of ground-rent to the Maharajah.
+
+The crops around consisted chiefly of bearded wheat (kanuk), barley
+(jow), anik, tronba, and gunhar, all otherwise nameless; and also a
+small quantity of tobacco, turnips, and radishes.
+
+SEPTEMBER 11. -- Having with some difficulty procured a pony for the
+cook, we started again for Cashmere, and, after a very steep ascent,
+through woods of magnificent pine-trees, with every now-and-then a
+glorious peep of distant snow-peaks towering in the skies, we reached
+the summit of the peer, which separates the territory called Kushtwar
+from that of Cashmere. According to the "Invincible" authority, this
+territory belonged, some sixty years ago, to an independent Rajah,
+and, on his death without heirs or successors, it fell into the
+clutches of Gulab Singh.[31]
+
+The entire revenue, he stated, was 3,000 rupees. From the heights
+along our path, we could see the great glaciers of Dutchen, with its
+mountain peak of 25,000 feet, which we had been bound for when the
+misadventure of our cook interfered with our plans, and left us not
+sufficient time to carry out our explorations.
+
+The summit of the pass we found evidently not long freed from the old
+snow, while the new supply lay about in masses all over the mountain.
+
+Passing over a wild and marshy plain at the summit, we began to
+descend a lovely pine-clad valley once more into veritable Cashmere,
+and, about four P.M. encamped in a forest-clearing, which, in a very
+short space of time, was illuminated by no less than seven roaring
+campfires. Our own formed the centre, and was formed of a couple of
+entire pine-trunks, while the others were ranged about wherever a dry
+and prostrate tree presented a favourable basis for a conflagration. In
+the evening we enjoyed the warmth of our fires considerably, and
+discussed hot brandy and water seated on the very trees which formed
+our fuel. We were all the more inclined to appreciate our position,
+as we felt that we were nearly out of our cold latitudes, and rapidly
+descending to the land of dog days once again.
+
+SEPTEMBER 12. -- Continued our march down the valley, through continued
+wooded grassy scenes, and attended by a not too noisy torrent. About a
+kos from our halting place, we began again to see the wooden houses,
+and came to a halt at the picturesque little village of Nowbogh,
+where there were two roads branching off to Islamabad.
+
+Here we had a long wait for breakfast, the servants being overcome by
+the unaccustomed civilization and tobacco they met on the road. We
+accordingly set to work at our own kitchen fire, and breakfasted
+without further assistance off fried eggs, rice, and honey.
+
+In the evening we found alas! that a fire at our tent door, as we had
+had hitherto, was rather too hot to be pleasant. We were here visited
+by the local prodigy, a rustic carpenter, who insisted upon making
+something for us with his rather primitive-looking turning lathe. His
+shop I found completely AL FRESCO, between a couple of cows in the
+centre of a farm-yard, and here he set to work at a walnut cup, which
+he turned out creditably enough. The only thing against it was, that
+his lathe bored a hole right through the bottom of it, which spoiled
+the utensil a good deal for drinking out of. However, not at all taken
+aback, he plugged it up with a piece of stick, and at once requested
+the bukshish, which was the chief part of the performance. Like most
+of the Cashmeeries, he complained bitterly of the exactions of the
+Maharajah's government, and stated his own rent to amount to sixteen
+Huree Singh's rupees ([pound sterling]l) per annum. Not seeing how he
+could accumulate that sum, by even an entire year of work such as his,
+I took the liberty of disbelieving his assertion.
+
+SEPTEMBER 13. -- Started for Kukunath. Our path lay over a
+finely-wooded hill, from which we had a full view of the Peer Punjal
+range, now divested considerably of the snows which lay upon it at
+the time we started for Thibet.
+
+Gradually descending into the valley proper, we soon found ourselves
+once more among the waving rice-fields and apple-orchards, while
+the wooden tenements again gave way to mud and stone, and thatched
+erections. At a village called Sopru, we found some iron mines in
+working order, and passing Kundunath, a pretty little spot adorned
+with gardens of melons, pumpkins, sunflowers, &c., we shortly
+after reached Kukunath. Here we encamped close to a collection of
+bubbling crystal springs, which, bursting out of the hill side, and
+spreading into a dozen separate streams, took their course down to
+the innumerable fields of rice which they watered in their passage
+through the valley. To-day our little camp assumes quite a lively
+appearance again, three sheep and several fowls having been added
+to the farm-yard; these, together with three surviving ducks of the
+real original stock, and a wonderful white Thibetian cock, who owes
+his life entirely to his highly-cultivated vocal powers, strut about
+in front of the tent, and give an air of unwonted respectability
+to the scene. Two marches more take us to Islamabad, and it seems
+altogether about time that the present expedition should draw to a
+close. Supplies appear alarmingly low. Sugar out some days, brandy
+ditto, European boots worn out long ago, and both F. and myself living
+in grass shoes; clothes generally dilapidated, and decidedly dirty;
+servants very anxious for more tobacco and society, and everything, in
+fact, requiring rest and renovation after our seven weeks' wanderings.
+
+SEPTEMBER 14. -- Reached the picturesque little baraduree of
+Atchabull once more, after a pleasant march from Kukunath. Shortly
+after taking possession, a fresh arrival of Sahib's possessions and
+servants came in, the latter rather astonished to find the house
+occupied by such early birds. The owners turned out to be a colonel
+of the Bengal Artillery and a brother officer. These were almost our
+first acquaintances since starting, so that we were glad enough to
+fraternize and hear what was going on in the world. Two of our former
+boat's crew here also appeared, and gave us tidings of our rearguard
+and baggage. The latter had been ejected from its lodgings, and taken
+out for an airing on the river, having been visited by a flood caused
+by the melting of the snows shortly after our departure. The weather
+here began to be unpleasantly hot again; the disappearance of the
+snow from the mountains having removed the principal cause of the
+usual coolness in the valley.
+
+Dined with the white men under the spreading sycamores, and enjoyed
+the luxuries of bread, beer, and sugar in our tea, to all of which
+we had now been long unaccustomed.
+
+SEPTEMBER 15. -- A short march brought us to Islamabad, which we found
+unusually lively from the assembling of a host of pilgrims, who had
+come from far and wide for a religious fair at Mutton. The groups of
+different nations, and their manners and customs while bivouacking,
+were most picturesque, and served to amuse and interest us for the
+entire day.
+
+SEPTEMBER 16. -- Started early by boat, in the fond expectation
+of reaching Sirinugger in the evening. Dusk, however, found us no
+farther than the ruins of Wentipore, and we only reached the capital
+at daylight in the morning. Finding our old quarters vacant, we were
+soon located once more under a roof; and, fifty days having elapsed
+since we had seen either letter or paper, we lost no time in applying
+to the postal authorities for our expected accumulations and arrears
+of correspondence. This resulted in the production of twenty-seven
+epistles and eleven papers, which we carried home triumphantly in
+our boat, and proceeded forthwith to devour in that ravenous fashion
+only known and appreciated by such as have ever undergone a similar
+literary fast.
+
+
+
+Last Days of Travel.
+
+SEPTEMBER 30. -- For the last fifteen days we have been living
+once more the life of OTIUM CUM DIGNITATE common to the travelling
+Englishman in Cashmere. Basking in the sun, taking the daily row upon
+the river, eating fruit, and buying trash in the city, have been our
+principal occupations and amusements.
+
+About the 20th of the month an English general officer arrived, and was
+received with all honours, including a salute of heavy ordnance, which
+was happily unattended with loss of life or limb. A dance and grand
+review were also given in his honour; so that the arrival made quite
+a stir, and came fairly under the head of AN EVENT in the valley. At
+the review the Maharajah was decorated with unusual grandeur, and as he
+and his guest rode down the line together -- the latter in a plain blue
+frock, and the other in all his cloth of gold and jewelled splendour --
+never were simplicity and display more strikingly placed in contrast.
+
+The general's medals and crosses, however, appeared to have a greater
+interest and importance in the Maharajah's eyes than their intrinsic
+value could have commanded for them, and, during the marching
+past of "The Army," he kept continually poking his finger at them,
+and pointing them out to the courtiers who were gathered about his
+chair. The general, at the same time, was employed in explaining
+how many thousands the British Army consisted of, and how vastly
+superior it was to all other armies whatever, not even making an
+exception (as I thought he might fairly have done) in favour of the
+"Invincible Forces," then and there manfully throwing out their feet
+before him to the martial strains of "Home, sweet Home!" After the
+last of the army had marched past, the general, with an energy little
+appreciated by his friends in cloth of gold, jumped up, and, begging
+permission to manoeuvre the troops himself, went off to throw the
+unfortunate colonel commanding into a state of extreme consternation,
+and to frighten the few English words of command he was possessed of,
+fairly out of his head.
+
+In the early mornings my chief amusement had been to watch the colonel
+in question preparing both himself and his troops for the approaching
+spectacle, and very sensibly he went through the performance. He
+was arrayed on these occasions in the full dress of a green velvet
+dressing-gown, worn in the style affected by the FEROCIOUS RUFFIAN
+in small theatres, and, in place of a bugler, was accompanied by a
+pipe-bearer. This aide followed him over the battle-field, wherever
+the exigencies of the service required, and supplied him with whiffs
+of the fragrant weed to compose his nerves at intervals during the
+action. Their united efforts, however, although slightly irregular
+in appearance, were attended with full success, for, with the help
+of ten rounds of ammunition, the troops, even when handed over to the
+tender mercies of the "Foreign General" got through their ordeal very
+creditably; and, as they shot nobody, and did nothing more irregular
+than losing their shoes upon the field, the event passed off smoothly
+and pleasantly, and to the satisfaction of all concerned.
+
+Here we met an old Sikh acquaintance of the road, who informed me
+that he had taken service under the Maharajah. Next day he paid us
+a visit, by appointment, and expressed himself highly delighted with
+his entertainment; smoking and drinking, however, not being lawful in
+society to the Sikhs, we could do but little in the character of hosts,
+beyond letting him talk away to his heart's content, and with as little
+interruption as possible. He told us his entire life and history,
+in the worst of English, and we affected to understand the whole of
+the narration, which, perhaps, was as much as any host could have
+been called upon to do under the circumstances. The old gentleman's
+dress was extremely gorgeous, and contrasted rather strongly with
+our own woollen shooting-jackets and general exterior. He wore
+a turban of purest white, entwined in endless folds round a light
+green skull-cap; his waistcoat was of green velvet, embroidered,
+and richly bordered with gold. His pyjamas -- striped silk of the
+brightest hue -- fitted his little legs as tightly as needle and
+thread could make them, and his lady-like feet were encased in cotton
+socks and gold embroidered slippers. Over all this he wore a green and
+gold silk scarf of voluminous proportions, and of that comprehensive
+character which an Eastern scarf, and in Eastern hands, alone is
+capable of assuming. Round his wrists were massive gold bracelets,
+but of other trinkets he had few; and the enormous ear-rings, so
+usually worn by his race, were not among them. His long grey beard
+and almost white moustache were, perhaps, the only ornaments his
+fine old head required. The last time I had seen him, he was arrayed
+entirely in scarlet and gold, and he had, no doubt, a large reserve
+of dresses and jewellery; but, in spite of his tinsel and gilding,
+he appeared a perfect little Eastern gentleman, and the only one I
+had met as yet in our travels. After expressing a great desire to
+open a correspondence with us, which, considering the small number
+of topics we possessed in common, was rather a strange wish, the old
+gentleman and his retinue took their leave, and we had seen the last
+of Beer Singh Bahadur and his glorious apparel.
+
+OCTOBER 1. -- Busily employed to-day in packing away our possessions,
+and making final arrangements for again taking the road.
+
+Paid a visit to Saifula Baba, the shawl merchant, whose dignity was
+considerably upset by a cold in his head, and bought a few specimens
+of his trade, though not sufficient to raise his spirits entirely
+above the influenza. The approaching winter, and the evacuation of
+the territory by the principal rupee-spending community, seemed a
+source of great unhappiness to the sun and silver-loving natives.
+
+Their houses seem but badly adapted to keep out cold, and their
+efforts at heating them are frequently attended by the burning down
+of a whole nest of their wooden habitations.
+
+Their chief means of artificial warmth seems to be an earthenware
+jar covered with basket-work, which each native possesses and carries
+about with him wherever he goes.
+
+This, which is called a Kangree, is filled with charcoal, and,
+as the Cashmeerians squat down upon the ground, they tuck it under
+their long clothes, where, until they again rise, it remains hidden
+from sight, and forms a hot-air chamber under their garments.[32]
+Among other artists I discovered a native painter, rather an uncommon
+trade in these parts, from whom I obtained some original designs,
+illustrating, with uncommon brilliancy, the very common ceremonies
+of Hindoo and Mahomedan Shadees, or marriage processions, and other
+manners and customs of native life.
+
+After getting together everything we required for the road, and
+clearing out the whole of our possessions, much to the inconvenience of
+several large standing armies of fleas, we finally took our departure
+in two boats, manned by twelve boatmen, and started for Baramoula,
+on the road to Muree and the plains.
+
+OCTOBER 2. -- After making but little progress during the night, we
+discovered in the morning that our boats were rather too large for
+the river, in its present weakly and reduced state. Every ten minutes
+we found ourselves aground upon the sand and mud, and the cooking
+boat behind us followed our example, while the river ahead showed no
+prospect whatever of deepening. The Manjees, under the circumstances
+performed wonders in the nautical manoeuvring line. Jumping overboard
+incessantly, they called upon Peer Dustgeer, their favourite patron
+saint, to aid them in their difficulties, and shrieked and screamed
+till the whole place resounded with their cries.
+
+Sometimes the saints were stony-hearted, probably not being in a
+humour to be shouted at, and then the entire body of silky-skinned
+darkies would set to work, laughing and shouting, to clear away the
+bar of sand. Their paddles forming in this operation, very effective
+substitutes for spades and shovels, with much difficulty we reached
+the lake, and about nine o'clock arrived at Baramoula.
+
+Here the river ceases to be navigable, and abandons itself for a
+short time to irregular and wanton habits, before finally sowing its
+wild mountain oats, and becoming the staid and sedate Jhelum of the
+Plains. Unlike some rivers, the Jhelum contains more water in the
+middle of summer than at other times. Its principal resources are
+the snows, and these mighty masses are so wrapped up in their own
+frigid magnificence that it requires a good deal of warm persuasion
+from the sun to melt their icy hearts to tears.
+
+OCTOBER 3. -- Took the road once more, and started for Muree. Our
+train was increased by a couple of volunteer native travellers,
+who were glad of our society in order that they might get clear of
+the Maharajah's dominions with as little questioning as possible. Our
+coolies numbered twenty-six, so that altogether our forces now reached
+to thirty-eight. After a fine march, we halted at Nowshera, where the
+dashing river afforded us an exciting swim before breakfast. Coming out
+of the water, however, I had the ill luck to slip upon a treacherous
+rock, and, falling heavily on my side, and so over into the rapid
+stream, had some difficulty in fishing myself out again, and was very
+near taking an unpleasantly short cut to the Plains. In the evening,
+when the cook came to inspect the larder for dinner, it was discovered,
+that, with an unusual want of presence of mind, a newly-killed sheep
+had been left by mistake in the boats for the benefit of the already
+overpaid boatmen. This was the third animal we had lost, from various
+causes, during our travels, and the mishap most seriously affected
+the success of our dinner arrangements for the day.
+
+OCTOBER 4. -- Found great difficulty in getting up this morning
+after my fall, and still more in walking three miles, which I had
+to do before finding a pony. The view was beautiful the whole way;
+but we had been so gorged with scenery of all sorts and kinds,
+that rugged passes, shady dells, waterfalls, &c., however precious
+they may become in future recollection, were almost thrown away
+upon us for the time being. Breakfasted under the pine trees, near
+an ancient temple, and halted at Uree, where there was a baraduree
+for travellers. Except, however, to very dirty travellers indeed,
+it would be of little use. While descending a very steep part of
+the road, my saddle suddenly slipped over the pony's round little
+carcase on to his neck, and, NOLENS VOLENS, I came to the ground,
+the pony remaining in a position very nearly perpendicular, with
+his tail towards the heavens and his head between my legs, in which
+predicament he luckily remained perfectly quiet, until the bhistie,
+coming up behind, set us both on our proper extremities once more.
+
+OCTOBER 5. -- Started for Chukothee, and thinking, in an evil moment,
+to walk off the effects of my late mishap, I essayed the fifteen
+miles on foot.
+
+Long before reaching half way, however, I began to look about for
+anything in the shape of a pony, that might appear in sight; but,
+none being forthcoming, I was obliged to finish as I had begun, and
+at last reached our destination, a snug little village, buried in
+fields of yellow rice upon the hill-side. On the way, I fell in with
+a fine old Mussulman Zemindar, trudging along on his return to Delhi,
+from paying a visit to Sirinugger.
+
+Being an unusually talkative old gentleman, we fraternized by the way,
+and he told me that he had been to see the civil commissioner of his
+district, now acting as commissioner in the valley, to make his salaam,
+relative to a "jageer," or Government grant of certain villages to the
+amount of some three thousand rupees per annum, which he had succeeded
+in obtaining on account of his loyalty during the recent mutiny.
+
+Of this three thousand rupees, it appeared that only one thousand
+would come into his own pocket, the remainder being payable as rent,
+&c. to Government.
+
+His son had also a jageer of twelve thousand rupees, so that both he
+and his family were loyal and well to do in the world. His ideas of
+Cashmere were rather amusing. He appeared to think it a miserable spot
+enough, compared to his own land, and the only advantage he could hit
+upon, was, in my estimation, quite the reverse, viz: THAT SIRINUGGER
+WAS VERY HOT IN THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER.
+
+The rice he had a supreme contempt for. It was not to be compared
+with the Indian rice, and the Cashmeeries he pooh-poohed, as being
+no judges whatever of its qualities, and, in fact; not fit to eat
+rice at all. He seemed quite unable to understand my walking when I
+could ride; or, indeed, why I should leave such a charming country
+as India to be uncomfortable in Cashmere, without even having any
+jageer business to transact as an excuse.
+
+Our coolies, being an unusually miserable crew, we got breakfast about
+two P.M. To-day our tent lamp finished its erratic life, according to
+the Dhobie's account, by self-destruction! That good for nothing piece
+of charcoal had, however, doubtless dashed the solid cut-glass globe,
+which formed the chief glory of the instrument, against a rock, while
+thinking of his hubble bubble, and his little blackamoors at home.
+
+The lamp had got over all the difficulties of the road from Lahore to
+Ladak and back, and had been quite a peep-show to half the natives of
+Thibet, who were never tired of regarding their multiplied countenances
+in the numerous cut circles of the glass shade, so that we felt quite
+grieved at its melancholy loss. Our water bottle also to-day finished
+its existence, and the table came into camp a bundle of sticks;
+so that everything seemed to betoken the approaching dissolution of
+the expedition. The farm-yard consists of five ducks, all strangers,
+and a pet sheep, and the khiltas look haggard and dilapidated in the
+extreme. The musical cock, alone, of old friends still survives,
+but he appears in weak health, and his constitution is evidently
+undermined by the changes of climate it has undergone. We were here
+worried by a party of strolling mountebanks from the Punjab, who
+persisted in horrifying us by making two young girls and three boys,
+all apparently entirely destitute of bones, stand upon their heads,
+and go through similar performances on the grass. The girl actually
+pattered a measure with her feet upon the back of her head, and
+the proprietors seemed utterly unable to account for our apathetic
+disregard of so extremely talented and interesting a performance.
+
+OCTOBER 6. -- Left for Hutteian, about fifteen miles off. Ponies
+being scarce, I had to walk part of the way; but the sepoy, pitching
+by chance upon our friends, the Punjabees, triumphantly carried
+off a stout little animal of theirs for my use. Before mounting,
+however, I was mobbed by the tumbling family, EN MASSE, who went on
+their knees in their solicitations to be exempt from the seizure
+of their property. Finding me obdurate in retaining the pony at a
+fair valuation, with "the army" to bear me out, they proceeded to
+diplomatic measures to gain their end. First, a very small child,
+choosing a stony place in the path, suddenly stood upon her head,
+and proceeded to form black knots with her body. Finding that this
+only caused me to threaten her father with a stick, they produced
+a blind girl, who threw herself half naked at my feet and cried
+by order. The poor creature had lost her sight by the small-pox,
+and I had remarked her the day before patiently toiling over rocks
+and broken paths with one little child in her arms, and another half
+leading, half obstructing her, endeavouring to guide her footsteps
+down the rocks. She, however, got no immediate benefit from the pony
+of contention; so, giving her some money to console her in her forced
+misery, I still remained inexorable. After this, the encampment broke
+up, with all its pots and pans, cows and fowl, &c. and took to the
+road, leaving me in undisturbed possession of my new conveyance. The
+weather began to astonish us a little to-day, by a renewed accession of
+October heat. Still the climate was delightful. Morning and evenings
+always cool, and sometimes cold, and a bright cheery blue invariably
+over head, while a refreshing breeze made music through the pine trees,
+and waved the golden ears of rice.
+
+Encamped under a spreading sycamore, at the junction of two mountain
+streams. To-day a new order of bridge appeared, consisting merely of
+a single rope, the passengers being tugged across in a basket. From
+its appearance it was rather a matter of congratulation that we were
+not called upon to cross it.
+
+OCTOBER 7. -- Being Sunday, we made a halt, and enjoyed a refreshing
+bathe in the stream, and a rest from the toils of the road.
+
+OCTOBER 8. -- Left "Hutteian," and, winding along the valley,
+arrived, by a steep ascent, at Chukar, a little village boasting a
+fort and a small nest of Sepoys. It also owned a curiously DIRTY,
+and consequently SAINTLY Fukeer, whom we found sitting bolt upright,
+newly decorated with ashes, and with an extremely florid collection
+of bulls, demons, &c. painted about the den he occupied. On the road
+I again picked up the old Mussulman, who seemed delighted to chat,
+and gave me an account of the part he had played in the mutiny.
+
+He appeared frequently to have warned his Commissioner that an outbreak
+was about to take place, but without his crediting the story; and when
+it actually did occur, the latter fled from his station at Lahore,
+and took shelter with a friendly Risaldar until the storm should blow
+over. From thence he sent for the old gentleman, my informant, and
+"Imam Buksh" forthwith mounted his camel and came with five and twenty
+armed followers to his assistance. While here, a party of rebels came
+searching for English, and Mr. Buksh narrated how he went forth to
+meet them, and proclaimed, that they might kill the Englishman if they
+would, but must first dispose not only of himself, but also of his
+five and twenty followers. Upon this they abused him, and asked him,
+"What sort of a Mussulman he called himself?" and denounced him as a
+"Feringee," or foreigner.
+
+The rebels, however, finally went off, and the Commissioner and his
+family, by Imam Buksh's further assistance, succeeded in escaping
+all the dangers of the times. For this service it was that the old
+gentleman had just received his jageer of two villages, now some
+years after the occurrence of the events.
+
+He appeared to think very little of the Maharajah's rule, and
+was of opinion that the people were miserably oppressed, paying,
+by his account, two thirds of the produce of their lands to the
+Government. This was in kind, but, where the revenue was taken in coin,
+a produce of about fourteen pounds of grain was subject to a tax of
+two rupees. On the subject of the cause of the mutiny in India, he
+said that greased cartridges certainly had nothing to do with it; for
+the rest, why, "It was the will of God, and so it happened." To induce
+him to argue on the POSSIBILITY of the mutiny having been successful,
+I found to be out of the question. "It was the power of God which
+had prevented the rebels from gaining over us, and, in the name of
+the Holy Prophet and the twelve Imams, how then could it have been
+otherwise?" As to the probability, however, of there being another
+mutiny, he admitted that he thought there would be one, but that, as
+long as we maintained justice, no other power could hold the country
+against us. On my asking him if we did not maintain justice in the
+land, he said no, and adduced the fact that in every case brought
+before the courts an enormous amount of bribery goes on among the
+Rishtidars, and other understrappers, whereby the man with most money
+wins his cause. No Englishman, he thought, could take a bribe, but he
+seemed to be under the impression that those in authority were aware of
+the system being carried on by those beneath them. He admitted that he
+knew of one native who would not take a bribe! and dwelt largely on the
+subject, as if it were a wonderful fact, which I have no doubt it was.
+
+In the evening we presented Mr. Imam Buksh with some of our sheep,
+which delighted his heart immensely, and he spent the entire evening in
+cooking and eating it, together with a perfect mountain of chupatties,
+which he manufactured with great care and deliberation.
+
+OCTOBER 9. -- Left our camp very early, and had a sharp ascent up the
+mountains. A considerable descent again, brought us to the village
+of Mehra, where we pitched our tents, once more within sight of the
+territories of India.
+
+OCTOBER 10. -- Marched into Dunna, our last halting-place in
+Cashmere. It is situated nearly at the summit of the frontier range
+of hills, and commanded a most extensive view of the mountains of
+Cashmere and Cabul, besides those on the Indian side.
+
+OCTOBER 11. -- Took a last fond glance towards "the valley," and
+descended by a very steep and difficult path to the river Jhelum,
+which forms the boundary between the two territories. Here a couple
+of queerly-shaped, rudely-constructed boats, with two huge oars
+apiece, one astern and one at the side, formed the traveller's flying
+bridge. Into one of these the whole of our possessions and coolies,
+&c. were stowed, and we commenced the passage of the stream.
+
+This we managed by, in the first instance, coasting up the bank for
+several hundred yards, and then striking boldly into the current;
+and it was amusing to see our well-crammed boat suddenly drawn into
+the rapid stream and whisked and whirled about like a straw, while a
+nice calculation on the part of the skipper, and a good deal of rowing
+and shouting on that of the sailors, enabled us to touch the opposite
+shore not very far below the point from which we had started. One
+last lingering look at Cashmerian ground, a step over the side, and
+we were once more standing upon the territories of Queen Victoria,
+and in the burning land of India -- happily, however, still six days'
+journey from the Plains.
+
+OCTOBER 12. -- Marched up the spur of the Muree Hill to Dewul,
+where we found a room in a mud fort converted into a halting-place
+for travellers, reached by a series of break-neck ladders, and
+looking very much like a cell in a prison, with its two chairs
+and clumsy wooden table. Here we found a little amusement in the
+arrival of the Chota Sahib, or "small gentleman," -- otherwise
+the Assistant Civil Commissioner of the district, -- to review the
+fort and its dependencies. On the first tidings of his approach,
+the Thanadar immediately turned out the entire garrison, consisting
+of twelve military policemen, called "Burqundaz," or "Flashers of
+lightning!" These soon appeared in their full dress of crimson turbans
+and yellow tights, and, shouldering their "flint-locks," proceeded to
+perform a series of intricate evolutions, by way of practice for the
+rapidly-approaching inspection. When the great little man did arrive,
+there was, we thought, a good deal of irregularity among the troops,
+such as laughing in the ranks and treading on toes, &c. However,
+the only point the inspecting officer dwelt upon was the absence of
+uniformity in dress, caused by the deficiency of two pairs of yellow
+tights among the lightning flashers, otherwise he appeared perfectly
+satisfied, and all went off well. After his review he invited himself
+to our dinner-party, and honoured our repast with the further addition
+of a kid stew. He turned out to be one of the ex-Company's officers,
+a subaltern of eighteen years' service, FIFTEEN of which had been
+spent away from his regiment on the staff. He was with his corps,
+however, when it mutinied, and escaped without much difficulty. The
+unfortunate colonel of the regiment, finding that none of his men
+would shoot him, had done so with his own hand. He gave it as his
+opinion that the cartridges WERE the cause of the mutiny; but allowed
+that his regiment was in a bad state of discipline some time before,
+and that all the native corps were known to be disaffected years
+before the event occurred, both by the officers present and those
+absent upon staff employ. Altogether, after the Chota Sahib had
+thoroughly discussed both the mutiny and the dinner, we were left
+under the impression that there was quite sufficient cause for the
+disaffection of the Bengal army without ever arriving at the vexed
+question of greased cartridges at all.
+
+OCTOBER 13. -- Marched early into the Hill Station of Muree. Not being
+yet quite in walking trim, I had pressed a mule into the service,
+who carried me in good style as far as the entrance to the town. Here,
+however, he seemed suddenly to remember that we had each a character
+to support, and, stopping short, he utterly refused to budge another
+step. Not being willing even to be led, I finally abandoned him to
+his own devices, and walked on to the Commandant's bungalow, where
+I found my companion already hospitably received, and comfortably
+seated at breakfast, discussing kidneys and beefsteaks, and such like
+unwonted delicacies of the Muree season.
+
+After getting somewhat over the novelty and discomfort of being again
+in a house with doors and glass windows, and other inconveniences,
+we sallied out to inspect the station.
+
+Like its CONFRERES of the Hills -- Simla, Kussowlie, &c. Muree was
+a prettily-situated little settlement, with houses scattered about
+entirely according to the freaks and fancies of the owners, and with
+utter disregard of all system whatever. The Mall was a fine one,
+and its gaily-dressed frequenters, in jhampans and palkees, &c. were
+of the unmistakeable stamp of Anglo India in the Hills. Two or three
+of the ladies, however, were bold enough to walk, and looked none
+the worse for being divorced from their almost inseparable vehicles,
+and unattended by their motley crowd of red, and green, and variegated
+bearers.
+
+OCTOBER 14. -- Spent a quiet day among the hospitalities of Muree, and
+became gradually accustomed to CITY LIFE. Going to church seemed rather
+a strange process, and the building itself was but a bad exchange
+for the grander temples which we had frequented for so many Sundays.
+
+OCTOBER 15. -- Laid our dak by doolie to Lahore, and, with our
+hospitable entertainer to guide us, started at five P.M. by a short
+cut, to meet our new conveyances.
+
+Reaching the main road, we once more packed ourselves away in our
+boxes, and, the sun soon setting his last for us upon the Cashmere
+mountains, left us to make our way down to the miserable plains as
+fast as the flaring and spluttering light of a couple of pine torches
+would allow our bearers to patter along.
+
+From this, until we reach Lahore, we are accompanied by an incessant
+shuffle shuffle of naked feet through the dusty road; jabbering and
+shouting of blacks, flickering of torches, bumping of patched and
+straining doolies against mounds of earth, glimpses of shining naked
+bodies, streaming with perspiration, as they flit about, and the whole
+enveloped in dense and suffocating clouds of dust, which penetrate
+everything and everywhere, and soon become, in fact, a part of one's
+living breathing existence; occasionally, outstripping our procession,
+a vision passes, like the glimmer of a white strip of linen, a
+stick, and a black and polished body, it rushes by like the wind,
+and disappears in the gloom of dust and night, and, in a second, her
+Majesty's mail has passed us on the road! As we near the plains this
+vision undergoes a slight change, and takes the form of an apparition
+of two wild horses tearing away with a red and almost body-less cart;
+this also goes by like a flash, but gives more notice of its coming,
+and our torches, for a second, light up the figure of a wild huntsman,
+with red and streaming turban, who sits behind the steeds and blows a
+defiant blast at us as he also vanishes into the darkness. About seven
+miles from Muree, we halted for dinner, and made renewed acquaintance
+with that interesting object -- the Indian roadside chicken.
+
+OCTOBER 16. -- Arrived early at Rawul Pindee, and breakfasted at
+seven, apparently off guttapercha and extract of sloe leaves. On
+again immediately, and reached Gugerkhan bungalow at seven P.M. hot,
+apoplectic, and saturated with dust.
+
+The room smells thoroughly of the plains; an odour, as it were,
+of punkhas, mosquitoes, and mustiness, not to be found elsewhere,
+and entirely unexplainable to uninitiated sufferers.
+
+The chicken, whose "fate had been accomplished," died as we entered
+the yard, and was on the table in the fashion of a warm SPREAD EAGLE
+in fifteen minutes! After this delicacy is duly discussed, the doolies
+are emptied of dust, the bedding laid down, and jolt, jolt, creak,
+creak, grunt, grunt, on we go again, until sleep good-naturedly
+comes to make us oblivious of all things. The kahars, or bearers,
+however, take a different view of life, and at every relief a crowd
+of sniggering darkies assemble, on both sides, with applications for
+bukshish. At first one hears, "Sahib, Sahib!" in a deprecating tone
+of voice, mindful of sudden wakings of former Sahibs, sticks, and
+consequent sore backs, then piu forte, "Sahib!" crescendo, "Sahib,
+Sahib!" and then at last, in a burst of harmony, "Sahib purana Baira
+kutch bukshish mil jawe?"[33] and the miserable doolie traveller, who
+has been, probably, feigning sleep in sulky savageness for the last
+ten minutes, makes a sudden dive through the curtains with a stick, an
+exclamation is heard very like swearing, only in a foreign language,
+and the troop of applicants vanish like a shot, keeping up, however,
+a yelping of Sahibs, and Purana Bairas, and Bukshishs, until the new
+bearers get fairly under weigh, and have carried their loads beyond
+hearing. None but those who have been woken up in this manner from a
+comfortable state of unconsciousness, to the full realities of doolie
+travelling in Indian heat and dust, can form an idea of the trial
+it is to one's temper; and, from my own feelings, together with the
+sounds I hear from my companion's direction, I can testify as to the
+relief that the use of foreign expletives affords under the affliction.
+
+OCTOBER 17. -- Arrived at Jhelum about eight A.M. to all intents and
+purposes dust inside and out. Flesh and blood can stand no more for the
+present, and we resolve to halt here for the day. The weather appears
+quite as hot as when we started, and the wind comes in, hot and dry,
+and makes one feel like a herring of the reddest; while an infernal
+punkha is creaking its monotonous tune, as it flaps to and fro in the
+next room, making one again realize to the full, "the pleasures of the
+plains." We begin, in fact, to discover that the thorns which were not
+forthcoming on the Cashmere roses are too surely to be found elsewhere.
+
+OCTOBER 18. -- Reached Goojerat at cock-crow; thus completing
+a distinct circle of travel through Bimber, Sirinugger, Ladak,
+Kushtwar, Muree, and back to our present halting-place, from whence
+we had originally branched off.
+
+OCTOBER 19. -- A dusty night's work brought us at two A.M. to
+Goojerwala. Here we found that there was no bungalow between us and
+Lahore, and, consequently, no chance of either a wash or breakfast
+should we go on; we therefore chose loss of time in preference to
+loss of breakfast, with the addition of a day under a broiling sun,
+and halted until the authorities should awake to feed us.
+
+OCTOBER 20. -- Reached Lahore before sunrise, and got our letters
+and papers from the post once more. Afterwards we laid our dak for
+Cawnpore, and made all arrangements for a start in the evening.
+
+OCTOBER 21. -- Arrived at Umritsur about three A.M., and remained in
+our coaches until sunrise, when we set off for a stroll through the
+city. This we found the cleanest, if not the only clean, town we had
+seen since landing in India. The streets were well drained and built,
+and were guarded by a force of yellow-legged, red-turbaned Punjabee
+policemen, who were provided, like their brother blue-bottles at home,
+with staves and rattles instead of the more usual insignia of sword
+and shield. The houses were almost all decorated, outside and in, with
+grotesque mythological and other paintings, such as Vishnu annihilating
+Rakshus, or demons of various kinds, or wonderful battle-pieces,
+wherein pale-faced, unhealthy-looking people, in tailed coats and
+cocked hats, might be seen performing prodigies of valour, assisted
+by bearded and invincible Sikh warriors of ferocious exterior. The
+shops were built with verandahs, and the piazza character of some of
+the streets, in conjunction with the unusual cleanliness, gave one a
+very agreeable impression of Umritsur and its municipal corporation,
+whoever that body may be. The inhabitants are principally Sikhs,
+fine-looking men generally, with long beards turned up at either
+side of their faces, and knotted with their hair under the voluminous
+folds of their turbans.
+
+OCTOBER 22. -- Out at four A.M. to explore the great durbar, or
+head-quarters of the Sikh religion in the Punjab. Entering through a
+highly decorated archway in the kotwalee, or police station, we came
+upon an enormous tank, with steps descending into the water on all
+sides, and planted around with large and shady trees. In the centre
+of this rose the temple of the Sikhs, a light-looking, richly-gilt
+edifice, the lower part of which was constructed of inlaid stones upon
+white marble. From this to one side of the tank, a broad causeway
+led, decorated with handsome railings, and lamps of gilt-work upon
+marble pedestals. Along this, crowds of people were passing to and
+fro, arrayed in every possible variety of costume and colour. Sikhs,
+Hindoos, Mussulmen -- men, women, and children, crowded together like
+bees in a hive. Round the edges of the tank were handsome buildings,
+minarets, &c. with trees and gardens attached to them; and that,
+towards the causeway, was divided in two by a fine and richly-decorated
+archway, in the upper part of which a party of patriarchal old Sikhs
+were squatted on their haunches, discoursing the affairs of the
+nation. This whole scene opened upon our view at a glance. The sun
+had as yet scarcely appeared over the horizon, and the reflection
+of its light shone faintly upon the gold-work and ornaments of the
+central building, tipping it and the lofty minarets with rosy light,
+whilst the rest of the buildings remained shrouded in the morning
+haze. With the incessant bustle of the thronging, brightly-vestured
+crowd, and the accompaniment of the wild discordant tom-toming of a
+band of turbaned musicians, it formed a scene which almost persuaded
+one to put once more confidence in the brightly-coloured descriptions
+of the "Arabian Nights." While waiting for sun-rise, we ascended one
+of the minarets, from which we had a curious bird's-eye view of the
+tank and surrounding city at our feet, while the plains lay stretching
+away before us; the horizon level and unbroken, as if it bounded in
+the ocean. From this we had also a private view of the manners and
+customs of the natives. Just below us was an early morning scene in
+the life of a Sikh gentleman. He was sitting up in his "four-leg,"
+on the open court of an upper story, which formed his bed-room,
+while his attendants were offering him his morning cup of coffee,
+and otherwise attending to his wants. In one corner, another Sikh
+gentleman, with one arm, was having a brass vessel of water poured
+over him, and a number of similar vessels stood upon a sort of rack,
+ready for the master of the house to have his bath.
+
+Scattered about the foot of the bed, which had a grandly decorated
+canopy, was a deputation of white-robed Sikhs paying their morning
+visit, or having an audience upon some matter of business. These by
+degrees got up and went out, each making a profound salaam as he passed
+the bed. One of them only, the old man called back, and with him, as
+he sat upon the "four-leg," he had a long and confidential talk. This
+evidently was the medical adviser, and, judging by the dumb-show of
+the interview which ensued, the Sikh, as evidently, was the victim
+of a cold in his fine old nose, which he had doubtless caught from
+sleeping in the open air. After this we repaired to the kotwallee
+again, and, getting a pair of slippers in exchange for our boots,
+descended to the durbar and mingled with the crowd.
+
+Although we were inadmissible in boots, no objection whatever appeared
+to be made to the entrance of Brahminee bulls; for we found a number
+of them walking about the mosaic pavement with as much confidence
+and impunity as if the place belonged to them.
+
+In the building we found a collection of Sikh padres, or "gooroos,"
+sitting behind a massive volume richly cased in cloth of gold and
+silver, while squatted around under a canopy, were the Sikh faithful,
+offering their presents of cowries, chupatties, balls of sweetmeats,
+and showers of yellow and white necklaces of flowers. The book was the
+original law of Gooroo Gurunth Sahib, which they had just finished
+reading, and, as we entered, they were commencing to cover it up
+again, which they did, with great pomp and ceremony, in a number of
+cloths of various patterns, after which they distributed the votive
+offerings among themselves and the people present, and held a sort of
+banquet over the sweets and flowers. In the midst of the proceedings,
+a very fine specimen of the race of Fukeer came in, and presenting
+an offering of the smallest, laid his head upon the ground before the
+book, and, without a word, took himself off again. He was girt round
+the loins with a yellowish-red cloth; his body, from head to foot,
+was covered with ashes. The hair of his head was matted together in
+strips, like the tail of an uncared cow, and reached to his waist. A
+shallow earthen pot was his hat, and over his shoulders hung two large
+gourds, suspended by a cord, while in his hand he carried a long staff,
+covered over with stuff of the same kind as that round his waist. Such
+was the figure which entered among the gaily-dressed multitude in the
+saintly durbar; and, although to the assembled people there appeared
+nothing whatever either strange or unusual in the arrival, to us,
+who were looking on, the contrast between the unclad dirty mendicant,
+and the pure white vestments of the Sikhs around, rendered it a most
+striking and remarkable apparition.
+
+On entering, he had removed the earthen pot which formed his hat, and,
+one of the two gourds which were round his shoulders having fallen to
+the ground in the act, it was amusing to see him pause for a second,
+and anxiously examine whether any compound fracture had taken place
+in the precious article of his very limited dinner service. One
+extremity of the building we found was occupied for Hindoo worship;
+so that fraternity and equality, worthy of imitation seems to be
+the order of the day among the religions of Umritsur. The interior
+was richly decorated with gilding and mirrors, &c., but was little
+worthy of remark in comparison with the richness of the exterior
+effect. Presenting a "bukshish" to the expectant padres who guarded
+the sacred book, we left them to their devotions, and betook ourselves
+once more to our bungalow.
+
+OCTOBER 23. -- Travelling all night, we reached Jullunder at six
+A.M., and, after breakfast, again started for Loodianah, where we
+dined. We here again crossed the Sutlej, but, the water being low,
+boat navigation was dispensed with, and a shaky bridge, and about
+two miles of sandy river-bed, completed the passage.
+
+At Loodianah we were stormed by a host of merchants, with pushmeena
+and other soft matters, who were rather disappointed at finding we
+had come from the birth-place of such like manufactures. Some of the
+local shawls, however, or "Rampore chudders," were beautifully fine
+and delicate, and seemed worthy of inspection.
+
+OCTOBER 24. -- Reached Umballa at eight A.M., and started again
+shortly after. Our horses to-day were most miserable caricatures,
+and it was with difficulty we managed to progress at all. The last
+stage was accomplished at a walk; and what with this and the delay
+caused by a couple of sandy river-beds, we only reached Kurnaul at
+ten P.M. The miserable condition of the horses was accounted for
+by the enormously high price of grain and the absence of grass,
+in consequence of the want of rain. The general topic, in fact,
+is now the failure of the rains, and consequent apprehensions of a
+famine throughout the land. "Atar" is here eight seers the rupee, or
+in other words, flour sells at one shilling and ninepence a stone --
+an enormous price in these parts.
+
+OCTOBER 25. -- Sunrise found us still half-way to Delhi, and we
+stopped to breakfast at the little bungalow of Ghureekulla. Here we
+found a fine old Khansaman, who gave us an account of the incidents
+of the Mutiny which came under his notice. He had received a flying
+party of two hundred men, women, and children, who arrived at dead of
+night, some on horses, some on foot, and all worn and haggard by their
+march from Delhi, from which they had escaped. These he took care of,
+and supplied with food until the following day, when they departed,
+without, by his own account, giving him anything, either as pay or
+reward. He afterwards assisted others also, and received about one
+hundred and twenty rupees, one way or another, for his services. At
+present he receives six rupees a month, with whatever he can pick up
+from travellers; not a very large amount in the out-of-the-way little
+jungle station of Ghureekulla.
+
+OCTOBER 26. -- Passed through Delhi by moonlight, and reached the
+bungalow at one A.M. At gun-fire we emerged from our locomotives,
+and went to explore the king's palace. In spite of the late lesson on
+the subject of sepoys, we found the gates of the fort held entirely
+by native guards, and a very small body of Europeans located within
+the walls. After rambling through the place, and discovering that
+its only beauty lay at present in its exterior, we went to the Jama
+Musjid, a fine mosque of red granite, inlaid in parts with white
+marble. The cupolas, of great size, were entirely marble, and the
+minarets, also of marble, were closely inlaid. The place had been
+only recently handed over to the Moslems after its late seizure,
+and was not as yet used for worship. Ascending one of the minarets,
+we had a fine view of the city of the Great Mogul dynasty, with its
+minarets and ornamented streets; and in the distance we could discern
+the positions occupied by our besieging force, when the last of the
+kings was brought so rudely to the termination of his reign.
+
+OCTOBER 27. -- Reached Koel, or Allyghur, at eight A.M. Started again
+at five, stopping on the way to inspect the Jama Musjid, and a very
+fine old tower, probably of Buddhist or Jain origin, which was covered
+over with ancient inscriptions. Just as the Muezzin was calling to
+evening prayer, we again resumed our monotonous order of travel,
+and branched off towards Agra to visit the famous Taj Mahul.
+
+OCTOBER 28. -- Reached Agra at two A.M., and finding the bungalow full,
+had to go to the hotel. At sunrise we drove out to the Taj, and here,
+I think, for the first time, we were not disappointed in the difference
+between reality and description. The entrance to the gardens in which
+the Taj is situated was beautiful in itself, but one sight of the
+main building left no room for admiration of anything besides.
+
+It is situated on the banks of the Jumna, with a fine view of the
+magnificent fort, with its mosque and minarets, and is entirely of
+pure white marble, inlaid with stones into shapes of flowers and
+arabesques, &c. At each corner rises a white marble minaret, like a
+pillar of snow, beautifully decorated and carved, but unsullied by a
+single line of any other colour whatever. The interior is profusely
+inlaid with minute stones of considerable value, and is lit by carved
+marble windows of the most beautiful design imaginable. In the centre,
+surrounding the tomb of Mumtaz and her lord, is a marvellous white
+marble screen, in the form of a polygon, carved like perforated ivory,
+and also inlaid with minute stones of every shape and colour.[34]
+The queen, in whose honour the tomb was built, occupies the very
+centre of the enclosure, Shah Jehan's tomb being on one side of it,
+and larger in size, which rather spoils the symmetry of the space.
+
+Exactly underneath the tombs, in the main body of the building,
+one descends to a marble vault, where there are two others precisely
+similar in shape, but without any inscription or ornament whatever,
+and under these latter the mortal remains of the famous Shah Jehan
+and Mumtaz repose in peace. Over the queen's tomb, in the very centre
+of the interior, a single ostrich egg was suspended by an almost
+invisible thread, probably to shadow forth something of the meaning
+of the "Resurgam" affixed to monuments elsewhere. On either side,
+without the mausoleum, are two buildings facing inwards, one of which
+is a mosque, built in red granite and white marble; and the whole are
+profusely ornamented with carvings in marble, which would take an age
+to examine thoroughly, and which produce an effect quite incapable
+of being adequately portrayed by either pen or pencil.
+
+In one of these edifices, among the inlaid work and arabesques,
+and not far from the mortal remains of the departed King and Queen,
+we found a curious and interesting inscription, which seems to have
+been hitherto unmentioned by the many travellers who have visited
+the sacred spot. It was prominently placed and easily decipherable,
+being in unusually large letters, and in that character which might
+be called the "UNEIFORM," of which so many valuable specimens exist
+in all parts of the known globe.
+
+It ran thus : --
+
+
+IN MEMORY OF VALENTINE'S DAY.
+
+
+The sentence appeared unfinished, and one or two words were probably
+required to complete the sense, but from similar existing records
+there could be no difficulty in filling in the missing syllables.
+
+It was curious, however, to reflect what the feeling could have been
+that stayed the writer's hand, and prevented him from finishing his
+graceful tribute to the mighty dead.
+
+Mumtaz, from whose name the word "Taj" is derived (the letter "z"
+being incapable of being pronounced by many natives except as a
+"j"),was the daughter of the famous Noor Jehan's brother Asoph
+Khan. Shah Jehan followed his queen in A.D. 1665, and was laid in the
+building which he had himself originally designed in her honour alone.
+
+With Noor Jehan and Jehangeer the case was reversed. The conqueror
+of the world ended his career in A.D. 1627, and the partner of all
+his Cashmerian wanderings, and many adventures, who wore no colour
+but white after his death, finally rejoined him in a tomb which she
+had raised to his memory at Lahore.
+
+Having paid due homage to the beauty of the far-famed mausoleum, we
+went to the Fort, and, after visiting the Ram Bagh, the Ikmam Dowlah,
+and the various palaces built by Akbar Shah, once more took the road,
+and were soon again galloping through the dust, morning bringing us
+to the bungalow of Bewah. From this we again made for Ghoorsahagunge
+and Cawnpore, and by rail to Allahabad, there completing a circuit
+of travel extending to between two and three thousand miles:
+
+
+        "In heat and cold
+We'd roved o'er many a hill and many a dale,
+Through many a wood and many an open ground,
+In sunshine and in shade, in wet and fair,
+Thoughtful or blithe of heart as might befall
+Our best companions, now the driving winds,
+And now the trotting brooks and whispering trees,
+And now the music of our own quick steps
+With many a short-lived thought that passed between
+And disappeared."
+
+
+And now but one day more remains of our six months' leave. The 31st of
+October sees us again fairly in the hands of the authorities. Brothers
+in arms, who during our absence have been having "all work and no
+play," receive us with warm and disinterested welcome. The Q.M.G. is
+hauled away in triumph by a swarm of fellow black-legs to glad the
+squaw-like partner of his sooty bosom. The last remnants of the
+expedition are fairly broken up, and already the days when we went
+gipsying have passed away "a long time ago."
+
+
+
+Route.
+
+
+                        Miles.
+Allahabad
+Cawnpore                120
+Ghoorsahagunge      72
+Etawah              73
+Kurga               72
+Delhi               51
+Kurnaul             73
+Umballa             45
+Kalka               40
+Kussowlie           9
+Simla               40
+Hureepore           20
+Kalka               29
+Umballa             40
+Thikanmajura            36
+Jullundur           61
+Umritsur                59
+Lahore              35
+Gugerwalla          39
+Goojerat                30
+Bimber              27
+Serai Saidabad      12
+Nowshera                11
+Chungas             11
+Rajaori             12
+Thanna              12
+Burrumgulla         11
+Poshana             6
+Peer Punjal         9
+Poshana             9
+Aliabad             11
+Heerpore                13
+Shupayon                6
+Ramoon              9
+Sirinugger          14
+Wuler               by water
+Islamabad         ,,
+Atchabull           6
+Vernagh             11
+Islamabad           15
+Sirinugger          by water
+Gunberbull            ,,
+Kungur              11
+Gundisursing            12
+Soonamurg           14
+Foot of the Hills   9
+Pandras             24
+Dras                    8
+Tusgam              14
+Chungun             12
+Pushkoom                10
+Waka                    13
+Khurboo             10
+Lamieroo                12
+Nurila              16
+Suspul              14
+Egnemo              10
+Ladak               18
+Chunga              18
+Hemis               2
+Ladak               20
+Pitok               4
+Egnemo              14
+Suspul              10
+Nurila              14
+Lamieroo                16
+Khurboo             12
+Waka                    10
+Pushkoom                13
+Thambis             14
+Sankoo              16
+Sooroo              12
+Among the Mountains 11
+Ditto               14
+Sucknez             11
+Bragnion                14
+Peer                    16
+Nowbogh             9
+Kukunath                10
+Atchabull           8
+Islamabad           6
+Sirinugger          by water
+Baramoula             ,,
+Nowshera                8
+Uree                    15
+Chukothee           15
+Hutteian                14
+Chukar              9
+Mehra               6
+Dunna               6
+Puttun              6
+Dewul               9
+Muree               11
+Rawul Pindee            37
+Gugerkhan           30
+Jhelum              37
+Goojerat                31
+Gugerwalla          30
+Lahore              39
+Umritsur                35
+Jullundur           59
+Loodiana                32
+Umballa             71
+Kurnaul             45
+Ghureekulla         36
+Delhi               36
+Allyghur                79
+Agra                    50
+Bewah               82
+Ghoorsahagunge      79
+Cawnpore                72
+Allahabad           120
+
+
+Parts of the country not having been at the time correctly mapped,
+these distances are in some instances approximations only.
+
+
+
+The Religions of Cashmere and Thibet.
+
+During all our wanderings, whether in India, Cashmere, or Thibet,
+the most striking feature throughout, was the outward display of
+religion and the prominent part which religious forms of worship
+take in the every-day life of the people. Monuments and temples
+everywhere bear testimony to the universal belief in a Supreme Being;
+and Hindoo, Mussulman, and Buddhist alike, by numberless prayers and
+frequent offerings, confess their desire to propitiate His power and
+to cultivate His favour.
+
+Every little village has its "Musjid" or "Shiwala," and everywhere,
+and at all hours, votaries of the different sects may be seen, in
+the fashion they have learnt from childhood, openly REMEMBERING,
+at least, their Creator.
+
+The naked Hindoo, with loosened scalp lock and otherwise closely-shaven
+head, stands in running water, and with his face upturned to the sun
+apostrophises the Divine Essence, whose qualities and attributes he has
+alone been taught to recognise, through the numberless incarnations
+of his degenerate creed. Five times a day the Mussulman kneels in
+open adoration of his Maker, and, doffing his slippers, repeats, with
+forehead to the ground, the formula laid down for him by the only
+Prophet he has learnt to believe in. The Buddhist, too, mutters his
+"Um mani panee" at every turn, and keeps his praying wheel in endless
+motion, with entire confidence in its mystic virtues, and fullest
+faith in the efficacy of those forms which he has thus been taught
+to follow from his cradle.
+
+Each worships after the fashion of his fathers before him, and each,
+by the dim illumination of his own particular light, fancies himself
+upon the true path, and is able plainly to perceive his neighbour
+groping in the outer darkness.
+
+Seeing all this, and turning in imagination to other lands, it is
+curious to consider that the Church which possesses the only Lamp
+of Truth, and who by the help of its light pronounces all these
+zealous worshippers alike, to be but "Infidels and Turks," and
+says to all, in language not quite so polite as that of Touchstone,
+"Truly, shepherds, ye are in a parlous state," herself makes no such
+public demonstration of her faith. To an Eastern infidel travelling
+in the West, she would even appear, to outward eye, a tenfold greater
+infidel than her neighbours. Except on one day in seven, he would
+seldom find a place of public worship open to his gaze, while the Name
+which he himself has learned to reverence to such a degree that every
+scrap of paper that might chance to bear it, is sacred in his eyes,
+he might hear a thousand times, and perhaps not once in adoration;
+and while it commences every action of his own life he would there
+find it utterly excluded from its accustomed place. Even the form of
+parting salutation, which in almost all lands -- Infidel and Heretical
+-- greets him in the name of God, would, in Protestant England, fall
+upon his ear with no such signification. While the benighted Hindoo
+greets his parting neighbour to the present day with "Khuda Hafiz" --
+God the Preserver -- the Englishman's "Good-bye," like well-worn coin,
+has changed so much by use, that now, no stranger could discern in it
+any trace whatever of the image with which it was originally stamped.
+
+And although the comparison between the apparent creeds of East
+and West is truly that between a very large proportion of faithful
+professors of a false religion and, to outward eye, a similarly
+large proportion of unfaithful followers of the true religion, it is
+interesting to form some idea of the different systems which have
+existed for so many ages, and which, though proved alike by reason
+and revelation to be of human origin and unequal to the wants of
+human nature, have yet maintained their influence to the present day,
+and hold among their votaries still such zealous worshippers of an
+unknown God.
+
+The oldest of all these religions appears to be that of the
+Hindoos. The Vedas, or Scriptures, date as far back as the Books of
+Moses, 1100 B.C.; and previously even to their then being committed
+to writing by the Sage Vyasa, they are believed to have been preserved
+for ages by tradition. The primary doctrine of the Vedas is the Unity
+of God. There is, they say, "but one Deity, the Supreme Spirit, the
+Lord of the Universe, whose work is the universe." "Let as adore the
+supremacy of that divine Sun, the Godhead, who illuminates all, who
+recreates all, from whom all proceed, to whom all must return, whom
+we invoke to direct our understandings aright in our progress towards
+His holy seat. What the sun and light are to this world, that are the
+Supreme Good and Truth to the intellectual and invisible universe;
+and as our corporeal eyes have a distinct perception of objects
+enlightened by the sun, thus our souls acquire certain knowledge by
+meditating on the light of truth which emanates from the Being of
+beings; that is the light by which alone our minds can be directed
+to the path of beatitude."
+
+Every Brahmin must pray at morning and evening twilight in some
+unfrequented place, near pure water, and must bathe daily; he
+must also daily perform five sacraments, viz., studying the Vedas,
+making oblations to the manes of the departed, giving rice to living
+creatures, and receiving guests with honour. As to the doctrine of
+a future state, they believe in the transmigration of the soul, but
+that between the different stages of existence it enjoys, according to
+merit or demerit, years and years of happiness in some of the heavens,
+or suffers torments of similar duration in some of the hells. The
+most wicked, however, after being purged of their crimes by ages of
+suffering, and by repeated transmigrations, may ascend in the scale
+of being until they finally enter heaven and attain the highest reward
+of all good, which is incorporation with the Divine Essence.
+
+Like more enlightened systems of religion, the Hindoo faith has
+degenerated from the purity originally inculcated. The Monotheism,
+though still existing, has been almost smothered by a system of
+innumerable incarnations; by means of which the attributes of an unseen
+Deity were to be brought to the understandings of the ignorant; and,
+as might be expected, the hidden symbol has been almost lost in the
+tangible reality. The later Scriptures, or Puranas, are believed to
+have been compiled between the eighth and sixteenth centuries, A.D.;
+and though still upholding the existence of a Supreme Being, by whom
+all things are composed, they introduce a variety of incarnations
+and divinities almost innumerable. Of these, the three principal are
+Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, representing respectively the creating,
+preserving, and destroying principles; and their wives, Sereswutee,
+Lukshmee, and Dewee. These latter are the active powers which develop
+the principles represented by the triad. The divinity most commonly
+portrayed however, though not publicly worshipped, is Gunesh. Almost
+every dwelling has her effigy rudely painted over the entrance; and she
+is invoked at the beginning of all undertakings, and is the remover of
+all difficulties. Her peculiar appearance is accounted for by the fact
+of her having been killed at an early period of life by Siva, who cut
+off her head, and, afterwards relenting, replaced it with the first
+that happened to come to hand, which turned out to be an elephant's!
+
+Gunesh was produced by the intense wishes of Dewee, and is now appealed
+to at the commencement of almost every act in Hindoo life.
+
+The following invocation to this "household god" will give some idea
+of the position she holds in public estimation. It is taken from the
+"Prem Sagur," or Ocean of Love, a history of the life of Krishna,
+a son of Vishnu, who, with Siva and Dewee, or Mahadewee, monopolises
+almost the entire public respect and adoration: --
+
+
+
+"Oh elephant-faced Deity, obviator of difficulties, of exalted fame
+resplendent,
+Grant as a boon, pure language, wisdom, and felicity may be much
+promoted.
+Thou on whose two celestial feet the world is gazing, worshipping
+both day and night,
+O mother of the universe, grant unto me, remembering thee, true skill
+and utterance."
+
+
+The "Ocean of Love" gives a full account of the various incarnations
+of Krishna, the favourite divinity of the Hindoos, and opens with
+the scene of his birth. Kans, his uncle, has placed guards, in order
+that the child may be killed at his first appearance, it having been
+predicted that Kans himself is to fall by the hands of Krishna. The
+Cashmerian artist -- whose powers of colouring were his chief
+recommendation -- has depicted the moment when Vasadeo and Devakee,
+the father and mother, viewing Krishna, with long-drawn sighs, both
+begin to say, "If, by some means, we could send away this child, then
+it would escape the guilty Kans." Vasadeo says, "Without destiny none
+can preserve him; the writing of Fate, that only will be accomplished."
+
+Destiny being propitious, the guards fall asleep upon their posts,
+as shown in the accompanying design, and another child is substituted
+for Krishna. He is afterwards brought up as a herdsman, and spends
+his childhood among the milkmaids of Braj, upon whom he plays all
+sorts of tricks. "One day the divine Krishna played upon the flute
+in the forest, when, hearing the sound of the instrument, all the
+young women of Braj arose in confusion, and hastened and assembled
+in one place. The dark-blue Krishna, with body of the hue of clouds,
+stood in the midst; and such was the beauty of the fair ones, as they
+sported, that they resembled golden creepers growing from beneath a
+blue mountain!"
+
+The description of the state of the world, on Krishna's appearance,
+is given by the saintly Shukadeo to King Parikshah -- "O King, at the
+time of the divine Krishna appearing, in the minds of all such joy
+arose, that not even the name of grief remained. With joy the woods
+and groves began to bear fruits and flowers, their verdure still
+increasing. The rivers, streams, and lakes were filled with water,
+and upon them birds of every kind were sporting; and, from city to
+city, from house to house, from village to village, rejoicings were
+celebrated. The Brahmins were performing sacrifice; the Regents of
+the ten divisions of the horizon rejoiced. Clouds were moving over
+the circuit of Braj. The deities, seated in their cars, rained down
+flowers; the holders of the magic pill, the celestial musicians, and
+heavenly bards, continually sounding drums, kettledrums, and pipes,
+were singing the praises of the divine virtues; and, in one direction,
+Urvasee, and all the celestial dancers, were dancing. In such a time,
+then, on Wednesday, the eighth day of the dark half of the month
+Bhadon, at midnight, while the moon was in the mansion of Rohanee,
+the divine Krishna was born, of the colour of clouds, moon-faced and
+lotus-eyed, with a girdle of yellow cloth passing round his loins,
+wearing a crown, and arrayed in a necklace of five jewels, produced
+from the elements of nature, and with ornaments set with gems, in a
+four-armed form, sustaining the shell, the quoit, the mace, and the
+lotus he presented himself."
+
+Krishna afterwards espouses a fair lady, of the name of Rukminee,
+and the marriage is thus poetically described. Rukminee has written
+a letter, filled with love, and sent it by the hand of a Brahmin, to
+the Root of Joy, Krishna: -- "The Brahmin having arrived at Duarika,
+perceives that the town is in the midst of the ocean, and on the four
+sides of it there are great mountains and woods and groves, which
+add beauty to the scene. In these were various kinds of beasts and
+birds, and the limpid lakes were filled with pure water, and lotus
+flowers were blooming, upon which swarms upon swarms of black bees
+were humming. To the distance of many miles orchards, containing an
+endless variety of fruit and flowers, extended; along these enclosures
+betel gardens were flourishing. The gardeners, standing at the wells,
+were singing with sweet strains; and, working waterwheels and buckets,
+were irrigating the high and low grounds."
+
+Beholding this beautiful scene, and being gladdened thereby, the
+Brahmin, still advancing, beholds that "on four sides of the city
+are very lofty ramparts, with four gateways, in which folding-doors,
+inlaid with gold, are fixed, and, inside the city, houses of five
+and six stories high, of silver and gold, adorned with jewels, so
+lofty as to converse with the sky, are glittering. Their minarets
+and pinnacles are gleaming like lightning, and banners and pennons
+of many colours are fluttering. The warm fragrance of perfumes was
+issuing from windows, air-holes, and lattices. At every door were
+placed pillars of the plantain-tree, with fresh shoots, and golden
+vessels. Garlands and wreathed flowers were festooned from house
+to house, and joyful music was sounding. From place to place, the
+recital of the Puranas and discourse about Krishna was kept up. The
+eighteen classes were dwelling in case and tranquillity."
+
+On hearing the Brahmin's message, the warder says: -- " 'Great
+sir, be pleased to enter the palace; the divine Krishna reposes,
+in front of you, on a throne.' Krishna, descending, bows to him,
+and shows him much respect, and those attentions which a man would
+show to his friend. Having applied fragrant unguents, and caused
+him to be bathed and washed, he partakes of food, possessing the six
+flavours. Afterwards he gave him the betel leaf, made up with areca
+nut, spices, and chunam; and having perfumed his body with saffron
+and sandal wood oil, and arranged his dress, and put upon him a
+necklace of flowers, he conducted him into a palace adorned with
+jewels, and caused him to repose in a fair curtained bed, studded with
+gems." After sleeping profoundly, the Brahmin awakes, and relates his
+mission. Krishna goes to claim his bride, and orders his charioteer,
+Darak, to prepare his chariot. Darak quickly yokes four horses. Then
+the divine Krishna, having ascended, and seated the Brahmin, departs
+from Duarika to Kundalpore. On coming forth from the city, behold! "on
+the right hand herds upon herds of deer are moving, and in front,
+a lion and lioness, carrying their prey, are advancing, roaring."
+
+Having seen this auspicious event, the Brahmin, having mentally
+reflected, said, "Sire, from beholding, at this time, this good
+omen, it appears to my mind that, just as these are advancing,
+having accomplished their object, just so you will return, having
+effected yours." Arrived at Kundalpore, he finds preparations made
+for the marriage:
+
+
+"Swept were the streets, the crossings o'er-canopied, and with perfumes
+sprinkled and sandal oil;
+Clusters were formed of flowers of white and of red, and interspersed
+with cocoa-nuts of gold.
+The green foliage, fruits, and flowers, were in profusion, and from
+house to house flowering wreaths.
+Banners and pennons and flowers, in golden tissues, were suspended,
+and well-fashioned vessels of gold
+And in every house reigned joy!"
+
+
+"As for Rukminee, with agitated frame, she gazed in every direction,
+as the moon is dimmed by the morn. Extreme anxiety showed in the
+heart of the fair one; she gazed, standing in a lofty balcony; her
+frame was agitated, her heart most sad; she drew deep sighs. While,
+through distress, tears rain from her eyes, she says, "Why has not
+Krishna arrived?" When the marriage-day dawns, she sends, by a Brahmin,
+to Krishna: "Receptacle of favour, -- When two hours of the day remain
+I shall go to perform worship in the temple of Dewee, to the east of
+the city." Her companions and attendants, arriving, first filled a
+square place in the courtyard with pearls, and spread a seat of gold
+set with pearls, on which they caused Rukminee to sit, and anointed
+her with oil by the hands of seven married women whose husbands
+were alive. Afterwards, having rubbed her with fragrant paste, they
+adorned her with sixteen ornaments, and put on her twelve trinkets,
+and having arrayed her in a red boddice they seated her, fully
+adorned. Then the young Rukminee, accompanied by all her handmaidens,
+went, with the sound of music, to perform her devotions. Screened by
+a curtain of silk, and surrounded by crowd upon crowd of companions,
+she appeared among the swarthy group who accompanied her as beautiful,
+as amid dark blue clouds, the moon with its company of stars!"
+
+Having arrived at the temple of Dewee, the royal maiden, having washed
+her hands and feet and sipped water, proceeded to offer sandal oil,
+unbroken grains of rice, flowers, incense, lamps, and consecrated food,
+and with earnest faith performed the worship of Dewee according to
+the prescribed ritual.
+
+"After which she fed women of the Brahmin caste with delectable food,
+and having attired them in fair garments, she drew a mark on their
+foreheads with a mixture of rice, alum, turmeric, and acid, and
+having caused to adhere some unbroken grains of rice, she received
+their benediction. Hearing from an attendant that Krishna has
+arrived, the Princess is filled with ecstatic delight, so that she
+cannot contain herself; and leaning on the arm of an attendant, in a
+graceful attitude, remains slightly smiling, in such a manner that no
+description can express her beauty. The guards become fascinated and
+remain immoveable. With trembling frame and coy of heart she finally
+departs with Krishna."
+
+The domestic life and appearance of Krishna and Rukminee is still
+further characteristically described in the imaginative pages of the
+"Ocean of Love:" -- "Once on a time, in a palace of gold, studded with
+jewels, a gem-adorned bedstead, with curtains, was spread, on which a
+bedding white as foam, and adorned with flowers, with pillows for the
+cheek and for the head, continued to exhale perfumes. On all four sides
+of the bed vessels containing camphor, rose-water, saffron, sandal
+oil, and other ingredients, were placed; various kinds of marvellous
+pictures were delineated on the walls on all sides. In recesses, here
+and there, flowers, fruits, sweetmeats, and confections were placed,
+and all that could be required for enjoyment was at hand. Clothed in
+a petticoat and a full loose robe of dazzling splendour, embroidered
+with pearls, and a sparkling boddice, and a long refulgent wrapper,
+and wearing a glittering veil, covered with ornaments from head to
+foot; with red lines drawn across the forehead, having a nose-ring of
+the largest pearls, ornaments for the head, earrings, ornamental line
+at the parting of the hair, marks between the eyebrows, ornaments for
+the ears and forehead, a necklace composed of circular pieces of gold,
+a string of gold beads and coral, a breast ornament, a necklace of five
+strings and of seven, a pearl necklace, double and triple bracelets
+of nine gems, armlets, wristlets, and other kinds of fastenings for
+the arm; bangles, seals; seal rings, a girdle of bells, rings for the
+great toe, toe ornaments, anklets, and other ornaments of all kinds
+studded with jewels; the moon-faced, tulip-complexioned, gazelle-eyed,
+bird-voiced, elephant-gaited, slim-waisted, divine Rukminee, and the
+cloud-coloured, lotus-eyed Krishna, ocean of beauty, splendour of
+the three worlds, root of joy, wearing a diadem like the crest of a
+peacock, and a necklace of forest flowers, a silken robe of yellow
+hue, and a scarf of the same, were reposing, when, all of sudden,
+the divine Krishna said to Rukminee, 'Listen, fair one,' " &c.
+
+Krishna afterwards takes 16,100 wives, and always at early dawn,
+one would wash his face, another would apply a fragrant paste to
+his body, another would prepare for him and give him to eat food of
+six flavours, another would make nice betel, with cloves, cardamums,
+mace, and nutmegs, for her beloved. "Each produced a daughter fair as
+Rukminee; each ten sons, brave sons were they! 161,000 and all alike,
+such were the sons of Krishna!"
+
+Such is part of the history of the favourite divinity of the benighted
+Hindoo as related in the flowery pages of the "Ocean of Love," and
+the history may be, more or less, read in the every-day scenes of
+Indian life which pass around one.
+
+The description of Rukminee, strange as it is, corresponds with many
+other fair portraits in the Hindee; witness that of "Oonmadinee,"
+the daughter of "Rutundutt": --
+
+"Her beauty was like a light in a dark house -- her eyes were those
+of a deer, her curls like female snakes, her eyebrows like a bow,
+her nose like a parrot's, her teeth like a string of pearls, her
+lips like the red gourds, her neck like a pigeon's, her waist like
+a leopard's, her hands and feet like a soft lotus, her face like the
+moon, with the gait of a goose, and the voice of a cuckoo!"
+
+More apparent even than in the earthly nature of the Hindoo's
+conception of the Divine attributes, the falsity and the human
+origin of his Faith may be seen in the effect it produces wherever
+it is allowed to obtain undivided sway. Combining dirt, idleness,
+and religion together, the Hindoo Fukeer, attired in the minutest
+rag of raiment, at times in none at all, wanders from place to place,
+and with long and matted hair, blood-shot haggard eyes, and scowling
+visage, fancies himself upon the path which leads direct to Paradise.
+
+Attenuated to the last degree, he suffers all extremes of heat and
+cold, sleeps upon a bed of ashes, and sits moodily beneath the burning
+mid-day sun, lives on charity while scorning usually to ask for alms,
+and bears the reputation of a saint while reducing himself to the
+very level of the beasts that perish.
+
+Something of the cheerful feelings which actuate these religious
+mendicants may be found in the following passage: -- "He may be
+called a wise 'Jogee,' or 'Fukeer,' who has dried up the reservoir
+of hope with the fire of austere devotion, and who has subdued his
+mind, and kept the organs of sense in their proper place; and this
+is the condition of persons in this world, that their bodies undergo
+dissolution, their heads shake, and their teeth fall out. When men
+become old, they walk about with sticks, and it is thus that time
+passes away. Night succeeds day, and year succeeds month, and old
+age succeeds childhood, and we know not who we are ourselves, and
+who others are; one comes and another departs; and at last all living
+creatures must depart. And, behold! night passes away, and then day
+dawns; the moon goes down and the sun rises; thus does youth depart,
+and old age comes on, and thus Time pursues his course: but although
+man sees all these things, he does not become wise. There are bodies of
+many kinds, and minds of many kinds, and affections or fascinations of
+many kinds, and Brahma has created wickedness of many kinds; but a wise
+man, having escaped from these, and having subdued hope and avarice,
+and shaved his head, and taken a stick and water-pot in his hands,
+having subjugated the passion of love and anger, and become a 'Jogee,'
+who wanders and travels about with naked feet to places of pilgrimage,
+obtains final liberation. And, behold, this world is like a dream."
+
+The derivation of the word "Fukeer," and an illustration of the
+disposition of the mendicant race, is given in a Persian tale,
+called the "Four Dervishes." The story was originally narrated to
+amuse a king of Delhi, who was sick, and was afterwards DONE into
+Hindostanee by a Mussulman author, who styles himself, "This wicked
+sinner, Meer Ammun of Delhi."
+
+The speaker, a certain prince, who aspires to the title of "generous,"
+has built a lofty house, with forty high and spacious doors, where, at
+all times, from morning to evening, he gives rupees and gold mohurs[35]
+to the poor and necessitous, and whoever asks for anything he satisfies
+him. "One day a Fukeer came to the front door and begged. I gave him
+a gold mohur; again he came to a second door, and asked for two gold
+mohurs. I passed over the matter, and gave him two gold mohurs.
+
+"In this manner he came to every door, and asked for an additional
+gold mohur each time, and I gave him according to his request. Having
+come to the fortieth door, and received forty gold mohurs, he came
+in again by the first door, and begged afresh.
+
+"This appeared to me a very bad action on his part. I said to him,
+'O avaricious man! what sort of mendicant art thou, who knowest not the
+three letters of "Fukur" (POVERTY), according to which a Fukeer should
+act?' The Fukeer said, 'Well, O liberal person, do you explain them to
+me.' I replied, 'The three letters are F, K, and R. From F comes "faka"
+(FASTING); from K, "kinaut" (CONTENTMENT); and from R comes "reeazut"
+(ABSTINENCE). He is not a Fukeer in whom these qualities are not. Oh,
+avaricious creature! you have taken from forty doors, from one gold
+mohur to forty. Calculate, therefore, how many you have received. And,
+in addition to this, your avarice has brought you again to the first
+door. Expend what you have received, and return and take whatever you
+ask for. A Fukeer should take thought for one day; on the second day
+there will be some fresh bestower of alms.' Having heard this speech of
+mine, he became angry and dissatisfied, and threw all he had received
+from me on the ground, and said, 'Enough, father; be not so warm;
+take all your presents back again. Do not again assume the name of
+"Liberal." You cannot lift the weights of liberality. When will you
+arrive at that day's journey?'
+
+"When I heard this I was alarmed, and with many solicitations asked
+him to forgive my fault, and to take whatsoever he wished. He would
+not accept my gifts at all, and went away saying, 'If you were now
+to offer me your whole kingdom I would not receive it from you.' "
+
+This studied indifference about a matter of more than a thousand
+pounds, though perhaps not often exercised upon so large a scale, is
+just that which these wandering fanatics display towards every offering
+they receive, and in every action of their useless lives. Whatever
+may be said against them, however, their profession of poverty and
+suffering is no mockery, as was that of the well-fed "monks of old,"
+whose reasonings were something similar on religious points.
+
+The Fukeer soliloquizes: "The condition of our being born is, that
+our griefs are many and our pleasures few, because this world is the
+root of misery. What happiness, therefore, has man? If any man should
+climb to the top of a tree, or sit down on the summit of a hill, or
+remain concealed in water, yet death does not allow him to escape. At
+the most, man's age is a hundred years, half of which passes away in
+night, half of the other half is expended in childhood and old age;
+the remainder is spent in altercation, separation from those we love,
+and affliction, and the soul is restless as a wave of the sea. No
+one who has come into the world has escaped from affliction. It
+is vain to fix one's affections on it, and therefore it is best to
+cultivate and practise religion." And so, as a remedy for the evil
+which he has discovered to exist upon the earth, and to work out a
+successful escape from it, he sits himself down in dust and ashes,
+and, mistaking the sign-post, adopts the path which leads him furthest
+from the point he wishes to arrive at.
+
+As the Hindoo is the most ancient of religions, so the Buddhist
+is the one which is professed by the largest portion of the human
+race. It is the religion of Burmah, Ceylon, China, Siam, Thibet, and
+Russian Tartary, and is computed to claim as many as three hundred
+and sixty-nine millions among its Votaries.[36] "Gautama," or "Sakya
+mounee," its founder, was born in Bengal about the seventh century
+before Christ. Yet India at present contains no modern temples of its
+worship, and no native of India, that I have ever met, knew anything
+of its founder, or was even acquainted with the term "Buddha," or
+"Buddhist." Its doctrines are the most curious of those that have
+ever been promulgated, and appear even now to be scarcely understood
+in all their ramifications. According to original Buddhism, there is
+no Creator, nor being that is self-existent and eternal. The great
+object is the attainment, in this life, of complete abstraction from
+all worldly affairs and passions, and the ultimate result, of entire
+annihilation. Like the Hindoo, the Buddhist believes in transmigration
+of souls, and until utter annihilation is reached, he is doomed to
+shift his earthly tenement, from form to form, according to the deeds
+done in the flesh. It is, therefore, the great object of all beings,
+who would be released from the sorrows of successive birth, to seek
+the destruction of the moral cause of continued existence, that is,
+the cleaving to existing objects or evil desire. It is only possible to
+accomplish this end by attending to a prescribed course of discipline,
+and by fixing the mind upon the perfections of Buddha. Those who after
+successive births have entirely destroyed all evil desires are called
+"Rahuts," and after death the Rahut attains "Nirwana," or ceases to
+exist. The actual meaning of the word "Rahut," is "Tranquillity,"
+and it appears to be the same word which is used on a small scale,
+to express the soothing qualities of that far-famed Eastern sweetmeat,
+the Rahut-lukma, or "Morsels of tranquillity."
+
+The Buddhas themselves are beings who appear after intervals of
+time inconceivably vast. Previous to their reception of the state,
+they pass through countless phases of being, at, one time appearing
+in human form, at another as a frog, or fish, &c., in each of which
+states they acquire a greater degree of merit.
+
+In the birth in which they become Buddha, they are always of woman
+born, and pass through infancy and youth like ordinary mortals,
+until at the prescribed age they abandon the world and retire to the
+wilderness, where they receive the supernatural powers with which
+the office is endowed. Their highest glory is that they receive the
+wisdom by which they can direct sentient beings to the path that
+leads to the desired cessation of existence.
+
+The Buddhism of Thibet appears to be an innovation on the original
+system of religion. It was introduced into the country about the
+seventh century of our era; and although Sakya mounee, who is supposed
+by the Thibetians to have lived one thousand years before Christ,
+is still believed to be the founder of the present system, the Delai
+Lama, at Lassa, is regarded as an incarnation of Buddha, and is the
+supreme infallible head of the whole Thibetian religious community.
+
+The original tenets, too, have been modified, and the modern Scriptures
+have been adapted to three different capacities of mankind -- viz. the
+lowest, mean (or middle), and the highest. The principles thus declared
+are as follows : --
+
+"1. Men of vulgar capacity must believe that there is a God, a future
+life, and that they shall therein reap the fruits of their works in
+this life.
+
+"2. Those that are in a middle degree of intellectual and moral
+capacity, besides admitting the former position, must know that every
+compound thing is perishable, that there is no reality in things,
+that every imperfection is pain, and that deliverance from pain or
+bodily existence is final happiness.
+
+"3. Those of the highest capacities, besides the above enumerated
+articles, must know that, from the body to the supreme soul, nothing
+is existing by itself, neither can it be said that it will continue
+always or cease absolutely, but that everything exists by a dependant
+or casual connexion."[37]
+
+One cause of the extension of the religion of Buddha appears to
+be the broad basis upon which admission to the priesthood has
+'been placed. No one can become a Brahmin except by birth, but the
+privileges of becoming a Lama are open to all who are willing to
+receive them upon the conditions implied in their acceptance. The
+principal duties to be attended to, by one about to become a priest,
+are thus laid down: -- "He who, with a firm faith in the religion
+of Truth, believes in Buddha, shall rise before daylight, and,
+having cleaned his teeth, shall then sweep all the places appointed
+to be swept in the vicinity of the 'Vihara,' or monastery; after
+which he shall fetch the water that is required for use, filter it,
+and place it ready for drinking. When this is done, he shall retire
+to a solitary place, and for the space of three hours meditate on
+the obligations of his vow. The bell will then ring, and he must
+reflect that greater than the gift of 100 elephants, 100 horses, and
+100 chariots, is the reward of him who takes one step towards the
+place where worship is offered. Thus reflecting, he shall approach
+the 'Dagoba,' where relics of holy men are placed, and perform that
+which is appointed; he shall offer flowers just as if Buddha were
+present in person, meditate on the nine virtues of Buddha with a
+fixed and determined mind, and seek forgiveness for his faults,
+just as if the sacred relics were endowed with life. He shall then
+meditate on the advantages to be derived from carrying the alms-bowl
+and putting on the yellow robe." The injunctions on the priesthood
+relative to their abstracting their thoughts and desires from all
+earthly matters whatever, are of the strictest nature. "The door
+of the eye is to be kept shut. When the outer gates of the city are
+left open, though the door of every separate house and store be shut,
+the enemy will enter the city and take possession; in like manner,
+though all the ordinances be kept, if the eye be permitted to wander,
+affection for worldly objects will be produced." A story is told of a
+priest named Chittagutta, who resided once in a cave, upon the walls of
+which the history of Buddha was painted "in the finest style of art."
+
+The cave was visited by some priests, who expressed their admiration
+of the paintings to Chittagutta, but the devotee replied that he had
+lived there sixty years and had never seen them, nor would he, except
+for their information, ever have become aware of their existence. There
+was near the door of his cave a spreading tree; but he only knew that
+it was there by the fall of its leaves or flowers; the tree itself he
+never saw, as he carefully observed the precept not to look upwards,
+or to a distance!
+
+The priest of Buddha must possess but eight articles: three of these
+are matters of dress; the others, a girdle for the loins, an alms-bowl,
+a razor, a needle, and a water-strainer. The bowl receives the food
+presented in alms; the razor is for shaving the head; the needle
+keeps his yellow wardrobe in order; and the water-strainer is the
+most serviceable of all, for "if any priest shall knowingly drink
+water containing insects, he shall be ejected from the priesthood."
+
+The Dagobas, or shrines of relics, which abound in such numbers in
+Thibet, have also been found in India and other countries. Some of
+them when opened have been found to contain what appears to be remains
+of a funeral pile, also vessels of stone or metal, and, occasionally,
+caskets of silver and gold, curiously wrought. "Some of these have been
+chased with a series of four figures, representing Buddha in the act
+of preaching; a mendicant is on his right, a lay follower on his left,
+and behind the latter a female disciple." This somewhat describes the
+appearance of the stone-carved figures at the monastery of Hemis.[38]
+These caskets have been set with rubies and chased with the leaves
+of the lotus. Besides these have also been found small pearls, gold
+buttons, rings, beads, pieces of clay and stone bearing impressions of
+figures, bits of bone, and teeth of animals, pieces of cloth, &c. The
+images are sometimes recumbent, at other times standing upright,
+with the hand uplifted in the act of giving instruction. Sometimes
+they have three heads and six or more arms.
+
+In order to form clear and accurate ideas of the religion of Buddha,
+it would be necessary to study a vast number of volumes, some of them
+contradictory and of very doubtful authority, and the result would
+appear hardly to compensate for the trouble, so altered has modern
+Buddhism become from ancient, and into so many different systems
+has it been divided in the many different countries in which it is
+professed. Among its doctrines there is much that is virtuous and
+true. It preaches benevolence and goodwill towards men, but enjoins no
+active efforts to prove the sincerity of such goodwill. It requires
+its members to "confess their sins with a contrite heart, to ask
+forgiveness of them, and to repent truly, with a resolution not to
+commit such again. To rejoice in the moral merit and perfection of
+human beings, and to wish that they may attain beatitude; further,
+to pray and exhort others to turn the wheel of religion, that the
+world may be benefited thereby." Its general aim seems to be to
+overcome all emotions and preferences of the mind, and all that would
+disturb its repose and quiet. It seeks to destroy the human passions
+and not to regulate them; and with faith in Buddha only as its aid,
+it succeeds about as well as might have been anticipated.
+
+Between these two religions of Brahma and Buddha, that of the "Jains"
+sprang up, apparently a heresy from both. It has nearly died out
+in India, though many ruins of its temples remain. The Jains agree
+with the Buddhists as to the transmigration of souls, and carry
+their respect for life to the still greater extent, that besides a
+strainer to remove all animalculae from the water they imbibe, they
+carry a broom to sweep away the insects from their path. They differ
+from the Brahmins in repudiating their minor incarnations and gods,
+as the following translation will serve to show: -- "A rajah, of the
+name of Gondshekur, had a minister, Abhuechund, who converted him to
+the Jain religion. He prohibited the worship of Vishnu, and all gifts
+of cows, land, and balls of flour and rice, and would not allow any one
+to carry away bones to the Ganges. One day the minister began to say,
+'O great king, be pleased to listen to the judgments and explanations
+of religion: Whosoever takes another's life, that other takes his life
+in another world. The birth of a man after he has again come into the
+world does not escape from this sin; he is born again and again, and
+dies again and again. For this reason it is right for a man, who has
+been born in the world, to cultivate religion. Behold! Brahma, Vishnu,
+and Mahadeo, being under the influence of love, anger, and fascination,
+descend upon the earth in various ways; but a cow is superior to them
+all, for it is free from anger, enmity, intoxication, rage, avarice,
+and inordinate affection, and affords protection to the subject; and
+her sons also behave kindly to, and cherish the animals of the earth,
+and therefore all the gods and sages regard the cow with respect. For
+this reason, it is not right to regard the gods -- in this world,
+respect the cow. It is virtuous to protect all animals, from the
+elephant to the ant, and from beasts and birds to man. In the world
+there is no act so impious as for men to increase their own flesh by
+eating the flesh of other creatures. They who do not sympathise in the
+griefs of animated beings, and who kill and eat other animals, do not
+live long on the earth, and are born lame, maimed, blind, dwarfs, and
+humpbacked, &c.; and it is a great sin to drink wine and eat flesh;
+wherefore to do so is improper. The minister, having thus explained
+his sentiments to the rajah, converted him to the Jain religion,
+so that he did whatever the minister said, and no longer paid any
+respect to Brahmins, Fukeers, Jogies, Dervishes, &c., and carried on
+his government according to this religion."
+
+Next among the religions of the East, whose outward observances so
+forcibly attract attention, comes that of the Moslem -- "The marvellous
+reformation wrought by Mahomet and the Koran in the manners, morals,
+and religious feelings of so many millions."
+
+Mahomet, in truth, although "THE False Prophet," would appear to
+have been a considerable benefactor to his species. The Arabs,
+at the time of his birth, were sunk in idolatry and the worship
+of the stars, while their morals were under no control either of
+law or religion. The Prophet's aim appears, in the first instance,
+to have been, to secure a system of orderly government, and at the
+same time to gain, for his own family, a dignity which should be
+exalted beyond all fear of competition-the dignity of lordship over
+the holy city of Mecca. This was then held under no higher tenure
+than the sufferance and caprice of the Arab tribes. To perpetuate
+this lordship by assuming an hereditary and inviolable pontificate
+was Mahomet's first idea, and at a banquet given to the whole of his
+kinsmen he revealed his scheme. They, however, rejected his appeal,
+and he then proclaimed himself as an apostle to all, and setting
+aside existing forms and traditions proceeded to a higher flight of
+ambition. For election by blood, he substituted election of God;
+and assuming a direct revelation from on high, he, by force of an
+ardent and ambitious will, carried out his project even at Mecca
+itself, where, to all who visited his shrine, he preached without
+distinction. From the powerful opposition brought against him, Mahomet
+was at last obliged to fly; but before doing so, and casting off the
+high position he held among his own tribe and kinsmen, he assembled
+his followers together on a mountain near Mecca, and there, without
+distinction of blood or calling, he enrolled them as equal followers
+in one community, and entered with them into a solemn and binding
+agreement. "That night Mahomet fled from Mecca to Medina, and then
+took its rise a pontificate, an empire, and an era." This hegira, or
+"flight," is believed to have occurred on the 19th June, A.D. 622[39]
+but has been variously stated; it is, however, the era now in general
+use among no less than one hundred and sixty millions of people.
+
+Although himself an undoubted impostor, and the Koran a manifest
+forgery, Mahomet would appear to deserve a larger share of
+appreciation, or at least of charitable judgment, than he usually
+receives.
+
+"He was one richly furnished with natural endowments, showing
+liberality to the poor, courtesy to every one, fortitude in trial, and,
+above all, a high reverence for the name of God. He was a preacher of
+patience, charity, mercy, beneficence, gratitude, honouring of parents
+and superiors, and a frequent celebrator of Divine praise." The great
+doctrine of the Koran is the Unity of God, and in this creed Mahomet
+himself seems to have been a sincere believer. "Its design was to
+unite the professors of the three different religions then followed in
+Arabia -- who for the most part were without guides, the greater number
+being idolaters, and the rest Jews and Christians, mostly of erroneous
+and heterodox belief -- in the knowledge and worship of one eternal
+and invisible God, and to bring them to obedience of Mahomet as the
+only prophet and ambassador of the truth." The "fatiha," or opening
+chapter of the Koran, is said to contain the essence of the whole,
+and forms part of the daily prayers of all zealous Mussulmans. It
+commences with the formula pronounced at the beginning of their
+reading on all occasions whenever an animal is slaughtered for food,
+and upon the undertaking of all important actions whatever:
+
+
+"In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate. Praise
+be to God, the Lord of the Creation, the all-merciful, the
+all-compassionate! Ruler of the day of reckoning!
+
+"Thee we worship, and Thee we invoke for help. Lead us in the straight
+path -- the path of those upon whom thou hast been gracious, not of
+those that are the objects of wrath or that are in error."
+
+
+The Moslem faithful pray five times in the twenty-four hours: in the
+morning before sunrise, at noon, before sunset, after sunset, and
+before the first watch of the night: and that these observances were
+not originally instituted merely that their prayers might be seen
+before men, would appear from the injunction which lays down that
+"what is principally to be regarded in the duty of prayer, is the
+inward disposition of the heart, which is its entire life and spirit,
+the most punctual observance being of no avail if performed without
+devotion, reverence, attention, and hope."
+
+Prayer was held by Mahomet to be the "pillar of religion" and the
+"key of paradise," and in the performance of it, his disciples are
+enjoined to lay aside their ornaments and costly habits, and all that
+might savour of either pride or arrogance.
+
+Its observance, however, at five stated times appears to be nowhere
+mentioned in the Koran, although the custom is now an essential part,
+and the most noticeable and characteristic feature of Mahomedanism.
+
+Saints and sinners join equally in the form. A crime just committed,
+or one in immediate contemplation, in no way interferes with the
+"five-time prayers," and the neglect of them amounts to an abnegation
+of the Faith. The summons to prayer was originally only one sentence,
+"To public prayer." Mahomet, however, afterwards bethought himself
+that a more elaborate and striking call would be an improvement,
+and the present "Azzan," or call to prayer, was introduced.
+
+While the matter was under discussion, Mahomet being unable to decide
+upon any suitable form, a certain Abdallah dreamed that he met a man
+arrayed in green raiment carrying a bell. Abdallah sought to buy it,
+thinking it would just suit the Prophet for assembling together the
+Faithful. The stranger, however, replied, "I will show you a better
+way than that; let a crier call aloud --
+
+
+"Great is the Lord! great is the Lord!
+I bear witness that there is no God but the Lord;
+I bear witness that Mahomet is the Prophet of God!
+Come unto prayer, come unto happiness --
+God is great! God is great! There is no God but the Lord!"
+
+
+Mahomet, learning the particulars of Abdallah's dream, believed it to
+have been a vision from on high, and sent his servant forthwith to
+execute the Divine command. Ascending to the top of a lofty house,
+this first of established Muezzins, on the earliest appearance of
+light, startled all around from their slumbers with the newly-adopted
+call, adding to it, "Prayer is better than sleep! Prayer is better
+than sleep!" And ever since, at the customary five hours, have his
+successors thus summoned the people to their devotions.
+
+Concerning the future state, the Mahomedan believes that all will
+be examined at the day of Judgment as to their words and actions in
+this life.
+
+"Their time, as to how they spent it; their wealth, by what means they
+acquired it, and how they employed it; their bodies, wherein they
+exercised them; their knowledge and learning, what use they made of
+them," &c. "They enter Paradise, however, not by their own good works,
+but by the mercy of God. At that day each person will make his defence
+in the best manner he can, endeavouring to find excuses for his own
+conduct by casting blame on others; so much so, that disputes shall
+even arise between the Soul and Body. The Soul saying, "Lord, I was
+created without a hand to lay hold with, a foot to walk with, an eye
+to see with, or an understanding to apprehend with, until I came and
+entered the Body : therefore punish it, but deliver me." The Body,
+on the other side, will make this apology, "Lord, thou createdst me
+like a stock of wood, being neither able to hold with my hand, nor to
+walk with my feet, till this Soul, like a ray of light, entered into
+me, and my tongue began to speak, my eye to see, and my foot to walk:
+therefore punish it, but deliver me." Then shall the following parable
+be propounded: -- "A certain king having a pleasant garden, in which
+were ripe fruits, set two persons to keep it, one of whom was blind,
+and the other lame -- the former not being able to see the fruit,
+nor the latter to gather it. The lame man, however, seeing the fruit,
+persuaded the blind man to take him on his shoulders; and by that means
+he easily gathered the fruits, which they divided between them. The
+lord of the garden coming some time after, and inquiring after the
+fruit, each began to excuse himself; the blind man said he had no eyes
+to see it with, and the lame man that he had no feet to approach the
+trees. Then the king, ordering the lame man to be set on the blind,
+passed sentence on them both, and punished them together.
+
+"In like manner shall be judged the Body and the Soul."
+
+Such are some few of the religious tenets of those among whom one's
+lot is cast while wandering in the East. Sunk for the most part in
+ignorance, and held as infidels for wanting faith in what they never
+heard, they nevertheless attract attention chiefly by their Faith,
+and by their zealous worship of the Being, whom, although in darkest
+ignorance as to His attributes and laws, their original creed would
+teach them to believe the one Eternal God.
+
+Some idea of the number represented by these different sects may be
+derived from the following table: --
+
+
+Asiatic Religions Buddhists     369,000,000
+        Hindoos         231,000,000
+        Mussulmen       160,000,000
+
+ChristiansRoman Catholics   170,000,000
+        Protestants     80,000,000
+        Greek Church        76,000,000
+
+        Jews                5,000,000
+
+        Other Religions 200,000,000[40]
+
+
+And when we reflect how great is the proportion of those who sit in
+darkness, and that "even all who tread the earth are but a handful to
+the tribes that slumber in its bosom," it is but natural to consider
+what our own belief would bid us hold as to the future destiny of so
+large a portion of the human family.
+
+At the same time, the question, "Are there few that be saved?" not
+having been answered eighteen centuries ago, would appear to be one to
+which no definite reply was intended to be rendered, and which might
+well be left till now unanswered, by those who hold the religion of
+Faith, Hope, and Charity. When, however, the Church to which we belong
+boldly affirms, in words which as the public profession of its faith,
+should be beyond all doubt or misconception by either friend or foe,
+that none CAN be saved but those who hold the Catholic Faith, as she
+would have them hold it, then, at least, we may fairly consider the
+matter so far as to doubt whether the answer thus forced upon us is one
+which, even on such high authority, we are bound to accept. Before, at
+least, concurring in a solution of the question which, thus virtually
+bringing it within the limits of a simple arithmetical calculation,
+would summarily dispose of so many millions of the human race, we
+may remember that some things have been taught as possible which men,
+and even saints, may deem impossible; and, before attempting to reduce
+"goodwill toward men" to human and determinable proportions, we may
+also remember that "good tidings of great joy" were promised to ALL
+people, and that they may possibly prove therefore to have in some way
+benefited even those who have never heard them with their mortal ears.
+
+Meanwhile, in the matter of "Turks and Infidels," we may perhaps learn
+something even from an Infidel creed, and, borrowing a definition
+from the religion of Islam, may be allowed to hold with it, that
+
+
+"Truly to despair of the goodness of God -- this is 'INFIDELITY.' "
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER A type=appendix
+
+The Temples of Cashmere.
+
+Extract from "An Essay on the Arian Order of Architecture, as exhibited
+in the Temples of Kashmir," by Capt. A. Cunningham. "Journal of the
+Asiatic Society," Vol. XVII.
+
+The architectural remains of Kashmir are perhaps the most remarkable
+of the existing monuments of India, as they exhibit undoubted traces
+of the influence of Grecian art. The Hindu temple is generally a sort
+of architectural pasty, a huge collection of ornamental fritters,
+huddled together with or without keeping; while the "Jain" temple is
+usually a vast forest of pillars, made to look as unlike one another
+as possible, by some paltry differences in their petty details.
+
+On the other hand, the Kashmirian fanes are distinguished by the
+graceful elegance of their outlines, by the massive boldness of their
+parts, and by the happy propriety of their decorations.
+
+They cannot, indeed, vie with the severe simplicity of the Parthenon,
+but they possess great beauty -- different, indeed, yet quite
+their own.
+
+The characteristic features of the Kashmirian architecture are its
+lofty pyramidal roofs, its trefoiled doorways, covered by pyramidal
+pediments, and the great width of the intercolumniations.
+
+Most of the Kashmirian temples are more or less injured, but more
+particularly those at Wantipur, which are mere heaps of ruins. Speaking
+of these temples, Trebeck says: "It is scarcely possible to imagine
+that the state of ruin to which they have been reduced has been the
+work of time, or even of man, as their solidity is fully equal to
+that of the most massive monuments of Egypt. Earthquakes must have
+been the cause of their overthrow." In my opinion, their OVERTHROW is
+too complete to have been the result of an earthquake, which would
+have simply PROSTRATED the buildings in large masses. But the whole
+of the superstructure of these temples is now lying in one confused
+heap of stones, totally disjointed from one another.
+
+I believe, therefore, that I am fully justified in saying, from my
+own experience, that such a complete and DISRUPTIVE OVERTURN could
+only have been produced by gunpowder.
+
+The destruction of the Kashmirian temples is universally
+attributed, both by history and by tradition, to the bigoted
+Sikander. (A.D. 1396.) He was reigning at the period of Timur's
+invasion of India, with whom he exchanged friendly presents, and from
+whom, I suppose, he may have received a present of the VILLAINOUS
+SALTPETRE.
+
+As it would appear that the Turks had METAL cannon at the siege of
+Constantinople in 1422, I think it no great stretch of probability to
+suppose that gunpowder itself had been carried into the East, even
+as far as Kashmir, at least ten or twenty years earlier -- that is,
+about A.D. 1400 to 1420, or certainly during the reign of Sikander,
+who died in 1416.
+
+Even if this be not admitted, I still adhere to my opinion, that the
+complete ruin of the Wantipur temples could only have been effected by
+gunpowder; and I would, then, ascribe their overthrow to the bigoted
+"Aurungzib."
+
+"Ferishta" attributed to Sikander the demolition of all the Kashmirian
+temples save one, which was dedicated to Mahadeo, and which only
+escaped "in consequence of its foundations being below the surface
+of the neighbouring water."
+
+In A.D. 1580, "Abul Fazl" mentions that some of the idolatrous
+temples were in "perfect preservation;" and Ferishta describes many
+of these temples as having been in existence in his own time, or
+about A.D. 1600.
+
+As several are still standing, though more or less injured, it is
+certain that Sikander could not have destroyed them all. He most likely
+gave orders that they should be overturned; and I have no doubt that
+many of the principal temples were thrown down during his reign.
+
+But, besides the ruthless hand of the destroyer, another agency,
+less immediate, but equally certain in its ultimate effects, must have
+been at work upon the large temples of Kashmir. The silent ravages of
+the destroyer, who carries away pillars and stone, for the erection
+of other edifices, has been going on for centuries. Pillars, from
+which the architraves have been thus removed, have been thrown down
+by earthquakes, ready to be set up again for the decoration of the
+first Musjid that might be erected in the neighbourhood. Thus every
+Mahomedan building in Kashmir is constructed either entirely or in
+part of the ruins of Hindu temples.
+
+
+
+Takt I Suliman.
+
+The oldest temple in Kashmir, both in appearance and according to
+tradition, is that upon the hill of "Takt i Suliman," or Solomon's
+Throne. It stands 1,000 feet above the plain, and commands a view of
+the greater part of Kashmir.
+
+The situation is a noble one, and must have been amongst the first
+throughout the whole valley which was selected as the position of
+a temple. Its erection is ascribed to Jaloka, the son of Asoka,
+who reigned about 220 B.C.
+
+The plan of the temple is octagonal, each side being fifteen feet in
+length. It is approached by a flight of eighteen steps, eight feet
+in width, and inclosed between two sloping walls. Its height cannot
+now be ascertained, as the present roof is a modern plastered dome,
+which was probably built since the occupation of the country by the
+Sikhs. The walls are eight feet thick, which I consider one of the
+strongest proofs of the great antiquity of the building.
+
+
+Pandrethan.
+
+This name means the old capital, or ancient chief town. The name
+has, however, been spelt by different travellers in many different
+ways. "Moorcroft" calls it Pandenthan, "Vigne" Pandrenton, and
+"Hugel" Pandriton.
+
+The building of this temple is recorded between A.D. 913 and 921;
+and it is afterwards mentioned between the years 958 and 972, as
+having escaped destruction when the King Abhimanyu -- Nero-like --
+set fire to his own capital.
+
+As this is the only temple situated in the old capital, there can be
+very little, if any, doubt that it is the very same building which
+now exists. For as it is surrounded by water, it was, of course,
+quite safe amid the fire, which reduced the other buildings to mere
+masses of quicklime.
+
+Baron Hugel calls the Pandrethan edifice a "Buddhist temple," and
+states that there are some well-preserved Buddhist figures in the
+interior. But he is doubly mistaken, for the temple was dedicated to
+Vishnu, and the figures in the inside have no connexion with Buddhism.
+
+Trebeck swam into the interior, and could discover no figures of any
+kind; but as the whole ceiling was formerly hidden by a coating of
+plaster, his statement was, at that time, perfectly correct.
+
+The object of erecting the temples in the midst of water must have
+been to place them more immediately under the protection of the Nagas,
+or human-bodied and snake-tailed gods, who were zealously worshipped
+for ages through Kashmir.
+
+
+Marttand.
+
+Of all the existing remains of Kashmirian grandeur, the most striking
+in size and situation is the noble ruin of Marttand.
+
+This majestic temple stands at the northern end of the elevated
+table-land of "Matan," about three miles to the eastward of Islamabad.
+
+This is undoubtedly the finest position in Kashmir. The temple itself
+is not now (1848) more than forty feet in height, but its solid walls
+and bold outlines towering over the fluted pillars of the surrounding
+colonnade give it a most imposing appearance.
+
+There are no petty confused details; but all are distinct and massive,
+and most admirably suited to the general character of the building.
+
+Many vain speculations have been hazarded regarding the date of the
+erection of this temple and the worship to which it was appropriated.
+
+It is usually called the "House of the Pandus" by the Brahmins,
+and by the people "Mattan."
+
+The true appellation appears to be preserved in the latter, Matan being
+only a corruption of the Sanscrit Marttand maartta.n.d, or the sun,
+to which the temple was dedicated.
+
+The true date of the erection of this temple -- the wonder of Kashmir
+-- is a disputed point of chronology; but the period of its foundation
+can be determined within the limits of one century, or between A.D. 370
+and 500.
+
+The mass of building now known by the name of Matan, or Marttand,
+consists of one lofty central edifice, with a small detached wing on
+each side of the entrance, the whole standing on a large quadrangle
+surrounded by a colonnade of fluted pillars, with intervening
+trefoil-headed recesses. The central building is sixty-three feet in
+length, by thirty-six in width.
+
+As the main building is at present entirely uncovered, the original
+form of the roof can only be determined by a reference to other
+temples, and to the general form and character of the various parts
+of the Marttand temple itself.
+
+The angle of the roof in the Temple of Pandrethan, and in other
+instances, is obtained by making the sides of the pyramid which forms
+it parallel to the sides of the doorway pediment, and in restoring
+the Temples of Patrun and Marttand I have followed the same rule.
+
+The height of the Pandrethan temple -- of the cloistered recesses,
+porch pediments, and niches of Marttand itself -- were all just double
+their respective widths. This agreement in the relative proportions of
+my restored roof of Marttand with those deduced from other examples,
+is a presumptive proof of the correctness of my restoration. The
+entrance-chamber and the wings I suppose to have been also covered
+by similar pyramidal roofs. There would thus have been four distinct
+pyramids, of which that over the inner chamber must have been the
+loftiest, the height of its pinnacle above the ground being about
+seventy-five feet.
+
+The interior must have been as imposing as the exterior. On ascending
+the flight of steps -- now covered by ruins -- the votary of the
+sun entered a highly-decorated chamber, with a doorway on each side
+covered by a pediment, with a trefoil-headed niche containing a bust
+of the Hindu triad, and on the flanks of the main entrance, as well
+as on those of the side doorways, were pointed and trefoil niches,
+each of which held a statue of a Hindu divinity.
+
+The interior decorations of the roof can only be conjecturally
+determined, as I was unable to discover any ornamented stones that
+could with certainty be assigned to it. Baron Hugel doubts that
+Marttand ever had a roof; but, as the walls of the temple are still
+standing, the numerous heaps of large stones that are scattered about
+on all sides can only have belonged to the roof.
+
+I can almost fancy that the erection of this sun-temple was suggested
+by the magnificent sunny prospect which its position commands. It
+overlooks the finest view in Kashmir, and perhaps in the known world,
+Beneath it lies the paradise of the East, with its sacred streams and
+cedarn glens, its brown orchards and green fields, surrounded on all
+sides by vast snowy mountains, whose lofty peaks seem to smile upon
+the beautiful valley below. The vast extent of the scene makes it
+sublime; for this magnificent view of Kashmir is no petty peep into
+a half-mile glen, but the full display of a valley sixty miles in
+breadth and upwards of a hundred miles in length, the whole of which
+lies beneath "the ken of the wonderful Marttand."
+
+The principal buildings that still exist in Kashmir are entirely
+composed of a blue limestone, which is capable of taking the highest
+polish -- a property to which I mainly attribute the beautiful state
+of preservation in which some of them at present exist.
+
+Even at first sight one is immediately struck by the strong resemblance
+which the Kashmirian colonnades bear to the classic peristyles of
+Greece. Even the temples themselves, with their porches and pediments,
+remind one more of Greece than of India; and it is difficult to
+believe that a style of architecture which differs so much from all
+Indian examples, and which has so much in common with those of Greece,
+could have been indebted to chance alone for this striking resemblance.
+
+One great similarity between the Kashmirian architecture and that of
+the various Greek orders is its stereotyped style, which, during the
+long flourishing period of several centuries, remained unchanged. In
+this respect it is so widely different from the ever-varying forms
+and plastic vagaries of the Hindu architecture that it is impossible
+to conceive their evolution from a common origin.
+
+I feel convinced myself that several of the Kashmirian forms, and many
+of the details, were borrowed from the temples of the Kabulian Greeks,
+while the arrangements of the interior and the relative proportions
+of the different parts were of Hindu origin. Such, in fact, must
+necessarily have been the case with imitations by Indian workmen,
+which would naturally have been engrafted upon the indigenous
+architecture. The general arrangements would still remain Indian,
+while many of the details, and even some of the larger forms, might
+be of foreign origin.
+
+As a whole, I think that the Kashmirian architecture, with its
+noble fluted pillars, its vast colonnades, its lofty pediments,
+and its elegant trefoiled arches, is fully entitled to be classed
+as a distinct style. I have therefore ventured to call it the Arian
+order -- a name to which it has a double right; first, because it
+was the style of the Aryas, or Arians, of Kashmir; and, secondly,
+because its intercolumniations are always of four diameters -- an
+interval which the Greeks called Araiostyle.
+
+
+Extract from Vigne's "Travels in Kashmir."
+
+The Hindu temple of Marttand is commonly called the House of the
+Pandus. Of the Pandus it is only necessary to say that they are the
+Cyclopes of the East. Every old building, of whose origin the poorer
+class of Hindus in general have no information, is believed to have
+been the work of the Pandus. As an isolated ruin, this deserves, on
+account of its solitary and massive grandeur, to be ranked not only
+as the first ruin of the kind in Kashmir, but as one of the noblest
+among the architectural relics of antiquity that are to be seen in
+any country. Its noble and exposed situation at the foot of the hills
+reminded me of that of the Escurial. It has no forest of cork-trees
+and evergreen-oaks before it, nor is it to be compared, in point of
+size, with that stupendous building; but it is visible from as great
+a distance. And the Spanish sierra cannot for a moment be placed in
+competition with the verdant magnificence of the mountain-scenery
+of Kashmir.
+
+Few of the Kashmirian temples, if any, I should say, were
+Buddhist. Those in or upon the edge of the water were rather, I should
+suppose, referable to the worship of the Nagas, or snake-gods. The
+figures in all the temples are almost always in an erect position,
+and I have never been able to discover any inscription in those
+now remaining.
+
+I had been struck with the great general resemblance which the temple
+bore to the recorded disposition of the Ark and its surrounding
+curtains, in imitation of which the Temple at Jerusalem was built;
+and it became for a moment a question whether the Kashmirian temples
+had not been built by Jewish architects, who had recommended them to
+be constructed on the same plan for the sake of convenience merely. It
+is, however, a curious fact, that in Abyssinia, the ancient Ethiopia,
+which was also called "Kush," the ancient Christian churches are
+not unlike those of Kashmir, and that they were originally built in
+imitation of the temple, by the Israelites who followed the Queen
+of Sheba, whose son took possession of the throne of Kush, where his
+descendants are at this moment Kings of Abyssinia.
+
+Without being able to boast, either in extent or magnificence,
+of an approach to equality with the temple of the sun at Palmyra,
+or the ruins of the palace at Persepolis, Marttand is not without
+pretensions to a locality of scarcely inferior interest, and deserves
+to be ranked with them as the leading specimen of a gigantic style
+of architecture that has decayed with the religion it was intended
+to cherish, and the prosperity of a country it could not but adorn.
+
+In situation it is far superior to either. Palmyra is surrounded by
+an ocean of sand, and Persepolis overlooks a marsh; but the temple
+of the sun in Marttand is built upon a natural platform at the foot
+of some of the noblest mountains, and beneath its ken lies what is
+undoubtedly the finest and the most PRONONCE valley in the known world.
+
+We are not looking upon the monuments of the dead. We step not aside
+to inspect a tomb, or pause to be saddened by an elegy. The noble
+pile in the foreground is rather an emblem of age than of mortality;
+and the interest with which we perambulate its ruins is not the
+less pleasurable because we do not know much that is certain of its
+antiquity, its founders, or its original use.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER B
+
+The Mystic Sentence of Thibet.
+
+
+
+Explication et origine de la formule bouddhique: -- "Om mani padme
+houm" Par M. Klaproth. "Nouveau Journal Asiatique."
+
+Les Tubetains et les Mongols ont perpetuellement cette priere dans
+la bouche. Les mots de cette inscription sont Sanscrits, et donnent
+un sens complet dans cette langue. En voici la transcription en
+devanagri: --
+
+
+o.m ma.ni padme hu.m
+
+
+"Om" est, chez les Hindous, le nom mystique de la divinite, par lequel
+toutes les prieres commencent. Cette particule mystique equivaut
+a l'interjection, OH! prononcee avec emphase et avec une entiere
+conviction religieuse. Mani signifie LE JOYAU; Padma LE LOTUS. Enfin
+Houm est une particule qui equivaut a notre "AMEN." Le sens de la
+phrase est tres clair; "Om mani padme houm" signifie "OH! LE JOYAU
+DANS LE LOTUS, AMEN." Malgre ce sens indubitable, les Bouddhistes
+du Tubet se sont evertues a chercher un sens mystique a chacune des
+six syllabes qui composent cette phrase. Ils ont rempli des livres
+entiers de ces explications imaginaires.
+
+Cette formule est particuliere aux Bouddhistes du Tubet.
+
+Selon l'histoire de ce pays la formule Om mani padme houm, y a ete
+apportee de l'Inde vers la moitie du 7e siecle de notre ere.
+
+La legende suivante traduite du Mongol contient des details sur la
+conversion du Tubet par le dieu Padma pani,[41] et sur l'origine
+des six syllabes sacrees, Om mani padme houm. Ce dieu est appele en
+Sanscrit "Avalokites' vara" ou "le maitre qui contemple avec amour;"
+ce que les Tubetains ont rendu par "le tout-voyant aux mille mains
+et aux mille yeux:" Les Chinois on traduit le nom par "celui qui
+contemple les sous du inonde."
+
+"Autrefois, quand le 'GLORIEUX-ACCOMPLI' (Sakya mouni ou Buddh)
+sejournait dans la foret 'd'Odma,' il advint un jour, qu'etant
+entoure de ses nombreux disciples un rayon de lumiere de cinq couleurs
+sortit tout-a-coup entre ses deux sourcils, forma un arc-en-ciel, et
+se dirigea du cote de l'Empire septentrional de neige (Thibet). Les
+regards du Bouddha suivaient ce rayon, et sa figure montra un sourire
+de joie inexprimable. Un de ses disciples lui demanda de lui en
+expliquer la raison, et sur sa priere le glorieux-accompli lui dit:
+
+" 'Fils d'illustre origine! dans le pays qu'aucun Bouddha des
+trois ages n'a pu convertir, et qui est rempli d'une foule d'etres
+malfaisans, la loi se levera comme le soleil et s'y repandra dans
+les temps futurs.
+
+" 'L'apotre de cet Empire de neige apre et sauvage, sera le
+Khoutoukhtou' (Padma pani).
+
+"Apres que 'Sakya mouni' eut prononce ces paroles, un rayon de lumiere,
+eclatant comme un lotus blanc, sortit de son coeur et illumina
+toutes les regions du monde et se plongea dans le coeur du BOUDDHA
+INFINIMENT RESPLENDISSANT. Alors un autre eclat de lumiere sortit du
+Bouddha resplendissant et se plongea dans la mer des fleurs de PADMA
+(lotus), et y transmit cette pensee du Bouddha, qu'il s'en eleverait
+et qu'il en naitrait un Khoubilkhan[42] divin, destine a la conversion
+de l'Empire de neige.
+
+"Le Roi Dehdou qui etait parvenu a participer a la beatitude de
+l'empire de Soukhawatee, voulant un jour offrir au Bouddha un sacrifice
+des fleurs, depecha quelques-uns des siens aux bords de la mer des
+PADMA (Lotus), pour y cueillir de ces fleurs. Ses envoyes apercurent
+dans la mer une tres grande tige de Lotus au milieu de laquelle il
+y avait un bouton colossal entoure d'une foule de grandes feuilles,
+et jetant des rayons de lumiere de differentes couleurs. Les envoyes
+en firent leur rapport au roi, qui, rempli d'etonnement, se rendit
+avec sa cour sur un grand radeau a la place de la mer ou se trouvait
+cette tige merveilleuse.
+
+"Y'etant arrive, il presenta ses offrandes et prononca la benediction;
+le bouton s'ouvrit alors des quatre cotes, et au milieu apparut
+l'apotre de l'empire de neige, ne comme 'Khoubilkhan.' Il y etait
+assis, les jambes croisees, avait mi visage et quatre mains; les deux
+mains anterieures etaient jointes devant le coeur, la troisieme de
+droite tenait un rosaire de cristal, et la quatrieme a gauche une
+fleur de Lotus blanche, qui penchait vers l'oreille.
+
+"Sur sa figure, dont l'eclat se repandait vers les dix regions du
+monde, se montrait un sourire qui penetra dans tous les coeurs.
+
+"Le roi et sa suite porterent le 'Khoubilkhan' au palais, en poussant
+des cris de joie et entonnant des hymnes. Le roi se rendit devant le
+Bouddha eternel et lui demanda la permission d'adopter pour fils, le
+'Khoubilkhan' ne dans la mer de lotus. Mais sa demande ne fut pas
+agree et il apprit, la veritable origine de ce 'Khoubilkhan.' Le
+Bouddha infiniment resplendissant posa alors sa main sur la tete
+de celui-ci et dit 'Fils d'illustre origine! Les etres qui habitent
+l'apre empire de la neige, qu'aucun Bouddha des temps passes n'a pu
+convertir, qu'aucun du temps futurs ne convertira, et qu'aucun du
+temps present n'a converti, le seront par la force et la benediction
+de ton voeu. C'est excellant; c'est excellant! Khoutoukhtou![43]
+
+" 'Aussitot que les habitans de l'apre empire de neige te verront
+et qu'ils entendront le son des six syllabes (Om mani padme houm)
+ils seront delivres des trois naissances de mauvaise nature,
+et trouveront la beatitude par la renaissance comme etres d'une
+nature superieure. Les esprits malfaisans de l'apre empire de neige,
+ainsi que tous les etres donnant des maladies ou la mort, aussitot,
+Khoutoukhtou, qu'ils te verront et qu'ils entendront le son des six
+syllabes, ils quitteront la fureur et la mechancete qui les anime,
+et deviendront compatissans.
+
+" 'Les tigres, les pantheres, les loups, les ours et autres animaux
+feroces, aussitot, O Khoutoukhtou! qu'ils te verront et entendront le
+son des six syllabes ils adouciront leurs hurlemens, et leur fureur
+sanguinaire se changera en douceur bienveillante. Khoutoukhtou! ta
+figure et le son des six syllabes rassaiseront les affames et calmeront
+la soif des alteres; il tombera comme une pluie d'eau benite, et
+elle remplira tous leurs desirs. Khoutoukhtou! tu es l'etre gracieux
+destine a annoncer la volonte du Bouddha a cet empire de neige.
+
+" 'Selon ton example, un grand nombre de Bouddhas s'y montreront,
+dans les temps futurs, et y repandront la foi.
+
+" 'Les six syllabes sont le sommaire de toute doctrine et l'apre
+empire de neige, sera rempli de cette doctrine par la force de ces
+six syllabes --
+
+
+Om ma ni pad me houm.'
+
+
+"Apres cette consecration, le Khoutoukhtou s'agenouilla devant le
+Bouddha, joignit les mains et prononca le voeu suivant: 'Puisse-je
+etre en etat de pouvoir faire parvenir a la beatitude les six especes
+d'etres vivans dans les trois royaumes! Puisse-je, avant tout,
+conduire sur le chemin du bonheur, les etres vivans de l'empire de
+neige (Thibet).
+
+" 'Loin de moi le desir de retourner dans mon Empire de joie, avant
+d'avoir acheve l'oeuvre si difficile de la conversion de ces etres. Si
+une telle pensee, produite par le degout et la mauvaise humeur,
+s'empare de moi, que ma tete se fende en dix parties, et mon corps,
+comme cette fleur de lotus, en mille.'
+
+"Apres ces mots, il se rendit dans le royaume de l'enfer, prononca les
+six syllabes et detruisit les peines des enfers frois et chauds. De
+la il s'eleva au royaume des animaux, prononca les six syllabes et
+detruisit la peine que leur produit la chasse. Puis il se rendit dans
+l'empire des hommes, prononca les six syllabes et detruisit la peine de
+la naissance, de l'age, des maladies et de la mort. Il s'eleva apres
+a l'empire des genies du ciel, prononca les six syllabes et detruisit
+l'envie qui les tourmente pour se disputer et se combattre. Enfin,
+il aborda le grand Royaume de neige (le Tubet).
+
+"Ici, il apercut la mer d' 'Otang' comme un enfer terrible, et il
+vit que derechef, plusieurs millions d'etres y'etaient, bouillis,
+brules, et martyrises.
+
+"Le Khoutouktou se rendit au bord de la mer et dit: 'Oh! que tant de
+milliers d'etres qui se trouvent dans cette mer, ou ils souffrent des
+tourmens inexprimables par la chaleur, le froid, la faim, et la soif,
+puissent rejeter loin d'eux leur enveloppe funeste et renaitre dans
+mon paradis commes etres superieures. Om mani padme houm!'
+
+"A peine le 'Khoutoukhtou' avait-il prononce ces mots que les tourmens
+des damnes cesserent; leur esprit fut tranquillise, et ils se virent
+transportes sur le chemin du Bouddha. Le Khoutoukhtou ayant ainsi
+rendu propres a la delivrance les six especes des etres vivans dans
+les trois royaumes du monde, se trouva fatigue, se reposa et tomba
+dans un etat de contemplation interieure!
+
+"Apres quelques temps il vit qu'a peine la centieme partie des
+habitans de l'empire de neige avaient ete conduits sur le chemin de
+la delivrance. Son ame en fut si douloureusement affectee qu'il eut
+le desir de retourner dans son paradis. A peine l'avait-il concu,
+qu'ensuite de ce voeu, sa tete se fendit en dix et son corps en
+mille pieces.
+
+"Le Bouddha infiniment resplendissant lui apparut dans le meme moment,
+guerit la tete et le corps fendus du Khoutoukhtou, le prit par la main
+et lui dit: "Fils d'illustre origine! Vois les suites inevitables de
+ton voeu; mais parce que tu l'avais fait pour l'illustration de tous
+les Bouddhas, tu as ete gueri sur-le-champ. Ne sois donc plus triste,
+car quoique ta tete se soit fendue en dix pieces, chacune aura,
+par ma benediction, une face particuliere, et au-dessus d'elles sera
+place mon propre visage rayonnant. Cet onzieme visage de L'INFINIMENT
+RESPLENDISSANT, place au-dessus de tes dix autres, te rendra l'objet
+de l'adoration.
+
+" 'Quoique ton corps se soit fendu en mille morceaux, ils deviendront,
+par ma benediction, mille mains qui representeront les mille Bouddhas
+d'un age complet du monde (en sanscrit Kalpa),[44] et qui te rendront
+l'objet le plus digne d'adoration.' "
+
+Cette legende nous explique, non seulement l'extreme importance que
+les Bouddhistes du Tubet attachent a la formule "Om mani padme houm,"
+mais elle nous demontre aussi que son veritable sens est celui que
+j'ai donne plus haut: Oh! le joyau dans le lotus; Amen! Il est evident
+qu'elle se rapporte a "Avalokites' vara" ou "Padma pani" lui-meme,
+qui naquit dans une fleur de lotus.[45]
+
+
+
+Um Mani Panee.
+
+As will be seen by the foregoing extract from M. Klaproth's
+explanation, the mystic sentence, instead of being as I have
+represented it, is in reality, "Om mani padme houm," or, in a form
+of spelling more English, if not more intelligible, "Om muni pudmay
+hoom," and the meaning, supposing its derivation from the Sanscrit to
+be beyond doubt, would, as therein translated, be, "Oh the jewel in the
+Lotus, Amen!" Almost every traveller who has mentioned the inscription
+in question appears to have followed M. Klaproth's pronunciation as
+above; but this, although the one actually given by the value of
+the Thibetian letters, is certainly not that in use by the people
+among whom it is chiefly, if not alone, to be found. This I can vouch
+for, as the words were so incessantly in the mouths of all to whom
+I applied for information, that I had ample opportunity of hearing
+and remembering their sound; and having written them on the spot in
+the Persian character, the pronunciation would not be open to the
+misapprehension or uncertainty to which, after the sounds themselves
+had been forgotten, the English form of spelling might have rendered
+them liable.[46]
+
+A form, however, different from both these, is given by one who, with
+the exception perhaps of M. Hue, had better opportunities than most
+others for ascertaining the meaning of the words and hearing their
+actual pronunciation: this was Captain Turner, who was nominated by
+Warren Hastings, in the year 1783, to undertake an embassy to the
+Court of Thibet, at Lassa.
+
+He, however, makes no mention of the Sanscrit translation above given,
+and confesses his inability to obtain, even at the head-quarters
+of Thibetian Buddhism, a satisfactory explanation of the origin or
+import of the sentence. The following account, taken from Captain
+Turner's Report on his Mission, may be of interest, as it explains
+the circumstances under which an event so unusual as an embassy to
+the Court of Thibet was agreed to by the Grand Lama.
+
+In 1772, a frontier warfare having broken out between the "Booteas,"
+dependants of Thibet, and the English Government, in consequence of
+the aggression of the former, Teshoo Lama, at the time regent of Thibet
+and guardian of the Delai Lama, his superior in religious rank, united
+in his own person the political authority and the spiritual hierarchy
+of the country, subservient only to the Emperor of China. The Lama,
+interested for the safety of Bootan, sent a deputation to Calcutta,
+with a letter addressed to the governor, of which the following
+is a translation: -- "The affairs of this quarter in every respect
+flourish. I am, night and day, employed in prayers for the increase
+of your happiness and prosperity. Having been informed, by travellers
+from your country, of your exalted fame and reputation, my heart, like
+the blossoms of spring, abounds with satisfaction, gladness, and joy.
+
+"Praise be to God that the star of your fortune is in its
+ascension! Praise be to Him that happiness and ease are the surrounding
+attendants of myself and family! Neither to molest, nor persecute,
+is my aim. It is even the characteristic of our sect to deprive
+ourselves of the necessary refreshment of sleep, should an injury
+be done to a single individual; but in justice and humanity, I am
+informed, you far surpass us.
+
+"May you ever adorn the seat of justice and power, that mankind may, in
+the shadow of your bosom, enjoy the blessings of peace and affluence."
+
+The Lama then enters into the subject of the disturbances between
+his dependants and the British Government, and concludes: -- "As to
+my part, I am but a Fakeer; and it is the custom of my sect, with
+the rosary in our hands, to pray for the welfare of all mankind,
+and especially for the peace and happiness of the inhabitants of this
+country; and I do now, with my head uncovered, intreat that you will
+cease from all hostilities in future. In this country the worship of
+the Almighty is the profession of all. We poor creatures are in nothing
+equal to you. Having, however, a few things in hand, I send them to you
+as tokens of remembrance, and hope for your acceptance of them."[47]
+
+The Lama being in this unusually agreeable frame of mind, the British
+Government yielded without hesitation to his intercession.
+
+The governor himself readily embraced the opportunity, which he
+thought the occurrence afforded, of extending the British influence to
+a quarter of the world but little known, and with which we possessed
+hardly any commercial connexion.
+
+In 1774 a deputation was sent to carry back an answer to the Lama, and
+to offer him suitable presents. It was furnished also with a variety
+of articles of English manufacture, to be produced as specimens of
+the trade in which the subjects of the Lama might be invited to
+participate. The result was, that in 1779, when the Lama visited
+the Emperor of China at Pekin, desirous of improving his connexion
+with the Government of Bengal, he desired the British envoy to go
+round by sea to Canton, promising to join him at the capital. The
+Emperor's promise was at the same time obtained to permit the first
+openings of an intercourse between that country and Bengal, through
+the intermediate channel furnished by the Lama.
+
+The death of both the Lama and the envoy, however, which happened
+nearly at the same time, destroyed the plans thus formed.
+
+Soon after the receipt of the letters announcing the Lama's death,
+intelligence arrived of his reappearance in Thibet! His soul, according
+to the doctrines of their faith, had passed into and animated the
+body of an infant, who, on the discovery of his identity by such
+testimony as their religion prescribes, was proclaimed by the same
+title as his predecessor.
+
+Warren Hastings then proposed a second deputation to Thibet, and
+Captain Turner was accordingly nominated on the 9th January, 1783.
+
+His mention of the sculptured stones and inscription is as follows: --
+
+"Another sort of monument is a long wall, on both faces of which
+near the top are inserted large tablets with the words 'Oom maunee
+paimee oom' carved in relief. This is the sacred sentence repeated
+upon the rosaries of the Lamas, and in general use in Tibet. Of the
+form of words to which ideas of peculiar sanctity are annexed by the
+inhabitants, I could never obtain a satisfactory explanation. It
+is frequently engraven on the rocks in large and deep characters,
+and sometimes I have seen it on the sides of hills; the letters,
+which are formed by means of stones fixed in the earth, are of so
+vast a magnitude as to be visible at a very considerable distance."
+
+M. Hue's account of an explanation of the formula, which he received
+from the highest authority at Lassa, is as follows: -- "Living beings
+are divided into six classes -- angels, demons, men, quadrupeds,
+birds, and reptiles. These six classes of beings correspond to the
+syllables of the formula, 'Om mani padme houm.' Living beings by
+continual transformations, and according to their merit or demerit,
+pass about in these six classes until they have attained the apex
+of perfection, when they are absorbed and lost in the grand essence
+of Buddha. Living beings have, according to the class to which they
+belong, particular means of sanctifying themselves, of rising to a
+superior class, of obtaining perfection, and of arriving in process
+of time at the period of their absorption. Men who repeat very
+frequently and devotedly 'Om mani padme houm,' escape falling after
+death into the six classes of animate creatures, corresponding to
+the six syllables of the formula, and obtain the plenitude of being,
+by their absorption into the eternal and universal soul of Buddha."
+
+One traveller only I have been able to find who mentions the sentence
+as I have done. M. Jacquemont writes, in his "Letters from Cashmere
+and Thibet," in 1830: -- "I am returned from afar; I have often been
+very cold; I have had a hundred and eighteen very bad dinners: but
+I think myself amply recompensed for these trans-Himalayan miseries
+by the interesting observations and vast collections which I have
+been able to make in a country perfectly new. The Tartars are a very
+good sort of people. It is true that to please them I made myself
+a little heathen after their fashion, and joined without scruple in
+the national chorus, 'Houm mani pani houm.' "
+
+Judging by the system of spelling he has adopted in other instances in
+his letters, this would be nearly -- as regards the two main words --
+the same pronunciation as I have given. He however, in another part,
+follows it still more closely, and at the same time shows that he
+is aware of a translation which, although probably the true one,
+has no connexion whatever with the words as he himself actually
+represents them.
+
+He says -- "In Thibet they sing a good deal also -- that is, one or two
+inhabitants per square league -- but only a single song of three words
+-- 'Oum mani pani;' which means, in the learned language, 'Oh, diamond
+water-lily!' and leads the singers direct into Buddha's paradise.
+
+"But, though composed of three Thibetian words, it is evidently of
+Indian origin, and I have proved it BOTANICALLY. The lotus is a plant
+peculiar to the lukewarm and temperate waters of India and Egypt. There
+is not one of its genus, or even of its family, in Thibet."
+
+The words, however, are not, as M. Jacquemont says, Thibetian,
+but Sanscrit; and, although one of the characters in which they are
+clothed is the current Thibetian, it would appear that neither their
+true pronunciation nor actual meaning is known to the people who thus
+make such frequent use of them.
+
+The sentence itself is in the mouths of all. In the monastery of Hemis
+alone, probably as many as a hundred wheels are in continual motion,
+bearing it within their folds not less than 1,700,000 times. The very
+stones by the wayside present its well-known characters in countless
+numbers, and the hills repeat it, and yet to those into whose daily
+religious observances it thus so largely enters, it comes but as
+a vain and empty sound, without either sense or signification. The
+Lamas themselves, no doubt, believe that the doctrine contained in
+these marvellous words is immense, and the higher dignitaries of
+the Church may know their derivation; but, to the great majority,
+even the mystic meaning and dim legendary history which the true
+pronunciation and rightful origin of the words would bring to their
+minds, are unknown, and they are thus deprived of that large amount
+of comfort and consolation which they would otherwise derive from
+the glowing and all-powerful sentence --
+
+"Oh, the jewel in the lotus, Amen!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER C
+
+A Sketch of the History of Cashmere.
+
+A Mahomedan Writer, "Noor ul deen," who begins the history of Cashmere
+with the Creation, affirms that the valley was visited by Adam after
+the Fall; that the descendants of Seth reigned over the country for
+1,110 years; and that, after the deluge, it became peopled by a tribe
+from Turkistan.
+
+The Hindoo historians add, that, after the line of Seth became extinct,
+the Hindoos conquered the country, and ruled it until the period
+of the deluge; and that the Cashmerians were afterwards taught the
+worship of one God by "Moses;" but, relapsing into Hindoo idolatry,
+were punished by the local inundation of the province, and the
+conversion of the valley into a vast lake.
+
+It would appear, from chronicles actually existing, that Cashmere
+has been a regular kingdom for a period far beyond the limits of
+history in general. From the year B.C. 2666 to A.D. 1024 it seems
+to have been governed (according to these authorities) by Princes of
+Hindoo and Tartar dynasties, and their names, to the number of about
+a hundred, have been duly handed down to posterity. Of the titles of
+these worthies, "Durlabhaverddhana" and "Bikrumajeet" will perhaps
+be sufficient as specimens. During these years, the religion seems
+at first to have been the worship of snakes, and afterwards Hindooism.
+
+In the reign of Asoca, about the 4th century before Christ, Buddhism
+was introduced, and after remaining for some time, under Tartar
+princes, the religion of the country, was again succeeded by Hindooism.
+
+The first Mahomedan king of Cashmere is believed to be "Shahmar,"
+who came to the throne in A.D. 1341, and during the succeeding reigns
+Thibet appears to have been first subdued, and was annexed for a time
+to the kingdom.
+
+The next monarch, who appears notably on the stage, was "Sikunder,"
+who, influenced by a certain Syud Alee Humudanee and other religious
+fanatics recently arrived in the country, began to destroy the
+Hindoo temples and images by fire, and to force the people to abjure
+idolatry. Previous to this influx of zealots, the country was in a
+transition state as regards religion and Mahomedanism then began to
+make some head in the valley.
+
+After this period nothing of very great importance occurred in the
+kingdom of Cashmere until the year 1584, when the great Akbar summoned
+the then king "Yusuf Shah" to present himself in person at the court of
+Lahore. Finding his orders not complied with, he despatched an army of
+50,000 men to enforce obedience, and Yusuf Shah, preferring apparently
+to die than fight, delivered himself up, and was sent to Lahore.
+
+The imperial army was afterwards, however, repulsed in attempting to
+subdue the country, and it was not finally conquered for two years,
+when Akbar, overcoming all resistance, took possession of the province.
+
+The purity of the emperor's motives in annexing the territory, and
+his opinion of his conquest, are amusingly shown in the following
+letter to his minister Abdullah Khan: --
+
+"On the mirror of your mind, which bears the stamp of Divine
+illumination, be it manifest and evident, that at the time when my
+imperial army happened to be in the territories of the Punjab, although
+I at first had no other views than to amuse myself with sports and
+hunting in this country, yet the conquest of the enchanting kingdom
+of Cashmere, which has never yet been subdued by monarchs of the
+age, which for natural strength and inaccessibility is unrivalled,
+and which, for beauty and pleasantness, is a proverb among the most
+sagacious beholders, became secretly an object of my wishes, BECAUSE
+I received constantly accounts of the tyranny of the rulers of that
+region. Accordingly, in a very short time, my brave warriors annexed
+that kingdom to my dominions. Though the princes of that country were
+not remiss in their exertions, yet, as my intentions were established
+on the basis of equity, it was completely conquered.
+
+"I myself also visited that happy spot, the possession of which is
+a fresh instance of the Divine favour, and offered up my praise and
+thanksgiving to the supreme Lord of all things. As I found myself
+delighted with the romantic bowers of Cashmere, the residence of
+pleasure, I made an excursion to the mountains of that country and
+Thibet, and beheld, with the eyes of astonishment, the wonders of
+the picture of Nature."
+
+This visit was in A.D. 1588.
+
+The emperor then appears to have entered the valley by the Peer Punjal
+Pass, and to have been received with every demonstration of joy by
+the people in whom he took such a fatherly interest. The loyalty of
+his children, however, was but short-lived, for about the year 1591
+he again writes to Abdullah: --
+
+"I must acquaint your Highness, that just at this time certain persons,
+under the predominance of an unlucky destiny, raised an insurrection
+in Cashmere and breathed the air of rebellion and dissatisfaction at
+the bounty of Providence.
+
+"As soon as the intelligence of this tumult arrived, regardless of
+deluges of rain, I hastened away by forced marches, but before the
+troops could get through the passes and enter into that kingdom,
+certain Omrahs, attached to my interests, who had been obliged by
+compulsion to join in that rash enterprise, availing themselves of
+an opportunity, brought me the head of the rebel commander.
+
+"As my forces were near, I visited a second time that ever-verdant
+garden, and gratified my mind and senses with the beauties of that
+luxuriant spot."
+
+With a view to keeping the capital in order, the Fort of Huree Purbut
+was built, about A.D. 1597, at a cost of over 1,000,000L.
+
+Means were at the same time adopted of rendering the Cashmerians less
+warlike, and of breaking their independent spirit. To effect this,
+it is generally believed in Cashmere that the Emperor Akbar caused a
+change to be made in the dress of the people. Instead of the ancient,
+well-girdled tunic, adapted to activity and exercise, he introduced
+the effeminate long gown of the present day, a change which may have
+led to the introduction of the kangree, or pot of charcoal, now used
+in the valley.
+
+During Akbar's reign much was done towards the improvement of the
+province. The country was adorned with palaces and gardens, and
+various trees and shrubs were introduced and cultivated.
+
+About the beginning of the seventeenth century, Akbar visited
+Cashmere for the third and last time, being succeeded, after a reign
+of fifty-two years, by his son Selim, or Jehangeer, A.D. 1605.
+
+Jehangeer, during the early part of his reign, visited Cashmere
+many times, and the valley having been surveyed and brought to
+order by Akbar, nothing remained for his successor but to enjoy the
+delights of the country in company with his empress, the famous Noor
+Jehan. In 1621, and in 1624, he repeated his visit, when he built many
+summerhouses and palaces at Atchabull, Shalimar, &c., and in A.D. 1627
+he visited the valley for the last time. He was succeeded in that
+year by Shah Jehan, who, in 1634, also visited his territories; and,
+besides improving the country by the introduction of fruit-trees,
+flowers, &c. from Cabul, he invaded Thibet, and taking the Fort of
+Ladak, annexed the country to Cashmere.
+
+In 1645 he again visited the valley, and also in the following years,
+being accompanied by many poets and savants; among the former was
+a certain Hajee Mahomet Jan, a Persian, who composed a poem on the
+country; but the difficulties of the road appear to have impressed
+his mind rather more than the beauties of the scenery. He compares
+the sharpness of the passes to "the swords of the Feringees," and
+their tortuous ascents to "the curls of a blackamoor's hair!"
+
+In 1657, Shah Jehan, being deposed by his son Aurungzib, was confined
+in the Fort of Agra for life; and in the year 1664 the new emperor
+also paid a visit to his Cashmerian dominions. Of this magnificent
+expedition, M. Bernier, the monarch's state physician, gives an
+amusing and detailed description, purporting to be
+
+"A relation of a voyage made in the year 1664, when the Great Mogul,
+Aureng-Zebe, went with his army from, Dehly to Lahor, from Lahor
+to Bember, and from thence to that small kingdom of Kachemere, or
+Cassimere, called by the Mogols the Paradise of the Indies, concerning
+which the author affirms that he hath a particular history of it,
+in the Persian tongue."
+
+"The weighty occasion and cause of this voyage of the Emperor's,
+together with an account of the state and posture of his army,
+and some curious particulars observable in voyages of the Indies,"
+are thus given by M. Bernier: -- "Since that Aureng-Zebe began to
+find himself in better health, it hath been constantly reported
+that he would make a voyage to Kachemere, to be out of the way of
+the approaching summer heats, though the more intelligent sort of
+men would hardly be persuaded, that as long as he kept his father,
+Chah-Jean (Shah Jehan), prisoner in the Fort of Agra, he would think
+it safe to be at such a distance. Yet, notwithstanding, we have found
+that reason of State hath given place to that of health, or rather,
+to the intrigues of Rauchenara Begum, who was wild to breathe a more
+free air than that of the Seraglio, and to have her turn in showing
+herself to a gallant and magnificent army, as her sister had formerly
+done during the reign of Chah-Jean."
+
+The Emperor appears to have made preparations on this occasion for
+a voyage of a year and a half.
+
+He had with him, not only thirty-five thousand horse, or thereabouts,
+and ten thousand foot, but also "both his artilleries, the great or
+heavy, and the small or lighter.
+
+For the carriage of the Emperor's baggage and stores, no less than
+30,000 coolies were required, although, for fear of starving that
+little kingdom of Kachemere," he only carried with him the least
+number of ladies and cavaliers he could manage, and as few elephants
+and mules as would suffice for the convenience of the former.
+
+Crossing the Peer Punjal, some of the ladies of the Seraglio
+unfortunately paid the penalty of their too ardent desires to show
+themselves off to "a gallant and magnificent army," for "one of the
+elephants fell back upon him that was next, and he upon the next, and
+so on to the fifteenth, so that they did all tumble to the bottom of
+the precipice. It was the good fortune of those poor women, however,
+that there were but three or four of them killed; but the fifteen
+elephants remained upon the place." The historian rather ungallantly
+adds, "When these bulky masses do once fall under THOSE VAST BURDENS
+they never rise again, though the way be ever so fair."
+
+On reaching the summit of the pass after this accident, the expedition
+appears to have encountered more misfortunes, for "there blew a wind so
+cold that all people shook and ran away, especially the silly Indians,
+who never had seen ice or snow, or felt such cold."
+
+Aurungzib appears to have remained three months in the valley on
+this occasion.
+
+After his death there is no mention of his successors having visited
+Cashmere, and the local governors became in consequence, in common
+with those of other provinces of the tottering Mogul throne, little
+short of independent rulers. Under the tender mercies of most of these,
+the unfortunate Cashmeeries appear to have fared but badly.
+
+In 1745, however, a series of misfortunes from another source burst
+forth upon the inhabitants of the happy valley. A dreadful famine
+first broke out, during which it is said that slaves sold for four
+pice (three half-pence) each. The famine produced its natural result,
+a pestilence, which swept away many thousands of the people; an
+eclipse also added to their terror, and storms of rain followed by
+floods carried away all the bridges.
+
+In the year 1752, the country passed from the possession of the Mogul
+throne, and fell under the rule of the Duranees, and during many
+years was convulsed by a series of wars and rebellions, and subject
+to numerous different governors. In A.D. 1801, Runjeet Singh began to
+come into notice, and, having consolidated the nation of the Sikhs,
+had, in the year 1813 become one of the recognised princes of India. In
+that year Futteh Shah entered into a treaty with him for a subsidiary
+force for the invasion of Cashmere. The price of this accommodation
+was fixed at 80,000L. yearly; but, before the expiration of the second
+year, the Lion of the Punjab, on pretence of the non-fulfilment of
+the treaty, invaded the valley on his own account at the head of a
+considerable army. He was repulsed, however, and forced to retreat to
+Lahore with the loss of his entire baggage. In A.D. 1819, encouraged
+by recent successes against Moultan, Runjeet Singh collected an army
+"as numerous as ants and locusts," and invaded the valley a second
+time, and being successful, the country again fell under the sway of
+a Hindoo Sovereign.
+
+It, however, remained for some time afterwards in a disturbed state;
+and for signal services against the rebellious frontier chiefs, who
+were averse to Runjeet Singh's rule, Gulab Singh (the late Maharajah)
+obtained possession of the territory of Jumoo, now included in the
+kingdom of Cashmere.
+
+Runjeet Singh, dying in 1839, was succeeded by his son and grandson,
+successively, both of whom died shortly after their accession; and
+the state of anarchy and confusion which ensued among the Sikh Sirdars
+was terminated by Shere Singh being installed as Maharajah of Lahore.
+
+Under his rule, in 1842, Gulab Singh further brought himself into
+notice by reducing the kingdom of little Thibet with the army under
+Zorawur Singh, and on the termination of the Sikh Campaign of the
+Sutlej -- Duleep Singh being established on the throne of Lahore --
+he was admitted, "in consideration of his good conduct," to the
+privileges of a separate treaty with the British Government.
+
+The result of these privileges was, that he was shortly afterwards
+put in possession, for "a consideration," of the entire kingdom
+of Cashmere.
+
+As indemnification for the expenses of the Sikh Campaign, the British
+Government had demanded from the Lahore State the sum of a crore and
+a half of rupees, or 1,500,000L. The whole of this amount, however,
+was not forthcoming, and it was agreed by Article 4 of the treaty
+of 9th March, 1846, with the Maharajah Duleep Singh, that all the
+hill-country between the rivers Indus and Beas, including the province
+of Cashmere, should be ceded to the Honourable East India Company,
+in perpetual sovereignty, as an equivalent for one million sterling.
+
+Article 12 of the same treaty guaranteed to Gulab Singh, in
+consequence of his services to the Lahore State, its recognition of his
+independence in such territories as might afterwards be agreed upon;
+and on the 16th March, 1846, the British Government, by special treaty,
+made over for ever, in independent possession to Maharajah Gulab Singh
+and the heirs male of his body, the greater part of the territories
+previously mentioned in Article 4. In consideration of this transfer,
+the Maharajah was to pay to the British Government, within the year,
+the sum of seventy-five lakhs of rupees (750,000L.). To acknowledge
+the supremacy of that Government, and, in token of such supremacy,
+to present it annually the following tribute, viz.: -- One horse,
+twelve perfect shawl goats of approved breed (six male and six female),
+and three pairs of Cashmere shawls.
+
+Thus, "on the 16th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1846,
+corresponding with the 17th day of Rubbeeoolawul, 1262, Hijree, was
+DONE at Umritsur," the treaty of ten articles, by which Gulab Singh
+was raised to the rank and dignity of an independent ruler.
+
+For seventy-five lakhs of rupees the unfortunate Cashmeeries were
+handed over to the tender mercies of "the most thorough ruffian that
+ever was created -- a villain from a kingdom down to a half-penny,"
+and the "Paradise of the Indies," after remaining rather less than
+a week a British possession, was relinquished by England for ever.
+
+The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NOTES
+
+[1] -- VIDE Appendix A
+
+[2] -- ROADS -- I. There are four authorized routes for European
+visitors to Cashmere.
+
+FIRST. The principal road from the plains by Bimbhur and Rajaoree. This
+road over the "Peer Punjal" range is not open until May, and is closed
+by snow at the beginning of November: it is the old imperial route,
+and the stages are marked by the remains of serais.
+
+[3] -- A hill conveyance something similar to a hammock, suspended from
+a pole, with straps for the feet and back, and carried by two bearers.
+
+[4] -- M. Jacquemont, in his "Letters from Kashmir and Thibet,"
+carried away no doubt by the ardour of Botanical research, mentions
+having made a similar discovery, in the following glowing terms:  --
+"The mountains here produce rhubarb; celestial happiness!"
+
+[5] -- The Pass of the Peer Punjal is 13,000 feet above the level of
+the sea; the highest peak of the range being 15,000.
+
+[6] -- Supposed to designate "The City of the Sun;" Surya meaning in
+Sanscrit "the Sun," and Nugger "a City."
+
+[7] -- Cashmere seems to have been regarded for many ages merely as
+a source of wealth to its absentee lords or present governors, and
+to have suffered more than ever, since falling under the dominion of
+Hindoo rulers.
+
+Of the first of this dynasty, who subdued and took possession of
+the valley in the year 1819, Vigne remarks, in his Travels, "Runjeet
+Singh assuredly well knew that the greater the prosperity of Kashmir,
+the stronger would be the inducement to invasion by the East India
+Company. 'Apres moi le deluge' has been his motto, and its ruin
+has been accelerated not less by his rapacity than by his political
+jealousy, which suggested to him at any cost the merciless removal
+of its wealth and the reckless havoc he has made in its resources."
+
+[8] -- The Tukt-i-Suliman, an old Hindoo temple, the throne of Solomon
+the magnificent, the prophet, the mighty magician, whom all pious
+Mussulmans believe to have been carried through the air on a throne
+supported by Dives or Afrites, whom the Almighty had made subservient
+to His will. -- Vigne. The summit stands 1,000 feet above the level
+of the plain, and the date of its erection is believed to be 220
+B.C. VIDE Appendix A.
+
+[9] -- "There is no God but God;" "In the name of God."
+
+[10] -- This was written without being aware that the native name
+of Mutton is a corruption of Martund, by which name the temple is
+also designated.
+
+The meaning of Martund being in Sanscrit "the Sun," additional grounds
+have thus been furnished for determining the origin of the ruin. VIDE
+Appendix A.
+
+[11] -- On this subject a good deal of difference of opinion seems
+to exist, and from Moore's descriptions of the furniture of his
+terrestrial paradise, which have added so much to the fame of the
+valley, it appears probable that his "muse," thinking it useless
+to search abroad for materials which existed in abundance at home,
+supplied him with what he supposed to be Eastern celestial creations,
+entirely from his native shores. Vigne, however, says, "I do not think
+that the beauty of the Kashmirian women has been overrated. They are,
+of course, wholly deficient in the graces and fascinations derivable
+from cultivation and accomplishment; but for mere uneducated eyes,
+I know of none that surpass those of Kashmir." On the other hand,
+M. Jacquemont, who found "celestial happiness" in a plant of rhubarb,
+is unable to discover any beauty whatever in the Cashmerian ladies,
+and has no patience with his neighbour's little flights of fancy in
+depicting their perfections. "Moore," he writes, in his "Letters from
+India," "is a perfumer, and a liar to boot. Know that I have never
+seen anywhere such hideous witches as in Cashmere. The female race is
+remarkably ugly." Instead of adding to such conflicting evidence, I
+have endeavoured to subpoena a credible witness to speak for herself;
+and the right of private judgment being thus reserved to the reader,
+Gulabie will no doubt be charitably dealt with, and will find her
+proper position somewhere within the limits of a "hideous witch"
+and a "celestial being."
+
+[12] -- This place is mentioned in the "Tuzuk Jehangeery," or "Precepts
+of Jehangeer," in a way which shows that the Conqueror of the World
+had not included himself among his victories.
+
+The name appears on a Persian inscription as Wurnagh, but is called
+by the natives Vernagh, and is mentioned by Jehangeer in his journal
+as Tirnagh: --
+
+"The source of the river Bhet (Jhelum)[*] lies in a fountain in Cashmeer,
+named Tirnagh, which, in the language, of Hindostan, signifies a
+snake -- probably some large snake had been seen there. During the
+lifetime of my father (Akbar) I went twice to this fountain, which
+is about twenty kos from the city of Cashmere. Its form is octagonal,
+and the sides of it are about twenty yards in length.
+
+"I accompanied my father to this spot during the season of flowers. In
+some places the beds of saffron-flowers extend to a kos. Their
+appearance is best at a distance, and when they are plucked they
+emit a strong smell. My attendants were all seized with a headache,
+and though I was myself at the time intoxicated with liquor, I felt
+also my head affected. I inquired of the brutal Cashmeerians who were
+employed in plucking them, what was their condition, and they replied
+that they never had a headache in their lifetime."
+
+[*] -- The Jhelum is called in Cashmere, Behat -- a contraction of the
+Sanscrit VEDASTA, which the Greeks slightly altered to Hydaspes.
+
+[13] -- The title of Noor-ul-deen is also mentioned by Jehangeer in
+his Journal from Lahore to Cabul, and its origin is thus accounted
+for in his own words:
+
+"Now that I had become a king, it occurred to me that I ought to change
+my name, which was liable to be confounded with that of the Caesars,
+of Rome.
+
+"The Secret Inspirer of thoughts suggested to me that, as the business
+of kings is the conquest of the world, I ought to assume the name of
+Jehangeer, or Conqueror of the World; and that as my accession to the
+throne had taken place, about sunrise, I ought therefore to take the
+title of Noor-ul-deen, or the Light of Religion. I had heard during
+the time of my youth from several learned Hindoos, that after the
+expiration of the reign of Akbar, the throne would be filled by a
+kin, named Noor-ul-deen. This circumstance made an impression on me,
+and I therefore assumed the name and title of Jehangeer Badshah."
+
+[14] -- These ruins appear to be in the greatest dilapidation of any
+in the valley. The date of their erection is believed to be A.D. 852.
+
+[15] -- See Appendix A.
+
+[16] -- VIDE Appendix A.
+
+[17] -- These monuments would appear to be of the kind designated
+Chod-tens and Dung-tens, which have been thus described: -- "In the
+monuments which are dedicated to the celestial Buddha, the invisible
+being who pervades all space, no deposit was made; but the Divine
+Spirit, who was light, was supposed to occupy the interim. Such are
+the numerous Chod-tens in Tibet dedicated to the celestial Buddha,
+in contradistinction to the Dung-tens, which are built in honour of
+the mortal Buddhas, and which ought to contain some portion of their
+relies, real or supposed. The first means an offering to the Deity,
+the latter a bone or relic receptacle. In the Sanscrit these are
+termed Chaitya and Dagoba." -- Cunningham.
+
+[18] -- This appears to have been one of the Dagobas or bone-holders,
+which are erected either over the corse of a Lama or the ashes of some
+person of consequence. "The tribute of respect is paid in Tibet to
+the manes of the dead in various ways. It is the custom to preserve
+entire the mortal remains of the sovereign Lamas only. As soon as
+life has left the body of a Lama, it is placed upright, sitting
+in an attitude of devotion, his legs being folded before him, with
+the instep resting on each thigh, and the sides of the feet turned
+upwards. The right hand is rested with its back upon the thigh, with
+the thumb bent across the palm. The left arm is bent and held close
+to the body, the hand being open and the thumb touching the point of
+the shoulder. This is the attitude of abstracted meditation.
+
+"The bodies of inferior Lamas are usually burnt, and their ashes
+preserved with the greatest care, and the monuments in which they
+are contained are ever after looked upon as sacred, and visited with
+religious awe." -- Turner.
+
+[19] -- jo khula kariga so kui nahin kariga
+
+[20] -- "Tibet may be considered the head-quarters of Buddhism in
+the present age, and immense volumes are still to be found in that
+country (faithful translations of the Sanskrit text), which refer to
+the manners, customs, opinions, knowledge, ignorance, superstition,
+hopes and fears of a great part of Asia, especially of India in former
+ages." -- Csoma de Koros, PREFACE TO TIBETAN GRAMMAR.
+
+[21] -- These stones would appear to be peculiar to Thibet, although
+the sentence inscribed upon them has been occasionally discovered
+elsewhere. Mention of it is thus made in the Journal of the Asiatic
+Society of Bengal: -- "On the main road from the Valley of Nipal to
+Tibet stands a diminutive stone, 'Chaitya.' Upon this is inscribed
+a variety of texts from the Buddha Scriptures, and amongst others
+the celebrated Mantra, or charmed sentence of Tibet. The system of
+letters called Lantza in Tibet, and there considered foreign and
+Indian, though nowhere extant in the Plains of India, is the common
+vehicle of Sanscrit language among the Buddhists of Nipal Proper,
+by whom it is denominated Ranja, in Devanagri ra.mjaa
+
+"Ranja, therefore, and not, according to a barbarian metamorphosis,
+Lantza, it should be called by us, and by way of further and clearer
+distinction, the Nipalese variety of Devanagri. Obviously deducible
+as this form is from the Indian standard, it is interesting to observe
+it in practical collocation with the ordinary Thibetan form, and when
+it is considered that Lantza or Ranja is the common extant vehicle
+of those original Sanscrit works of which the Thibetan books are
+translations, the interest of an inscription traced on one slab in
+both characters cannot but be allowed to be considerable. The habit
+of promulgation of the doctrines of their faith by inscriptions
+patent on the face of religious edifices, stones, &c., is peculiar
+to the Buddhists of Thibet. The Mantra is also quite unknown to the
+Buddhists of Ceylon and the Eastern peninsula, and forms the peculiar
+feature of Thibetan Buddhism."
+
+[22] -- This was the only explanation of the mounds of inscribed stones
+which I was able to obtain from a native source; and some foundation
+for the story may be traced in the legend -- which will be found in
+Appendix B -- upon which M. Klaproth has founded the only explanation
+of the mystic inscription, which I have been as yet able to discover.
+
+By the Lamas themselves I never heard these mounds alluded to
+otherwise than by the words "Mani panee." Cunningham, however,
+who had ample opportunity of ascertaining their meaning and origin,
+terms them "Manis" (in another form of spelling, "Munees"), and thus
+describes them: -- "The Mani -- a word naturalized from the Sanscrit
+-- is a stone dyke, from four to five feet high, and from six to
+twelve in breadth; length from ten or twenty feet to half a mile The
+surface of the Mani is always covered with inscribed slabs; these
+are votive offerings from all classes of people for the attainment
+of some particular object. Does a childless man wish for a son, or a
+merchant about to travel hope for a safe return; each goes to a Lama
+and purchases a slate, which he deposits carefully on the village
+'Mani,' and returns to his home in full confidence that his prayers
+will be heard."
+
+[23] -- This was in all probability intended to represent the form
+of the lotus. VIDE Appendix B.
+
+[24] -- Of this custom Turner remarks, alluding to Thibet Proper: --
+"Here we find a practice at once different from the modes of Europe,
+and opposite to those of Asia. That of one female associating her fate
+and fortune with all the brothers of a family, without any restriction
+of age or numbers. The choice of a wife is the privilege of the elder
+brother; and singular as it may seem, a Thibetan wife is as jealous
+of her connubial rites as ever the despot of an Indian Zenana is of
+the favours of his imprisoned fair."
+
+[25] -- "As the inscription of course begins at opposite ends on each
+side, the Thibetans are careful in passing that they do not trace
+the words backwards." -- Turner.
+
+[26] -- This is Mount "Everest," which has been called, the King
+of the South. The King of the North, "Nunga Purbut," is 26,629 feet
+above the level of the sea.
+
+[27] -- VIDE illustration, Hemis Monastery.
+
+[28] -- The only information I here again received was "Um mani
+panee!" The wheel consisted of a roll of the thinnest paper, six
+inches in diameter, and five and a half in width, closely printed
+throughout with the eternally recurring words, which all appeared so
+ready to pronounce and none seemed able to explain. The roll was sixty
+yards long, and was composed of a succession of strips, one foot nine
+inches in length, and all joined together. The whole was inclosed in
+a coarse canvas cover, open at both ends, and marked with what was no
+doubt the official seal of the particular society for the diffusion of
+ignorance at Lassa, from which it had originally emanated. Each of the
+strips contained the mystic sentence, one hundred and seventy times,
+so that I was thus at once put into possession of all the valuable
+intelligence to be derived from "Um mani panee," repeated between
+seventeen and eighteen thousand times. VIDE Appendix B.
+
+[29] -- The origin of this divinity is probably derived from the
+legend of Khoutoukhtou, which will be found in Appendix B.
+
+[30] -- The most remarkable of these were "Ser" and "Mer," otherwise
+called "Nanoo" and "Kanoo;" respectively 23,407 and 23,264 feet above
+the level of the sea.
+
+[31] -- The true version of the story appears to be that Gulab Singh
+had quarrelled with the Rajah of Cashmere, his rightful master, and
+entered into the service of the Rajah of Kushtwar. After about three
+years, hearing that Runjeet Singh was preparing an expedition against
+Cashmere, he went to him and offered his services. Being accepted,
+he was successful against his old enemy, and took possession of
+the country for Runjeet Singh; after which he wrote to the Rajah
+of Kushtwar, falsely telling him that the Maharajah was going to
+send a force against him also. The Rajah and his people prepared
+for resistance, and Gulab Singh then forged a paper containing an
+invitation from the chief men in the army of Kushtwar to the Maharajah,
+encouraging him to come forward and invade the country.
+
+This paper Gulab then forwarded to the Rajah himself, with a note,
+in which he told him that it was folly to talk of resistance when
+the chief men of his country were opposed to him. The Rajah, who had
+been in possession of Kushtwar for twenty-seven years, was completely
+deceived, and repaired, by invitation, with only a few followers to
+Gulab's camp. Here he was kept for three months upon an allowance of
+10L. a-day, which was afterwards reduced to 10S., and Gulab Singh in
+the meantime took possession of Kushtwar without opposition.
+
+[32] -- The value which a Kashmirian sets upon his Kangri may be
+known by the following distich: --
+
+
+"Oh Kangri! Oh Kangri!
+You are the gift of Houris and Fairies;
+When I take you under my arm
+You drive away fear from my heart."
+ -- Vigne.
+
+
+[33] -- "Won't the old bearers get something, your honour?"
+
+[34] -- According to M. Voysey, in his Asiatic Researches, "A single
+flower in the screen contains a hundred stones, each cut to the
+exact shape necessary, and highly polished; and, although everything
+is finished like an ornament for a drawing-room chimney-piece, the
+general effect produced is rather solemn and impressive than gaudy.
+
+"In the minute beauties of execution, the flowers are by no means equal
+to those on tables and other small works in Pietra dura at Florence. It
+is the taste displayed in outline and application of this ornament,
+combined with the lightness and simplicity of the building, which gives
+it an advantage so prodigious over the gloomy portals of the chapel of
+the Medici. The graceful flow, the harmonious colours, combined with
+the mild lustre of the marble on which the ornamentation is displayed,
+form the peculiar charm of the building, and distinguish it from any
+other in the world. The materials are Lapis Lazuli, Jasper, Heliotrope
+or blood stone, Chalcedony, and other agates, Cornelian, Jade, &c."
+
+[35] -- A coin of the value of thirty-two shillings.
+
+[36] -- Hardy's "Eastern Monachisms."
+
+[37] -- Csoma de Koros.
+
+[38] -- VIDE page 202.
+
+[39] -- Muir's "Life of Mahomet."
+
+[40] -- M. Dietrici.
+
+[41] -- Padma pani, fils celeste du Bouddha divin du monde actuel,
+est, dans cette qualite, entre en fonction depuis la mort du Bouddha
+terrestre Sakya mouni, comme son remplacant, charge d'etre apres
+lui le protecteur constant, le gardien et le propagateur de la foi
+bouddhique renouvelee par Sakya. C'est pour cette raison qu'il ne
+se borne pas a une apparition unique comme les Bouddhas, mais qu'il
+se soumet presque sans interruption a une serie de naissances qui
+dureront jusqu'a l'avenement de Maitreya, le futur Bouddha.
+
+On croit aussi qu'il est incarne dans la personne du "Dalai Lama,"
+et qu'il paraitra en qualite de Bouddha, le millieme de la periode
+actuelle du monde.
+
+Le Tibet est sa terra de predilection; il est le pere de ses habitants,
+et la formule celebre: Om mani padme hom, est un de ses bienfaits. --
+RELATION DES ROYAUMES BOUDDHIQUES, par Chy Fa Hian, traduit par
+M. Remusat.
+
+[42] -- Le mot Khoubilkhan, en Mongol, designe l'incarnation d'une
+ame superieure.
+
+[43] -- Khoutoukhtou, en Mongol, signifie "UN SAINT MAITRE."
+
+[44] -- Le plus petit "Kalpa" est de seize millions huit cent mille
+ans, et le grand "Kalpa" est d'un milliard trois cents quarante-quatre
+millions d'annees.
+
+[45] -- Je ne l'ai encore trouvee cette phrase dans aucun ouvrage
+chinois ou japonais, et notre savant collegue M. Bournouf, m'a dit
+aussi qu'il ne l'a jamais rencontree dans les livres palis, birmans
+et siamois.
+
+[46] -- um maani padmi
+
+[47] -- Amongst these were sheets of gilt leather, stamped with the
+black eagle of the Russian armorial; talents of gold and silver, bags
+of genuine musk, narrow cloths of woollen the manufacture of Thibet,
+and silks of China.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet
+
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