AFOOT THROUGH

THE KASHMIR

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AFOOT THKOUGH THE
KASHMIE VALLEYS

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AFOOT THROUGH THE
KASHMIR VALLEYS

BY

MARION DOUGHTY

'One more day we thought the measure

Of such days the year fulfils ;
Now how clearly should we treasure
Something from its fields, its rills,
And its memorable hills."

A. C. T.

LONDON

SANDS & COMPANY

1901

S)eDication

IX GIIATITUDE TO THE WANDKIIER

WHO ENCOURAGED ME

TO LOOK OVER MY OWX GARDEN WALL

AND

WANDER INTO OTHER FOLKS' I'OTATO PATCHES

BY GIVING ME THE

BENEFIT OF HIS OWN VAST STORE

OF

TRAVELLERS' LORE

INTEODUCTION

Many years ago a little girl with knitted brows and
every outward sign of strong concentration was pulling
at one end of a chicken's " merry-thought." The brows
relaxed and the mouth widened into a delighted smile,
" I've won it," she shouted, holding up the longer end,
" and I wish to go to Cashmere."

" I don't beheve you know where Cashmere is, and
you will not go now, because you have told your wish,"
shouted her cousin defiantly, for he had not been
pleased to be beaten by a girl.

Nevertheless, by dint of hard wishing and a good
deal of patience, after long years the little girl arrived
in Cashmere, but by that time she was no longer little,
and people talked of the land of roses as " Kashmir "
with a K. What she saw and did when she arrived
there will be told to you in future chapters; that she
felt her wishes were not wasted is proved by the fact
that she hopes the day may come when she vnW. be able
to return to that beautiful valley and make better
acquaintance v\dth it. Meanwhile, if she, or rather I—
for I may as well identify myself at once with the
heroine of the merry -thought— can do anything to

X INTRODUCTION

disabuse the world in general of the idea that this lovely
valley is only to be reached by an undue expenditure
of physical force and nerve, to say nothing of filthy
lucre, I shall feel that I have not lived in vain, but
assisted somewhat in showing the " open door " of one
of the most perfect holiday grounds of the world,
offering nourishment to almost every imaginable
hobby — for what would our holidays be without our
hobbies ? There the shikari, the student, the man with
a taste for commerce, the soldier, the boating man, the
artist will find plenty of food for his especial taste,
even a philatellist of the most virulent type ought to
be satisfied with a State that perpetually produces new
stamps, and a numismatist can rack his brains as to
the meaning of the strange devices shown on some of
the modern coins, to say nothing of studying the ancient
specimens constantly dug up. The invalid will rejoice
in the exhilarating air, and the old man feel young
again, while the habitual pauper must be forced to own
the advantages of a land where a rupee will buy a
sheep, and eight a suit of homespun clothes.

The mistake made by most people wishing to travel
there is that they overburden themselves with pre-
parations, make up their baggage to the proportions
of a small Noah's Ark, and endanger their digestions
by the variety of the tinned foods they provide.
Without stopping short at the proverbial "flannel
shirt and pair of boots," which many would say is the
whole extent of the explorer's necessaire, it is only
adding to the burden of the flesh, and straining to an

INTRODUCTION xi

unnecessary thinness the tempers of master and coolies,
if provision is made for every exigency in life, including
the leaving of it with proper pomp and circumstance.
A good servant will " always provide " not only the
bare wherewithal of life, but such addenda as in his
estimation are warranted by the position of his master
and his own monthly wage. If he is well treated he
will return the compliment, will see to your comfort —
for his charge is more valuable to him alive than dead
— and in case of demise will superintend all arrange-
ments with a nice calculation as to the exact amount of
pomp suitable to your income and dignity.

All that is necessary before arriving in the country
is to provide one's self with some strong footwear —
Kashmirian shoes, like many of their other manu-
factures, belonging more to the beautiful than
durable order; any instruments and books required
by one's special hobby — ^be it science, sport, or
art; some literature light in matter and form —
for coolies and ponies are the most formidable
item of expenditure; photographic apparatus and
saddlery, for want of which I suffered severely; and
if there is any likelihood that the gay throng of fashion
at Srinagar or Gulmerg will be entered, some EngHsh
gowns and millinery will go a long way towards
inspiring that respect that Englishwomen always hope
for from their own sex ! In Srinagar may be purchased
all the ordinary requirements for hfe " out of society."
The homespuns woven all over the valley in the long
winter months may be bought for very little, and the

X" INTRODUCTION

"dirzy" (at once the joy and the terror of every
Memsahib) will, with small expenditure of time and
money, fashion them into garments of comfortable
shape and decent cut. The "puttoo" (homespun)
merchants also sell splendidly warm cloaks lined with
fur, a great comfort when on the exposed mountains;
vast boots of the same material stretching nearly up
to the thigh, very valuable when camping in damp
places; and sleeping bags which they will make of
puttoo or numdah (felt) lined with wool or fur.
These numdahs are soft and thick, and can be purchased
in practically any colour or any size and embroidered
charmingly in crewels, according to the taste of the
purchaser. They are used for almost every purpose,
and are equally convenient for all — ^as mats in one's
boat or tent, coverings for the lounge, bed quilts, as
hold-alls when over-prolonged sleep has left but little
time for packing before an early start, the handy
headman dexterously with some string fastening the
sides together.

There are two good English agencies, both managed
by retired officers, where all camp outfit can be hired or
bought, and thus the great cost of transport into the
country is saved, and the purchase of the most useful
articles ensured, for at both agencies reliable informa-
tion can be had as to the condition of the various parts of
the valley, and care will be taken to equip the happy
traveller with the camp outfit most suitable to require-
ments. Parsee shops hold a very fair assortment of
the foreign groceries craved for by our countrymen,

INTRODUCTION Xlii

but my advice is to keep as much as possible to the
condiments of the country, or anyway, those of India.
Ceylon teas and French coffees, English jams, and
canned vegetables are better in name than in substance,
and Kangra valley teas, Punjaub salt, and the preserves
of the country, also home-grown fruits and vegetables —
dried when they cannot be obtained fresh — are more
wholesome and less ruinous. The Kashmir wines, too,
are no longer to be despised, and their Medoc and
Barsac are both strengthening and pleasant to the
taste. All sorts of wicker and wooden articles are to
be bought in great variety, and silver and copper w^are
are only too tempting; draperies and hangings are to
be had in quantities to charm the heart of the maid of
South Kensington, pens, papers, and pills — if wanted —
may be purchased without difficulty, and as all these
" esteemed articles " are made in a form pecuHarly suited
to the land where they came into being, the traveller
will do best to leave Pindi with little more than such
things as bedding, warm wraps, tiffin basket, etc., which
are essential for the journey in.

As to the cost of such an expedition as mine, some
details may possibly be interesting to people who, with
means not of the largest, have a wish to see something
of that gorgeous East, which to the untravelled sounds
so remote and unattainable. The voyage to India is
one of those terrible black tunnels that one gets
through as one can for the sake of what is beyond.
However, there do exist strange people who, happily
for themselves, can contrive to think differently of this

XIV INTRODUCTION

period, people who can rejoice at the sound of the
dinner bell, pace the deck with determined mien when
the ship is at an angle of 45 deg., and eat "nougat"
in a Mediterranean swell. All credit to them, for they
are a credit to Britannia, who ought to rule the waves
a httle more efficiently than she does very often. Apart
from the unhappiness caused by this part of my travels,
the ticket by P. & O. is an item likely to prove an
insurmountable obstacle to many; but there are other
lines where, if time is no object, passages may be had
at extremely low rates, and where the small number
of passengers adds considerably to the comfort and
freedom of those who elect to go that way.

From Bombay travelling is very easy and pleasant;
a through carriage can be had, and the three-day
journey to Rawal Pindi accomplished without change,
the train stopping at convenient times for food, and the
charges both for rail and meals being very moderate.
The Indian railway carriage at first strikes terror into
the heart of the new-comer, it is so pecuUarly bare and
uncompromising, the leather-covered benches, running
the opposite way to ours at home, appearing but poor
substitutes for the luxurious snowy sleeping berths
provided on home lines. But this is a tropical country,
though in Bombay in the early spring one did not
realise the fact, and air and cleanliness are the
essentials, and all else is sacrificed to these, so as the
sun lights up the khaki- coloured landscape, and its
ever-brilliant rays toast one gently through, one is
thankful for the ventilation afforded by the many

INTRODUCTION XV

large windows, though the blacks that enter are of
the largest, but at hand is a plentiful supply of water
wherewith to remove our weather stains, and though
on arrival at Pindi appearances are apt to be more varie-
gated than is desirable, at least pleasant rest will have
been found on the comfortable benches made up into
beds by the handy " man-of-all-works " engaged at
Bombay, and a hot bath soon removes the strange
museum of geological specimens collected on face and
clothes !

At Pindi the traveller can see and understand one
of the two great buttresses of that Pax Britannica
which allows solitary folk to wander unmolested from
the great barriers of the " roof of the world " to little
Ceylon, tiny pendant of the vast Indian Empire. The
place is a large and pleasant barrack-yard, and one
feels as outside the scheme of things as the small urchin
who peers through the railings of the AVellington
Barracks. Despite the incongruity one continues to
peep, and in consequence, the emotional traveller must
look out for a slight attack of Jingoism or Chauvinism,
or whatever " ism " it is that forces him to keep
reassuring himself that under no condition can
" Britons ever be slaves," or that such beautiful, well-
cared-for, well-mannered beings as our own Tonmiy
Atkins could be worth less than two of any like body
in any other country!

To return to the subject of probable cost, the
railway journey to Pindi costs about 100 rupees; here
the railway stops, and one must continue one's way

XVI INTRODUCTION

by tonga or riding. If time is no object and the season
is not too early, there are various beautiful routes over
the mountains, by Jammu, by Poonch, by the Pir
Panjal. Going by these passes camp outfit must be
taken, of course, a sufficient number of coolies and bag-
gage ponies, also riding ponies, for many of the marches
are very trying, and the uncertainty about food and fuel
makes it difficult to stay to rest. Going up early as
I did — at the beginning of April — the Jhelum route
was the best, and a tonga can be ordered at Pindi from
the contractors there for about ninety -five rupees;
besides this, a small tip will have to be given to the
driver, and there are one or two tolls to be paid on
entering Kashmir territory; if the whole cart is
not required, a seat can be had in the mail
tonga for forty-five rupees; only a small amount of
baggage is allowed, the rest must be sent on
beforehand by ekka, costing about five rupees
the maund (84 lbs.). There are dak bungalows on
the route where the journey can be broken, and where
the prices are fairly moderate except for English
goods. While in Kashmir the cost of living can
be calculated to a nicety. A " doonga " — the
native boat — can be hired for from twenty to thirty
rupees a month, including the boatman ; and a reliable
list of rates for the purchase of all daily requirements,
from the hiring of coolies to the price of bread, can be
obtained from Sahib Rao Amarnath, an official
appointed by the Maharajah to look after the interests
of visitors. He represents in his fat, comfortable person

INTRODUCTION xvii

paternal Government carried to the furthest limit, and
is equally ready to order condign punishment for your
servants if they overcharge in any particular, or to insist
on the re-loading of your ponies if overweighted. He
is exactly the right man in the right place, and the
threat of " referring the matter to him " will influence
coolies on strike even away in far-off valleys! It is a
system, the adoption of which in so-called more civilised
countries would greatly assist the helpless foreigner.

Both food and firewood are cheap, so living seldom
costs more than about 1 rupee 3 annas a day, and
to save the annoyance of friction over daily pilferings,
it is a good plan to contract with one's headman or
khansama (cook) to feed one for that amount. Unless
one has with one good servants used to travelling, it is
better (and I found I was very generally agreed with)
not to hire Punjabi servants at enormous wages in
Srinagar, but to pay one's boatman, while on the river, a
trifle extra to cook, and to take an extra man to do
errands and various other small jobs, and when up
the valleys to choose some young Kashmiri and make
him headman, with the distinct understanding that the
right rates are known, and that you vdll give him a
small present at the end of each month if there has
been no friction to disturb your serenity, and no
attempt at fancy prices. The younger he is the more
likely he is to be honest, and I have seen a comfortable
camp managed by a boy of fifteen at seven rupees a
month. In the valleys, where the cold is often great at
night, your headman will require puttoo coats and
h

xviii INTRODUCTION

" rassad " (an extra allowance to cover the increased
cost of their food). Coolies are paid at the rate of four
annas a day and ponies eight annas. The latter, where
possible, are preferable, carrying more in proportion
(often a maund; a coolie only carries twenty -five to
thirty seers, a seer being 2 lbs.), and giving less trouble
about food and wamith. On the whole, if no very
expensive expeditions are carried out, and rests are
made in each place, it is possible to live quite well for
seventy or eighty rupees a month. Shooting is an
expensive amusement, as licences are now costly
things and good shikaris can get their own terms, and
if " doongas " are not sufficiently luxurious the house-
boats will be found to be highly rented. The really
ruinous plan is to remain in Srinagar, where all day
long the visitor is assailed by the cunning merchants
with beguiling manners, who always bring the most
tempting wares ever seen, and by a finely simulated
indifference to pay, and an accurate knowledge — pur-
chased beforehand from the servants — of the exact
amount of the master's income, lead the poor victim
gently into temptation, and fill the boat with such
ramparts of pretty things that finally escape is only
purchased by a few present orders and some vaguely
generous hints as to future requirements, then salaams
axe exchanged, and a few hurried words thrown to the
" retinue " show their share in the gains over the
transaction.

As will be seen, it is a life of small things played
out amid gigantic surroundings, this existence in the

INTRODUCTION Xix

happy valley hidden away from the outer world behind
the great mountain barriers. Shuttered-in boats float
by on the river, camps of unknown folk pass one on the
road, occasionally greetings are exchanged with folk
whom we knew not before and shall not meet again.
It is a restful, unfettered, unique life amid all the
beauties of a country decorated by Nature in her most
varied manner, a land that is like a dream when one is
in it, that haunts one with the reality of an obsession
when its snowy peaks and flower-filled valleys have been
exchanged for grey skies and grimy towns.

CONTENTS

Introduction ■
List of Plants

CHAPTER I

Of the curious habits of babus and tongas — Of the wickedness of ponies,
and disagreeables of aa overcrowded dak bungalow — The J helum Valley

CHAPTER II

Of dak bungalows and doongas — ^A coachman without a soul — And a
boatman with imagination — Music on the water — Housekeeping details
and female fashions - . 14

CHAPTER III

L«iz}' hours — I cry " Excelsior," but the snows say " No " — Back to towns — .

A sheep is sacrificed — Shrines passed — and the chapter ends with song 20

CHAPTER IV

Of religions, painful and otherwise — How I seek secularity along a scorching
road and am made to take part in sacred rites — I write a character for
a saint — And am rewarded with roses and watercress - - - - 40

CHAPTER V

Aching blisters and scented blossoms — Ancient palaces and living princes-^

A visit to neglected shrines and a savoury supper 53

xxii CONTENTS

CHAPTER VI

I'AOE

Some ruins — Fragments of their supposed histories — Dry-as-dust details, and

a short discourse on religion in the valley G6

CHAPTER VII

An early start — A distressed damsel finds a strange cavalier — Snow slopes

and sandals— A lonely post office — Supper and sleep under difficulties - 77

CHAPTER VIII

For the second time am turned back by snowy passes — My camp and I have
a difference — Compensating circumstances — Hot march and a rose-
strewn grave ------------ 94

CHAPTER IX

A long, hot march, mitigated by many flowers and mulberries — I am offered
food, mental and physical, by a holy man — Rice growing, and the
benefits of widowhood — The knife that was lost is found, and my crew
rejoice 106

CHAPTER X

Of waves and whirlwinds — A lake with many flowers, narrow waterways,

and fair women — Return to civilization and green vegetables - - 118

CHAPTER XI

I go a pious pilgrimage — And am received with respect — Subsequent visits
to the gardens of emperors and empresses — With some remarks about
the raising of floating crops 130

CHAPTER XII

A steep ascent leading to fine views and many backslidings — A fairy palace —

Precipitate descent and an old man's warning - - - - - 144

CHAPTER XIII

I luxuriate in the spectacle of others' labours — Some details as to arts and

crafts in Srinagar — A pleasant tea party and a late return - - - 152

CONTENTS xxiu

CHAPTER XIV

PAGE

Water streets — A Sikh who desired proselytes — Possible faiths — A sick

Sahib — Some truisms of life in the tropics 166

CHAPTER XV

I start for cooler regions — Good ponies and annoying attendants — I loose my
temper and feel the heat — Arrived in cooler regions — I arrange my
camp and note the colour of spring flowers ...... 173

CHAPTER XVI

Worried by my camp — I wander into the woods — Am consoled by the trees
but depressed by the absence of Nanga Par bat — Catch a glimpse of him,
but my raptures are rudely interrupted by irrelevant menials - - 190

CHAPTER XVII

To escape damp I climb to greater elevations^Meet storms and stones —

Return to the shelter of trees and sing the praises of botany - - 203

CHAPTER XVIII

Wishing for a day of experiences — I have one superfluous emotion — Later
I achieve the second object of ray pilgrimage — An unrestful mount —
Other folks' facts about the fauna of the land 215

CHAPTER XIX

A few facts and still fewer names indicating the history of Kashmir — Kings,
ancient and modern, of varying temperaments, ending with a model
ruler 231

CHAPTER XX

Of joltings and jarrings — Wild ponies and fair ways — A gentleman in khaki
discusses the empire with one of the holy army — The seamy side of an
Indian summer — Homeward bound 245

Conclusion 265

LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS

PAGE

View on the road to Pahlgani Froiitii^piece

Tonga 5

P^kkas at Baramula -..-.-..--- 10

Logs ready to be floated down stream -------- 12

Baramula ------------- 15

I took possession of my floating home 18

Mrs. Assiza ----- 24

Below my old friend was waiting 34

Pony with saddle, the high peak of which served as a pommel - - 44

Group of Hanjis .--.-------- 45

A shadeless track ------------ 60

At last I stood beside the Temple - - - - - - - 61

Grand entrance turned to the West -------- 62

Ruin at Avantipura ----------- 68

Stone Temple in water at Pandrethan -------- 72

Takht-i-Suleiman - 74

Rocks and rapids near Honamerg --.--.-- 87

Huts and Bridge near the Zogi La - - - 95

View on the road to the Zogi La •--•-■ - faciinj 98

Sind Valley near Pron - - - - - . . . facing IOC
A charming old man - - - - - - - - - -111

Reaping in Kashmir facing 114

Flower-covered roofs, Srinagar - - - - - - - - 12.'{

Kolahoi - . . facing 132

Fishing boats on the Dal Lake facing 142

Pandits and Panditanis, Kashmir 150

Srinagar - - 153

(iroup of Hindu artists ... - I57

Amiran Kadl, Srinagar ---■--. facing 164

Rebuilding bridge after floods, 1893 - 167

House-boat, Srinagar - ... - I70

Gulmerg bazaar ------..-... \%q

XXVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Group of Gujai's ------....-. igjj

View from circular road, Gulmerg --.-.. facing 200

Apharwat from Gulmerg -----... Jacing 204

Nanga Parbat facing 216

A Kashmir Valley facing 226

Pandrethan - 232

Modern Royal Buildings, Srinagar . - . . . . Jacing 242

Cottage Hospital, Srinagar - - - - - - - - - - 271

/ am indebted to the kindness of a friend
for the metrical translations of some of the
native songs quoted in this volume.

LIST OF PLANTS

The following is a list of some of the plants, shrubs, and
trees that I met with in my wanderings. Travelling rapidly,
and usually with as little baggage as possible, I found it difficult
to preserve specimens, and the task of naming them had often to
be left for so long — books of reference not being easily procured
— that it was difficult, sometimes almost impossible, to identify
them. If I had realised at the time how much still remains to
be done in the way of complete collections of the different orders
I should have gone about the task of preserving my specimens
more thoroughly. I give this list, in spite of its incompleteness,
as it may encourage others who have more opportunities and
greater facilities than I had to go on and do very much better.
The water plants alone require much time and very careful
study. Hooker's works and various lists compiled by travellers
to be found in the library in Srinagar, and " Roxburgh," have
been my chief aids in compiling the lists : —

Ranunculacba:. Cbucifer.*;.

Anemone biflora. Arabis araplexicaulis.

,, rupicola. ,, Alpina.

,, Falconeri. Cardaniine macrophylla. .

,, obtusi lobia. Sisymbrium Thalianum. .

,, tetrasepala. Capsella Bursa-pastoris.

Adoris chrysocyanthus. Megacarpaea polyaudra.
Aconitum Napellus (?).

Clematis montana. CaryophyllaOe.*;.

Thalictrum minus. Gypsophila cerastioides.

,, foliolosiim. Silene inflata.

,, al-pinuni Lychnis cashmeriana.

Pavonia Emodi. ' Cerastium trigynum.

XXX

LIST OF PLANTS

Cerastium vulgatum.
Stellaria aquatica.

Crassulace.*;.

Sedum quadrifidum.
, , linearif olium.
,, Rhodiola.

CoMPOSITiE.

Solidago Virgaurea.
Tanacetum longi folium.
Erigeron niultiradiatus.

,, Alpinns.
Achillea millefolium.
Leontopodium alpinum.
Gnaphalium, alpimim luteo-album.
Doronicum.

Carduus and cnicus (several varieties).
Senecio chenopodifolius.
Teraxacum ofKcinale.
Lactuca dissecta.
Prenanthes.
Ciehorium Inlybus.

CoNVOLVULACEiE.

Cuscuta reflexa.

Capulikera;.

Betula utilis.
Corylus Colurna.

Caprifoliace.*:.
Sambus (three varieties).
Viburnum lantana.
, , f oetens.

,, nervosum.

Lonicera quinquelocularis.
,, obovata.
,, spinosa.

Berberide^.

Berberis vulgaris.
,, Lyciuni.

Paparverack.*;.

Papaver dubium (?).
,, Rhoeas(?).

VlOLAEC^.

Viola arenaria.
,, biflora.
,, serpens.

Saxifragaoea:.

Parnassia ovata.
Saxifraga ligulata.

,, nivalis (?).
Ribes rubrum.

ONAGfeACE^;.

ICpilobium augustifolium.

,, roseum.

Circaea lutetiana.

Umbellifer.^.

Pirapinella saxifraga.
Bupleurum (several varieties).
Chaerophyllum.
Pleurosperm um.
Archangelica officinalis.
Heracleum Caudicaus.
Hedera Helix.
Puiiica granatum.

The chief of the larger forest trees (the
smaller I have already mentioned) are —
Platanus orientalis.
Celtis aus trails.
Taxus baccata.
Deodar.
Pinus excelsa.
Abies Webbiaua.
Ulmus montanus (?).
Yuglans regia.
Betula utilis.
Aesculus indica.
Alnus.

Acer (two varieties).
Rhus cotonus.

Of the three allied orders, Iridea;,
Amaryllidese, and Liliacet«, there are
many varieties to be obtained. I have
not been able to make a satisfactory list
owing to the difficult3^ in identifying
them, and the great variability of the
iris due to slightly different soil or

LIST OF PLANTS

XXXI

climate. The following are a few of the
varieties I have been able to identify : —

Iride.*;.
Iris Kamaonensis.

,, Duthieii.

„ Hookeri ana (?).

,, Spuria.

Also a small bright blue species, and two
very handsome sweet-scented varieties,
one white and one mauve, veined with a
reddish brown.

LiLIACE-t;.

Eremurus Himalaicus.
Fritillaria Roylei.
Fritillaria imperialis.
Lloyd ia Serotina.
Gagea lutea.

Polygonatum verticillatum.
Tulipastellata(?).
Colchicum luteum.
Trillium govanianum

Amarylijdk.*:.
Ornithogallum.
Hypoxis aurea.

POLYGALE.*:.

Red and blue milkwort.

GERANIACEi*:.

Geranium nepalense.

,, prat«nse.
Oxalis acetosella.
Impatiens (yellow and red).

Pelastrine.*:".

Euonynius.

Ampeude.*;.

Vitis lanata.

Hamamelide.*:.
Parrottia Jacquemontiana.

BORAOINE.£.

Cynoglossum denticulatum.
Lycopsis arvensis.

Mertensia primuloides.
Myosotis sylvatica.

Gentianace/E.
Gentiana tenella.
,, aquatica.
,, venusta.
,, carinata.

POLEMOXIACE^.

Polemoniiim caeruleum.

Amirantacea:.
Amiranthus paniculatus.

EUPIIORBIACE.*:.

Euphorbia pilosa.
Euphorbia wallichii.

Nymph.«:ace^.
Nymphaea pygmaea.

„ stellata (?).

Nelumbiuni or speciosum (white, pink).
Nymphaea alba.

MALVACEit:.

Malva rotundifolia.

RUTACE.*;.

Skinomia laureola.

Rhamne.*;.
Rhamnus purpurea.

LEGUMINOS.+;.

Lathyrus luteus (?).

,, pratensis.
Lotus corniculatus.
Trifolium pratense.

,, repens.
Vicia sepium.

SCROPHULARIN E.«.

Verbascum thapsis.
Scrophularia lucida.

,, variegata.

Veronica ciliata.

,, serpyllifolia.

XXXll

LIST OF PLANTS

Veronica anagallis.

Euphrasia officinalis,

Pedicularis (pink — sweet scented).

,, bicornuta.

Verbena offinalis.

Labiate.
Mentha sylvestris.
Thymus serpyllum.
Calamintha clinopodiiim.
Salvia glutinosa.
Salvia hians.
Nepeta ereeta.

, , ciliaris.

,, raphanorhiza.
Prunella.
Laniium album.
Phlomis braoteosa.

Plantaginje.
Plantago major.

POLYGONACE^.

Polygonum alpinum.

, , amplexicanle.

, , rumicif olium.

Rheum (wild rhubarb).
Rumex acetosa.
,, hastatus.

ThYMELACACEvE.

Daphne caunabnia.
,, oleoides.

Salicine^.
Salix Wallichiana.
,, Hastata.

LORANTHACE^^.

Viscum (two varieties).

Urticacea;.
Urtica dioica.

SOLANACE^.

Solanum nigrum.
Belladonna.
Hyoscyamus niger.

Primdlace.*:.
Primula rosea.

,, denticulata.

,, elliptica.

, , purpurea.
Audrosace (rose, purple).

Oleack^e.
Jasmimum humile.
Syringa emodi.
Fraxinus communis.

Campanulace^.
Codonopsis rotundifolia.
Phyteuma (blue).

Ericace^.
Rhododendron campanulatum.
, , arboreum.

,, Anthopogon.

RtTBIACE^.

Rubia cordifolia.
Galium triflorum.

, , boreale.

,, verum.

Rosacea.
Primus padus.

,, cerasus.
Spiraea vestita.

,, canescens.
Rubus niveus.

,, fruti cosus.
Fragaria vesea.
Geum elatum.
Potentilla agrophylla.

,, nepalensis (?).

Alchemilla vulgaris.
Agrimonia.
Rosa raoschata.
Rosa macrophylla (?),
have been unable
name them.
Pyrus aucuparia.

,, malus.
Crataegus oxyacantha.
Cotoneaster bacillaris.
,, microphylla

many varieties,
to identify or

AFOOT THROUGH THE
KASHMIR VALLEYS

CHAPTER I

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road —

Healthy, free, the world before me ;

The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.

— W. Whitman.

Of the curious habits of babus and tongas — Of the wickedness
of ponies and disagreeables of an overcrowded dak bunga-
low— The Jhelum valley.

"Tonga hai? Kalian hai Kochwan? Babu hai?"
Then as bad Hindustani had no effect, and silence and
darkness echoed "where?" I tried a httle forcible
English, and demanded why a reasonable being should
be asked to arrive at the dak station at two in the
morning in the pouring rain if there was no tonga
and no driver? This time sheer volubihty produced
a reply, and under a gigantic umbrella there emerged
from the Pindi railway station a shivering clerk in
limp white clothing and grey cap. "What did I
want?"

I answered to the point, " my tonga." The clerk

2 AFOOT THROUGH THE

sniffled, " as yet it was but two, at two-thirty some
tonga would be somewhere, and then it might be
possible to get it ; he did not know when it would start ;
some time, probably; it always did start-, meanwhile it
was raining hard"; like a dream creature he
vanished, darkness and damp swallowed him up, and
I was left limply holding my dressing-box in one hand,
rug in the other; no star to brighten my dark world!
A sound of wheels was heard, and I attempted talk
with the driver — a difficult process when addresser's
" bat " (talk) is none of the most fluent, and addressee
has enveloped both ears in a comforter.

The latter was, however, understood to say that " it
might be my tonga, how should a poor Kochwan know ?
he was paid to drive Sahibs, any Sahibs ; undoubtedly
he would start when all had arrived," he ended with
a sniff expressive of many emotions — boredom, cold, and
a general want of comprehension, and mistrust of all
Sahib log. I grunted contemplatively ; it might be the
right vehicle, anyway it would afford some shelter, and
at the worst one could but be turned out; having
decided, in I clambered; the cold was intense, rain
continued to fall in sheets, I felt I was reaching the
" Promised Land " via Mount Ararat and the Deluge.
Presently I heard my dialogue being repeated between
the coachman and another anxious passenger. Like
myself he decided shelter was more necessary than
security of possession, and he clambered into the front, a
small terrier scuttling under the seat, where it whim-
pered. Life must have appeared to him a Hmp and
sodden thing, and warmth a forgotten joy. Time passed,
Kochwan grunting, hound whining, front passenger
snoring, then another altercation and a sound of

KASHMIR VALLEYS 8

unfriendly adjectives hurled at Kochwan, Babu, tlie
rain, things in general, and the third passenger got in
beside me. Blessed man, he had a rug and no pets,
so the former was shared, bundles adjusted, ponies
violently castigated, and after fierce jerks and many
efforts we were actually off moving through space
apparently, for the darkness was so great not the
slightest outline of passing objects could be seen.

The road was encumbered with many country carts
and flocks ; so I gathered from the hoarse shoutings and
sleepy answers that arrived through the outside gloom,
usually preceding much jolting and banging, in the
course of which I and my partner nearly succeeded in
changing places like tennis balls. We slept uneasily
at intervals, with a strange impression of being the
victims of gnomes who hustled and bullied their prey,
as with wheels lifted high over casual boulders, or
dragged through rocky " nullahs," we received the
elbows of our neighbours in our side, or were hurtled by
moving baggage.

Crash! this time something really had happened,
shoutings rent the darkness, and cracks and the
snappings of shafts could be heard. We were soon wide
awake, and taking part in the general difference of
opinion that seemed to prevail. Fortunately we were
only spectators of the smash. The tonga carrying
the mails had attempted to pass between the culvert
of a bridge and a country cart, with the result that
when we appeared, having in the general obscurity
driven into the debris, the bridge was carpeted with
mail bags, two " ekkas " were lying in drunken fashion
prone on the ground, and darkness itself was riven by
the remarks of the principals, to which the mutterings

* AFOOT THROUGH THE

of the onlookers added a thunderous chorus. As usual,
the only man who accomplished anything was that
ubiquitous man-of-all-works, the " British Sergeant,"
who turned up from a transport cart in the nick of time,
sorted mail bags, sorted passengers, dragged ponies on
to their legs, and in five minutes we were back in our
respective vehicles and rolHng along our uneven way.

Twenty-three miles out the road began to mount
steadily, and the faint dawn revealed our weary features
to one another. It was amusing the efforts made by
each one to discover the likeness of his fellow-traveller,
and having at one of the " intervals to change ponies "
(they are changed every six or seven miles) been
satisfied with our mutual sniffs, a spasmodic conversa-
tion was started which waxed on the smooth portions
of the road and waned as we bumped laboriously over
the rougher parts. Up and up we zig-zagged, emerging
from the mists in the valley into sunlight above, a
sunlight which glistened on dew-sprinkled roses, masses
of clematis hanging in wreaths from white-leaved
poplars and silvery willows, and cheered a scene where
all seemed decked as for a world-w^edding in bridal
white, the creamy berberis and pink rhododendrons
only showing off the general " snowiness."

By nine we were at Murree looking out on tree-clad
heights, mountains all round, mountains backing each
other as far as eye could reach, and the cold wind
caught and wrapped and penetrated one till all memory
of the heat and stuffiness of the cantonment now lying
far below hidden in mists seemed incredible ; they were
things quite apart and cut off from this brisk climate.
Here were people walking about in fur cloaks, Tonumes
in thickest overcoats, natives with their heads in

KASHMIR VALLEYS 5

voluminous comforters, and a big fire blazing in the
"guest room " of the hotel was hailed with joy.

We could not stay round it for long, and by ten I
had started on the second stage of my long drive in a
tonga of exactly the same build as the one in which I
had ascended to Murree. Slung on two wheels, it was
in shape something hke a low pony cart, the two seats
placed back to back, a canopy over it protecting us
partially from rain and sun. The ponies were harnessed

Tonga

one between the shafts, the other giving " outside help,"
and running quite independently save for one strap.
The system sounds impossible, but in practice worked
fairly well, the wickeder animal having free scope for
his sins, the milder keeping the vehicle straight on its
path, assisted by the forward jerks of its companion.
The road was very steep and slippery, and we proceeded
at a pace distinctly to be marked "prestissimo."

Suddenly the rain clouds broke and emptied themselves,
and it was as if the heavens were descending in sheets

o AFOOT THROUGH THE

of icy water ; we were piercing a crystal wall. Then it
thundered, and jagged Hghtning flashes tore open the
sky, on flew the ponies, sliding and skimming over
treacherous surfaces of half-melted snow. I merely
remarked to myself that as many people must have
lived through this before reaching the happy valley, it
would be distinctly unlikely that any special ill-luck
should happen to me. Still it was a comfort when the
halts came, for it is tiresome and difficult to perpetually
hold one's breath. During one of these my driver drew
over his pagri a knitted " Crimean helmet."

" Where did you get that ? " I asked. " I am a Sikh,"
he replied (as one would say, " I am a king's son "). " I
helped in the storming of the Sampagha; after that
these warm things were given to us. I am a Sikh, a
brave man, therefore I drive faster than all others on
this road; I have no fear." It sounded noble, but
subsequently I, wished sometimes for a coward behind
my steeds. As the hours went by, the horses were
frequently changed; each new pair seemed to vie with
the last in wickedness and trickery. At first a little
jibbing or kicking had been the only excitement in
starting ; later they could not be persuaded to stir with-
out administrations of the " chabiik " (whip) that would
have filled a member of the S.P.C.A. with horror. Each
new pair required an especial scheme of advancement;
at one place they had to be prodded from the back, at
another it needed the united efforts of their two grooms,
reinforced by odd loafers, to jerk them forward, some
delighted in a noose flung round a fore leg, and one
unusually large black pony remained immovable in
statu quo till a string round his ear had threatened the
removal of that necessary limb!

KASHMIR VALLEYS 7

About five we reached the last village in Indian
territory, Kohalla, and shivering with cold, sodden with
damp, stiff and aching, managed to crawl to a bungalow
near by, where hot tea and a new cake put some
warmth into me, and nerved me for a small incident
that nearly caused the abrupt termination of the
Kashmir tour before being begun. Our new ponies
did not fancy proceeding in such bad weather, and
jibbed ; all the village turned out and pulled, Kochwan
shouted, then the mob tugged; the moment was
imminent when cart and cattle must part company, the
off-pony knew better, he had been in that place before,
wherefore he turned abruptly, removing his most
pressing antagonists by well-directed kicks, and faced me
with a grin. " See that," he said, with his wicked eyes,
" now look at me," and with a jerk he had festooned
all his light headgear over one eye and dropped the
reins twice round his neck, " and now see where
you are going." With a vast pirouette he had his head
well down over the edge of the road, and was preparing
to follow down the steep bank into the whirling, wind-
tossed, swollen river below. Luckily, the onlookers were
prepared ; a rush, a. noble disregard of life and limb as
they hurled themselves on the practical joker, a strong
push and a long pull together, and both steeds were at
last looking the same way, and with two wild plunges
fled down the hill. " Shabash " (hurrah!) shouted the
people. " Shabash," echoed the driver, clinging to his
reins. I remained silently thoughtful; it did not seem
necessary to shout till we were out of the wood, or
rather across the river, for at the foot of the steep hill,
with a sharp twist, the road was carried over a suspen-
sion bridge with but sketchy barrier between life

o AFOOT THROUGH THE

above and an uncomfortably mangled death below in
the tide; at the further end another double S curve
took one on to the main road again, and v^e had
reached Kashmir territory. I felt grateful to the
gallant Sikh ; still more so to the stout pair of reins !

The road v^idened and tv^^isted, giant cliffs v^ere
piled up on our right hand, a steep slope on our left
ended in the Jhelum — brov^n, tormented, tossed — the
rain slackened, v^ind came in less scathing blasts, and
as tv^ilight set in I began to realise that at last I had
reached the flov^ery land of my dreams, clumps of
ruscotonus, most feathery of shrubs, filled up the under-
grov^^th, the starry St. John's v^ort brightened the
rain-drenched banks, tiny pink tulips and various other
bright floM^ers cheered me v^ith promise of future
treasure trove.

Darkness had long set in when we reached our
halting-place for the night, having come over one
hundred miles since our early start that morning.
Alas, and alas, Garhi as a " rest "-house proved a snare
and a delusion; two large parties had taken entire
possession. Not a room was to be had; only the fire
in the common dining-room was available for drying
purposes. Imagine the misery of a poor, shivering, rain-
drenched human, aching from fatigue, speechless from
cold, and dependent for warmth on the damp bedding
that- had for eighteen hours been dripped upon.
Luckily, a hot dinner put some life into me ; a fatherly
Khansamah of huge proportions and ruddy-tinted
beard offered to dry garments before the kitchen fire,
and found it possible to arrange some kind of sleeping
arrangement in a half-finished addition to the bunga-
low; and so to bed, in a room windowless and with

KASHMIR VALLEYS 9

undried plaster, fireless, and unfurnished. Never was
dawn so welcome. I could have sat up and crowed
with joy, in reply to the giddy matutinal fowls, so
pleased was I to hear them, and as a little fever can
go a long way towards producing strange impressions,
I was quite prepared when I arose, still voiceless and
with a peculiar fluffiness about the head, to believe
myself either one of them or anything else rather than
the miserable sore thing I really was.

Phenacetin will work wonders in a short space, a
bright sun do more, a good cup of tea most of all towards
restoring a sane view of things, but it may very j^ossibly
have been due to a lingering high temperature that
the mountains on my right seemed that day literally to
touch the heavens, that the Jhelum on the other side
became a coffee-coloured flood flowing far down in a
vast seam in the earth, while all remembrance of the
strange antics of the ponies has remained as a blurred
vision of wild animals alternately balancing themselves
on their tails and their heads in order that their legs
might be free for gyrations of the purest phantasy,
often dropping a hind leg over the " khud " (sloping
bank), then trying conclusions with the huge boulders
that strewed the road, the debris of the landsHps caused
by the heav}^ rains. It seemed due to a kindly chance
that we did not, a score of times, end our days in the
swift river, and that all the damage to ourselves accruing
from the violent encounters with sharp rocks and other
vehicles were such trifling damages as broken traces
and the grazing a pony's shoulder; but we made our
passing felt, leaving behind two over-turned " ekkas,"
one of which contained a very fat ayah, much injured
in the upset.

10

AFOOT THROUGH THE

The curious formation of the valley was very
observable as we drove along, for, as the vast over-
hanging ranges receded from the river, the under cliffs,
called " karewas," became visible. It is supposed that
these formed the bed of the great lake once co-extensive
with the present Jhelum valley. The fan-shaped
plateaux are now the favoured land for cultivation, their

Ekkas at Baramula

rich, alluvial soil being the best suited for the saffron
crop, a very valuable product. It was a land of con-
trasts that we were being whirled through. Some-
times mammoth slabs of rock towered above us in a
manner anything but reassuring when one noticed the
easy way in which they disintegrated after heavy rains ;
water-falls, frost-bound above, sun-loosened below, tore

KASHMIR VALLEYS 11

and tumbled down the mountain sides, threatening
destruction to all obstacles, and vast moraines scarred
the hills, then, with abrupt transition, would succeed a
grassy slope, starred with the most delicate spring
flowers, shaded by fruit trees just bursting into bloom,
or a cluster of wooden huts, the open work of the
wooden shutters — glass windows are an unknown quan-
tity— still closed with paper and felt against the rigorous
winter cold, and sheltered by spreading walnut or
chenaar trees (the oriental plane). The great size of
the representatives of our forest trees was very notice-
able— walnuts, planes, deodars, poplars, are all Goliaths,
and dwarf the already tiny proportions of the houses
and the " ziarats," wooden Mahomedan shrines, used
as mosques. These are pretty little square structures
with pyramidal roofs usually smothered with creamy
imperial lilies, scarlet tulips, or blue iris. The Kashmiri
is such a brawny, muscular person, one wonders how
he contrives to live or w^orship in such w ee boxes.
Later, I became convinced that, like a squirrel, the
householder never uses his dark, warm burrow save
to secrete his winter food-stuffs, spending his life in the
open, and only curling up round his kangar (charcoal
basket) when the weather outside was impossible.

Hour after hour went by, and on we tore along this
one specimen of a road as yet achieved in Kashmir.
Always the same features were noticeable, though fresh
beauties constantly showed themselves — piled-up masses
of rock, the outer barricades of the great mountain
rampart stretching for two hundred miles between
India and the happy valley, an angry rushing river,
bearing with giddy speed great rafts of timber and
mammoth trunks that constantlv blocked, and were

12

AFOOT THROUGH THE

as often freed by the active natives running along the
water's edge, spaces of cultivated ground often gay v^ith
the yellow flower of the rape wherever the karewas
presented surface enough, and at long intervals villages
of square, wooden cabins and carved boxlike shrines in
a setting of great trees with flowery undergrowth of

Logs ready to be floated down stream

hawthorn, filling all the air with its sweetness, wild
daphne and lilacs.

A " jhula," or rope bridge, spanned the river at
one place, and had an unpleasantly " temporary " air ;
one strand acted as footboard, two others supplied
support for the hands, and then all were free to " hold
hard" or drop off, and I guessed which my unwilling
choice would have been had I been forced to attempt
its passage! All the modern Kashmirian structures

KASHMIR VALLEYS 13

share this very " casual " appearance, and are in marked
contrast to the massive stone temples, one or two of
which we passed. These are found in many places,
and speak eloquently of a bygone race of solid
builders, whose structures have stood from one thousand
to two thousand years successfully defying wildest
storms and earthquakes, flood, and, as some think, the
power of " villainous saltpetre." No one considers them
now, for the people are Mahomedan, and the Hindu
rulers prefer their new little gaudy tinfoil tabernacles ;
in fact, the modern Kashmirian, save for his sturdiness,
is not a " solid person," and if one meets any monument
likely to be permanent, one may be certain that a
Britisher is at the back of it. For example, the Jhelum
road, engineered by Englishmen, and achieved under
their guidance at vast expenditure of life, money, and
ceaseless perseverance, the nature of the rock out
of which it is cut making the work both difficult and
dangerous owing to constant slips and cleavages. It is
now complete, and connects Kashmir with the outer
world, whereby there accrues to the State that general
prosperity which always follows the Pax Britannica, as
great and valuable a reality in this wild corner of the
earth, the bloody playground for many centuries of
countless conquerors, as at home in London. It was
a pleasant experience, and a tiny but sure proof of the
wide influence of that same power, to arrive late in the
afternoon of the second day, having driven two hundred
miles through the heart of a wild, mountainous country,
and find a riverside rest-house, where lodgings were as
comfortable and property and life as secure as at any
Thames-side inn.

14 AFOOT THROUGH THE

CHAPTER II

A land of clear colours and stories,
In a region of shadowless hours ;

Where earth has a garment of glories,
And a murmur of music and flowers ;

In woods where the spring half uncovers
The flush of her amorous face.

— Swinlmrne.

Of dak bungalows and doongas — A coachman without a soul —
And a boatman with imagination — Music on the water —
Housekeeping details and female fashions.

Baramula, of blessed memory! What a perfect haven
of rest did that long, low dak bungalow appear to me.
Still voiceless, aching from the chill of the previous day,
and with sufficient fever to make me feel my head a
curiously uncertain factor, the uncompromising white-
washed walls of my room were strangely inviting. It
was clean; it was dry; best of all, it was warm, for
a pleasant wood fire was soon kindled on the hearth,
and a big bowl of soup having banished my vague
feelings of emptiness, resulting from my long fast since
the early cup of tea, I prepared to sleep soundly.
Next morning, when the sun streamed in, a new
woman rose up, inaudible but otherwise sound

KASHMIR VALLEYS

15

and sane, and quite prepared to make her choice
among the innumerable boatmen who crowded on the
river bank, each answering for the perfections of his
own boats, each provided with a perfect library of
chits (recommendations) from their former employers.
They were amazingly alike in the loose white trousers
and coats, puttoo (homespun) overcoats, their heads
crowned with red caps or white pagris. Each was
ready to give all and everything — boat fittings and

Baramula

service — for a mere nominal price, to be paid any time,
anyhow. Their chits spoke of them as paragons, and
almost all looked amiable enough. " See my boat,"
cried one, " my furniture is all good English, my
purdahs (curtains) are of the handsomest." So I
stepped aboard and gazed with quite limited admiration
at the one camp stool and thin cotton curtains. No,
that boat would not do, the owner's wife looked far

16 A-FOOT THROUGH THE

too old and dour as she pounded away at the grain with
her pestle and mortar. In such a country life would
not have been possible without surroundings in keeping
—bright, pretty, cheerful. Several other boats were
examined, an ever-increasing horde followed asking
questions, suggesting perpetually. Choice was
becoming more and more difficult. "I want," I
announced distinctly, " a good boat ; one large enough
for myself and my box " — I indicated vaguely the pro-
portion of an Egyptian funeral ornament^-" clean ; I
do not wish for other passengers, three or more legged ;
above all, I want a boat with a good appearance." I
really meant, but dared not say, "crew" instead of
" boat." Strange to say, my speech in laborious Hin-
dustani was seemingly understood, for from the mob
there emerged two pleasant-smiling youths, who
salaamed, and bent almost double in their efforts to
attract my notice. I went over the boat, tried the chair,
admired the purdah, noticed a very pretty woman in
charge of the steering paddle — the woman's work in
Kashmir — and a nice brown baby in shirt and scarlet
cap, glanced at some chits, as satisfactory as all the
others, and decided to employ " the brothers " (so the
two called themselves) Assiza and Sandhoo. Assiza
was a fixed quantity, but Sandhoo, I found later, had
a curiously shifting personality, for sometimes it was
the young boy I had originally been introduced to,
sometimes an older man, but however much my brothers
varied, they were one in suavity and smilingness, and
served me with excellent sense. Pleasant, human
creatures I found them, ready to rejoice in my moods
of rejoicing, and as ready to be vaguely obscure when
there was a cloud on my urbanity.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 17

The joys of possession were not to be entered upon
immediately by me, for I wished to reach Srinagar
quickly, to get my letters, and subdue my barking,
and by road the journey could be accomplished in five
hours. So the " doonga " engaged, I departed once
more in a tonga to accomplish the remaining thirty-five
miles of my route. I had seemingly reached a land of
comparatively tame animals, and my ponies started
with little more than joyous friskings and curvettings.
The road lies rather apart from the river, and the whole
valley widens out till the mountains that had closely
kept us in on the right were little more than a distant
white cloud. The sun was brilliantly hot, and lighted
the long rows of poplars, planted on either side of many
of the roads, and showing up like vast marks of inter-
jection among the generally rounded tree forms, and
glittered on the snow like masses of fruit blossom, and
the tiny blue iris growing in thick, serried masses on
ever}' side, till they, too, shone like brilliant jewels, and
filled the air, as primroses do, with a perfume com-
pounded of spring freshness and the damp of thick
greener}\ A virginal world of blue and white we
passed through — blue skies and white clouds, blue hills
crowned with snows, blue iris shadowed by white fruit
blossom. " Kochwan," I said, addressing the silent
figure beside me, " what do you think of your blue iris ? "
" They feed well the sheep," he answered without further
pomment. It is an unsympathising world !

Srinagar was approached through vast avenues of
poplars that led first to the market-place, where a
phattering, pleasant-faced crowd laughed and talked
O-nd brawled incessantly, then across the bridge among
pleasant gardens of gay English flowers, and soon after

18

AFOOT THROUGH THE

I was disgorged at the dak bungalow. Two days'
coddling worked wonders of healing, and then things
having been arranged for my reception, I took possession
of my floating home. Now, in theory, a " doonga " is a
light and airy thing, a house-boat without the house, a
hull with a straw canopy; practically, a doonga can
be remarkably cosy. The wooden boat is from fifty to

I took possession of my floating home

sixty feet long, with flat bottom and carved ends, and
overhead are thick straw " chuppars," or screens,
supported on wooden poles, and forming a covering and
sides so close and firm that all but the fiercest wind and
coldest blasts are kept out. Chuppars also divide the
boat into compartments, leaving the stern end for the

KASHMIR VALLEYS 19

benefit of the boatman and his family, his stove, cooking
pots, and stores. A bed, a table, a chair or two, a
gigantic bath, a folding chilumchi (basin), big hanging
baskets for flowers, some boxes for stores and books,
thick numdahs for mats and rugs, and my boat was
soon transformed into a home. Many "wooHes," too,
had been purchased from a cloth merchant, and were
both grateful and comforting. Assiza was interested
in my decorations, but desired too much. "More
chairs," he suggested. "No space," I rephed. "More
numdahs." " Yes, that was a good notion ; they were
so warm." So a friend was brought, who, like all his
confreres, had the " best designs in Kashmir " — if they
were not the best, they proved quite as good as any one
else's, and two were purchased for " over and under "
my " charpoy " (native bedstead). Then came the
supreme question of dinner ; " chicken and rice " I
ordered casually without interest. Assiza put on a
deeply -hurt expression. "A meal suited to the Huzur
will be prepared." I smiled as I thought of the cooking
pots and minute table equipage; but Assiza had not
spoken without reason, and when he had laid the
prettily-embroidered cloth purchased from the copra
(cloth) merchant, set out the jam tins filled with iris,
and neatly placed my small store of cutlery — two steel
and one silver knife — I felt the preparation more than
adequate for any eatables hkely to appear, but the
culinary skill of my chef had been underrated.
Chicken, modestly veiled in a pile of snowy rice, and
hedged about with a wall of spinach, an omelet that
emulated the proverbial frog in prodigious pufhness,
and a tart of dried apricots composed my banquet, and
Assiza glowed with pride as he removed the tart and

20

AFOOT THROUGH THE

gave me the daily " hisab " or account. Then my
" hukms " (orders) for the morrow were given, and with
the straw blinds firmly secured all round, the fore part
lowered till all was taut and closed, I was ready
to turn in under my warm coverings, a kangar well
filled with glowing charcoal beside me, as cosy as
in the most comfortable home bedroom.

Early next morning the splash of water told
me we were moving, drifting down through the
city, moved by the swift tide. By the time 1
was up we were clear of Srinagar and its many
bridges, and were passing along iris-bordered banks,
the boat dragged by the brothers — the younger pair
this time — the tiny child acting as leader, with a
loop of the tow rope round its waist, the father
following to take off all strain. A pause for breakfast,
a meal shared by two dear little Kashmiri robins, who,
with the topsy-turvydom of the country, wore their red
under their tails, and then I too went ashore, and
during most of the day tramped along the bank ahead
of the boat. Masses of iris and branches of sweet
hawthorn were used to decorate my home, and late in
the afternoon the lonely sanghara collectors of the
Wular were surprised by the apparition of a floating
" jack in the green." These dwellers round the great
Kashmirian lake are strange, unsociable folk, picking
up their living by harvesting the water nuts. We had
been lucky in meeting with no mishap crossing so late
in the day, for frequently wild storms sweep down
from the mountains, and are very dangerous to the
flat-bottomed native boats, and many an accident is
recorded as having taken place on this, the largest
lake in India, fifteen miles by twelve broad. The

KASHMIR VALLEYS 21

boatmen still tell stories of the wicked city and its
inhabitants that are supposed to lie under the blue
waters, and, as proof of their veracity, tell you the
name signifies "the cave." Landing after tea, the
setting sun caught the distant white peaks of the snowy
Pir Panjal — the great range that barricades the southern
side of the valley — and turned them a rosy pink, while to
the north the snow heights stood out gaunt and stem
against the darkening sky. A scent of mint filled the
air, great droning moths flew by knocking clumsily
against the lonely traveller, and flocks of rough ponies
grazing on the coarse grass scampered away at the
sound of unaccustomed footsteps. Some pink light still
flushed the blue waters, darkened into deep patches
by the great cargo boats piled high with the laboriously
secured water nuts, while the shells were collected
together on the mainland in heaps. Occasional sombre
figures salaamed as they passed on the way to their
dark boats. A great peace reigned in this corner of
the earth — so restful, so remote, so unreal in its shadowy
reality — and I remembered sadly how differently the
scene must have appeared to an Englishman suffering,
almost overcome, with fever, who, lying on the deck of
his doonga, had looked across the wild, hurricane-
stirred waters of the inland sea some years before, and
realised that unless the boat could reach Baramula
that night all hope of reaching Bombay (and Bombay
meant England and renewed health) must be given up,
and, knowing this, had used up his little store of
strength, begging, threatening, encouraging his terrified
men to persevere, only to be driven back by the fierce
"tufan" after each attempt, so that at length, when
the further shore was attained, he could only be

22 AFOOT THROUGH THE

carried ashore to his camp, where ended for ever
all conflict with contrary winds and tides, and a career
of curious interest and conscientious effort. As I
returned from my late stroll, Assiza was trolling out
in a full, fresh voice a sad little song, pinging a dismal
little accompaniment of minor chords and strangely
broken arpeggios.

LOVER'S LAMENT.

I would have taken golden stars from the sky for your necklace,
I would have shaken rose-leaves for your rest from all the rose trees,

And you had no need ; the short, sweet grass sufficed for your slumber.
And you took no heed for such trifles as gold or a necklace.

There is an hour at twilight, too heavy for mem'ry.

There is a flower that I fear for your hair had its fragrance.

I would have squandered youth for you, and its hope and its promise.
Before you wandered careless, aAvay from my useless passion.

But what is the use of my speech ? since I know of no words to recall you,
I am praying that time may teach you your cruelty, not me forgetfulness.

Finding it hopeless to combat the melancholy sugges-
tions of the surroundings and the sad wail of my
retainer's music, I concluded to retire, and trust to the
morrow for some cheering influence.

In the early morning my boatmen punted me across
to the other side of the creek, where we had been the
night before, past some islands with dimly-seen relics
of former great rulers, to a quiet little resting-place
beneath the village of Bandipura, now an important
place, being the starting-point for the Gilgit route.
Transport ponies are stabled here ready for the relief,

KASHMIR VALLEYS 23

telegraphic and telephonic communications are kept up
with that distant outpost of the British " raj," and stores
established for fruits and dried vegetables. Above
towered many giant heights, great Haramuk
seventeen thousand feet high, overshadowing the nearer
range of Gwash Brari. Its massive triple peak is
crowned by an emerald, so says tradition, powerful
enough to render all snake bites innocuous. Snow falls
for all the year, save for one week, on its rough sides,
and in the hottest weather its glistening rocks afford a
pleasantly cool vision.

My household was all out purchasing largely when
I was ready to go ashore, food-stuffs being very low in
price as compared to the more extravagant capital.
" Fine chickens, five for one rupee," announced one of
my retainers on his return from the bazaar. " Eggs of
the finest, two annas a dozen ; milk, twenty-four seers
a rupee ! " I quailed, for I foresaw the preparation of
an orgy, the eating of which would result in my instant
destruction, and the leaving of which would cause the
face of my large-ideaed chef to be blackened.

Trusting for some means of escape when the hour
had approached, and with a brief command not to
create any delicacy that could not be made to get com-
fortably on my small dish, I tried to improve my
acquaintance with the female portion of my crew. My
task was not easy, for Mrs. Assiza suffered from
shyness and a complete ignorance of all languages save
Kashmirian ; but I was able, as I tried to make myself
understood, to admire her clear, rose-tinted, olive skin,
the straight nose and brows, and the fine, brown eyes,
set off by the tiny red cap worn under the homespun
head-covering folded squarely on the head. The

24:

AFOOT THROUGH THE

universal frock of piittoo disguised effectively her figure
but the short sleeves turned back with v^hite displayed
her well-formed arms, and the brevity of her " pheran "

Mrs. Assiza

showed her splendidly-developed calves. Good-looking
and strong, like most of her compatriots, the little lady
was well up to taking a paddle or steering the boat, and

KASHMIR VALLEYS 25

during the day worked the long, heavy wooden pestle
with astonishing energy as she crushed the grain in her
wooden mortar with long, regular movements. The
child toddled up to say, " Salaam, Sahib," nearly falling
over its own toes in its efforts to bow with reverence
and elegance, while clutching tightly a bunch of great
purple iris, recently gathered from a Mahomedan
graveyard, covering the whole of a small mound
near by.

AFOOT THROUGH THE

CHAPTER III

In paths untrodden,

In the growth by margins of pond-waters,

Escaped from the life that exhibits itself.

Here by myself, away from the clank of the world,

Talking and talk'd to by tongues aromatic.

— W. Whitman.

Lazy hours — I cry " Excelsior," but the snows say " No " — Back
to towns — A sheep is sacrificed — Shrines passed^And the
chapter ends with song.

Two or three days were passed at Bandipura strolling
about, for I scarcely felt at first up to very long marches,
painting collections of flowers, trying to realise that I was
" living " in this stageland, that all the folk around me
were passing their time in their natural associations
among their usual surroundings, not merely posing and
" acting pretty " on a painted scene for the benefit of
the lady in the stalls! Day after day the sun shone
brilhantly, the snows retreated slowly up the mountains,
fresh flowers came out, trees showed a brighter green,
the serious business of the rice crop, the " kushaba " was
begun upon. Passing through the villages, where the
wooden houses were almost hidden by the huge walnut
and chenaar trees, or resting on the edge of one of the

KASHMIR VALLEYS 27

fields, it was seldom that I was not addressed by one
of the villagers. They are a fine, swarthy race of men,
with features of a slightly Jewish type, far heavier in
build than the native of India, and possessed of a
curiosity quite unknown to their confreres on the other
^ide of the Himalayas.

^Salaam, Sahib," they would begin, not touching
the forehead, merely saying the words and never using
the incorrect " Memsahib." " Where do you come from ?
Where are you going ? "How far have you been ? ' There
was no impertinence in the questioning, but a ver\^ real
interest in something apart from their ^larrow lives.
They nearly always spoke a little Hindustani, a taient
quite unshared by the women, who, awkward and shy,
seldom ventured away from their great wooden mortars,
where during the most of the day they worked hard
with their pestles breaking the grain, to take part in
the conversation. The men would profess great
astonishment at my walking powers. One old fellow,
who several times addressed me, could not believe in
them. " How far have you been to-day ? " he would ask.
" Seven coss " (coss is about two miles), I would
reply. The answer would send him into paroxysms of
laughter. " Haw, haw, that the Sahib should be
able to walk so much ground; doubtless the Sahib's
pony waits a little further along for her ? No pony ?
Hee, hee, when I was young I walked, now I only
ride. But for the Sahib to walk when she might
be carried — ^what strange ways, what strange people! "
I found that a little snuff was a much-valued gift,
and in return a handful of walnuts or a bunch of
flowers from the podgy fingers of some shy child would
be presented. Merry Uttle things they were, girls and

28 AFOOT THROUGH THE

boys dressed alike in square shirts of the sad-coloured
homespun puttoo, scarlet caps on their heads, the small
maidens with a wonderful arrangement of tiny plaits of
hair shed out with wool, standing away from the head,
and tied all together at the end. All the world over,
sweet things and toys will attract the " baba log " (baby
people), and a few dried fruits and some tops would
bring a little crowd together, the smaller carried by the
larger on the hip, with a protecting arm thrown round.
An unlimited faith in the capacity of the white man
was evidently universal.

Constantly my advice on every subject was desired,
questions as to the day, time, etc., asked — it was useless
to explain that the watch had been left — that
only led to a further demand for one's opinion
of the time. " Does not the sun tell you ? "
I would say. " No, they preferred the Memsahib's
time," and, curiously enough, my guesses were generally
more correct, for, unlike most primitive people, the
Kashmirians are bad time-tellers, and very unreliable
weather prophets. Others would ask for medicine — " I
have burnt my leg, and now the place has chafed ; there
is much soreness, and I want ointment" — ^in vain to
explain that the only available medicine chest was many
miles away, and that one of their own people was quite
capable of washing and bandaging the sore. Even a
dressing from a near stream and an old handkerchief
were treated as sovereign remedies when applied by the
" Sahib," and the healing power of their pure water and
clear atmosphere was little short of miraculous. These
conversations were often carried on under considerable
difficulties, for our command of a common tongue was
but slight; but nothing will convince a native that he

KASHMIR VALLEYS 29

can be incomprehensible if only he talks loud enough,
and by dint of shoutings and some " sign language " we
arrived at a mutual understanding. My diet had been
varied once or twice by fish caught in primitive fashion
by wading in the water, a small net in the right hand.
Deceived by the stillness of the fisherman, fish would
make for the entrance kept open by fine bamboos, and
then with swift movement of the left hand the unwary
victim was hustled into the trap ! The fish were neither
large nor particularly well flavoured, but a change from
skinny murgi (fowl) was pleasant, and I also enjoyed
the " singhara " water nuts, dug up in vast quantities
from the bottom of the Wular, where they sink when
ripe. They are shelled, roasted, and eaten with ghi
(clarified butter) and salt, and have rather the taste of
chestnuts, and are most nourishing. Some more days
of pleasant loitering, and then I decided to attempt the
climb to the great Tragbal Pass, the main thoroughfare
by which the distant Fort of Gilgit is reached, some one
hundred and ninety-five miles from Bandipura, usually
divided into fourteen marches. Regularly every year
as the pass becomes open, troops go up to relieve the
garrison there, and unprotected parties can travel on
the road with no fear of murder or pillage. There is
an alternative route over the Zogi La, which has the
advantage of being free of snow for a longer period of
the year, but it is not so direct, and the road is really
difficult in parts. It is only from April to September
that these passes afford at all an easy passage. Even
then they are liable to sudden tremendous snow-
storms. In the winter months they are crossed by dak
runners and coolies, but are far from safe.

I had been told that it was too early to cross the

30 AFOOT THROUGH THE

Tragbal with comfort, for snow had fallen lately, and
was still lying at nine thousand feet, but as I have great
belief in the theory of finding out for one's self, I decided
on making a start, even if it proved impossible to carry
the scheme through. It seemed best to make the
ascent to the first rest-house early, and if things looked
unpromising, to return on foot the same day, taking a
coolie that he might take my orders in case I decided
to go on. Soon after six one morning I was ready to
begin my tramp. I had discarded shoes in favour of
" chaplis," the pretty, embroidered leather sandal of the
countr}^ with which is usually worn a soft leather sock.
I had also a puttoo coat and skirt, knitted gloves of
pashmina wool, cap of the same in my pocket ready
for the moment when the heav>^ sun hat could be dis-
carded. A warm chuddah (shawl) and small tea basket
and flower press were carried by my coolie, a brawny
individual in cap, tunic, and knickerbockers of grey
puttoo, with bare legs and grass sandals. The first part
of the road was fairly level, past the village, which
boasted a wonderfully good bazaar, under great chenaar
trees, where stood a tiny Mahomedan fane covered with
a glor}^ of crown imperial lilies, on to the bridge of
Sonarwain, which crosses the stream — here divided into
three branches — and on through the pretty village of
Kralpura, almost hidden among fruit trees and mam-
moth rose and jessamine bushes. From one of the best
houses emerged my old friend. He salaamed
vigorously. " And where is the Huzur going to-day ? "
he asked. "To the Tragbal and back," I shouted.
Never was joke so appreciated. The quondam Sepoy —
he had been in the army, I had made out — doubled up as
he shouted to his son to look at the lady who was going

KASHMIR VALLEYS 31

to climb the Tragbal without a pony. He regretted
that the stiffness of his old legs prevented his accom-
panying me up, but he promised to sit and watch my
return to see if I spoke true. Meanwhile, I must take
a few shadh tut (mulberry, lit. honey worm), the
very first brought by a Bhai (brother, used for any
relation) from a favoured garden; also some roses.
These I fastened behind my ears under my topi (hat),
like a mountain woman, which delighted him hugely.
Then I continued my walk, taking a short cut that led
straight up the hillside, forcing one to clamber over
prickly berberis, shrubby and unpleasantly thorny rose
bushes not in their full beauty as yet. Every step took
one over tiny blue gentians, starry anemones, clusters
of the delicately striped pink and white tulips, violets,
and countless other flowers. On rejoining the main road
I decided to follow it instead of emulating the coolie
and climbing straight up the face of the cliff. The
zig-zag path I followed added four or five miles to my
walk, but it was a wise decision, for, after all, it is but
a foolish proceeding to arrive at one's destination a
limp mass of aching bones, and this would certainly
have been the result had I attempted the wild-goat like
methods of the hillmen, who scarcely understood
walking on an even surface. Backwards and forwards
wound the path, every turn showing new beauties of
snow peaks against blue skies, and frost-bound streams
hke silver threads among the dark pine woods, the
distant Pir Panjal, to the south, hanging like phantoms
in mid-air, their base invisible by reason of the mist.
Flowers, flowers everywhere; sometimes the hillside
was rosy with the daphne mezereum, then yellow with
an extraordinarily handsome umbeUiferous plant, two

32 AFOOT THROUGH THE

to five feet in height, and a light orange colour ; some-
times tiny blue flowers starred the grass, thousands of
gentians and forget-me-nots clustering together, or
quantities of pink saxifrage mixed with the handsome
wild rhubarb leaves, and the feathery asparagus. Tall
eremurus and hawthorns scented the air, countless
little birds twittered and trilled, tiny lizards with grey
skins darted and glanced over the sunny stones. Five
or six miles further on, the steep path joined the main
track again. I found my coolie had met a friend who
was carrying on his head — strange baggage on a lone
hillside — two great brass church candlesticks. " Where
was he going ? " I asked. " To Gilgit." He expected
much bad weather in the pass, but the Padre Sahib
(priest) must go up to make his " tomasha " for the
" officer sahibs at the fort." " Make tomasha " ; such is
one man's religion to another! But in spite of the
expression, the respect for the man who to do his
" pujah " crossed the mountains under such hard
conditions was very evident.

The road twisted and turned ; often it was blocked
by gigantic boulders fallen from the cliffs above over
which we had to clamber. The sun was intensely hot,
and I was glad enough to find some tiny rills, freed by
the warmth from their ice binding, and to drink their
sparkling water, as brisk to the taste and vdth the snap
of artificially aerated water. The higher one rose the
sharper was the air; one's invisible wings bore one
up, it was all but possible to fly! Gradually the snow,
which had been lying in small patches, became deeper. I
had chmbed over four thousand feet, and we were nine
thousand feet above the level of the sea. With so much
snow at such a comparatively low level we knew^ that

KASHMIR VALLEYS 33

further progress would be very difficult over a thirteen
thousand feet pass, and so, unwilling as I was, I
decided to turn back. After resting I had little wish
to halt ; the fine air, acting like champagne, had made
me feel as if I had brought myself out in a new and
very improved edition since the terrible time at the
Garhi rest-house on our way in. Fed by the breeze it
was a genuine "hawakhanah" ("eating the air" —
taking the air, as we should say) on that clear, far-off
height. The ten miles of road to be retraced filled me
with no misgiving, in such an atmosphere there being
no adequate reason for not " walking for ever." If men
could negotiate perpendicular hillsides with fifty to
sixty pounds on their backs there was no fear of twenty
or twenty-five miles on a fairly good road with so much
of absorbing interest on every hand. Nanga Parbat,
" mountain of the gods," as the natives call it (Dyomir),
could not be seen from my resting-place, but there were
many lesser monarchs who kinged it in the absence of
that mighty chieftain of Hindu Kush, highest among
them being Haramuk, with his triple diadem of snow
jewelled by the gorgeous sun, with diamonds whose
facets were frost-draped rocks. Far below, the blue
waters of the Wular sparkled in the mid-day glare,
hemmed in south by range behind range of blue mist-
draped mountains. Blue and white, those were the
colours of the valley repeated again and again in the sky,
the hills, the forest flowers ; only the coolie and I were
khaki-hued smears in the pure scheme of colour, dust
images in a gorgeous setting!

The homeward march proved comparatively short,
for I took the coohes' path, although as a mode of pro-
gression sliding over slipper}^ grass and rocky boulders

D

34

AFOOT THROUGH THE

on heel-less chaplis is distinctly inferior to tobogganing.
It cut off nearly four miles of road, and by taking
advantage of my accidental collapses, when the track
wore its least amiable aspect, I was able to rest myself
and collect specimens of the numberless small blue and
white blooms that had been tempted by the fine day
to come out and have a look round, and I was also
enabled thereby to account for my unsteadiness, which
might otherwise have shaken the confidence of the
stalwart followers in my powers to walk down a rocky
staircase with either skill or grace.

Below my old friend was waiting

Below my old friend was waiting, and at last he was
convinced of the genuine character of my strolls, but
was concerned for the blisters contracted in my rock
degringolade. " Much salt will harden," was his
excellent advice, proffered at the same time as a large
posy of roses and iris held by a minute grand-daughter,
the vast number of her black plaits testifying to
the excellence of her condition in life rather than the
thickness of her hair!

KASHMIR VALLEYS 35

Next day we slowly crossed the lake again, a world
within a world, for the reflections were almost more
gaudy than the real objects on the banks, and were
towed up stream between miles of iris-decorated grass
land, shaded at intervals by the massive foliage of
chenaars. It was a lazy life, dolce far niente carried
to its fullest limit. Other doongas passed, all alike,
save for the distinction of the individual owner's taste
in decoration. Many were hung with baskets of purple
or white iris, and were guarded by yapping fox terriers,
a race always to the fore where the British subaltern
is about ; some scorning all but the strictly useful showed
nothing but piled cases and heaped tins. Passing
through Srinagar the great strength of the tide — for the
river is here pent up in unnaturally narrow bounds —
made paddling a matter of no small difficulty. Extra
men had to be engaged, and it was only by exerting
their full strength that headway could be made under
the bridges, where the water was like a whirlpool.
They have a regular chorus they shout on such
occasions to keep their efforts united, and they call on
saints and prophets in a regular little litany to help
(" KTUah, Bismillah, Badshah "). The high wooden
houses rising straight from the water, the squalor and
the brilliance, the dirt and the endless wealth of decora-
tion struck a reminiscent note of Venice and Holland,
and promising myself some pleasant afternoon
explorations later, I pushed on, noting incidentally that
the number of boats in the English quarter had greatly
increased during my absence. At night we tied up,
the little bridge plank was removed later, and, cut off
alike from nearer surroundings and the outer world, the
doonga became a cocoon, in which a happy chrysalis

36 AFOOT THROUGH THE

wrapped in its own dreams and thoughts forgot the past,
grew careless of the future, and was lost to all but
present interests and enjoyment.

Morning brought stirring events; the pleasant lap-
lap of the water against the boat told me we were
moving before I had looked out of my straw shutters, but
I had hardly passed to full consciousness when a violent
bump and a fierce altercation, followed by the sound of
bleating protest, told me that something unusual had
occurred. I dressed quickly to ascertain the cause of
such early excitement, and found myself the proud but
unpleased possessor of a whole sheep. I sternly
demanded reason, and was informed that the prow of
my ark had been run into the bank, thereby breaking
the leg of the aforesaid sheep, the owner of which had
instantly demanded compensation. Reason was
plausible, but I had my doubts. A sheep is a visible
thing, and a boat cannot run into it imknown of the
four propellers. Moreover, there was in Assiza's eye
a look I had begun to understand, a look that said, " To
what extent may the Sahib be victimised ? " " The
sheep is but small," he urged in extenuation, "mutton
is good, the price is but one rupee." That clinched the
matter. One rupee was not too much to pay for the
feasting of my crew, if I also had a portion. Nominally,
of course, the entire sheep was eaten at the Sahib's
table. No more sheep were run into for many days,
and the hours seemed likely to pass without mark or
event, a mere floating between blue waters and blue
banks, blue skies overhead, blue hills on every side,
when a tremendous shout startled me, and there was a
great snake crossing the stream, head held high, a
curious object, and quite harmless. Assiza seized it
as it landed, throwing it over his head and back into

KASHMIR VALLEYS 37

the water again. " Such a one last year turned round
a Sahib's leg and bit his putties (leg bandages), but it
failed to do harm." Happy valley, where even the
" poison worms " are innocuous, perhaps by order of the
great chief of the clan. Nag, the snake god, who is
satisfied by being so persistently and consistently
worshipped through long ages by many folk and many
religions.

Later we passed Bijbeharra, a beautiful town, with
a splendid bridge of the usual Kashmirian type, sup-
ported by enormous square piles of alternate logs and
stones in layers, usually laid on a foundation of sunken
boat-loads of stones. The enormous force of the stream
is somewhat broken by the triangular wooden abutment,
weighted with boulders, with the apex towards the
currents. Largish trees had grown from between the
logs, and with its vast camping-ground shaded by
giant chenaars, carpeted with sweet-scented white iris
and overlooking the private gardens of the Maharajah,
it was a very lovely spot. A large Hindu temple had
recently been built for the prince, the steps
approaching it formed of carved blocks, evidently
taken from some of the ancient Hindu buildings in the
neighbourhood. Late in the afternoon two striking-
looking women passed along under the trees, their
ample scarlet petticoats, immensely high-peaked caps,
and flashing black eyes a curious contrast to the
drab-coloured housewives of the country. They were
like gorgeous tropical birds in a home wood, and I
guessed they belonged to the gipsy folk — that curious
race so apart from all settled life that they are like
immigrants from another planet, called Banjaras in
India, Watals in Kashmir, Romany people at home.
The characteristics of wild beauty, rough musical talent,

38 AFOOT THROUGH THE

and wandering, predatory habits remain the same, and
form a brotherhood with all that is free and untamed,
and greedy of fresh air and open skies throughout the
world. Throwing down the bundle she was carrying,
one of the women asked if I would like a song. She
beckoned to a small boy who was following, and he
squatted down, resting between his knees a tiny drum,
on which he beat lightly to keep time, the two women
singing in recitative alternately some words of which
this is a rough translation. The distant sounds of
tom-toming and singing — the ordinary accompaniment
in the East of wedding festivities — evidently inspired
the subject.

MARRIAGE SONG.

Bridegroovi.
I give you my house and my lands all golden with labour,

My sword, my shield, and my jewels — the spoils of my strife.
My strength and my dreams, and all I have gathered of glory.

And now, this hour I give you my life.

Bride.
I may not raise my eyes, oh, my lord, toward you.

And I may not speak : what matter my voice would fail,
But through my downcast lashes, seeing you thei-e

I fear and tremble with pleasure beneath my veil.

Yoxinger Sisters.
We throw sweet perfume upon her head.
And delicate flowers round her bed ;
Ah, would that it were our turn to wed !

Dancing Girls.
See his strength like a tower.

See his teeth that are white.
Whiter than whitest mogra flower !

Finest, fairest, first in the fight !

KASHMIR VALLEYS 39

Bride.

Would that the music ceased and the night drew round us,
With its solitude, shadow, and sound of closing door.

Passing Mendicant.

Out of the joy of your marriage feast,

Oh, brothers be good to me.
The way is long and the shrine is far

Where my weary feet would be.

For feasting is always somewhat sad

To those outside the door ;
Still, love is only a dream, and life

Itself is hardly more.

40 AFOOT THROUGH THE

CHAPTER IV

See the fakir as he swings in his iron ;

See the thin hermit that starves in the wild ;
Tliink ye no pleasures the penance environ,

And hope the sole bliss by which pain is beguil'
No ! in the kingdom those spirits are reaching,

Vain are our words those emotions to tell ;
Vain the distinctions our senses are teaching,

For pain has its heaven and pleasure its hell.

— Monckton Milnes.

Of religions, painful and otherwise — How I seek secularity
along a scorching road, and am made to take part in sacred
rites — I write a character for a saint — And am rewarded
with roses and watercress.

A FEW miles above Bijbeharra was Islamabad, the
principal commercial centre in the eastern part of
Kashmir. The town itself stands back some two miles
from the river, the actual waterside village being
Kanabal. It is the starting point to many routes — •
to Poonch, Jammu, and the eastern ranges; and Kulu,
Ladakh, and Rupshu can also be reached this way. I
found it a religious place in a showy, picturesque, casual
fashion, and in the course of a morning stroll some
curiosities in worship showed themselves. The first
was an Asiatic fakir of a most uncompromising type,
who had been found many years before half-dead in the

KASHMIE VALLEYS 41

snow. Where he had come from, what his object — if he
had one — no one could ever know, for he never opened
his mouth, asked for nothing, made no comment. All
day long he sat in his tent, silent, swathed in a shawl,
sad-eyed, serious, drinking water or eating a little grain
when held to his lips by one of the disciples who took
it in turn to sit beside him. At night he hung from
a rope suspended by his crooked knees, head down-
ward, resting on a wooden prop supplied by the
generosity of some worshippers. For a long period he
had rested without support. The man was no mere
epileptic. As I dropped a copper into his bowl he
glanced up with some curiosity in his eyes, and a strong,
intelligent expression. What thoughts filled that
brain, I wondered; had some strange secrets been
wrested by him from some storehouse of human know-
ledge unknown to ordinary science; was his life one
long endurance of the hours, or had he attacked and
conquered one corner of the limitless desert of human
ignorance? Strange that silence and seclusion should
stamp a man so strongly with the mark of another
w^orld, for though he practised no rites, followed no
religion, yet from the mere aloofness of his existence
people were ready to conclude him a saint, and whether
Hindu or Mahomedan, to treat him with the respect
due to beings who live apart from the lines of ordinary
human intercourse. We seek a heaven through the
perfection of practical life. The Hindus turn their
back on all that restrains the contemplative side of
character. The course of existence can thus be diverted
into different channels. But have either they or we
discovered a royal road to the understanding of the
world, or a golden clue to the unlocking of the doors

42 AFOOT THROUGH THE

of the Hereafter ? We shriek aloud our little convictions.
The Hindu — if it is, indeed, knowledge that he holds —
holds it in silence; and who shall say where as yet
truth has been found?

Afrofos of clues, the following of a most prosaic
one led me to the Tah Dak (telegraph office), and
incidentally to two other forms of religion. No one
in the place appeared to have any knowledge of any
office or house from which telegrams could be sent, and
it was only the sudden appearance of a guiding wire
emerging from a high wall which led me to a sacred
tank, and skirting that to a highly-carved door, above
which the " guiding line " disappeared without cere-
mony. I opened the door, and was nonplussed by the
warlike appearance of a huge goat — horns well forward,
eyes gleaming, long, grey beard pendant. What next?
I held my ground ; the goat his. Was this a method of
protecting Her Majesty's Imperial telegraphs,* or was
it a mere domestic pet broken loose? A voice from
above, coming muffled through wooden shutters, bade
me " go up ; do not notice goat." I obeyed the first
part of the order, trying to observe a strict neutrality
to the nanny. Possibly the latter had heard the voice
of its master, for, standing aside, it allowed me to pass,
and engage in what looked to me like a carefully-
concealed trap. It was only a staircase, but rickety,
and redolent of quite unique perfumes. By it I reached
a low, dark doorway, behind which was seated a severe-
looking individual in portentous pagri. Possibly no
one before had ever wished to despatch a telegram;
probably he hoped to deter me from the practice of

*The telegraph service in Kashmir and Imperial post are under British
control.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 48

sending them, for his manner was alarmingly stern,
and my modest message was made the subject of so
much query a.nd answer that the importance of the
transaction was thoroughly brought home to me, and
I departed, crushed with the mightiness of the
machinery set in motion by my small requirements. It
really is a curious fact w^orthy of some consideration
that from that tiny spot in the heart of Asia, a dirty
room, under the charge of a native and a he-goat, a
message in a few short hours could be sent to a home
in a little island in the North Sea.

Outside again I pursued my inspection of local
faiths, and admired the clear waters that rush out
from a spring here, filhng a great stone tank built by
Jehangir. On two sides stretched the buildings which
originally formed his palace. The telegraph office was
a small part. Vast chenaars shaded the spot. The
tank was full of fishes that came greedily to the surface
to swallow the great chupatties we threw to them. So
large and fat were these great carp, they threw them-
selves upon the coveted morsel with a sound of gobbling
worthy of an alderman's orgy in their greed, refusing
a poor little yellow fish — quite a pariah, from its strange
colour — any part of the feast. Ash-smeared fakirs sat
round the tank, an evil smile curling their lips, eyes
that glittered in snaky, restless fashion, a fine contempt
in their general attitude for the religion that devotes
gifts to such poor representatives of Vishnu Mahadeo
as the fishes. From the tank I strayed round to
another form of religion, and examined the Mahomedan
shrine, which I had noticed at a distance, with a crown
of pure white iris softly draping the deep, brown
walnut wood of the roof that was further ornamented

44

AFOOT THROUGH THE

at the corners by curious wooden tassels. The lower
screening walls were covered with the pretty mauve
blooms of the allium (sphaerocephalum) , altogether a
tempting place for worship. As it was a Friday, and
the faithful were eagerly crowding to do their weekly
duty, I was informed I might not enter, having eaten
meat for my breakfast. This was a false assumption,
but I did not correct it, knowing that especial graces
may always be purchased, and the newer form of
" persecuting the infidel " not being viewed with favour

Pony with saddle, tlie high peak of which served
as a pommel

by me ; but, noticing my lack of enthusiasm, the great
doors were suddenly thrust open, and I was asked to
admire, not the ancient carving of the temple, not the
gorgeous colour of flower and woodwork, not the quaint
conceits of old decorations, but five tombs of long-
departed saints covered with dirty rags, once fine
embroideries. Every one gave a quick salaam, watching
me at the same time out of the corners of their eyes,
to see to how much filthy lucre my admiration would
run. It was expressed in a quite modest sum, to the

KASHMIR VALLEYS

45

chagrin of the onlookers, and then mounting a tiny,
dainty tat with gaily-decorated saddle-cloth and saddle,
the high peak of which served excellently well as a
pommel, I wandered away under the shade of over-
arching trees to a forest glade some six miles away,
called Bawan. Soft carpet of velvety turf, countless
sparkling streams — several of which feed a large tank
of sacred carp — plentiful beds of watercress, giant
chenaar trees that gave a generous shade to all these.

Group of Hanjls

made up an ideal camping-ground, where, during the
long, hot afternoon, I rested, and one of the hanjis
(boatmen) trolled out songs in the old, old theme, with
the old, old metaphors.

HANJI'S LOVE SONG.

You are my flower, and I would fain adore you
AVith love and golden gifts for all my days ;

Burn scented oil in silver lamps before you,

Pour perfume on your feet with prayer and praise.

46 AFOOT THROUGH THE

For we are one — round nie your graces fling

Their chains, my heart to you for aye I gave —

One in the perfect sense our poets sing,

" Gold and the bracelet, water and the wave."

The heat was over-powering ; the rushing, sparkling
rills ice-oold; the fakirs that surrounded the
sacred pond sat loathsome in their dirt and squalor;
the Mahants (Hindu priests of the Pundit class,
appointed by the Maharajah to look after the sacred
fish) resplendently spotless in their white robes.
My neat, well-dressed boatmen, in their comfortable
encampment, were watched by miserable villagers from
a very poor " ganw " (native village) near by, begging
for food or pice. What a country of shaqD contrasts
it was, the result of the meeting of so many bygone
civilisations that, alternately with periods of wildest
anarchy and pillage, passed over the valley. In the
cool of the afternoon I left the camp to visit some
strange cave temples to be found a short way off on the
right bank of the Liddar high in the cliffside. Exca-
vated partially by man, these caves run far back into
the hillside, and contain temples of the usual Kashmir
form, built some one thousand years ago, and quite
unworthy of remark save for the strange fact of the
existence of people who could care to build in the
darkness and gloom when all the land lay open to
them — a ready-made background of perfect beauty.
Our guide insisted on our following a narrow, dark
passage that led to a tiny chamber where had lived
and died a very holy fakir. " Why did he choose such
undesirable quarters ? " I queried. " Because he was so
holy," I was told. " But how do you know he really
lived here ? " began the unbeliever. " Here are his

KASHMIR VALLEYS 47

bones," was the triumphant reply; and there certainly
was a fragment of a skull, and what might have been
a thigh-bone!

Such overwhelming proof was, of course, convincing,
at least if one wished to be convinced. I did not wish
or care to be 'verted any way, but I did want to get
to the outer air and the perfume of roses and jessamine
and living things, away from these horrors of mor-
tality, and the smells and stuffiness of airless places,
and the haunting of ghostly swarms of bats that
descended from the roof, touched one on the back,
fluttered eerily about my head, pawed in ghostly guise
the back of my hand, filled me with the dread of
phantom terrors. I turned and fled, though the guide
assured me that in ten minutes the place would be
clear. Ten minutes more of such horrors would have
cured me of all mortal ills for ever.

After that expedition I felt myself the victim of a
plethora of religious formulae, and decided that my
next move should be to secular sights — some place that
Avould only bring memories of purely worldly grandeur.
For this reason I decided on visiting Vernag and
Atchibal, places where the Great Mogul emperors built
beautiful palaces, and in company of the fair dames
of their court spent the long summer days under the
pleasant shade of vast trees, or bathed in the cool, blue
w^aters that, rushing from the rocks in many springs,
fill the great stone basins constructed to receive
them. Early one morning, in light marching order,
I started with my men from the boat to do the
twenty miles that separated us from Vernag. With
the early freshness to yield a touch of tonic to the air,
and walking along roads shaded with trees and peopled

48 AFOOT THROUGH THE

by tiny green frogs, which added a pleasantly moist
cool impression, the distance promised to be fulfilled
in the twinkling of an eye, rather than in the shaking
of a leg. Later on in the day when, after a noonday
rest, a steep descent had taken us into a sun-baked,
scorching valley, with no leaf of shade to protect from
the almost blinding reflection on smooth, hot boulders,
things wore a different aspect, and the way lengthened
itself interminably. The rushing streams, on whose
banks a delightful coolness had been found, soon
dwindled to mere threads lost in a vast bed of great
grey stones that reflected every glowing, burning ray.
Not a tree was to be seen, save an occasional stunted
willow, whose appearance I hailed with renewed energy
from a distance, approached slowly, lingered under, and
separated myself from sadly. The countrs^ of roses,
jessamine, and berberis had been left far behind, and
not a green thing relieved the weary eyes. The track
gave the impression of having been marked out by cattle
in wet weather and then left to its own resources, with
result that progress was a perpetual emotion. One
foot slid into a hole, much to the detriment of a fine
blister forming on the heel; the other in its efforts to
escape a stone fell in a rut. Stopping to give both time
to recover, the sun threatened to fire them, and, in
making a step forward, a hole hidden in the ground
revealed itself in the twisting of an ankle. It was
hardly with the alert, brisk step — a pedestrian's pride —
that I entered the village of Vernag, but the mere
promise of its shady glades seen from afar off had put
fresh vigour into my movements, and coming to the
first of the pure ice-cold streams that make this place
so famous, I was quite prepared to forget all discom-

KASHMIR VALLEYS 49

forts in my enjoyment of the refreshing coolness of its
many springs and famous trees. The old palace still
stands, little altered apparently since the day it was
built, more than three hundred years ago, when
Jehangir and the fair ladies of his court retired here
from the heat of the plains of India and bathed in the
blue waters, and arranged banquets and nautches in the
torch-lit pleasances. Innumerable springs rise from
the limestone rocks, and a part of their waters are
caught in a vast tank built by the Great Mogul, and
surrounded by him with a terrace supported by stone
columns and alcoves forming bathing-houses. The
waters as they flow away are spanned by a part of the
palace, and are then diverted and divided, forming a
series of terraces and waterfalls, the former filled by
cleverly constructed fountains, still in good working
order and able to fulfil their purpose in life. I laid
out on the grass, a light wind just stirring the leaves
of the trees above me, and the men made tea — the best
tea ever presented for human refreshment, it appeared
then — and when they had laid out my modest equipage
close to the water, decorated the cloth with a bunch
of apple blossom and pink roses, added a saucer of
watercress picked close by to my modest feast, the
successor of the emperors felt herself weU satisfied
with the taste of those long-dead architects, and with
the provision made by them for the comfort of posterity.
For the first time my experiences of sleeping accom-
modation were to be enlarged by the shelter of a palace.
Into a large, panelled room overlooking the tank my
belongings were placed, the shding shutters fitted into
the carved woodwork were taken out to let in the hght,
and I sat on the terrace above the water to enjoy the

50 AFOOT THROUGH THE

last of the sun before it disappeared. From the further
side emerged a figure in spotless white, the snowy pagri
folded after the manner of the Pundits. Salaaming
gravely, he presented me with a little bouquet and a
handful of walnuts, asked of my condition in life,
inquired as to my welfare, told me he made many
prayers, and guarded and fed the sacred fish of the
tank ; finally asked me for a chit, opening a small book
for it, and presenting me with it. Now, in principle,
a chit is a.n excellent thing, and by it, always theoreti-
cally, of course, a man and his ways, whether for good
or evil, should be known from one end of Kashmir to
the other. The practice, as understood in India, does
not work out on these lines, for almost every man you
meet^ — certainly all you address — demands a " chit," is
hurt by its refusal, and is inclined to resort to methods
of coercion if no other means will extort it. Now, my
Hindu priest friend, the Mahant, was agreeable to
look at, amiable in manner, but neither are
essentials for his profession, and how was I to
give a verdict as to his religious capabilities
and powers of prayer? Excuses are of little
avail against persistence, so I testified to his " good
appearance and amiable disposition, as proved by his
gifts," and added " that I felt incompetent to answer for
the efficacy of his prayers." Quite satisfied, he departed
to prepare for his evening devotions. In a minute or
two I heard a sound of low chanting, with intermittent
blowing of a most discordant conch, wetted to increase
its powers. My friend approached, devoutly salaamed
to the fishes, threw them some grain, and began a long
recitative. Sometimes in his excitement his words came
quickly in tones raised almost to a cry, then sinking

KASHMIR VALLEYS 51

again to a low, monotonous chant. Vishnu was being
invoked in his character of Mahadeo, Mahadeo creator,
viceroy of Brahma, active power of the inventing mind ;
also the Vishnu who suffered the form of a fish in
one of his numerous incarnations; Vishnu, the Pre-
server in the Great Triad. Then the wife was
remembered, Sarasvati, the helper and companion of
Mahadeo ; finally, with real music, he sang a fine hymn
to her under the name of Lakshmi — goddess of light.
At intervals he had turned to me, as if to include me
in the performance, and at suggestive pauses I had
thrown in handfuls of rice. He did not require assist-
ance in his choruses, but at the mention of Lakshmi,
" Lighter of the world, by whose life-giving rays we
follow our appointed path, and health and well-being
are in our homes," he glanced up. " Dia silai "
(matches), he asked abruptly. I had none. The hanji
(Mahomedan boatman) was called, produced a box, and
took it to the priest, and so we three of different races
and alien faiths met together and shared in rites that
would have filled the builder of the place with horror,
and have caused a speedy termination to our careers
if we had lived under his rule. Twilight had descended,
the faint " gou-gou " of the sucking fish was a soft
refrain to the mellow tones of the lonely priest's voice,
only broken by the piercing notes of the conch shell
that echoed far away among the hills behind us, telling
to distant dwellers that the hour of evening prayer was
come. The little lamp of scented oil mid the gloom
imitated the pallor of the stars in the still, high skies,
and backwards and forwards swayed the priest,
chanting, singing, muttering, waving his " chaori " (fly
whisk) of peacock feathers. When my shutters had

52 AFOOT THROUGH THE

been closed from the outside, and I was left alone among
the ghosts of long-dead emperors and their gay courtiers,
the tiny sparks of light could be still seen through the
lattice work, and short bursts of song told me that the
Mahant was keeping his vigil.

" What gift, Huzur, for my beautiful prayers ? "
asked my devotional friend next morning, as he pre-
sented me with a fresh bouquet. I proffered a small
gift. " Was my husband a colonel or general Sahib,'*
he asked, " they would have given more." " No," I
answered ; " I give for myself ; no colonel or officer
Sahib pays my debts." " That was hard," he con-
sidered in sympathetic tones. " In that case the gift was
sufficient, but many officers and commissioner Sahibs
had thought very highly of his efforts, and given him
much backsheesh; but he was glad too of the matches,
a whole box, and would not forget the ' Presence.' He
trusted she would be lucky in her walk, and her life
blessed with health and prosperity. ' We mutually
salaamed, and the lonely guardian of a forsaken Hindu
shrine returned to his devotions and his unshared
worship.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 58

CHAPTER V,

Glowworm-like the daisies peer,

Roses in the thickets fade,
Grudging every petal dear,

Swinging incense in the shade ;
The honeysuckle's chandelier

Twinkles down a shadowy glade.

— Darid-fon.

Aching blisters and scented blossoms — Ancient palaces and
living princes — A visit to neglected shrines and a savoury
supper.

From Vernag I determined to push on to Atchibal, in
spite of the fact that I was hardly able to put my feet
to the ground, the result of the rough, scorched tracks ;
in such a condition were they that they might have
been correctly described " as blisters and a sandal." The
sparkle in the air, however, and the early freshness,
the soft green of the wayside trees, the tranquil beauty
of the villages, set about with vast clumps of the great
sweet- smelling iris, purple, mam'^e, and white, would
have succeeded in putting heart of grace into a stone.
I was soon oblivious to all small discomforts, and as
thoroughly at one with my surroundings as if my whole
existence had been passed between a rose bush and an

54 AFOOT THROUGH THE

iris patch like the cheery little butterflies and twittering
birds that kept up a continuous chorus of " good
mornings " from the near bushes. What a world of
colour it was! The sheer gaudiness would have
frightened a painter, who would never have found
spectators sufficiently credulous to put faith in his
portrait. The sun poured threads of light into every
purple bloom and glossy leaf, till they vied with the
gold-shot robes of the saints in the early Italian pictures.
Hillside, rushing stream, shady trees, all quivered with
light and life; even the sad-featured labourers relaxed
and stopped their work for a little talk, while their
womenkind, usually so silent and reserved, questioned
me as to my destination and doings, and held up pretty
dimpled babies, clad in red caps and insufficient shirts,
for me to praise and admire. A low range of hills had
to be crossed, and the heat made the path slippery and
tiring, but the descent was cheaply bought at the price
of a little fatigue and some rough walking. In a few
minutes I had passed from a gaudy flower carpet of
crimson roses, yellow berberis, violet iris, to a world
in white, Kashmir in her spring wedding garment,
veiled in snowy blossoms, to a whiteness turned to
silver by the sunny glow, a veritable Easter garden,
full of sweet perfumes, an altogether unforgettable
vision of loveliness. Hawthorns, a white viburnum,
guelder roses, cluster roses, soft, loose peonies, spikes
of eremurus, a small honeysuckle {Lonicera spinosa),
and a drapery of clematis montana were answerable
for the taller masses. Beneath, a carpet of tiny
treasures, white arabis, strawberry flowers, shepherd's
purse, and oxalis was spread out, while graceful Solo-
mon's seals and a white comfrey filled all spaces between

KASHMIR VALLEYS 55

the upper and the lower ranks. With such a wealth of
treasures it seemed ridiculous to attempt the carr}dng
off of a few miserable specimens, so I sat still and tried
to make notches in my memory, that at least their
numbers and variety might remain with me when their
perfume and freshness had passed out of mind with
so many more lovely things. But my men collected a
great garland. It was part of a system of bribery they
had found to work admirably, for when my tent or
room was wreathed with blossoms, it was an impossible
deed to find any fault with the skilful decorators on
other grounds. I do not know why that particular
hillside was so consistent in its flower scheme; perhaps
the long winter months, with their snow coverings,
bleach the flowers; maybe the slopes, unaccustomed
to all save white, refuse the gayer blooms. Whatever
the cause, that descent mid the pale blossoms, with the
mingled scent of honey and fresh spring growth, will
remain as one of those visions which, years after, return
amid widely different surroundings, bringing, with the
\dvid impression of colour and scent, a heartache akin
to that felt on opening a letter written by a hand that
never can hold pen again, or entering a room once
inhabited by a dear presence since passed away.

The march was some fifteen miles, and the mid-day
sun was very trying, when emerging from the shady
hill paths I descended to the river level again, and
paced beside streams that inadequately filled their
stony beds, or with caution crossed them by bridges
that partook of the general character of modern
Kashmirian structures, extreme elegance with the
minimum of stability. Generally a bridge is merely
placed to show that the path crosses that particular

56 AFOOT THROUGH THE

stream. If the unwary passenger attempts to make
use of it, it opens out in the middle ; if a high tide comes
down, it waits not to struggle for mastery, but departs
bodily. Ponies have the sense while passing over to
stretch their legs as far as possible, so as to distribute
the weight. Soon after noon I reached Atchibal,
another summer halting-place of the Moguls. There a
palace of the usual type was built of chunam and stone,
with a wealth of wooden lattice work and miniature
editions to be used as summer-houses, distributed about
the gardens, so that in the hottest w^eather the ladies
could find coolness, and slumber peacefully, soothed by
the sound of the rushing waters. The springs were
innumerable, and were cleverly directed so as to fill
the stone conduits flowing round the gardens, and
feeding the numerous fountains which, on State
occasions, were used to flood the terraces; coloured
lights illuminating the waters and adding to the gaiety
of the scene. When I arrived, I thought some lineal
descendant of those old rulers must have returned again
and be holding high revel. Hundreds of coolies,
" kahars " (porters), grooms, shikaris were collected
together in large camps; ponies innumerable, in
gorgeous trappings, were picketed out; a vast range
of small white peaks showed a big encampment inside
the gardens, and the hurrying of gaudily badged
chuprassis (official messengers, lit. badge-bearers) told
me that unusual " company " was about. The chowkidar
(watchman and caretaker) of the rest-house could only
tell me that Burra Sahibs and Shazadas (big lords and
princes) were there, and as he made ready for me tea
served in fine china, and real " double roti " (English
bread, only to be got in Srinagar), I felt convinced that

KASHMIR VALLEYS 57

my much-appreciated feast must be closely connected
with the magnificence over the way!

When my own men came in I made further efforts
to ascertain into what " high society " I was being thrust,
but information was vague, and I remained in ignorance.
Waiting till the sun was a little subdued I started then
for a walk and a quiet read under a spreading May tree
of my " Lalla Rookh," eminently suitable literature for
the occasion. Later on, trying to reach my camp unseen
of my gorgeous neighbours, I was perceived and hailed
with a warmth very far removed from the ordinary
" Here's a stranger, let's heave a brick at him " of my
countr}^men — a warmth which seems to be generated
under foreign skies by their lonely lives and the melt-
ing influence of more radiant suns. My lameness
received much sympathy, and every kind of help
was offered, from the loan of a pony to the
proffering of a chair and carriers. Vegetables,
fruit, and bread were promised me, all unknown
luxuries to the ordinary traveller when away from
Srinagar, and incidentally I discovered the Shazada to
be a nephew of the King of Italy, touring and enjoying
much sport under the escort of the finest and most
experienced shikari among the English officials there.
What sport he obtained I know not, but the contrast
between the open air grandeur, the unaccustomed
ceremonies, and the unconventional etiquette to be
observed in the palace of a Mogul emperor must have
given his tour a very real interest, even if it failed in
its ostensible object. I bear this scion of a royal house
no personal ill-will, but I trust that fate will not again
lead me to spend a night in the vicinity of a royal camp.
Natives see no object in wasting the beautiful moon-

58 AFOOT THROUGH THE

light hours in mere sleep, when that can be enjoyed at
any period of the hot day, so they — and there were
some hundreds of them — gossiped, and chattered, and
smoked, and discussed the small affairs of their tiny
world, and were ready at dawn for a start, while the
unfortunate Sahib was still doing her utmost to
shake off the ill effects of broken rest. From Atchibal
I determined to march to the Karewa, above Islamabad,
on which stands Martand, the most glorious ruin in
all Kashmir. The day was an anniversary, and I could
think of no worthier spot at which to celebrate it. It
was only five miles away, too, a mere nothing after my
previous marches. Still, five miles is five miles,
especially when it is nearer six — pardon the bull — as
this route, owing to a forced detour, proved to be, and
my lameness had not decreased since the day before.
But no one can think of obstacles when they are in
Kashmir, with a blue sky overhead, flowers on every
side, and before them the prospect of seeing one of the
most beautiful spots in the whole world.

I had soon an opportunity of testing my contempt
of obstacles, for at the first large village to be passed
the bridge was found to have been bodily swept away,
owing to an increase in the stream. This was bad;
worse was to follow, for the stream was found to be
quite unfordable, necessitating a long walk up the
bank, and when a safe point of crossing had been dis-
covered, that miserable stream — entirely from a wish
to annoy — ^had sub-divided itself into five. Wading
may be a pleasant amusement when our years are few,
and, as a consequence, our wardrobe of the sort that is
easily rolled up ; but with increasing age the inclination
to try my luck over slippery boulders, swept by rushing

KASHMIR VALLEYS 59

waters, had decidedly decreased. Making the best of
things, and trusting that all inhabitants were tem-
porarily occupied elsewhere, I started on my passage. I
found it difficult to manage the nice balancing of those
portions of my costume that I carried over my shoulders
and my paint-box and flower-carrier, and to give at the
same time proper attention to my footsteps. The fierce
current of the stream was confusing, too, and once or
twice I wondered how I could give a few last messages
and directions, and if there were any really respectable
natives who would consent to fishing out and forwarding
my corpse, or, if owing to caste and other prejudices,
I should be forced to remain forever between two huge
boulders till, causing the death of many and various, I
was removed by order of the health officer. Stalwart
legs and a sharp stick finally were victorious, and
panting, shaking, dripping, I arrived at the further side
of the last stream, and sank down in the hottest spot,
that the sun might be enabled to assist my inefficient
handkerchief.

A steep climb up the sandy side of the karewa amid
berberis and wild rose bushes, and I found myself on
a level with the temple I wished to reach, but with
two miles of sun-baked, shadeless fields to cross. The
" pukka " road (made road) took a. large curve to the
west, and as I was desirous of reaching my destination
with as little delay as possible, I skirted the crops,
balancing myself on the narrow grassy ledges that
acted as boundaries. Flax, buckwheat, and rape made
pretty varieties to the ordinary cereals, and the
numerous tiny blooms growing in every patch of waste
ground gave a gay little finish to the colour scheme.
All the natives I saw were much distressed at my

<iO AFOOT THROUGH THE

leaving the regular track. It was useless to explain
I preferred the shorter wa}^; they only shouted in
shriller tones, with the idea that I should understand
and turn back if only addressed with sufficient loudness.
So incomprehensive was it to them that any one could
prefer a direct route rather than the trodden way, I
concluded they must be nearly related to our own Mrs.
Grundy. Then one more grassy slope, and at last I
stood beside the temple that had haunted me for two

A shadeless track

years, ever since the sight of a photograph had revealed
to me the marvellous beauty of that lonely fane. Vague
details of its erection, disputes as to whether Ranaditya
King, its reputed founder, really built it, or whether he
lived in the fifth century^, or three hundred years later
in the eighth; whether the side chapels were the work
of his queen, Amritaprakha ; and whether Laltaditya
added the arcade — these things were all forgotten, or

KASHMIR VALLEYS

61

pigeon-holed away in my memory, for discussion with
some Dr}^-as-dust when no longer able to enjoy the
glorious reality, together with such useless argument as
to whether the roof was of wood or of stone, and whether
earthquake or villainous saltpetre has been the motor
power in the terrible destruction and havoc that had
torn stone from stone, thrown down whole walls, and
left but the shell of what must have been one of the

At last I stood beside the Temple

stateliest of the world's shrines. All these things that
I had puzzled over beforehand were swept from my
mind as I stood on the slope of the karewa, bent upward
here to join the hill, sunshine above, sunshine around,
the ground mosaiced with grey stones and pink-flushed
roses, within sight of overwhelming snow heights, the
valley spread out in a vast panorama of green fields and
sparkling waters, ghstening peaks fringing the blue sky.

62

AFOOT THROUGH THE

Nothing appealed to me or touched me save the
extraordinary beauty of those grey walls rising some
forty feet, with sculptured surfaces and delicately
ornamented pediments and pointed arches, and the
grand entrance turned fittingly to the west that the
setting sun might send its last rays over the temple
dedicated to its worship — to Vishnu, as the sun god.

The iconoclastic fury of the emperor who attempted
the destruction of Martand strikes with consternation,

Grand entrance turned to the west

but who can say whether, in the full glory of its com-
plete beauty, it was as wonderful, as touching, as at
the present day, when the nobility of its proportions
and the grand style of the buildings are infinitely
moving by reason of the humbleness and petty squalor
of its surroundings, for brambles and wild roses
encumber its courts and entangle the broken stone-
work. Its columns are entwined with ragged creepers,
the inner shrine receives no offerings save rank nettles,
wild roses throw rugged tendrils about the fallen

KASHMIR VALLEYS 63

arcading, and delicate mauve and white iris, with their
graveyard associations, bring a thought of human decay
and the passing of all flesh into the temple of light and
life. This lonely " watcher on the mountain-side,"
turned away from the rising towards the setting sun,
has waited and witnessed to the everlasting power of
light and beauty through long ages, while alternate
waves of anarchy and progress swept through the
valley. Powers have risen, fought, suffered annihila-
tion, attempting to overw^helm this silent preacher of
truths older, stronger than they, and it has withstood
all their efforts, defied all their attempts, though
suffering severely in its long defiance, and to-day it
stands out still, unnoticed, uncared for, by the people
of the land dependent for existence on a race who know
not its founder, regard not its gods, and long after they
and the memor}' of them have faded away, this lone
monument will keep its vigil and set forth its silent
teaching of endurance and courage, of beauty in
strength, and steadfastness in the setting forth of ideals.
There was much of curious antiquarian interest
about Martand, exquisite details of carving and orna-
ment, strange fragments so Greek in character that they
appeared to have wandered of themselves from their
natural birthplace. All these things I noticed in
perfunctory fashion, and hoped some day to realise. At
the time it was enough to suck up, sponge fashion, all
that could be realised of grace and beauty, storing the
memory with details of that wonderful view extending
one hundred miles down the river and sixty miles to the
further side, wdth a background of crystalline heights —
a world of blue and white, fit setting for the glorious
sun temple.

64 AFOOT THROUGH THE

The day was but too short for all the impressions to
be garnered, the heat was tempered, clouds blew up, a
coolness spread itself over everything, the sun began to
think of its bed-going, and with sad thoughts of the
many, many morrows that must pass ere ever Martand
could be seen again by me, I, too, began to think of
moving, but I allowed some time to pass in irresolution.
Again I attempted to leave, and reached a tiny pond
near which a vast crop of iris was growing. Impossible
to depart without one more view, so I returned to
have a last look at the great arch, over forty feet, by
which the " nave " and cellar are reached. A woman
in grey puttoo frock was there. " Why have you
returned ? " she queried ; " why have you been sitting
here? Why do the Sahibs like this place? One was
here as late as yesterday making the pictures with the
' big eye ' (a camera) after the manner of Sahibs. I
understand not why you come ; it is but a poor ruin, old,
and the walls are all falhng apart. When I visit the
big temples I go to the great ' Manda ' in the city,
built by the Maharajah Sahib. A fine place that; it
glistens in the sun like precious jewels. That is a
handsome place ; no mere pile of broken stones."

The woman grunted with exasperation at the folly
of folk in general, and the peculiarities of the Sahib log
in particular. Leaving such abstract questions, we
found we understood each other better when we argued
the question of the correct fee to be paid to her boy
for carrying my small impedimenta to the boat five miles
away. Women have naturally concrete minds, and they
agree best when steering clear of the discussion of all
but homely, matter-of-fact affairs.

Tearing myself away at last from the great sun

KASHMIR VALLEYS 65

shrine I continued my way to the doonga, passing
idyllic houses with beautiful iris crowns; endless
wooden shrines, decorated with mauve alliums or scarlet
tulips; and at last, very weary, very footsore, happy,
hungry, wholly satisfied, reached my boat, where a great
pile of correspondence awaited me, and, most pleasing
of all — at best we are but creatures of our appetites —
a savoury meal, very welcome after my long fast,
unbroken since six o'clock tea save by some water and
watercress. But refreshed and rested, my thoughts
went back sadly to my lonely temple of the hillside. I
had said good-bye to a friend whom I should probably
never see again, save in the dull lines of fading memory.

(j6 AFOOT THROUGH THE

CHAPTER VI

Past the masses hoary

Of cities great in story,

Past their towers and temples drifting lone and free ;

Gliding, never hasting ;

Gliding, never resting ;

Ever with the river that glideth to the sea.

— James Thomson.

Some ruins — Fragments of their supposed histories — Dry-as-
dust details and a short discourse on religion in the valley.

On my way down the river I stopped at various places
to visit different temples and ancient ruins, for there
is not a village in the whole of the valley that does not
boast of some relic of old days. Fragments of beautiful
carvings and pieces of sculpture may often be found
lying about or built into the miserable edifices that
represent all that a Kashmiri can accomplish in the
present day. The people take little or no interest in
these things, using them merely as easy quarries where
all that they need in the way of stonework is provided,
or turning them to account to increase their incomes,
our countrymen seldom caring to visit what has ever
been a place of worship without leaving some small
contribution, though the showman is seldom a follower
of the faith which the shrine was erected to honour.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 67

If questions are asked, the inevitable answer is,
*' Built by the Pandus " ; if one presses for more details,
the only reward is a shrug of the shoulders, and " they
or others; we are ignorant people, and the Huzur knows
best; Sahibs come long way to see this, and always
give poor man much backsheesh." Owing to the
constant state of anarchy and the depredations of
greedy conquerors, no traditions of real value exist in
the present day, and the " great men," the men of
authority who write books, are only to be believed until,
as inevitably occurs, an exponent of newer theories
arises. The best plan is to see ever}^thing one can, for
these old builders were so skilful they could not place
one stone upon another without a graceful touch or
delicate piece of pleasant fancy, and then make one's
own theory about them, regardless of what others have
written or may write. By this system much poring over
dull descriptions and " dry-as-dust " discussions will
be avoided, the memory relieved of a great strain in
balancing contradictory statements, and the shock
spared of discovering that two of the greatest authorities
are capable of differing to the extent of three hundred
years in their respective dating of buildings. As for
style, the Kashmirian architects of old time may have
been under influences that seem to us strangely remote
to have had power, but the whole matter is much
disputed, and nothing can be stated with certainty.
That no one may be disappointed of the pleasures of
argument, I give for what they are worth in my
description of the various holy places some of the
different theories that have been propounded. Avanti-
pura, close to the river, was my first halting-place. It
has a stray likeness to Martand, but situated

68

AFOOT THROUGH THE

originally in a less commanding position, it has suffered
even more severely from the destroying pov^ers of human
hands and the havoc vs^rought by long ages. Tradition
tells that in the ninth century King Avanti-Vanna
reigned here, and built there two great temples, and
dedicated them both to Vishnu as Mahadeo. The
massive fluted columns still left standing are extra-
ordinarily beautiful, and every part is decorated w^ith a

Ruin at Avantipura

wealth of carving. The surrounding arcade has been
entirely filled in, owing to some cause not definitely
understood. A landslip or vast flood may have done the
damage. A small portion sufficient to show the delicate
grace of the arches and their supports has been
excavated, and it seems a pity that the work is not
thoroughly carried out.

The impression of Greek influences left by these

/

KASHMIR VALLEYS 69

buildings is certainly so strong that it is difficult to
believe that Greek art is not responsible for many of the
characteristics of Kashmirian architecture, and Sir
Alexander Cunningham has an ingenious theory relating
to their inter-columniation. Like the Greeks, the
Kashmirians are constant in their diameters, and
have a certain fixed relation between the capital
shaft, base, and diameter, quite unlike the Hindu
builder, who varies his segment and his pro-
portion with every pier. Now, Cunningham
suggests that the word " Areostyle," used by the Greeks
to denote an inter-columniation of diameters, one
seldom employed by themselves, really means the
" system of the Aryans," and he thinks the fact of the
constant character of their designs and proportions,
and the great beauty and perfection of their achieve-
ments points to the existence of a distinct style, which he
calls " Aryan." These old Hindu rulers must have been
both men of taste and men of means, for the valley is
full of their structures, all of the same solid artistic
type. The trefoil arch, rising high into the tympanum of
the pediment, is a very noticeable feature of the style,
and in all the details there is a constancy and a
decorative quality which is as different from the
unrestrained fantasy of Indian ornament as it is from
the cold prose of modem work. Great uncertainty
exists as to the dates of most of the buildings. Anti-
quarians were at one time in the habit of much ante-
dating the respective foundations, and very incorrect
ideas as to the vast antiquity of the remains prevailed,
some authorities making them coeval with much of the
Egyptian work. Nowadays these dates are much
questioned. Some still consider it possible that portions

70 AFOOT THROUGH THE

of the temple on the Takht-i-Suleiman hill at Srinagar
are as old as the second century B.C., and that the
little rock temple that I visited beyond Bawan at
Bhumju belongs to a rather later period, but this is
far from probable, and the majority reduce their
age considerably. The greater part of the ruins
now to be seen was probably erected between
the fifth and tenth centuries. Sir Alexander Cun-
ningham places the reign of Ranaditya, the builder
of Martand, between 370-500 a.d., but Fergusson does
not admit its foundation before the eighth century.
Another difficult question is that of " roofs," for it is
almost impossible now to determine whether the great
fanes at Martand and Avantipura were covered with
slabs of the same beautiful blue limestone of which they
are built, or whether they were merely roofed with wood,
or as some have suggested, were left open to the heavens
— an improbability, one would imagine, in a climate
liable to long periods of rain and snow. If a foreign
influence is admitted — and it is almost impossible to
deny it — it was probably wielded by the Greeks who
settled in Afghanistan and the Punjab frontier under
Euthedymus as early as the third century e.g.

Besides the more extensive remains, there are small
temples in good preservation at Ladoo, on the right
bank of the Jhelum, a few miles below Avantipura, at
Payech (this one is extremely perfect, the capitals of
unusual beauty and grace), at Narastan, and in less
good preservation at many other 23laces. The miniature
size of many of these is a curious feature. Excepting
the great temples at Martand and Avantipura, very
few attain to larger dimensions than those of a " down-
country " shrine. The details are always carried out

KASHMIR VALLEYS 71

with loving care, and the workmanship is very perfect,
so that there can have been no idea of saving of labour.
Possibly the havoc wrought by the great natural forces
— by earthquake, floods, and fierce storms — filled with
fear the pious builders, and, lovingly careful of their
handiwork, they preferred a form better fitted by reason
of its compact solidity to withstand such dangers, to
one more imposing in size but less likely to endure.
The fear of invasion by folks of other creeds may also
have encouraged the building of less noticeable fanes.
Certainly the smaller ones have escaped to a large degree
the destruction wrought by iconoclastic rulers on the
greater structures. The tiny temple models, sometimes
found on pillars, are generally supposed to be funeral
monuments.

Buddhism has left very few traces in the land. A
rare stone with an image — possibly a Buddha — is dis-
covered from time to time; otherwise the influence of
those gentle teachers seems to have been swept entirely
away. Far more living is the belief in the " Naga "
(snake-worship). Half their religious rites are con-
nected with this superstition, and few of the temples are
built without either a moat round or a tank in front in
honour of this god. It is, perhaps, in recognition of the
faithful devotion ofi^ered that he keeps his myrmidons
from worrying the inhabitants too much, poisonous,
or certainly fatal bites, being small in number. The
temple of Pandrethan has one of the largest moats
I saw. This is a very perfect specimen of the later
Kashmir style; ornament had begun to run riot, and
the duplication of the parts betokens the change that
was coming over the builders' art. Cunningham assigns
as late a date as 930 a.d. to it, believing it to have been

72

AFOOT THROUGH THE

erected during the reign of King Partha. At that time
Srinagar occupied a site a good deal to the eastward
of its present position round this temple, but some
years after the completion of the shrine the old capital
was entirely destroyed by fire, the moat full of water
being the means by which the holy place was saved.

It is pleasant to think that that moat has been useful
in its time, for I bore it no goodwill. When I visited

stone Temple in water at Pandrethan

the place I found great difficulty in arriving at the
temple. I had been told that a boat was to be had,
by which means the passage could be successfully
negotiated, but this boat had sunk in the ooze, and
though the water had fallen very much, at the same
time there was sufficient of the liquid element to make
it impossible to walk across. Fortified by my recent
experiences in wading, I prepared for further efforts

KASHMIR VALLEYS 73

in that line, but, though rushing mountain streams may
be alarming, they are very preferable — from the waders'
point of view — to sloughs of despond. I know now
what Christian felt, and I sympathise. I received no
sympathy in my misadventure; two small children
looking on were only intensely amused! Having made
my preparation, I advanced a step; gently and swiftly
the black mud closed over my foot and embraced my
ankle; another step forward and the dark waters, or
rather the terrible clinging mud, had enveloped me to
my knees. I waited for nothing further. I cared not
for the Greek ornament hidden away in the dome, the
description of which had so raised my enthusiasm. I
minded not that others had overcome the difficulty. I
was ready to own myself vanquished, chicken-hearted,
anything, if only I could succeed in escaping from the
soft, hot blackness, with its terrible possibilities of
writhing life and slithery inhabitants. Far, far better
than such sensations was it to sit on the bank and gaze
at the curious stone roofing in pyramidal form following
the lines of the high pediments, and speculate how long
it would be before the trees and plants that had grown
between the blocks would have accomplished their
wicked designs of destruction, or whether any could be
found interested enough to attempt some preservation.
Large portions of the roof have already been forced out of
position, and it will not be long before it has entirely
fallen in. At Patau, a little village between Srinagar
and Baramula, there are also remains of two very fine
temples erected by some pious king and his like-minded
queen. They are of comparatively late dat€, probably
not earlier than the end of the ninth century.

The most ancient relic of all is the temple of the

'''4 AFOOT THROUGH THE

Takht-i-Suleiman, which, perched above the city, keeps
guard over the inhabitants. As an antiquity, I own
to having found it a very considerable fraud, for its great
age, on inquiry, reduces itself to a possible 300 B.C.
(generally considered incorrect), or a probable 300 a.d.,
and that is only the date of the outer wall and the
plinth. The upper structure is remarkably ugly, and
quite modern (that is, seventeenth century). I visited
it on various occasions, and found naught to admire

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save the glorious views to be obtained from it. Learned
archaeologists may be able to argue much from the small
scraps of the earlier buildings ; to me they were merely
rough blocks of limestone. The temple is a very popular
place of pilgrimage, crowds every Thursday mounting
the steep rock on which it stands one thousand feet
above the Dal Lake. I approached it from different
sides, but none of the routes are very pleasant, and as

KASHMIR VALLEYS 75

the hot weather came on I felt I was entitled to the
pilgrim's reward, whatever that may be, when I
achieved it. The Brahmin in charge, a kindly-faced old
man, with a shrewd look of worldly wisdom in his keen
eyes, would never take any gift, but generally gave me
a flower or two from the offerings brought by the
faithful — a rose and some marigolds. He pointed out
to me an inscription on one of the pillars supporting
the roof, and standing behind the central platform,
w^th the great Sivaite emblem encircled by a serpent.
The writing is Persian, and I believe sets forth that a
Soukar, a certain Haji Hushti, raised the idol, but the
dates are uncertain, and a portion of the inscription is
hidden under the floor. Kashmir is a land of tolerance ;
the real feeling of the people is Hindu, and they practise
its precepts of brotherly forbearance and silent
endurance. The spirit of a race cannot be changed,
though their form of worship is altered by royal edict,
and in spite of nominally being Mussulman, in practice
the "faith of the prophet" has lost most of its usual
characteristics. There is a very real and living sub-
stratum of Naga worship, and this influences followers
of both creeds. Buddhists have entirely disappeared
from the country, leaving scarce a trace of their
existence. The Sikhs are a very inconsiderable body,
so that the inhabitants of the valley are divided between
the two great creeds, some ninety-five per cent, being
Mahomedans, the rest Hindus. They share their holy
places and sacred springs very amicably. The Maho-
medans refrain from killing kine, and the Hindus halal,*
such birds and beasts as they may eat. Possibly the

* No Maliomedan may eat meat that has not had the invocation to the
prophet said over it before life was extinct.

76 AFOOT THROUGH THE

cruel persecutions and destruction ordered by Sikander,
*' the idol destroyer," and Aurungzeb imbued the people
with a real horror of intolerance; more probably their
forced conversion to a half-understood and wholly
perfunctory form of religion left them still under the
influence of their old hereditary creed.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 77

CHAPTER VII

Such life here, througli such lengths of hours,
Such miracles performed in play,
Such primal, naked forms of Howers,
Such letting nature have her way,
While heaven looks from its towers.

— Browning.

An early start — A distressed damsel finds a strange cavalier —
Snow slopes and sandals — A lonely post office — Supper and
sleep under difficulties.

After my various expeditions in search of antiquities,.
I felt entitled to a few days' rest in the shade of the
great chenaar trees, whose sheltering foliage makes
the Moonshi Bagh such an attractive camping-ground.
My doonga was moored there, while I worked my way
through a large pile of correspondence that had
accumulated during my absence, and laid in stores and
collected necessaries for some longer marches than I
had as yet accomplished.

In a few days all my preparations were complete.
" Orders to let go " were given, and I silently vanished
away in that swift and unostentatious fashion which is
customary in Kashmir, and which accentuates the
sensation of restraint on return to regions where houses

78 AFOOT THROUGH THE

are not movable quantities, and letters and bills pursue
one from Dan to Beersheba, every casual acquaintance
being let into the secret of name and address !

Slowly we punted our way through the Mar Nullah,
where the obviousness of the odours was compensated
for by its piquant picturesqueness, passed under bridges
— some of them so ancient that they named Akbar
as their founder — through other waterways, where
a very heavy thunderstorm delayed us, fierce gusts of
wind alternating with the deafening roar of the long,
echoing claps. After tying up for the night under the
protection of some willows, we crossed the Anchar
Lake, a vast swamp, at times almost silted up with solid
land, and before the afternoon were at Ganderbal, the
starting-place for travellers up the Sind Valley en route
to Ladakh and Baltistan. The last reach before fetching
our moorings proved a severe pull, the stream, swollen
by the melting of the snows, flowing down with fierce
force, threatening to tear away the remaining piers of
the broken bridge and overflow the low-lying fields.
We found eventually a sheltered backwater, and,
sending out my men to collect a couple of baggage
ponies and some coolies, I roamed around and amused
myself sketching, in very unskilful fashion, fascinating
iris-crowned ziarats, dark-eyed children with scarlet
caps, roughly-carved gateways set in flaming wild
pomegranate bushes, and other delightful scraps of
colour. The stufi^y heat was trying, and added strongly
to my desire for cooler regions — a desire more than
satisfied, as will be shown. The mulberries were just
beginning to ripen, and the children were out busily
picking them. Thousands of these trees are found in
every part of the valley, giving shade and refreshment

KASHMIR VALLEYS 79

to the parched pedestrian. The cloying sweetness of
this small wild variety soon nauseates, and in a short
time they are left entirely to the cattle, great branches
being cut or the fruit shaken down in heaps for their
benefit. Returning to the boat by a path bordered
with roses and jessamine, I plucked bouquets of the
yellow and pink blooms, almost overpowering in their
fragrance, and I was pleased by the appreciation of
two coolies who stopped their downward march to
collect some particularly good specimens growing high
up among the rocks.

By six the following morning I w^as ready for our
start, and watched the ponies being laden up. This
their masters accomplished by the slow process of
fastening on in insufficient style one object, and
letting the pony wriggle it round, they the
while grumbling at the weight, and always
beginning the loads by the most unwieldy object,
so that no room was left for other addenda.
When the sight had ceased to amuse, I quite firmly, and
not too mildly, suggested a different modiLs operandi,
audibly stating the reduction from backsheesh neces-
sitated by each hitch or sHp, and at last had the pleasure
of seeing my " Lares and Penates," nobly topped by the
fine outline of the bath, disappearing at a fair pace
down the sunlit road.

It w^as a day of days. A cool breeze tempered some-
what the fierce heat of the sun, and for several miles the
road was shaded by great overhanging mulberry and
walnut trees. Spring was in the air ; hundreds of birds
twittered and chirruped from the bushes by the way-
side; thousands of butterflies wrought a flicker of
colour. The villages we passed through were almost

80 AFOOT THROUGH THE

hidden in a wealth of fruit trees, the vast green canopies
of the walnuts and the brimij (Celtis australis) pro-
ducing a charming coohiess. Some six miles beyond
my starting-point the road crossed the Sind, here a
wide-spreading, brawling mountain torrent, the whole
valley widened, the mountains standing back on either
side. It was a " world of roses." Maybe people at home
think they know what this means. I am sorry for
them; they are mistaken. I have seen wild and garden
roses in many places, as I thought, in vast quantities,
but a land clothed in roses I did not know. They were
in millions, the mingling of hues — white, blush pink,
deepest blood red — producing a mosaic of colour
amazing in richness, in variety. The grey rocks were
hidden under the clinging bushes, the air was full of
their perfume, they were as much the universal garb
of the earth as grass and daisies in less-favoured
regions. At intervals a heavier perfume told of the
presence of bushes of the great yellow jessamine, with
its bunches of handsome, luscious flowers. Impossible
to hurry, it was difficult to keep to a progressive pace,
when every instant the eye was arrested by some fresh
object of interest.

Fifteen miles under such conditions did not seem a
long walk, and it was only with a pleasant sense of
enjoyment of the quiet restfulness that I reached the
pretty camping-ground at Kangan, under a group of
walnuts whose branches were plentifully decorated
with mistletoe, a parasite that I found exceedingly
thriving all up this valley. A long afternoon
of reading and writing I spent in a shady nook
above the streams, seated in a willow stump that
stretched out over the water. The spot was wonderfully

KASHMIR VALLEYS 81

remote and solitary, an ideal resting-place for some
Hindu ascetic seeking knowledge apart from the world,
but desiring a cell where " beauty did abound."

The night was almost as hght as the day, so
brilliant was the moon, and foaming stream and wooded
glade were flooded with a soft, illuminating radiance
that touched all things with fairy wand and added a
new charm to what had even, in the more prosaic day-
light, seemed all too fascinating. The start in the early
dawn while on this expedition was a daily fresh delight,
the dew sparkled in the light of the rising sun, a fresh
breeze acted like a tonic, bracing one up for the
walk, and all nature's colours bore an added brilliance.
The march out from Kangan was especially delightful.
Gently rising and falling, the path was sometimes on
a level with the stream, sometimes high above it,
crossing from bank to bank as the mountains closed
in on one side or the other, leaving no space for even
a goat track; everywhere the sweetness of newly-
opened flowers, everywhere the brilliance of early spring
foliage. In places the Sind, swollen by recent rains,
became a mighty mountain torrent, carrying great trees
with it in its strong current. At one point it had
completely carried away both bank and path, leaving
no choice, for the rocks rose precipitously from the
waters, to passing through the tide, but retracing one's
steps for several miles. That is always an undesirable
proceeding when the day's route is already sufficiently
long, and I was gazing rather sadly at the waste of
waters with but small desire to repeat my wading
experiments, when by came an old man with a laden
pony, strange knight errant, but his lack of appropriate
exterior was no bar to his efficiency.

82 AFOOT THROUGH THE

" Ho ! ho ! " he laughed, for he was vastly enter-
t-ained by my dilemma, "will the Sahib let me carry
her across, or will she mount my pony ? " The pony,
I thought, had the steadiest gait, so on to his back I
climbed on top of the great bags of salt; it was an
uneasy perch, in spite of wedging in my feet under
the pack on each side. But the pony was firm in spite
of the swift current and the slippery boulders, and in a
few minutes I was safely landed on the further side.
I had not the wherewithal to reward my Charon, my
ptirse being in charge of the headman, but a pice
(about equal to a farthing), found lurking in the corner
of my pocket, apparently was satisfying backsheesh.
It would buy him a breakfast — two of the native barley-
meal rolls being sold for that sum — and with many good
wishes to the " Huzur " and more chuckles over the
adventure, the old man went on his way. Breakfast
under a giant walnut made a pleasant interval, and then
I pressed on quickly, for clouds were gathering, a cold
wind had sprung up, and occasional claps of thunder
warned that the storm was not far off. A few miles of
very rough walking on a track that switchbacked with
a violence that forced one's knees into the condition of
a cab-horse's of several seasons' wear, and Revel was
reached, a tiny camping-ground at the mouth of the
nullah, with a good reputation for bear. The hills here
formed an angular shelter, for which I was very
thankful, for the tempest swept down the valley,
bringing with it a wild raffle of rain, and tent ropes
and poles were strained to their last capacity. The
river roared as it rolled along the burden of added
waters; wildly shrieked the wind, snatching and
tearing at our little canvases, houses, and earth, and

KASHMIR VALLEYS 83

they were blurred and blotted out as if with a wall of
smoked glass. Inside my tent things were not so bad
as they might have been, for the flaps were firmly laced
up, a deep trench dug round to carry off the water, and,
curled up in all my warm wraps on my bed, I read
contentedly, merely wondering if the pole did give way
whether it would brain me, or if I should be pain-
lessly smothered in the sodden sides of my dwelling!

By dawn the skies were clean swept, and when I
was ready for my start at half-past six the sun was
shining on a rain-drenched world, clear of ever}^ dust
mark, decked by nature with her brightest hues,
stainless and joyful. It was impossible to feel fatigue
on such a day; ever}^ living thing moved with fresh
energy, every leaf and flower was imbued with a new
beauty and brilliance. The path wound about the side
of the cliffs, carried over the stream from time to time
by the most insecure of light bridges, that had to be
used with infinite care for fear of sudden precipitation
into the wild torrent below, the yawning spaces being
more strongly marked than the connecting planks! I
passed many herds of goats, some of them consisting of
vast numbers. Their presence was too strongly marked
by their sickening smell to be altogether pleasant, but
they were handsome animals, many extraordinarily tall,
with curious Roman noses, wicked yellow eyes, and
shaggy grey beards. Their coats seemed marvellously
silky, and it was not difficult to understand the beauty
of the dresses manufactured from them when it was
seen how perfect was the raw material. Some of the
women in charge were of a very handsome, uncommon
type, with tall, well-knit figures, handsome straight
features, fair skins, and dark eyes. These Balti women

84 AFOOT THROUGH THE

are a race apart, noted for their looks, which are in
striking contrast to those of the men, who are dark
and squat. They wore, too, a much more becoming
costume than most native women. The long, loose
trousers were of dull blue cotton with coloured stripes,
the tunic of the same, and the curious high head-dress of
blue material resembling much in form the headgear of
the Pharaohs as depicted in their monuments, while
round their necks were countless ornaments and neck-
laces, composed for the most part of coloured and silver
beads, cowrie shells, and tassels of cloves. The wearers
were much amused by my scrutiny, and returned my
curiosity with interest, making apparently great jokes
at my expense. Most of the men I met, either escorting
herds or long trains of merchandise, or the baggage of
sporting Sahibs, were of the distinct Mongohan type, very
short, flat-faced, and swarthy. They were clothed entirely
in sad-coloured puttoo, even to their loose shoes and
caps, which, in general form, resembled quaintly those
generally used by Frenchmen while travelling, having a
queer peak in front and a turn-up brim at the back,
and were ornamented with large bunches of the snow
primulas tucked away behind the ears. The hair was
worn either plaited into a minute pig-tail just reaching
the neck, or frizzled out on each side of the face. Many
of these hardy little porters had yaks instead of ponies
or mules, and splendid baggage carriers these unwieldy
looking animals make, with their bull heads and cob-
like bodies. No amount of snow frightens them, and
they are capable of keeping their footing on the roughest
track though heavily laden, and, like elephants, are very
careful of themselves, testing each step when on unsafe
ground, and they make good though rough mounts
when dangerous places have to be traversed.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 85

Besides Baltis and Ladakhis various other of the
rough, wandering tribes of Central Asia were to be met
on the road to the Zogi La, many distinctly of Chinese
cast of countenance, others showing more of the
Turkoman. So long as the pass is open, scarce an hour
passes without meeting some party who have made
their way across, and as each little caravan went by, it
was amusing to speculate from dress and language what
distant country they hailed from. Many encampments
of merchants I passed. They had taken advantage of
the first open weather to move on from the direction of
Leh, where they had wintered after leaving Yarkand,
Kashgar, and various other Central Asian markets, and
carried with them a curious assortment of salt brick,
tea, silver goods, exquisite silks and embroideries of
great beauty of colour and design, printed Russian
cottons, curious barbaric jewellery and polished pebble
work from Turkestan and Ladakh. A sporting Sahib
also passed after six months spent in the highlands of
Astor, Chilas, and Baltistan. He looked almost as rough
and unkempt as his own wald porters, who were bringing
down a noble collection of trophies — ibex, markhor,
thar, and several other varieties of the wild sheep and
goat, besides some handsome bear skins. Sportsmen,
if they wish to obtain any real success, have to push
very much further afield than was the case a few years
ago, when it sufficed to go into the hills a few miles
from the Jhelum to secure good shooting and collect
fine specimens. To prevent the absolute extermination
of big game, the Maharajah has introduced a system of
licences which works admirably, for while the scale is not
at all prohibitive to one who comes up on six months'
leave or for a longer period, it stops an indiscriminate
slaughter of animals by those who, running up for a few

iS6 AFOOT THEOUGH THE

days or a week or two, were rapidly causing the dis-
appearance of all game in the nearer nullahs. The
sportsmen's life in the wild, rocky, barren hills beyond
the Happy Valley is an exciting and an interesting
one. The stalks are frequently over hills that to ordinary
folk would appear quite inaccessible, and quite impass-
able for all porters ; consequently, the keen shikari must
learn to face all weathers and spend nights unsheltered
from the elements save by such clothes as he stands up
in, and perhaps a sleeping bag of felt and fur. This,
and the long days spent on the hillsides, season him to
the conditions of a hunter's life in a way nothing
else will; and from the intimate knowledge those
men acquire, who have been long among the
various mountain tribes, of language, habits, and
customs, they become very valuable in time of
unrest when fighting is in the air, and as is usually
the case in distant corners of our vast empire, there are
but few at hand to control the disturbance or to under-
stand its causes. Ladies have often accompanied these
distant sporting expeditions, and have found plenty of
work — securing food supplies, superintending the camp
arrangements, mending, and washing — besides amusing
themselves with a rifle when game was to be had within
reasonable distance. Many women become very expert
rifle shots when they can find scope for their skill without
over-fatigue, a thing which seldom fails both to unsteady
hand and eye.

To return to my march from Revel, — from
a village about six miles beyond it, Gagangair,
where the camping-ground even for Kashmir was
unusually beautiful, the path began to ascend at times
gently, at other points with a swiftness and abruptness

KASHMIR VALLEYS

87

not a little disconcerting. The mountains were closing
in on either side, and the whole character of the scenery
changed, for the path rose gradually some five thousand
feet in six miles. For the first three miles the Sind raced

Rocks and rapids near Sonamerg

along in its narrow bed with a wild fury that made its
progress a succession of rapids; twisting, turning, tor-
menting, the tawny, foam-flecked waters hurled them-
selves along, sweeping in their wild career over stones

88 AFOOT THROUGH THE

and along the steep banks, bearing in their course huge
tree trunks like matchwood, and fed by countless
mountain streams that in maddest fashion threaded as
with lines of silver the dark pine forests^ — still frost-
bound above, liberated below by the powerful spring
sun — and bringing with them in their wild descent all
boulders or blocks of wood that threatened to bar their
way. From the path vast rocks rose precipitously,
cutting the sky ten thousand feet above with their
jagged edges, outer barriers of the huge barricade
behind them, snowy monsters, the rivals of Haramuk
and Kolahoi, whose heads showed at intervals between
the nearer heights. Except in name the track was
often non-existent, hidden at times under the blocks
of huge moraines, swept away by the wild waters of the
river that forced one to clamber through the flowery
shrubs that formed the undergrowth of the dark forests
of pine, whose gloom was only broken by vivid patches
of young birches and walnuts just bursting into
leaf. The scene would have been rugged to the
point of desolation but for the saving grace of the
flowers. Tufts of violets and saxifrages patched
the ground with colour, and the dark glossy foliage
of the laurels was relieved by flowering viburnums,
graceful ferns, and some uncommon species of hazel.
The roses and jessamines had been left behind after
the second march, and all these had been cherished
by the snow in the long winter months. It was a lonely
path, the brightness of the early dawn had faded away,
and there was a threatening of rain in the air which
betokened fresh snow on the pass, a prospect to deter
all possible pedestrians. During the later hours of my
long march of twenty miles I only met one party of

:K±SHMIR VAUiEYS 89

coolies struggling up with a small supply of grain to
the inhabitants of Sonamerg. In this solitude I found
the visible signs of the telegraph, viz., the poles and
w^ires, a great comfort. Very unlike the even regularity
of the companies of message conductors so familiar on
our roads and railways at home, these clambered about
the hillside emulating the accompUshments of the
giddy mountain goat, sometimes invisible while taking
a short cut across the mountain tops, then reappearing
passing through forest or over the great boulders of
some huge moraine. I regretted their absence when out
of sight, welcomed them back when they returned to
my narrow path. It must have appeared a wellnigh
impossible feat w^hen it was first proposed to join the
far-away British outpost of Gilgit with Leh and
Srinagar, the awful winter tempests working deadly
havoc on hillside and open merg ; but the task has been
accomplished with that kind of determination which
seems to work blindly and inevitably whenever mind
comes in contact with more natural obstacles, and in the
loneliest marches I hardly felt cut off from the protect' on
of the " Sirkar " when so close at hand was the medium
of quick communication with the headquarters of that
"raj," which, by its far-reaching power, permitted
lonely wanderings through a country, for centuries the
scene of wild disturbances and constant warfare.

My journey up was not to be accomplished without
some excitements, for when within six miles of Sonamerg
I found myself entering a region of deep-lying snows, a
broken bridge over the Sind showed a thickness of
nearly twelve feet, and had but recently been destroyed.
It preluded the first of my difficulties, for a great sheet
of snow many feet deep was lying right across the path,

90 AFOOT THROUGH THE

cut off below by the wild waves of the stream. It
stretched away above to a vast overhanging crag, the
crown of the height I was crossing. Walking on snow in
sandals has always its drawbacks, and when that walk-
ing means picking your way across a field lying at an
angle of forty-five deg. with a drop of fifty feet, only
bound by an uncomfortably rock-filled and busthng
torrent, the disagreeables are multiplied. However,
as there is no standing still in this world, I went
on and found myself far too interested in test-
ing the security of each foothold to trouble
about what was below or behind. Safely landed
on the further side after about two hundred
yards of this slithering kind of marching, and having
more or less dried my sandals, I moved on for further
experiments, and realised soon that the morning would
not be passed without even keener emotions. At one
spot where the stream widened into a kind of pool, or
rather " broad " of rocks, washed by a frenzy of foam-
crowned, tumultuous waters, a huge snow heap barred
the way. It had slipped bodily down the mountain
side into the path, leaving no space between itself and
the stream. As I approached, three men and two ponies
were attempting to force their way through the tumult
of waters. One pony, having lost its footing, had tried
to mount a large boulder, and when I saw it it was feebly
see-sawing backwards and forwards in imminent danger
of sUpping off into the deep holes on either side. Its
owners were strong and active, and succeeded, after
relieving it of its load, in leading, or rather half-carr}dng,
it into more secure places. Watching them had neither
helped nor encouraged me. The coolies signed to try
their ponies, but the fate of their late loads had not

KASHMIR VALLEYS 91

incited me to like methods, and I preferred clambering
up my snow height, though digging inadequately shod
toes into frozen snow is a slow method of making steps.
I had arrived at a considerable height when I was
unpleasantly surprised by a nasty crevasse! Not wide
enough to have troubled a very moderate jumper under
ordinary circumstances, it presented to me many diffi-
culties. The " take-off " was considerably lower than
the further side, with the additional difficulty of being
on a considerable slope. I did not feel at all hopeful
about anything. I wished dismally I had elected to
end my days in any kind of an ordinary resting-place
giving opportunities of sending last messages and final
requests to a circle of sorrowing friends, instead of
being hard-frozen like beef or mutton at the bottom of
a snow block. I even wondered if my men would ever
discover what had become of me, or if they would simply
regard it as a matter of non-interference, the strange
goings and comings of the " Sahib log " being beyond
the province of a poor man to understand ! Eventually,
with a gasp and a valiant effort, I was across my
" yawning chasm," and for the next mile found my path
fairh' easy, though the recent thaw made the security
of a snow bridge rather doubtful. The stream, like-
wise, of course, the path, took an abrupt turn to the left,
and I was in a region already touched with spring's life-
giving hand. The merg, site of old Sonamerg, was all
dotted with tiny flowers, the first crop after the melting
of the snows. The Sind, now fallen into quieter
methods, pursued its tranquil way between beds of
white marsh marigolds, while on either side spread a
carjDet of tiny primulas, the gagea lutea, small fritillaries,
gentians, a countless, brightly-clad host.

92 AFOOT THROUGH THE

After crossing a bridge over the main stream the
path, curving upwards, joined together tv^o or three
green terraces till the forest region was reached. Some
way to the left below the forest could be seen the
charred ruins of the old summer station, which once
boasted a church and post office, besides various
bungalows, but was totally destroyed by fire some years
ago. The present camping-ground is some two miles
beyond on an " upland green," from which the hills
have receded on either side, leaving the river to make
its way through a fairly broad valley. Dark clouds
were hanging over the snow peaks, a chill breeze had
sprung up and whistled with dismal threatening
through the trees, many of which were still bare, as I
made my way to the httle village, where I thought it
just possible I might find letters brought up from
Srinagar by relays of swift runners. The scene was
sadly desolate, grey skies above, grey waters below, and
the moisture-laden atmosphere had changed the purity
of the mountain's snowy dress to a like leaden hue. I
was glad enough to reach the office of Her Majesty's
mails, and to find folk who could understand lowland
bat (talk), for the hill folk I had been meeting had all
strange lingos of their own. I found some notes, heard
very dismal forecasts of the weather, and had the
pleasure of looking through a small heap of letters
which informed me by their addresses who were expected
in this far-away centre of news. For the greater part
they were for various sportsmen still camping on the
heights beyond the Zogi I^a shooting, and many of
them had been waiting for months. It is a strange
thing how soon we accustom ourselves to doing wi'hout
what are usually considered necessaries. Talk to folk

KASHMIR VALLEYS 93

at home of only getting letters once a fortnight and
they will hold up their hands in horror at the notion
of such outlandish arrangements, but once wander
away in search of new interests and pursuits, and
months without news of the outer world will scarcely
seem a hardship. I learned that I was the only lady
who had been up the valley that season. The snows
were falling later than usual, and the occasional summer
travellers had not thought of putting in an appearance.
The postmaster warned me that the latest arrivals from
the pass spoke of bad weather threatening, and advised
me if I did not wish to have my camp bodily swept
away to make everything very tight.

This I proceeded to see to, when late in the after-
noon, after many difficulties, my baggage ponies arrived.
The ground was much exposed, and the wind having
risen to a tempest, with threatenings of snow, it was
extremely difficult to pitch the tents. This, however,
we eventually succeeded in doing, but a regular dinner
was beyond the skill even of the faithful Assiza, though
he managed to keep a fire lighted and to melt some
good condensed soup I had, which, thickened with
plenty of rice, formed an excellent supper. Then,
rolling myself up in every available wrap, I turned in,
a hot stone, which had served to shelter the fire, being
brought close to the charpoy (bed) to keep my feet
from getting numb. It was not a cheerful position,
and the prospect of being snowed up is not a rosy one
to a person always inclined to be chilly! About dawn
the wind moderated, the temperature rose considerably,
and the tent having quite decided to stand firm, I was
able to get a good sleep.

94 AFOOT THROUGH THE

CHAPTER VIII

Wliat, shall those flowers that deck'd thy garland erst,
Upon thy grave be wastefuUy dispersed?

—T. Nash (1595).

For the second time am turned back by snowy passes — My
camp and I liave a difference — Compensating circum-
stances— Hot march and a rose-strewn grave.

When, after several hours' sound sleep, I awoke, it was
to find the earth clean, washed, and glistening in the
warming sunlight, a deep blue sky overhead flecked with
white clouds and cut by white peaks that, rising tier
above tier like vast giants in serried ranges, stretched
away on every side, cutting off the tiny green merg
where I was resting from all contact with the outer
world save by two precarious paths. The coolies,
backed by the lambadar (village headman) resolutely
refused to push on while the weather was so uncertain.
Heavy snow was reported as having fallen during the
night in the Zogi La, and they determined that it would
be risking too much to attempt its passage. I regretted
much not being able to cross the pass, but snowstorms
are inconvenient things and Uable to prevent all locomo-
tion, and they certainly stop most effectually all distant
prospects. So as time was some object, and I had no

KASHMIR VALLEYS

95

wish to remain weather-bound in an inadequate hut, I
decided to march some eight miles towards Baltal,
returning the same day to my own camp, and if the
weather still looked threatening, to return down the
valley. My men had already begun to strike their own
tents, hoping to be off speedily to warmer regions, and
prophesied dire disaster as the result of my determina-
tion to march on ; but as Kashmiris are arrant cowards

Huts and Bridge near the Zogi La

where the weather is concerned, and will swear to any
statement likely to assist them in a speedy return to
their own homes, I stuck to my point, and, hung about
with almost as many implements as the " White Knight,"
I started on my expedition, some provisions in a small
satchel, painting materials in one large pocket of my
flapping coat, tin box for flowers in the other, a long-

9G AFOOT THROUGH THE

pointed stick, and a thick coat strapped across my back.
The sun was at first so warm that my impedimenta
were rather a trial, but the path was easy through
gently undulating grasslands, dotted about with count-
less snow primulas, anemones, and in sheltered spots
the pretty spotted kumaon iris, and fritillaries. Peace-
fully the Sind pursued its way, its waters a milky blue
from the melted snows that had joined its stream.

The huge snow bridges had in places been broken
through ; in others they were still standing — solid piles,
twenty to forty feet deep. From here, while they are
still passable, there is a possible route to the famous
Amarnath, a sacred place of pilgrimage where the god
Siva is worshipped with many curious rites by such
pilgrims as are able to brave the difficulties of the path
and reach the frozen cave, a journey that can only be
accomplished for a very short period each summer. The
partial thawing of the previous week, together with
the threatening of further heavy snows, prevented any
attempt on my part, and I continued my way. Small
parties of Baltis with ponies passed me. They were
clad in the usual grim uniform of puttoo, enlivened
only by bunches of mauve primulas in their caps, the
hair frizzed out on either side of the face. I inquired
how far they had come. They stared. I repeated the
same question in slightly varied phrases. Again the
same result. Then I pointed out what I considered
excellent mimetic action, and they understood me to
ask for something to eat. Then I waved my hand in
the direction of Baltal and the Zogi La, and asked,
"Much snow?" This time they concluded I was
inquiring the future state of the weather, and answered
something about " warojah " and " shin " (much snow),

KASHMIR VALLEYS 97

and gazed at the sk}^ so I knew they were prophesying
another downfall. It was hopeless to make them under-
stand more, so we sat down and smiled at one another.
I regretted their " local " odour, but admired the " local
colour " of their appearance, and finally sketched them,
as I thought it likely the former would leave a stronger
impression on my memory than the latter! The path
continued with the same varied scener\" on either side,
sometimes grassy meadows, sometimes forest lands,
always rising slightly, so that two miles before Baltal
I was at an elevation of over eleven thousand feet.
Again the early brightness had passed away, and
covered with a dull weight of grey mist there was an
unpleasantly leaden look in the clouds. The wind had
a whistling sound, and very regretfully I turned away
from the Zogi La pass, and took my way campwards.
In this world it is always the garden on the other side
of the wall that holds out such attractive prospects,
so with the vast wall of rock before me I felt convinced
that could I once reach its summit, prospects far more
beautiful than any I had yet seen would be opened
before me. I comforted myself with the assurance that
the dishes when tasted seldom were equal to their titles
on the bill of fare, and that it was only too probable
that the heights above Baltal reached, there would be
little to reward my searching gaze. In imagination I
could realise the giant peaks on every side. Far to the
west great Nanga Parbat, nigh twenty-seven thousand
feet, its huge head supported on two vast shoulders,
king of the thousand heights that lie around him
in wild tumbled confusion. Nearer Haramuk, ten
thousand feet lower, its crest covered with snow save
for one short week in the year, and crowned, so the

H

98 AFOOT THROUGH THE

legend rims, with an emerald, the glow of whose green
rays will give for ever relief from the most dangerous
snake bite. To the south Mahadeo, sacred mountain,
much revered by Hindus, and far away hemming in the
Happy Valley on the southern side the far-stretching
range of the Pir Panjal, truly mighty barricades, each
" pir " (peak) the centre of innumerable stories and
traditions, half-worshipped by the country folk for its
size and aloofness, consulted by them with anxious
prayer as the seat of an incorruptible oracle as the time
of harvest approaches and signs of the weather are
wanted. Baltal itself is a mere collection of huts, and
from them the real ascent of the pass, the scene in the
Middle Ages of a great fight, when the Drasmen fought
their best, but in vain, to prevent the Yarkandi invaders
entering and wintering in Kashmir.

My return to camp was a slow progress, so many tiny
flowers were springing up taking possession of the
earth on the retreat of the snows, armies of bright
primulas, spotted irises, small members of the lily clan,
whose examination would well repay the " earnest
botanist." My men I met on the road, being anxious
lest I should be overtaken by the storm that seemed
imminent, and my supper was again an affair of
" holding hard and eating fast," as the wind struggled
with the guy ropes and made incursion as the flap was
opened to allow ingress.

At midnight the wind sank and the moon
rose, casting an unearthly radiance over sloping
grassland and snowy heights. The small native
village was hidden from my sight by the sheltering
high ground behind it, and my men had wandered off
as the weather improved to have a " crack " with chums

KASHMIR VALLEYS 99

down in the huts, probably to work up another con-
spiracy to influence my speedy departure, and I felt
curiously aloof from all and everything that was not
part of the surrounding scene. The snows were sisters,
the moon's soft radiance an especial protection, the past
had slipped away, the future could never be a reality,
silence, shadow, sadness, solitude, intense pleasure —
they were the sum of existence; all else were but the
whirling figures on a stage called by its puny players
the world — something from which I was cut off remote.
The moon waned, the stars shone out relieved of the
burden of the brighter light, the dawn, with fine-drawn
net, drew them from the sky, and a light breeze whis-
pered that the sun would soon be back to take up again
his sovereignty and heal all dreamers with the touch
of his prosaic light. The night was passed, and a
servant with dismal whine proclaimed that food for
breakfast there was none ; the " presence " must march
quickly to reach less " jungly " places, or starvation
would be her lot. Even this threat did not produce
consternation ; rice and " kultchas " (native cakes made
of flour and ghi — oiled butter) are extremely satisfying,
and always to be obtained at native villages. I had
some tea, and when two eggs were also produced I felt
that pedestrian could not desire more.

I marched to Revel that day — further than I
intended, for I had told my men to stop at
Gagangair, as I wished to leave the direct way
at various points to look for flowers, thereby
considerably lengthening the thirteen miles. I found
the track a good deal easier than when I had come up
two days before, the snow being harder, the river less
inclined to break its bounds, but the crevasse on the

100 AFOOT THROUGH THE

snow mound remained, and, in fact, had widened, but
jumping down has not the terrors of the reverse
movement. For many miles there was nothing of great
interest to note, but so many days of marching were
beginning to tell, and I found the last mile or two into
Gagangair very long. To my dismay and annoyance,
when I arrived at that beautiful camping-ground,
expecting a rest under the shade of its magnificent
walnuts, not a sign of my camp was to be seen — ^my
men had passed me early in the day when I was flower-
hunting. A sleepy coolie dragged himself up out of a
hut and remarked that he had been left behind to show
the Sahib the rest of the way, as they had gone on to
Revel, knowing I should like that ground best. Well
did I understand their little trick. Afraid that if
they remained behind to consult me as to my wishes
they would be ordered to stay at Gagangair, they had
pushed on to Revel, having heard probably that some
other camp was there, for, above all things, a native
loves society. I was in a dilemma, for if I did not
weakly give in, but held out and satisfied myself that
I was showing moral strength, the probabilities were
that I might have many hours to wait before my things
arrived, and there would be no dinner procurable. So,
most reluctantly, I put my pride in my pocket, and tried
to march on the least used-up portions of my very weary
feet; but I wondered whether six miles had ever been
so long drawn out, though luckily, for a greater part
of the way, the track was beautifully shaded by trees,
and though rough, not too much on the lines of a
switchback, the general slope descending. Some roses
had appeared to add their decorating graces since I
had last passed, and there was a promise in the air of

KASHMIR VALLEYS 101

summer. Already Sonamerg was more than two
thousand feet above, and every yard brought nearer
the gay blossoms and balmier airs of the lower valley.
My guess was proved to be correct by the appearance
of various tents at the mouth of the Revel nullah, but
the ready appearance of tea on my arrival, and the
whisper that the Miss Sahib's bath was prepared,
weakened my stern resolve, and soothed my ruffled
temper so much as to make a very severe lecture an
impossibility, and when rested and refreshed, it was
some pleasure to " pass the time of day " with fellow-
wanderers, hear w^here they had been and what they
were doing, and find that two of the party were old
friends. They were on shooting intent, and hoped to
add to their already fairly good bag of bear — the
ripening of the mulberries bringing Bruin out of his
ordinary high lairs in search of such delightful tit-bits —
and they intended to delay their progress to higher
regions till fine weather was more certain. A pleasant
evening round a fire, good-nights in the open under the
star-lit sky, and the party broke up, I to turn in and
rest, so as to be ready for an early start. By half-past
five I was again on the road, the camp looking very
quiet after the bustle of the previous evening, for the
sportsmen were already away in the dark for a difficult
stalk to a distant height, and the ladies were not yet
ready for their morning outing, though I saw the syces
rubbing down the hardy, sure-footed hill ponies they
habitually used on the rough tracks, gaining such con-
fidence in their mounts that they even ventured across
the rickety swinging bridges, feeling certain that if
there was danger the " tats " (ponies) would be the first
to perceive it.

102 AFOOT THROUGH THE

The weather became oppressively hot as the
hours wore on, and vast herds of ponies were continu-
ally passing me on their way up to the higher pasturage.
Pony-breeding is a great industry in Kashmir, and there
is a constant demand for them in large quantities for
the distant journeys to Gilgit and Leh. Numbers are
bred on the shores of the Wular, where the rich marsh
grasses afford good food, but these have a tendency to
become soft-footed, and the village ponies of the Sind
and Lidar valleys are preferred by the native dealers,
markbans, who collect and sell them. His Highness
the Maharajah owns many herds, as well as horses of
larger breeds. Only lately the Government has had to
thank this prince for his generous offer of mounts for
our army in South Africa. Personally, though quite
pleased that the country should possess so many ponies,
I would have preferred that special paths should have
been made for them. With rocks on one side, and the
river hemming one in on the other, it is not easy to pass
some hundreds of kicking, bucking, squealing little gees,
who have apparently no idea of manners saving the
hopping over any obstacle that presents itself, and as
their keepers — " galawans " they are called — are seldom
immediately in attendance but are straying behind,
gossiping and smoking, some skill and more agility
has to be exercised to prevent being stamped out and
left to fertilise the soil. I found the bank broken away
at the same place as when I had passed up the valley,
and at first no means of crossing the " tumultuous deep "
presented itself, but an old coolie wandering by
suggested his broad shoulders as a good mount, and so
I clambered up, and therefore, hardly as steady as my
salt-laden tat, who had borne me over the first time,

KASHMIR VALLEYS 103

I was taken, after various slips and jolts, and deposited
in safety. " Where is the Sahib's pony ? " questioned my
Charon. "Shanks' mare" as an expression does not
exist, so far as I know, in either Hindustani or Kashmiri,
but he took in my methods of travel, and his eyes rolled
and his hands were held up in astonishment — " To
Baltal and back, to Islamabad, and beyond, and walking,
surely this is a marvel," and a friend who happened to
come by was enlightened as to my extraordinary pro-
ceedings. " Truly, truly, the ways of the Sahib log are
beyond comprehension," was their only comment. A
Kashmiri, when obliged, will march the most wonderful
distances, often with a heavy load on his back, but the
moment he is able, a pony is purchased for twenty to
sixty rupees, and never again, unless driven by some
untoward fate, will he use his own two feet for journeys.
By two o'clock I had reached the shady camping-
ground at Kangan, and found my tent under a glorious
walnut tree, plentifully decorated with mistletoe, so
fine and green that it would have made the fortune of a
flower shop later in the year. The day was young, but
I had travelled more than seventeen miles since the
dawn, and I felt I could allow myself an easy afternoon,
so I rested lying under the great shady trees, lulled to
a pleasant drowsiness by the myriad-voiced life all
around — gilded dragon flies, fluttering butterflies, and
golden-winged bees passed on their way full of energy
in the revivifying sunshine; birds trolled out gay
roundelays; through all was the deeper note of the
rushing stream speaking to the flower-decked banks,
gaily garrulous after the months of enforced silence
amid the vast snow stretches from which it was but
lately freed.

104 AFOOT THROUGH THE

As the afternoon wore away a pleasant coolness
replaced the earlier heat, and the soft light of stars
began to shine out from the soft, dark sky. I heard the
sad, monotonous tones of a native voice singing at some
distance. I started out, and, following the direction
of the sound, came to a small Mahomedan burying-place.
The great blue iris, always planted by them over the
graves of their loved ones, had finished flowering, and
walking round the little mounds was a tall, bowed figure
in the Pathan dress and cap, sprinkling rose petals
over them. Slowly he threw the handfuls of sweet-
scented leaves, and as he threw he chanted in saddest
tones —

Oh, stars that shine in this dear spot I love.

And shine alike on heav'n's distant gates.
Send from your calm serenity above

Sleep t' him, whom, sleepless here, despairing waits.

Broken, forlorn, upon the desert sand

That Slicks these tears, and utterly abased.

Looking across the lonely, level land

With thoughts more desolate than any waste.

Planets that sliine on what I so adore

Now laid for ever here in silent rest,
Protect that sleep, which I may watch no more,

I the forsaken, left, and dispossessed.

Loved with a love beyond all words or sense,

Lost with a grief beyond the saltest tear.
So lovely, so removed, remote, and hence

So doubly and so desperately dear.

Stars ! from your skies so purple and so calm,
Tliat through the centuries your secrets keep,

Send to this worn-out heart some soothing balm.
Send me, for many nights so sleepless, sleep.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 105

And ere the sunrise on this valley jars
My sense with sorrow and another day —

Through your soft magic, oh, my silver stars,
Turn sleep to death in your own loving way.

The petals were finished, the song closed, the sad
singer moved silently away among the deepening
shadows, alone with his great sorrow, leaving the beloved
spot in the safe keeping of the silver stars. A woman
who had been crouching over a tiny heap that covered
probably some small life mourned and remembered only
by herself, rose to go. " Who was the singer ? " I ques-
tioned. She shrugged her shoulders. " How should I
say; he came from another country, far away among
other hills; he does not know our speech; we do not
understand his; he came with a Sahib; but loving a
girl of this village, he stayed here, and then she died,
and he now lives alone, and sings, and sprinkles flowers ;
that is all." With another shrug of impatience at such
peculiarities she moved away. Truly, our own sorrows
do not always unlock the springs of sympathy for others'
griefs.

106 AFOOT THROUGH THE

CHAPTER IX

What is so sweet and dear
As a prosperous morn in May,
The confident prime of the day,
And the dauntless youth of the year.
When nothing that asks for bliss,
Asking aright is denied ;
And half of the world a bridegroom is.
And half of the world a bride ?

— W. Watson.

A long, hot march, mitigated by many flowers and mulberries —
I am offered food, mental and physical, by a holy man —
Rice growing, and the benefits of widowhood — The knife
that was lost is found, and my crew rejoice.

After my easy afternoon at Kangan I was ready to
start extremely early for one of the longest marches
that I accomplished while in Kashmir. I believed that
sixteen miles would have brought me to the Manasbal
Lake, but twenty-two was nearer the correct distance,
and that was the length given by the natives, who seldom
over-estimate marches. The first miles were passed
over rapidly on paths among glorious thickets of the
great yellow jessamine that filled the air with its heavy
sweetness, and bushes of hamamelis, while a rich
undergrowth of myriad-tinted roses scented the air
with their fresh aromatic smell, as different from

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KASHMIR VALLEYS 107

the perfume of the garden rose at home as were
its sharp, deep colours from those we are accus-
tomed to. The villages I passed were shaded,
almost hidden, by the huge trees planted round,
the brimij (Celtis australis), walnut, chenaar, all
attaining mammoth proportions. At a lovely spot,
Pron, I finally left the track by which I had gone up
the valley, and took the direct road to my destination,
the little mountain tarn of Manasbal, and before long
reached a flourishing village. Mangan I found to be its
name. Then seating myself under some splendid
mulberrv^ trees, and eating eagerly of the fine white fruit
handed to me in a large leaf by a native, I inquired how
much further was Manasbal. He looked aghast. " Far,
very far; a day's march; six coss round the mountain
that stretches out into the valley there, as far as a man
can see, and then up over a hill." This was not
encouraging, the day was very warm, and after my
sojourn in the snows I was feeling the close air of the
low valley very trying. The track, too, that was pointed
out wound along beside a shadeless canal. Mulberries
would be procurable, but though refreshing for the
moment, their over-luscious sweetness soon cloys, and
the thirsty traveller prefers the discomfort of dust-
clogged mouth to the nausea produced by them.
Fortunately, they never weary the native apparently, or
luckily his ox and his ass, to say nothing of the bears
that abound in his hills, or the mahseers (finest fish in
India) that inhabit his rivers. As twelve miles had to
be traversed before I could hope for rest and drinks, I
concluded to try and get them done as soon as possible,
and moved on, after visiting the beautiful village
ziarat (shrine), a square, wooden building of deepest-

108 - AFOOT THROUGH THE

coloured walnut woods, the shutters of finely-carved
work, and surmounted by a strange earthenware orna-
ment with tassels and bells at the corner, the roof
crowned with a field of white iris (a near relative of the
S. florentina), and the whole sheltered with bushes of
flaming pomegranate.

It was a weary, flat walk amid irrigated
fields and rough pastures, broken sometimes by
the vineyards that the State has done so much to foster.
In olden times Kashmir had been famous for its grapes,
but through laziness, or the exorbitant exactions of
officials, they had fallen out of cultivation, and only the
wild plant was seen clambering over fences or throwing
graceful arms round the tall poplars. Then the late
Maharajah, the good Ranbir Singh, wishing to assist his
people by every means in his power, introduced vines
from France, and for a time they did fairly well; but
the dreaded phylloxera made its appearance, and new
vines from America had to be introduced. At present
the State vineyards are under the charge of some Italian
gentlemen, and very well they fulfil their charge, and
yearly large quantities of Barsac and Medoc, as well
as apple brandy, are produced, and though the flavour
is still a little rough, they are good strengthening
wines, and at the rate of about one rupee for a quart
bottle will create a large demand. Transport is the
chief difficulty, for under present conditions of road
traffic it does not pay to send them out of the valley
scarcely even any distance from Srinagar. That hot
morning in early May I regretted hugely that there
were only leaves on the vines, and so exhausting was
the steamy air from the swampy irrigated rice fields
that I felt like an imperfectly washed and unstarched

KASHMIR VALLEYS 109

flannel, and could barely cast even one admiring look
on the various pretty flowers that I found growing.

Directly I began to ascend, pedicularis of peculiarly
soft shades of mauve, pink and white; tiny pink and
white dianthus ; roses, and small honeysuckles were con-
stant companions. It was nearly two o'clock before I
saw below me the blue waters of Manasbal, a mirror of
strange power, giving an added brilliance to everything
reflected in it, a piece of heaven's blue retaining some
threads of the gold with which that master craftsman,
the sun, points his dwelling. It was good enough after
the long stretch of eight hours to rest by a stream under
the shade of great chenaars and watch the cool waters
and the briUiant birds darting about as fearless as if
the millennium had come with its reign of universal
peace. Three kingfishers, like fleeting jewels, came
and perched close beside me, a Hving mosaic, and the
cuckoos and the larks trilled and called, hiding their
plainer coats away out of sight, leaving to the silent but
gaudy-clothed ones the display of bright plumes. This
little lake is scarcely two miles long, but it is very
beautiful in its loneliness among the great hiUs that
throw their outlines on its waters and shut out from it
the wild, rough winds that sweep down the exposed
valleys. All around the slopes are cut into great
terraces, relics of the days of Jehangir and his gay
garden makers. Only the solid parts of this work
remain, flower beds, fountains, pleasances having passed
away like the fair ones who made them, and the
masonry of the terraces and the huge trees they planted
are the only signs of those simomers, centuries ago, when
the Moguls and their followers sought rest in the
Happy VaUey, forgetting while there the weariness

110 AFOOT THROUGH THE

of statecraft and the ceaseless strain of a great
empire.

While waiting beside the spring I had found, slaking
my thirst there, and drowsily watching the swift flight
of the kingfishers, a native boy approached, and with
many salaams offered for my acceptance a basket of
fresh fruits and dun (walnuts), with much pride
pointing out the " gilas " (cherries), the very first that
had ripened. With the fruits was a bunch of roses and
" mogra " flowers (jessamine, used throughout India as
a symbol of welcome or affection) ; these he gave, with
a message from his master, a pious fakir, that he would
like a visit from the Huzur. As my men were apparently
lingering trying the pipes of all their acquaintances in
the various villages they passed, I thought it best to
make use of the fruits to stave off the pangs of hunger,
and to fill up time went down to see the kindly sender.
He proved a charming old man, dwelling with much
content in a largish cave beside the lake, a well-filled
garden surrounding his abode. He was used to visitors,
and seemed happy and sociable, but when I asked him
certain questions that always interest me, and which,
I think, are more likely to be known to those lonely
seekers after knowledge than to others, he shook his
head sadly. " In the time I have learnt much, known
much, but then I was solitary and silent. As the time
draws near for me to know Siva (god of death, and
therefore, according to Hindu teaching, god of new life),
I seek to know this world well, and its dwellers, my
brethren, and I talk to travellers of their countries, and
it may be that when I am young again my mind will
work as in old days, and I shall take part in the secrets
of the mighty ones. Read, think, learn, but rewards

KASHMIR VALLEYS

111

come only to those who dig deeply; for the majority,
wealth and rank are suitable and sufficient returns for
their works " ; and then, with something of scorn for the
superficial Westerner wishing the secret of the universe

A charming' old roan

in a nutshell, he quoted the words of a song usually sung
in another sense —

But thou, alas I wliat can I do for thee 1
By fate and thine own birth, set above
The need of all or any aid from me,
Too high for service, what shall my words prove ?

112 AFOOT THROUGH THE

I made a suitable return for the apt advice I had
received, and not being much advanced by it as to the
things of other worlds, I turned myself to the comforts
of this one, hurried my men, v^ho had at last arrived,
and before the afternoon had vv^aned I was bathed, fed,
and refreshed. Then I wandered round the shores of
the lake, beautifully shaded by huge trees, and watched
the great mountains looking at themselves in the mirror
at their feet as the setting sun illumined their sides with
a thousand different colours.

I saw large parties of Sepoys enjoying their
leave by feasting hugely on the quantities of
mulberries that lined every watercourse and road,
taking great care the while not to let the juice
stain their spotless white "mufti," and finally, having
found a comfortable seat, watched the children in long,
low, flat-bottomed boats collecting the harvest of the
lake, for, of the many plants that grow in these hill
tarns, there are but few that cannot be made use of
either for food or fodder for the cattle. Of the former,
the singhara, "water chestnut," is the most important,
but the nymfhoea stellata, and the roots of the reed mace
are also used, and both nuts and stem of the lotus are
considered delicacies. These latter were not yet out;
they are hardly in beauty till July; but a variety of
tiny white and yellow blooms were showing, and the
handsome, prickly, red-brown leaves of a begonia-like
plant added their tints to the bright mosaic of colour.
I had wandered many miles before the moon rose, and
before returning to my tents I strolled to the other side
of the sheet of water to visit a curious submerged temple,
apparently of the same type as so many in this country,
but as little remained visible save the gabled stone roof.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 113

it was more curious than interesting. When I chmbed
the terraces to my halting-place the moon was playing
Paul Pry among the trees, sending inquiring beams
among the dark stems touching the pointed roof of the
little temple with gentle hand as in benediction as the
fast-vanishing symbol of old-time faith, and casting a
silver radiance on the bubbling waters of the spring
where I had rested in the morning.

I found a fine supper spread for me beneath
the trees; my men had not forgotten that they
had not been quite forgiven for the changing
of the camping - ground two days before, and
evidently believed in an appeal to my gentler
feelings by some tempting dishes easier to prepare, with
a variety of fruits and vegetables to draw on, than away
in the infertile valley; besides these, a large cake and
a huge loaf of sweetened bread adorned my groaning
board. Knowing that I possessed neither portable oven
nor cake tin, I felt it only wise to observe discretion in
my inquiries, feeling sure that the larger resources of
my neighbour's camp in the Revel nullah had been
requisitioned. However, I was large-minded — and
hungr}' — enough to allow the offerings to work the
desired result, though I knew well that their object
would not absolve me from a fine bill for butter, eggs,
and the nasty little black currants that my man could
not persuade himself to leave unused, though I always
carefully picked them out as my offering, according to
Hindu custom, for the chance guest, on these occasions
generally birds. During the foregoing seven days I had
walked on an average about nineteen and a half miles
a day, my longest march being twenty-two, which,
added to an afternoon stroll of five miles, made a

114 AFOOT THROUGH THE

respectable twenty-seven in twenty-four hours, and I
felt myself entitled to a " day off," so it was arranged
that I should start early, the track being shadeless
almost the entire way, and after reaching Ganderbal,
eight miles distant, rest, or rather attend to writing,
mending, and such like uninteresting details that are
more or less necessary after a sojourn in the wilds.
Before six I had had my early cup of tea and w s ready to
be off, passing out of sight of the pretty little Manasbal
as I reached the edge of the cup-like ridge that divides
it from the adjoining lands. The ground was starred
with soft little pink and white dianthus, and great was
the pride of a handsome native woman when I per-
mitted her two toddling bairns to assist me in making
up a bunch of them. Then we walked together some
way, she carrying the babies, alternately teasing them
with fine large mulberries which she held to their
expectant lips and then quickly withdrew as they
eagerly essayed to snatch them. It was a pretty scene,
and I regretted when they strayed behind in a pretty,
deeply-shaded village.

I was obliged to push on across the steamy
rice fields, where the men Were working at the
first kushaba knee-deep in the slimy water-covered
ooze. This kushaba is a curious process peculiar to the
culture of rice, a grain that involves an enormous
amount of labour from the time it is sown in April till,
ripe and golden, it is cut and garnered in September.
First the soil is prepared by being made very dry or
very wet, according to the method preferred by the
cultivator. That generally adopted is the dry, and when
the ground has been ploughed it is then moistened for
the sowing. As a rule the seed is scattered directly on

KASHMIR VALLEYS 116

the fields, but some prefer to rear the young plants in
nurseries. When the plants begin to grow, then is the
time for the cultivator to show his skill, for this kushaba
is no ordinary weeding. With hands or feet, preferably
the former, each plant has to be felt, distinguished
from weeds or false rice, as the spurious varieties are
called, and packed as close together as possible. Some-
times the entire crop is uprooted and replanted, and
one man at least must be continually on the watch till
the plants are sufficiently strong to fight their own
battles, so fast-growing and choking are the weeds. No
one not trained to this species of mud larks from their
earhest days can hope to excel, and none need expect
to escape from lumbago, the sure result of standing for
hours in icy water and insufficient clothes. Three times
has this process of weeding and pulling up the crop to
be gone through, and a man had better not be beguiled
by the large returns of a successful rice harvest into
attempting to cultivate it unless possessed of a water-
proof skin, web feet, a double-hinged back, and perfect
sight and touch wherewith to detect the slightest
variation of leaf, the only outward difference in the
young plants between the good and the useless.

Even when swamped with greatest care and scuffled
with skilful fingers, fatal disease often destroys the labour
of two spring months. " Rai " works great havoc, and
is as mysterious in its origin as peculiar in its cures. Of
these I had an example, for, as I was resting, hat in
hand, under a solitary chenaar that sentineled a great
terrace of fields, a native inquired if I were alone.
" No," I replied, not understanding the drift of his
question, and as one at home might answer, " I am
waiting for the policeman," and added, " My camp is just

116 AFOOT THROUGH THE

behind." My questioner, whose face had fallen some-
what, cheered up again. "Nay, I would ask if the
Sahib's husband is with her?" "No," I replied. In
these countries one does not acknowledge to non-
possession of such things. "I had hoped," he
explained, " seeing the Huzur alone and without her hat
that she might be a widow; it would then have bene-
fited us greatly if she would -have walked uncovered
across the fields, seeing we are attacked by the life-
destroying ' rai.' " It was a pity that my " state " pre-
vented me from proving the value of this prescription,
and I was sorry to disappoint the anxious labourer.

The Kashmiris are great connoisseurs in rice, and
even while in leaf they will distinguish between the sixty
odd varieties grown in the valley, and when well enough
off to do so, will be as particular as to the sort they
prefer for their food, as they are knowing in their
choice of drinking water. The red varieties are decora-
tive in cooking, but not so good as the white, and there
are an infinity of degrees in both. By nine o'clock I
had rejoined my doonga, which had been swept and
garnished in my absence and decorated by a passing
friend with beautiful fresh iris, and had sent a man
off across the fields to the queer wooden hut on stilts,
added to keep the living rooms (dens would be a more
appropriate word) above the winter floods, which pro-
claimed by a scarlet sign — symbol of Her Imperial
Majesty's mails all the empire over — that letters were
there to be obtained. As a huge pile was my spoil, the
afternoon soon passed without any excitement, save
that procured from the search for my small table knife
that had been shaken overboard with the crumbs after
breakfast. Knowing its value, I suggested that it should

KASHMIR VALLEYS 117

be left to its oozy bed, but my boatman kindly wished
to do a good turn to the villagers, and demanded that
they should search for it. As he was responsible for its
loss, I suggested that he should reward them. This,
he answered with pride, would not be suitable in a class
of establishment such as mine, so for half an hour
shining " brown torsos " bobbed up and down, looking
like a shoal of porpoises? Advice was shouted from the
bank, spluttering were heard from below the waters,
two small fishes were caught by lithe fingers amid great
rejoicings; finally, my knife appeared, and twice its
value was distributed in backsheesh for its recovery !

118 AFOOT THROUGH THE

CHAPTER X

Hurrah for the storm-clouds sweeping !

Hurrah for the driving rain !
The dull earth out of her sleeping

Is wakened to life again.

— Will Ogilvie.

Of waves and whirlwinds — A lake with many flowers, narrow
waterways, and fair women — Return to civilisation and
green vegetables.

If the day had passed quietly the night was to be full
of emotions. When I went to bed the sky looked clear.
We were securely tied up in a good position for an early
start next morning, and I turned in, leaving on my table
my finished letters to be posted in Srinagar, and a chef
d'oeuvre in the way of a freshly-trimmed hat, wherewith
to make my entry into the capital, for even in Kashmir
woman's natural vanity is not entirely killed. About
one o'clock a strange sound filled the air, and I had
hardly quite roused myself from sleep when the cries
of my men, " Tufan " (whirlwind), " tufan is on us,"
mingling with the roar of the sudden storm, restored me
to full consciousness. Through the length of the boat
rushed the wind, tearing away supports, pulling at the
" chuppars," for all had been left open because of the

KASHMIR VALLEYS 119

heat. The boat swayed, straining at her ropes, and in
one second, in spite of wild efforts to save my most
precious belongings, lamp, papers, jacket, and new hat
were all overboard, blown, by the one piece of good
luck that came to me that night, on the land side, where
the majority of my effects were retrieved from
the muddy bank. The men made great efforts
to get the boat away from the open spot where
she had been trying to shelter further up the
httle stream, but torn forward by the fierce tufan
their strength was powerless against such might, and
it seemed an even chance whether the boat would bodily
upset or be saved by the rending away of its coverings
that were making it so top-heavy. As suddenly as it
had risen the wind went down once more, the boat was
towed to safer quarters, and further sleep seemed
possible. Just as we were settling ourselves for this
there was a shout from a boat above us, and once more
the tufan was buffeting us about. This time all was
taut, chuppars fast closed, ropes firm, and the boat
merely swayed in her efforts to swing with the fierce
current. In spite of the increased security I thought
it best to be ready for a swift departure if anything
untoward should take place, and, wrapped in my puttoo
cloak, I lay in the well of the boat outside the tightly-
fastened straw sides and waited. The first grey light
of the dawn was stealing into the sky, sending feeble
gleams through the torn grey clouds, hurrying across
the heavens at the mercy of the terrible agent of
destruction that had worked such havoc on us. Wild
shrieks arose from the tormented trees, and were
answered by the fierce roar of the waters tumbled into
a great foam-crowned wall that hurtled through the

120 AFOOT THROUGH THE

broken spans of the old bridge. Strange voices filled the
air, yelling to the demons of the stream, and the quiet
night was transformed into pandemonium. Dark
shadows passed rapidly across the low-lying fields,
terrified flocks of ponies fleeing for shelter to the village
looked like grim wraiths, the wind rolled the vaporous
mist across the open, and then the whole world was
blotted out in an unnatural wall of dark cloud, and I
felt myself the only living thing in the world whirling to
destruction.

Slowly the minutes sped their way, the burden of the
sad surroundings oppressed us with a heavy weight,
useless to guess what was taking place a few yards
away, hopeless to try and assist others who might be
even in worse plight than myself ; heavily, drearily time
passed waiting for the sun to rise again and light the
stricken scene. The second storm had lasted far
longer than the first, and the wind had only just
ceased its wild cries and menaces when the sun rose
with stormy splendour, and a ravaged world slowly began
to settle to a day of salvage and re-adjustment.
x\nxious as I was to reach Srinagar before the evening,
having an important engagement there, I hardly dared
to suggest a start in face of the possibility of a repetition
of the night's storm, for there was a long stretch of
low, unsheltered meadows, and then the open Anchar
Lake to cross, before I could reach the safety of the
narrow city waterways. Earth and sky were strangely
blended together in a veil of vapour that moved in
layers, ragged and broken at the edges over the marsh
lands, forming fantastic figures, or combining to screen
with thick mist all outlook. Though the sky was still
threatening there had been no repetition of the storm

KASHMIR VALLEYS 121

by breakfast time, and I made up my mind to risk
moving rather than waste another day amid such
uninteresting surroundings, and ordered my men to
start. This they were most loth to do. The Kashmiris
are proverbially the most cowardly watermen in the
world, the want of keels to their boats increasing their
sense of insecurity in the always uncertain weathers
on their lakes. For some time they refused to stir, and
it was only my threat of sending a telegram to Srinagar
to order another boat to convey me and my belongings
that brought them to their senses, and at last, the men
having securely fastened all loose gear, tied firmly the
chuppars, and taking two extra men on board, we com-
menced our slow progress down. The all-enveloping,
vapoury mist, as if torn from its parent cloud, left
floating overhead by the stern power of the wind,
moved on with us, cutting us off from all the world. I
could scarcely see the men towing on the bank; I was
a pilgrim in the land of shadows, ferried by an invisible
Charon ! When we reached the Anchar Lake the
weather had improved, the sky was brighter, and the sun
was reasserting its sway, dragging up to his court again
the mass of cloud that had been an unwilling visitor
of our cold climes, and though I knew the men were
nervous by the desperately brisk way they threw them-
selves on to the paddles, I did not fear any further storm
for the time being. However, I was glad of the spur to
their energies, and the quick motion was soothing as I lay
back noting the countless flowers that ornamented this
pretty marshy swamp. White water lilies, like queens at
their ease, floated amid their dark foliage, a host of tall
forget-me-nots waited, courtier-wise, upon them, while
pretty white arrowheads, always a little anxious and

122 AFOOT THROrGH THE

stricken-looking, by reason of the militant appearance of
their attendant greenery, waited round ; the red leaves of
the singara spread out, rosette-wise, above the growing
nuts, and a perfect mosaic of minute pink, white, and
yellow blooms were also there. Fortune favoured us,
for we were well across the open water and some way
up a narrow waterway, under shelter of some thick
willows, before the next storm broke. This time the
wind was not nearly so violent as on former occasions,
but the rumblings of the thunder were almost deafening
and unceasing, for before the vast amphitheatre of hills
that stands guardian on this side of Srinagar had done
taking up and repeating each tremendous clap, a deeper
roar told that a new one was breaking. The sky became
intensely dark, the jagged lightning showing vistas of
bending, labouring trees that creaked as the whisthng
gusts passed through them, against a distant back-
ground of dark hills and jagged peaks. Then the rain
fell in sheets, smacking the water with a sound of small
shot, and when that last venture of the storm gods had
been exhausted, we pursued a fairly tranquil way,
moving through the narrow, dark tracks of the Mar
Nulla.

In places the houses on either side almost
touched, leaving barely space for the boat to be dragged
through; sometimes there were sharp corners where a
collision with another boat was difficult to avoid ; always
there was somewhat of interest to note, for we were
literally passing through the " courts of the people," and
Kashmirian home life is a peculiarly open and simple
thing. The houses are all high, and as the use of glass
for windows is unknown, they employ pretty wooden
shutters, carved au jour, which same jour is carefully

KASHMIR VALLEYS

123

excluded during the cold months by a liberal use of
newspapers fastened over the openings. Most of the
people can boast some little greenery, a prettily-
covered bower, a few plants of pomegranate, or
a bed of portulacas, or stocks which are grown
on the roof, in a balcony, or just above the water in
the small, unevenly paved courts, of which most of the

Flower-covered roofs, Srinagar

houses can boast. At intervals there would be a small
Mahomedan mosque of the usual ziarat form, with
square walls of rich, dark wood, more or less carved,
and pointed roof adorned literally with cap and bells,
for the overhanging points are always finished with
tassels of wood and tiny brass bells, and most could

124 AFOOT THROUGH THE

boast a fine terra cotta ornament placed hat- wise on the
high wooden pinnacle. Less often there was a Hindu
temple, low, square, of stone, with sloping tower over the
shrine, decorated with all the glories of tinfoil.

In these poor quarters of the city the great
majority of the people are Mahomedans, and
may be distinguished by various peculiarities of
dress from the Hindus, the one wearing the
pagri rolled one way, and the other the contrary,
but the most notable characteristics are personal ones,
the Hindus, who belong generally to the ruling Dogra
race, showing all the favourable features of the old hill
tribes. They have a fair skin, clear-cut features, and
well-bred air, and the women think more of their
costume than their Mahomedan sisters, and have
adopted the becoming fashion of wearing pherans (the
universal "frock") of brilliant colours, the bright
purples, blues, oranges suiting well their complexion,
while the white head-dress worn flatly folded and
fastened round the neck in broad pleats gives a pleasant,
dainty, nun-like finish to the costume entirely lacking
in the prosaic, undyed puttoo of the Mussulman's
covering. Many of these Hindu women are very hand-
some, their open brows, soft eyes, straight noses, and
oval faces reminding one of the ideal Eoman type. The
open-air life they lead helps to make them strong and
straight, and in the city they have not the crushing
manual labour which in the country ages them before
their time and withers their early freshness and beauty.

On the whole, they have easy, pleasant lives.
Kashmiris seldom marry more than one wife,
and, as a rule, are kind and affectionate, and
a Kashmiri baby is a thing to soften the hardest

KASHMIR VALLEYS 125

heart. Groups of adoring parents are generally
to be seen of an evening commenting on the
latest prodigies performed by the chubby little
orange-skinned " butchas " as their fond mothers teach
them their first lessons in bathing, or, if the water is
too cold for these aquatic performances so dear to all
denizens of the Happy Valley, they are sprinkled with
the chilly liquid while a surrounding crowd admires
the shiverings and shudderings and other signs of fear
of the little ones. So many strange ceremonies attend
the entrance into the world of Hindu boys that it would
be easy to believe that they were hardened for ever after
to curious and trjang performances. So many unfavour-
able circumstances, too, surround their youth, the
survival of the fittest is so obviously the law of the
land, that it might be expected that the Kashmiri would
grow up a very hardy and brave creature. However,
the chroniclers of the country and its folk do not give
them a good character in this respect, and nearly all
historians speak with the utmost contempt of the
Kashmiri, perhaps forgetting that men, when neither
educated nor travelled, seldom show great valour
under new circumstances, and that in facing the dangers
of his own valley and such things as he has com-
prehension of — fording stormy torrents, disentangling
and floating the great blocks of wood — a very difficult
piece of work — and making long marches under trying
circumstances — the Kashmiri shows much courage and
endurance. For centuries, too, it must be remembered
Kashmir has had to pay a high price for its beauties,
and invader after invader has swept through, turning
this little place of fertile soil and refreshing rivers into
a holiday-ground for themselves and their lieutenants,

126 AFOOT THROUGH THE

and the wretched people have only known peace and
plenty when bowing the head willingly to the yoke
and putting aside all resistance. Probably the people
have in them still much of the old warlike spirit only
waiting to be roused by some powerful incentive, and
the assurance that while fighting, their homes will not
be plundered and broken up. Wherever our Kashmiri
auxiliaries of the Imperial Service troops have been
employed they have behaved well and shown plenty of
pluck, so that it may be that their old story is true, and
that the invaders forced on them the " pheran " or
womanly " frock," which is the universal wear in
Kashmir, in order to break their spirit, and that once
freed from that, they regain their old powers and forget
their softness and effeminacy.

From the narrow, dark ways of the city we emerged
into the Dal Lake. A strange network of waterways
hedged about with osiers, and small trees, requiring a
very accurate knowledge to prevent hopeless straying,
for the floating gardens, about which more anon, have
so filled up the lake that only in one part is there still
open water, all the rest is cut up with countless tracks
like miniature canals separated one from another by the
high green crops or reeds and trees. Ponies and cattle
feed among them; men, women, and children wade
about or work at them from their shallow, flat-bottomed
boats, and the place gives more the idea of being the
home of a naturally amphibious race than any scene
amid the waterways of Holland or the lagoons.

They have not yet accomplished all that is necessary
for the complete comfort of such an existence, as was
proved by the untimely upset of an aged crony who,
steering her boat full of fodder gathered from the water.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 127

ran into us in spite of warning cries, was precipitated
from her insecure perch in front of her boat, shrieking
aloud as we hooked her out. She could not at all see
the joke, though my men laughed hugely as they
assisted her to wring out her wispy garments and set
her anew in her place. Again, as we were caught in a
block, I spoke to a woman holding her baby. "Why
not put it in the water?" I said. "It would be
drowned," she screamed indignantly. I suppose
common sense might have told me that, but really it only
appeared natural that it should spread out little web
feet and hands and take easily to what seemed, as if
it must be, its natural element.

The last signs of the storm, in the form of
heavy clouds, were floating away to the eastward
over the crest of the Takht-i-Suleiman, and the
sun was setting in a glory of gold and crimson
and amethyst as we passed into the open. Fortress-
crowned hills to the westward of the town stood out
against the gorgeous background, fragments of cloudlets
caught up the glow and showed a glittering hning to
their dark purples and crimsons as they hurried in to
join the coucher du roi, great monarch of light, and
therefore life. Slowly we made our way through the
great Dal Darwaza, the gates of the lake that prevent its
being flooded when the river is high, and passing by
various canals reached the Moonshi Bagh, the favourite
moorings and camping-ground for married folk and
ladies, the menkind, with their usual eye to beauty and
comfort, having taken possession of the lovely Chenaar
Bagh, the other good camping-ground. The Moonshi
Bagh is on the main stream, and there is not much to
complain of there when not too crowded. There is

128 AFOOT THROUGH THE

splendid shade from the bank for boats, and great
trees dotted about on the grass make a pleasant cover
to the many white tents that, like huge mushrooms,
had spnmg up during my absence, the first warm
weather having brought many folk up from the Punjab
to enjoy the welcome cool in the northern valley.

They made the Moonshi Bagh a first stopping-place
on their way to quarters in the hills, and very com-
fortable and often very pretty were their temporary-
houses, hung about with baskets of ferns and iris,
inviting groups of light tables and chairs placed outside
the open flaps, while numerous small fry, with the
attendant cortege considered necessary for the rising
generation of the dominant race, nurse, ayah-boy, and
bearer, with frequent addition of pony and " pony-boy,'^
dog and " dog-boy," proved that the climate was salubri-
ous to youth and provocative of a great show of roses in
what were probably very pale cheeks down in the plains.
The cold freshness of morning and evening, too, made
for a liveliness impossible in more relaxing parts.

Silently we glided into our quarters, and
took up a good position beneath a huge chenaar
tree, the doonga was made fast, a plank run
out to the bank, steps cut, then as darkness
fell, lamps were lighted, the straw blinds let
down, and I was as cut off and almost as unknowing of
my neighbours as when far away up in the Sind Valley,
though pleasant little friendly notes arrived in the
evening, and some very welcome presents of " dalis "
(baskets of vegetables and fruits) spoke of the advan-
tages of neighbours when these are kindly and
thoughtful. My "following" had no "doubts" as to
the relative delights of solitary or sociable sojournings.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 129

and many friends and relations came to the boat in the
course of the evening to enjoy a smoke and hear what
had befallen during the journey up to Sonamerg. Where
news passes so quickly from one to another as in this
paradise of gossips, it was impossible not to have the
return noised abroad, and next morning merchants and
Sahib log seemed equally aware that my boat had once
more taken its place among them.

130 AFOOT THROUGH THE

CHAPTEH XI

All was so still and sweet that day,

The nestling shade, the rippling stream,
All life, all breath, dissolved away

Into a golden dream ;
Warm and sweet, the scented shade

Drowsily caught the breeze and stirr'd.
Faint and low through the green glade

Came hum of bee and song of bird.

— Buchanan.

I go a pious pilgrimage — And am received with respect — Subse-
quent visits to the gardens of emperors and empresses —
With some remarks about the raising of floating crops.

The coucher du roi had been gorgeous. The king's
rising was more beautiful. My early hours had not
been altogether a matter of choice, the "first few" of
the evil clans of mosquitoes, that later on make life a
burden in the lovely valley, had helped to make my
narrow bed an unreposeful lair, and had created a
desire for tea at such an hour as surprised even my
crew, fairly accustomed as they were to matutinal
starts. Refreshed and restored, it would have been a
mere waste of energy not to go out, and I naturally
turned my steps towards the Takht-i-Suleiman that,
lying to the eastward of the town north of the river,
throws its protecting shadow over the folk below.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 131

It is one thousand feet above the city, and I believe
really energetic folk run up and dov^n every day before
breakfast to keep themselves in condition. At intervals
I tried three different paths up, started each time with
spring and celerity, vov^ed halfv^ay up, when short of
breath and none too cool, that no hill in the world is
worth close examination, and after five minutes on the
summit was ready to swear that the scene that lay
spread before me was worthy of a daily pilgrimage.

On the occasion of my first ascent I climbed the
western face, starting through a burial-ground crowned
with the latest white iris. Many pilgrims were passing
up and down, for it was Monday. The women, being
chiefly Hindus of the city, were often becomingly
gowned in orange and scarlet draperies, with only the
filmiest of white veils to represent the " sarhi." The
hill is of great sanctity, partly resulting from the anti-
quity of the temple that crowns it, partly owing to
its associations, for tradition says that at different
periods it has been a place of pilgrimage to Buddhists —
who still speak of it with much reverence — and Hindus ;
and that during the reign of the great iconoclast
Sikander it was in the hands of the Mahomedans. Now,
with the tolerance that comes of persecutions equally
suffered, all three visit the shrine in peace and harmony,
and even I, the wanderer, of strange faith and curious
practices, had the way pointed out to me and was
welcomed, when at length the summit was reached, by
a charming-looking old priest who added the flowers I
had gathered on my way to the many offerings lying on
the great black snake encircling the symbol of the god
Siva, and gave me in return one or two blooms conse-
crated by their use, and told me, in language difficult to

132 AFOOT THROUGH THE

follow, of the vast antiquity of the place, and the
supposed meaning of the Persian inscription on the two
pillars, only part of which is visible above the pavement.
It was not a morning for worship in mysterious dark
places, and I soon left the temple, and, seated on the
steps below, watched the flooding of the valley with a
glow that spread from Mahadeo to the Pir Panjal, from
distant Kolahoi to Haramuk. The light swept in vast
waves, the snows flushed pink, the blue hillsides were
purple, the river gave back the glittering rays, while the
mists over the low-lying town were gathered together,
garlanded by unseen hands as they lingered above the
houses, then swept away, no longer needed during the
day, and the way made clear for the great life restorer.
The heads of the tall poplars, stately in their great
avenues, cut up the town in all directions, and rustled in
the fresh breeze, their bright leaves showing a livelier
underlining. The stately chenaars stood unmoved, but
down below, on the still surface of the lake, the myriad
water growths took a brighter hue, and lifted long lines
of bending stems and waved their slender leaves as the
light penetrated to them and the wind swept through.
Numberless chirrupings of happy birds filled the air,
and there rose a faint fragrance, rising from the wealth
of flowers opened by young spring. I thought I saw
" Primavera," that old-world figure with her tender
face, passing along the path below, Flora in attendance
with all the bounding grace the old Florentine knew
how to impart to his presentation of her, and the flying
train of Zephyr to blow away all impurities and
miasmas.

At first only Hari Parbat, crowned by a fortress,
had been visible, but quickly, as the mists were torn

KASHMIR VALLEYS 133

apart, the whole geography of the city was mapped out,
I could trace my path of the previous day and under-
stand the devious watersvays of the city and the lovely
green lanes — where barges were carts — of the Dal
Lake, and make up my mind which was to be my
itinerary for the afternoon's expedition I promised
myself. I came down the east side of the hill, or rather
aft€r follovdng for some way a track on the northern
slope, circled it to the eastward, joining the Gupcar
road where the spur, of which the Takht is an offshoot,
has been cut through to improve the connection between
Srinagar and its pretty suburb on the shores of the
lake. Here various houses for European visitors have
been built, and there are also many for those whose
business keeps them all the year here.

The hour was too early for formal calling, so I left
the pretty houses and gardens of Gupcar just showing
on my right, and turned away round the foot of the hill
along a path, so narrow in places that there was hardly
space between the mountain's rocky base and the lake
waters for the pedestrian. In other parts, where there
is sufficient open ground, vines are much grown, and they
climb the tall poplars and mulberries, sending long,
swinging trails from side to side, forming exquisite
screens of greenery. Hops, too, grow here, and the
factories are close by in which the raw produce is trans-
ferred into excellent liquids, beer, wines, and liqueurs
(cherry and apple brandy). Though the day was young,
I should not have regretted the appearance of some
samples, for my expedition had, on the whole, been a
warm one, and close down by the lake I found the heat
very trying after the cooler regions I had been marching
in. The thickets of cluster roses and heads of blue salvia,

134 AFOOT THROUGH THE

and the sweet honeysuckles were pleasing vision, and
as I worked round towards the " Bund," or high embank-
ment of the Jhelum, where are many gardens, the hedges
of yellow briar, the stately hollyhocks, twelve and fifteen
feet high, of such gorgeous tints as are hardly dreamed
of at home, and the almost dazzling masses of portu-
lacas grown by the natives in every piece of waste
ground, were a refreshment to the eyes.

A welcome refreshment to the inner woman was
awaiting my return, for a kind friend, hearing of my
return, had sent a vast store of delicious vegetables,
great stalks of asparagus, lettuces of the juiciest, arti-
chokes in a noble crown with multi-coloured supporting
radishes, beet, carrots, new potatoes, and scarlet
tomatoes, a fine offering and very acceptable after my
somewhat monotonous diet of the last few weeks.
Flanking this " dali " (native word used for any kind of
present sent in a basket) were good specimens of the
early fruits of the valley — enoniious black and white
mulberries, early cherries red and black, strawberries,
vying with the best in England, yellow raspberries,
walnuts, and dried apricots. These are very good for
cooking, and are generally eaten in this state, the
*' khobani " here not equalling those found in
the Himalayas. Later on in July the peaches ripen,
and the pears, and then is the time for the epicure to
visit this land of " fruits and springs." Such mammoth
specimens will be sold him for an anna or two that he
will risk all possible deadly consequences in order that
none may be wasted, and when, besides these, the
grapes and apples, plums, and figs are ripe, he will be
certain to feel that Srinagar must be Pomona's own
especial capital.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 135

Kashmir is admirably adapted to fruit growing, and if
communications were but quicker and cheaper, it might
be made the orchard to supply the thirsty Punjab and
Central Provinces. Many good varieties of English and
French fruits have been introduced at different times,
and, whenever given good conditions, have been admir-
ably successful. The people themselves, being great
vegetarians and understanding the drying and storing of
fruits and vegetables for winter use, are quite willing to
tr}^ new and good methods if guaranteed against loss,
and this has been more especially the case since the
inauguration of the admirable new land settlement and
finance scheme, largely brought about by Mr. Walter
Lawrence. The villages are protected now from the
exactions of State officials when their gardens or crops
appear in too flourishing condition, and their lives
rendered far easier.

My distant view of the lake in the morning had
incited me to a nearer and closer examination of its
beauties and strange crops. Accordingly, soon after my
twelve o'clock breakfast (I generally kept to the down-
country meals, viz., early cup of tea, mid-day " brunch,"
and late dinner) my small " shikar " was alongside the
doonga, and, with four men to paddle, went away at a
good pace towards the Dal Darwaza, where the tremen-
dous tide rushing out necessitated the impressing of two
extra men to pull me through.

On the Jhelum three types of boat are in
general use, though there are many modifications
of these typical patterns— the "doonga," which
I have already described, and which is the living
boat; the bahat, which is an enormous barge for con-
veying stone or wood, and is high at the stern and prow.

136 AFOOT THROUGH THE

and covered; a khuch, an uncovered barge; and the
small shikar, flat and covered, used by merchants and
passengers wishing to make short, quick passages. The
paddles used are heart-shaped, and very considerable
skill is necessary before any progress is accomplished,
the blade being small and the tide very sw^ift in the
channel of the river where it is unnaturally pent up in
the city. A tinier variety of this craft is in use among
the amphibious gardeners of the lake when passing
along the water paths attending to or collecting produce.
We passed along the western side of the Dal in
and out of the floating gardens, and I gradually under-
stood their construction, which had been quite a mystery.
There are two methods pursued in making them. In
very shallow water, trees are planted, reeds grown
between, and gradually as these become thick and
strong a layer of soil, twigs, small stones, etc., is added,
till the surface is well above water level, and there, on
each little bed, two mounds of rich lake soil are laid,
and seedlings of melons, cucumbers, etc., planted.
These grow and flourish, having all they require in the
way of rich earth, plentiful water, and a ripening sun.
Where the water is deeper, the leaves of the high reeds
are twined and plaited till a strong foundation is made,
then, when they can bear a boy, soil is piled up, the
stems are cut, and the garden is in a position to be
towed about or moored between stout poles wherever
the owner thinks that the conditions are favourable.
These gardeners are among the most prosperous folk in
Kashmir ; they have always plenty to eat themselves, and
are always certain of good prices for the surplus that they
are able to sell, a condition of things which compensates
them for the supreme contempt in which their class is

KASHMIR VALLEYS 137

held by the members of other castes, for these people in
their gardening operations handle "that which is
unclean," and consequently are practically " outcasts "
from any decent society.

Besides the crops raised on these curious water plan-
tations, the Dal, like the Wular, yields a rich harvest
from its numerous weeds and flowers. The singara
(water nut) was not yet ripe, but everywhere I noted the
pretty little rosette of leaves that marks its presence.
This is one very widely used and most valuable food-
stuff. Then various seeds are collect.ed and parched,
the most prized being the seed of the lotus, " the jewel
in the heart of the lotus," which, whatever its mystical
interpretation be, in practical hfe is certainly a reality.
The leaf stems of this plant are also used as a vegetable,
and the reed, ever}'where very plentiful, besides its value
as the raw material, from which is made the matting
used by all the inhabitants as curtains, screens, and
shutters, provides a pith from which a rather nice, sweet
paste is manufactured. Besides all these special pro-
ducts, there remains a vast quantity of green stuff
carefully harvested, and either eaten as spinach or salad
by the various beings who inhabit the shores, and as
fodder for the cattle.

The boatmen are great talkers, and are almost too
willing to impart vast stores of information on
the very sHghtest provocation. The lake people,
like water folk in most parts of the world,
have a peculiar language of their own. Passing
through the region of the oblong cultivated beds
and under some ancient bridges, we emerged into
the centre of the lake, where there was no shelter and
a fairly stiff breeze scuffled the water, swaying the great

138 AFOOT THROrGH THE

cup leaves of the lotus hither and thither, till the drop
of water held by most since the yesterday's rain ran
about like a drop of mercury, and the boat shook, its
keel-less condition making it more than a little unsteady.
At first it seemed hardly safe to run across the open
to the landing-place below the Nishat Bagh, which was
our destination, but the " blast " soon hurried down the
lake, leaving behind it a troubled track, and ten minutes
hard paddling brought the little craft to the haven imder
the hill.

Stately above us rose the palace of the emperor, who
delighted in retiring to this " garden of gladness " when
the hot weather had sent people away from their homes
down country, nor did the beautiful Queen Nur
Mahal (Light of the palace) plan in vain these
pleasances and prepare here great festivities. Though
she and the generation she charmed have passed
away, and they are known no longer, her work
remains, and is still a " place of rest " to weary
workers from the plains. The plantations, too, that she
conunanded give pleasant shade, her fountains still play
in their vast stone basins, and purling streams of pure
icy water flow between the terraces, and perfect
pleasantness and peace reign in the paths trodden by
this wise queen of old.

The whole garden is terraced, some of the spaces
being given up to tangles of roses, lilacs, and syringas,
some occupied by the stone basins where the fountains
play. Beside the stone steps, that have to be climbed
to reach the top, are quantities of fruit trees, especially
cherries, large numbers of which were being sold in
baskets, and proved a pleasing refresher, neither cafes
nor cyclists' rests having yet become common in these

KASHMIR VALLEYS 139

parts. On the higher terraces were splendid chenaars,
and their deep shade was very welcome after the hot
ascent. Seated on a wall, that overhung two enormous
flights of steps leading to the next terrace, a stone water-
shoot between, thoughts turned instinctively to the gay
throngs that once filled these stately bowers, great
ladies and history-making kings throwing aside for the
time the wearisome and oppressive etiquette of their
Eastern court, and playing at games among the bright
flowers, or, if the heat was too overwhelming for
activity, lying on the heaped-up cushions, while poets
told tales of prowess in days of old, or sad stories of
loves never consummated. Beneath the sickly stars
musicians, too, trolled forth in strange harmonies and
sad, sweet airs the songs that are still to be heard
recited by the wandering bards at fairs and gatherings —

0 that my blood were water, thou athirst I

And thou and I hi some far desert land,
How would I shed it gladly, if hut first

It touched thy lips before it reached the sand.

0 that my lips might ling'r o'er your soft hair !

0 that my life might die in a night like this !
Your beauty sweet to soothe my fevered eyes,

Drifting to death from dreams of a granted kiss.

And as the gay groups moved about under the trees on
the grass, the sun casting flickering shades as it filtered
through the delicate foliage of the planes, the kings and
their ministry, forced always to be on the alert, could
watch their city spread below them, and, guarded by
the fortress on Hari Parbat, ready to signal forth the
news of any trouble or insubordination. The view^ was
passing fair, and as the sun sank in a glory of purple

140 AFOOT THROUGH THE

and gold, covering the western sky with a scarlet mist,
touching all the palaces and temples with the illumi-
nator's brush, I was filled with a sense of joyousness
and thankfulness that at least this day I was alive in
such a world, where compensations many and adequate
are given for imperfections and shortcomings, where
the dreariness of mid-day heat and glare and the dull
colourlessness of the noontide are qualified by the fresh-
ness and glory of the opening and the gorgeous serenity
of its closing hours. Beauty fades and visions pass,
and in that lies their greatest charm, for we unstable
mortals weary of sameness, and that we might never be
without something to cheer us, even in our dreariest
hours, have been given a canopy overhead where the
procession of the hours is marked by answering changes,
and each minute marks a varying aspect of the glories
in earth and sky.

So long had I delayed watching the fair scene before
me that it was too late to visit the Shalimar Bagh, the
great " garden of love," at the head of the lake ; but
leaving that for another day, I returned' in my little
boat, all the humbler members of the lake population
very fully alive now that evening had brought its accus-
tomed coolness. Countless dragon flies skimmed the
waters, little frogs took flying leaps from one floating
green islet to another, and hundreds of kingfishers,
perched on the edges of the great lotus leaves, dived
off with svnft, dashing movements, captured their prey,
and returned once more to their watching places.
Golden orioles like lost sunbeams glinted in and out
of the high stems of the innumerable water plants, and
in the depths countless fish caroused among the shining
weeds, the water world had come to life, and doubtless

KASHMIR VALLEYS 141

wondered what large, ponderous intruder was passing
overhead, casting a shadow as of possible danger on
the denizens of the dark depths.

Before many days had passed I made another expedi-
tion to the more distant Shalimar Bagh, visiting on
the way the Nasim Bagh. Like a vast park, this once
garden, shorn of its terraces and its fountains, is still
beautiful — chenaars in full beauty shade the green
sward, and thickets of flowers, all that remain of the
well-kept shrubberies, in places brighten with their gay
colours the darkness of the dense tree foliage. Many
small boats and some thoroughly English-looking
yachts were moored beside the bank, and a well-stocked
market garden close by looked decidedly inviting for a
prolonged stay. From this point we crossed the lake,
passing a strange island, the Sona Lanka or Char
Chenaar (four chenaars) from the number of great
planes that once shaded its four sides. Strange stories
are told of the making of this islet, how a fair queen,
wishing for a pavilion from which all the beauties of
the lake could be seen and its exquisite reflections
watched, ordered that foundations were to be made in
this, the deepest part, regardless of cost, and the wretched
lake dwellers were ordered to meet here, bringing their
boats filled with stones, that these might be sunk and
the islet rest secure. This they did, imploring that their
boats, on which they depended for cultivating their
gardens, might not be taken. Those to whom bread
and cheese, or rather ortolans and wines, come without
attracting notice to their cost, cannot be expected to
consider such trifles as wooden craft and hardly raised
crops, and the boats were ordered to be sunk ; and then
their owners, knowing that without these they were

142 AFOOT THROUGH THE

useless as breadwinners for the hungry little ones, pre-
ferred to die quickly rather than by starvation, and
sank with their boats, so literally it was on the " bones
of men " that the fair islet and its pretty shrines were
raised.

Now the heartless fair one is as dead as the
poor lake dwellers, and the pavilions and trees that once
graced the island are alike decayed and falling into their
final annihilation. Their last inhabitant, an ancient
fakir, who dwelt in the hollow trunk of one of the
decaying chenaars, has also passed away. Landing, I
misdoubted me whether the cruel queen had much
satisfaction in the gratification of her whim; such
fancies seldom are worth their cost; and if the mos-
quitoes in her day had anything like the strength of
jaw and tenacity of purpose of their present-day
descendants, afternoons in her " pleasant paradise "
could not have been entirely without some purgatorial
tincture.

From this islet there is a clear stretch of lake,
and then one enters the canal leading up
straight to the Shalimar Bagh, " the garden of
love," largest of all the emperor's gardens, but
though the pavilions are handsomer, built of fine
black marble and ornamented with much painting,
it is not comparable for beauty to the Nishat Bagh.
Vast plantations of small pink Persian roses, grown for
attar of roses, and the overgrown beds of carnations
and lilies filled the air with sweet perfumes, and parties
of natives roaming about, clad in the bright colours
affected by city folk, or sitting in groups together, sang
in gayer tones than I had ever heard from natives, and
as we returned they challenged us from their boats with

KASHMIR VALLEYS 143

good wishes and snatches of melody. We paddled home
on a golden flood, sky and water dyed to an unearthly
brilliance by the setting sun. The islets in the lake
were scarcely less radiant than the tiny pink and purple-
puffed cloudlets that were drifting away from the
central glor}^ in the west behind Hari Parbat, while far
away to the southward the Pir Panjal showed their
rose-stained snows, and nearer Haramuk, steep and
sohtary, towered against the evening sky.

From a gay boat-load rose the sounds of a song of
love and flowers, accompanied by the hght twanging of
tiny stringed instruments —

The evening air is very sweet, from off the island bowers
Come scents of moghra* trees in bloom and choicest Persian flowers.
The moghra flowers that smell so sweet,

When Love's young fancies play.
The acrid moghra flowers, still sweet.
Though Love is burnt away.

The boat goes drifting uncontrolled, the rowers row no more,
They deftly turn the slender prow towards the further shore.
The moghra flowers, the moghra flowers,

While youth's quick pulses play,
They are so sweet, they still are sweet,
Though passion burns away.

0 silver lake and silver night and tender silver sky.
Where, as the hours so swiftly pass, the moon rides white and high.
Ah ! moghra flowers, sweet moghra flowers,

So dear to youth at play,
Ah ! sweet and subtle moghra flowers,
That only last a day.

" Moghra," the large double jessamine.

144 AFOOT THROUGH THE

CHAPTER XII

The vast blue height

Was murmurous with peri's plumes,

And the leathern wings of genii.

— Henley.

Look on its broken arch, its ruin'd wall.
Its chambers desolate, and portals foul ;

Yes, this was once ambition's airy hall.

The dome of thought, the palace of the soul.

— Byron.

A steep ascent leading to fine views and many backslidings — A
fairy palace — Precipitate descent and an old man's warning.

While drifting about on the lake I had noticed high
lip on the side of the hills that close it in on the eastern
side some ver}^ strange ruins, and as the natives called
it the Peri Mahal (palace of the fairies), I thought it
ought to be worth visiting, and, determined to be
energetic one day, and, instead of floating about on the
lake, make the ascent of Zebanwan, a peak some
nine thousand feet high to the east of the
Takht, and from there walk down the further
slope, and visit the spot that had so attracted
me. Srinagar is a real holiday land, where to
make an effort even for one's own pleasure seems a

KASHMIR VALLEYS 145

sacrilege — a denying of the spirit of the place — for which
reason such acquaintances as I possessed, native and
European, professed themselves greatly shocked at my
enterprise. One thought that I should never reach the
top, a quite insufficient reason for not at least making a
start; another considered I should get hot, which
seemed more- than probable; a third offered me his
pony, as being safer than my own ten toes, an opinion
I vigorously combated; and my servant was certain
that evil spirits of the worst — ^women with feet turned
the wrong way — ^were lingering among the ruins to work
havoc on the too adventurous. As I had no wish to
be accompanied by such discouraging companions, I
started out alone at a very early hour, hoping thereby
to escape the full heat of the sun.

My path led me out behind the Moonshi Bagh along
a very shadeless road, where the beautiful little cottage
hospital, of which I shall have more to say in a later
chapter, looked like a little piece of Old England, with
its surrounding rows of stiff hollyhocks and astonished-
faced sunflowers peering over the hedges to say, " How
do you do this very fine day ? " an island of coolness and
rest, and on to the gap through which the road passes
that leads to the pretty suburb of Gupcar, and from
which one turns off to the left to mount the Takht from
the eastern side, and to the right for the height I was
going to attempt. From the very beginning I was glad
I had refused the offer of a pony. With a path that at
its best barely supported two not too enormous human
feet, and at its worst left it uncertain whether a land-
slip had obliterated its outlines lately, or whether,
w^eary of an unappreciative world that did not value
its attractions, it had quietly disappeared out of the

146 AFOOT THROUGH THE

world, such a mount would only have been an added
difficulty.

I was on the shady side of the hill; what it
was Hke on the sunny side I leave to him to describe
who has succeeded in returning from Purgator}^ I
fulfilled my friend's prophecy, and was very warm, and
when worn out by heat I paid little heed to my footsteps,
they skidded, and I had an amateur and unpleasant
toboggan down to a very hard and unspringy rock!
Once more I regained my narrow, stony way, and all
thought, all existence even, was concentrated firstly, on
putting my feet in the right place, and secondly, on trying
to keep them there. The first height reached brought
me on a level with the temple on the Takht, the next
gave me a fine view of the Jhelum Valley, the many
winding canals and the river flowing through the tovm,
the long, straight fines of magnificent poplars cutting up
the view with a Dutch primness strangely foreign to the
rest of the landscape, the plantations of giant chenaars
marking the popular camping-grounds, the Dal Lake
with its water jungle, and straight below, shaded by the
mountain-side, the pretty country houses of Gupcar,
surrounded with bright gardens. It was pleasant resting
on the green grass, but ever above me was the peak that
seemed to frown at the dilatoriness of its visitor, so with
an effort I moved on, and though the path was still steep
it was somewhat easier than in its earlier stages.

I dawdled much on my way, finding little pleasure in
making records, so far, at least, as celerity was concerned.
From the summit far-reaching snows were to be seen
in every direction; ranges to the south showed lovely
peaks swathed below with cloud, that divided from the
lower world the glistening heights cutting the blue sky ;

KASHMIR VALLEYS 147

while on the other sides detached heights rose to
amazing altitudes, a few with unmistakable outlines —
Kolahoi, Mahadeo, Haramuk — others unknown, name-
less units in a crowd of beauty. What pleasant
breezes blew there; the hot climb, the rough stones —
they were only the short black tunnel leading to the
life-giving upper air.

I took another track for my downward path, and
slipped and fell and picked myseK together many a
time searching for flowers, such treasures, too, carpets
of edelweiss, giant sedums, great purple cranesbill,
yellow berberis, and everywhere carpets of roses and
delicate ferns, which always retain for me the romance
of anonymous friends, being quite unable to make
out even distantly their families, with the exception of
maidenhair, that grew everywhere profusely. After
several rapid glissades and undignified sittings down,
I was beginning to wonder whether the ruins had not
best be left unexplored, when an unusually long slip,
only ended by a violent jerk, which landed me in a
berberis bush, revealed me such beauties that heat and
sore bones and disappointments were instantly obliter-
ated. An absolutely precipitous hillside descended
from the spot where I was seated in anything but stately
dignity, to the ruins, and the piece of hillside was one
vast mosaic of roses — pale, rosy pink, deepest blood-red,
and purple iris, not one rocky point was allowed to
appear, not one tall weed to intervene, thus two queens
had conquered all else, and were left alone to fight for
dominion. Only an occasional berberis — his spikes, no
doubt, securing some respect — ^was allowed a fractional
flowering space. A living mosaic it was, so full of life
that little broken-off pieces took fright at my unex-

14S AFOOT THROUGH THE

pected arrival and fled down in flashes of orange and
blue and purple. These I soon divined to be kingSfishers
and golden orioles fleeing to the refuge of the sombre
old ruins that served as background to the gorgeous
picture.

The " Peri Mahal " (fairies' palace) has stood
for centuries, weather-worn and sad, alone, untenanted,
unless the Kashmiris are right and the Peris
have it in possession. If it is so, they have
chosen well, for even fairies can desire naught
better than a beautiful house in beautiful surroundings,
a fair prospect in front, perfect flowers behind, blue sky,
and good air! Designed for some palace of love it
appears to be, not for the prosaic needs of an astrono-
mical institution, as the savants declare it to have been
in the sixteenth centurs' by Sufi Mahomedans.

The difficulties of the descent were not even then
all surmounted, and I managed to entangle myself in
an almost impenetrable thicket of roses and shrubs, and
only struggled through that to find below a thick hedge
and a fairly wide stream. " Go round," " turn back,"
" no path," shouted some workmen, but one does not
turn back after coming so far, and I began pushing my
way through the thorny barrier. My position awoke
the chivalry of an old weather-beaten fellow labouring
in the fields, and he came across to show me the best
place to break through. " Come from the Peri Palace ? "
he questioned. " Yes, and from far beyond," I answered,
" from right over there over the hill- top, the great
Zebanwan." " When I was young I have done that
many a time," he replied, " but now," and he laughed
the curious httle cackle all natives seem to acquire as
they get into years, " these old bent legs are only good

KASHMIR VALLEYS 149

to take me to the assistance of others in difficulty," and
he choked away at his little joke. " Truly the Mem-
sahib is adventurous, and where does she go to now ? "
I replied by pointing out the lake not far distant. " Eest
under the trees first till the sun is down; the Sahib
log get fever when the sun is hot. Have you heard a
song they sing down in the plains ? I heard it in the past
before I came back to rest in the Happy Valley." And
in curious quavering tones he chanted the following
song, and with an accent that showed he was no native
of the • country : —

REGRET.

0 straight white road that runs to meet
Across green fields the blue-green sea,

Yon knew the little weary feet
Of my child-bride that was to be ?

Her people brought her from the shore,

One golden day in sultry June,
And I st(X)d waiting at the door,

Praying my eyes might see her soon.

With eager arms wide open thrown,

Now never to be satisfied,
Ere I coidd make my love my own.

She closed her amber eyes and died.

Alas ! alas ! they took no heed

How frail she was, my little one,
But brought her here with cruel speed,

Beneath the fierce, relentless sun.

We laid her on the marriage bed,

The bridal flowers in her hand,
A maiden, from the ocean led.

Only, alas ! to die inland.

150 AFOOT THROUGH THE

I walk alone ; the air is sweet,

The white road wanders to the sea,

I dream of those two little feet

That grew so tired in reaching me.

Maybe the story told somewhat of his own hf e-history ;
there was a pathetic lingering over the last lines, and
then he added hastily as I tried to give him a small tip,
" No, no, I have pension ; I was a soldier once, and can
afford snuff and a little for the baba log that will come

Pandits and Panditanis, Kashmir

and worry an old fellow " (for a swarm of tiny fat babies
had gradually collected from nowhere seemingly, as
children will at the sound of music), " but let the Sahib
mind the sun."

He stood salaaming as I turned away across a
mulberry-shaded green in the direction of the lake, and
I wished I knew more of his history, could speak the
sympathy I felt, and be allowed if for once only to enter
somewhat into the pleasures and troubles of this strange

KASHMIR VALLEYS 151

folk that have so far more of those little emotions, that
we tr\^ and believe our own especial property, than we
generally think, and shut themselves off from all
outsiders in their heart sorrows and inner joys.

I took to heart the good advice offered, and spent
the mid-day hours under the shade of some vast walnut
trees growing in a village, whose houses they served to
shade, and watched some men gathering mulberries,
first beating the branches with long bamboos, then
stripping the boughs by chmbing into them, putting
the fruit in one basket and the leaves for the silkworms
into the other — with the smaller trees they simply
chopped off the branches. Sharing my laziness were
some well-to-do city folk, the women quite extra-
ordinarily graceful, and with the beautiful straight
features of Romans, the turned-back white linings
of their head-dress and sleeves looking most becoming
against the deep blues and purples of their pherans.

M

152 AFOOT THROUGH THE

CHAPTER XIII

I think the spectacle of a whole life in which you have no part paralyses
personal desire; you are content to become a mere spectator." — Stevenson.

I luxuriate in the spectacle of others' labours — Some details as
to arts and crafts in Srinagar — A pleasant tea party and a
late return.

Of the city of Srinagar I had thus far seen really very
little, and as it is impossible to live in a world of
merchants, all selling amazingly artistic wares, without
giving one's self up to some of the joys of collecting, for
several days I eschewed long expeditions and gave my
gracious permission to all the various sellers who passed
in their swift little shikars to board my doonga and
show me their goods. This is an ideal form of shopping,
no bustle, no hurry, and the buyer is enabled to
order exactly what he wants, for the goods
produced at the first meeting are merely specimens
from which cost and quality may be gauged.
Any orders are entered in a book, with price offered
by purchasers, and name and address of latter ; also the
time when the things are to be completed and returned.
Naturally in practice this system does not quite fulfil its
ideal theory. Like true artists the Kashmiri workman

KASHMIR VALLEYS 153

likes taking his own time; sometimes also he prefers
his own to his customer's ideas, and the result is that
when the time of departure comes, the latter has either
to take what is but the shadow of the thing ordered,
or leave the country empty-handed. When possible,
the most satisfactory method is to allow the Kashmiri
liberty as to time, and, beyond a general scheme of
colour and outline of pattern preferred, leave all details

Srinagrar

and arrangements of shades to his individual taste. He
will never make a mistake when unhampered by
restrictions, and the pieces of embroidery, mats, carpets,
etc., brought home by me look as lovely and perfect in
their new surroundings as when worked under other
skies for other purposes.

One of my first orders given before I went up the
river to Islamabad had been for two large felt mats —

154 AFOOT THROUGH THE

" numdahs," as they are called — and as I lay in my
boat waiting to see what my visitors would bring to
amuse me, the " kopra " (cloth) merchant arrived with
my felts, and well satisfied I was. " Blue or blue green,
with some red, brown, and a flowing pattern," had been
my vague orders. Both were on white grounds; one
was a beautifully intricate pattern of " chenaar " leaves
in two shades of blue ; the other " lake pattern," a
skilful blending of the strange forms of water foliage
carried out in blues, green, with dull red-brown stems,
and, an addition that touched the heart of a peacock
worshipper, each comer was adorned with one of those
beautiful birds worked in the same colours. I was
delighted, and the dark rich brown of my boat showed
off worthily the soft colouring and skilful needlecraft.
The workers, except for a few general outlines, do all
their embroidery " by eye and mind " as a merchant
explained to me, and are supplied with hanks of crewels
of the colours ordered, which they use according to taste.
The mats are about twelve rupees the pair, and five
or six feet long by three or four broad. As they practi-
cally can be used for all purposes, as I have already
explained, from hangings to a hold-all, they cannot be
considered extravagant. I purchased also new covers
for my cushions, the old ones having been considerably
worn by their hard usage of the previous weeks, for eight
annas (about eightpence) a piece, worked in the same
style on rather thinner stuff, and curtains I ordered
with flowing borders of green leaves.

That business over, I examined many beautiful
pieces of " pashminas," so silky and light that, like the
fairy wedding gowns of our childhood, they could be
packed in a nutshell; the silkiest very costly, others of

KASHMIR VALLEYS 155

great beauty less valuable. It is of this stuff that the
far-famed Kashmir shawls are made, the wool itself
being the " underwear " kindly provided by nature for
the goats that live in the colder regions that surround
the Happy Valley. There were puttoos, too, of every
shade and thickness for a few annas the yard, beauti-
fully warm and soft, and "all enduring"; these are
the " homespuns " of the country, spun by the natives
during the long winter hours from the wool of the
sheep.

The kopra merchant dismissed, there came by a
very smart boat, in it a slim, handsome boy in long blue
coat, sinewy, graceful, the son of one of the principal
silver and copper merchants. Boarding my doonga he
proceeded to undo bundle after bundle of beautiful
specimens of finest workmanship — ^not deeply stamped
with strange, uncouth figures, and in rough, uncertain
chiselling, like nearly all the down-country metal work I
had seen, but covered with delicate reliefs surely and
accurately carried out. " Come and have tea at my
shop, and see some of my workers," pressed the
merchant, and I acceded, knowing that however tempt-
ing I might find the goods shown, I could fall back on
the safe position of "requiring time to consider," a
condition that has saved from many a threatened
financial difficulty.

Soon after the silver wares had been repacked and
removed, a carpet merchant came with his boat to take
me by arrangement to see his factory, and, paddled
swiftly by eight lusty Kashmiris, we soon sped down
the river to the sheds where hundreds of workers were
sitting in rows, each busily employed on the loom in
front of him. The wool used is grovni locally, and the

156 AFOOT THROUGH THE

industry is one of great benefit to the inhabitants, for
not only are large numbers of men and boys employed
on the actual work, but women and children prepare
aiid wind the wool. The trade is one that has to be
learnt early, and the entire training must be gone
through before a workman is considered competent.
The first process to be learned is the winding of the
wool, which is handed over in enormous hanks to each
foreman, and, squatting on the floor, were to be seen
innumerable small brown boys busily winding it off
from their toes, ever present and ready skein holders!
The first promotion places them behind the looms,
where they sit and run a line of the cotton into the
warp to strengthen it for sustaining the wool, and then,
with a large iron comb, they push it into place. When
this part of the work is learned, they are transferred
to the other side of the loom, where they begin by
learning to place and knot, in the curious fashion in
vogue, the wool for the plain stitches that edge the
border, and at the end of six months they are usually
expert enough to work at the difficult pattern. And
the pattern, how is that accomplished? Strange as it
may seem, the pattern is unknown to all the workers.
All that they are given are slips of papers on which
appear extraordinary hieroglyphics, the patois of the
Kashmiri carpet-makers written in a shorthand of their
own, indicating directions for the line next to be pro-
ceeded with. " 3 green, lift 4, 2 black, 5 blue, 12 green,
lift 6," etc., drones out the head-boy at each loom, and
nimble brown fingers knot in the wool, fork it straight,
and clip even with large iron scissors as the row is
completed.

In this laborious thorough manner the great fabrics

KASHMIR VALLEYS

157

are completed, some as large as sixty by thirty feet;
every thread is strong, soft, enduring, and the prices
merely range according to the quality of wool from,
perhaps, sixteen rupees a square yard to ninety, one
hundred, and one hundred and sixty for the finest. It
is a constrained, hard life for such young folk, and
they contrive some pleasant relaxations, catching an
unfavoured neighbour a sly w^hack with the fork, or
digging a too superior " head-boy " with the weighty
scissors.

Group of Hindu artists

Beautiful old Persian and Kashmiri patterns are
imitated, and the colouring, save in rare instances where
Europeans have insisted on choosing home models
to be copied, is never at fault.

The people who make these perfect patterns, and
are the brains to these countless pairs of active hands,
work in small, dark rooms, almost without accessories,

158 AFOOT THROUGH THE

practically without properties, saving their pencil,
their drawing board, and, best of all furnishings,
an imaginative, active brain. Some I watched
were adapting old patterns, others enlarging from
tiny drawings sent by customers, the greater number
making original designs, while not far distant were
the men employed in writing out the directions
in long narrow strips that I had heard the boys
reading to the workers. So that weary eyes might
be refreshed while engaged in that tiring work, pots
of greenery were placed at the ends of the room, offering
a soothing contrast to the cramped figures and forms
locked up for so many hours daily.

The artistic perfection and material squalor were a
strange contrast — ^men at a wage of a few annas a day
doing work of priceless value ; it was reminiscent of the
Italian Middle Ages, and afforded considerable food
for thought! Low as the wages are, these factories
have been a great boon to the poor Kashmiri shawl
makers, who, since the decline of their industry at
the time of the Franco-Prussian war, have been the
most miserable class in the country. Many have now
become carpet-makers, and as their wares become better
known and their artistic and technical goodness under-
stood, more will be employed and higher wages given.

Returning to my own boat I was beguiled into the
shop of a worker in enamels, who, waving in front of
me an exquisite lamp of gilded brass decorated with
many and bright colours, led me into his den, and,
cunning comprehender of female character, he insisted
on making me tea of the finest before he would show
me anything, thereby making sure of binding me to
purchase something after partaking of his hospitality.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 159

It was not the will that was wanting, merely the coy
and necessary rupees, but the man was well satisfied
with a small order, and showed real pleasure in exhibit-
ing his beautiful wares, some of the best ordered
for his Highness the Maharajah, and destined for
exhibition in London and Paris. Many of them require
months to finish, the enamel being slow in hardening.
They are made from crushed stones, and applied with
a delicacy of fancy and richness of effect difficult to
imagine unless seen. The blues made from lapis and
turquoise are handsome, and so is the carbuncle red,
but the beautiful dark greens and yellows obtained
from agates and amber are more striking and
uncommon. The old patterns, too, are very graceful, and
this industry — ^more fortunate than many of the others —
has been lucky in being unspoilt by foreign influence.
Too slow and costly to tempt the ordinary tourist, these
men have only been patronised by customers with real
taste, and they generally follow their stock of old
patterns, added to by such thorough artists as Mr.
Kipling, of the Lahore School of Art. Silver was also
used ^s a background for the enamels, but, on the whole,
tlie ^It copper was the most effective.

I had not long returned to my boat from this
expedition ^^efore my silver merchant arrived, and,
arranging many pillows for me, helped me into his
shikar, placed a mat for me to sit on, and, giving the word
to the men, we started at great speed, going down with
the tide. He had brought some new things with him
wherewith to entertain the " lady," and he spread before
me a beautiful silver ewer and basin after an old Persian
design, a strange teapot from Leh, curious ornaments
from Yarkand and Turkestan, a silver coffee service

160 AFOOT THROUGH THE

designed by an Englishman of diseased imagination —
so I gathered from studying the embodiment of his
fancies — and small spoons of the form of the paddles
employed in the boats, and salt cellars like the
" kangars " or charcoal holders universally in use.

A rival merchant's boat tried to pass too closely,
much to the indignation of my friend, v^ho saw in this
an attempt to borrow cheaply his designs. " Put up
your umbrella quickly, Memsahib," he implored, and
then, with his goods well sheltered from a too-inquiring
gaze, he shouted back rude remarks to the baffled rival.
" Go and weep, this Memsahib is bu}dng largely," he
protested ; " she has bought a coffee set for five hundred
rupees, and dishes for a thousand; she is coming to
visit my shop ; the Presence buys from no one else ; she
will purchase from me for three thousand rupees; cry
your loudest ; weep, weep, bad men, she," etc. ; and I in
hearing of all this, and conscious of an attempt to get
for fifteen rupees my one purchase of two small sweet
dishes !

But it was a game understood by all taking part,
and the discomfited one and his crew were as ready to
grin as our own men, knowing their turn would come
another time. Passing through the rushing water under
the first bridge, we drifted down with the quick current
between great wooden houses, with their prettily-carved
shutters and flower-filled balconies on either side.
Occasionally gay garden patches brightened the scene,
and leafy bowers, under which happy family parties were
gathered, reminded one of Italy. At length we arrived
at the stone steps leading to my entertainer's house,
and there was his father to welcome me — an old man
with the stateliest manners, who led me strange, dark

KASHMIR VALLEYS 161

ways, across stone courts, up more steps to an
open space, where, well-screened from the inquisitive,
a group of men were working diligently at various
beautiful copper goods. " These are but a few
of my men," he explained. " I have four hundred
workmen outside the town; these few are here that
my visitors may see how my work is done."

The scene was worthy of a Rembrandt, the furnace
casting a rich glow on the roundly moulded, olive-tinted
limbs of the workers, all intent on their tasks. Their
tools were of the simplest — a few small wedges and
punches, some nails, small hammers — and with this tiny
apparatus they were turning out great standard lamps
four and five feet high, trays two feet across, jugs,
lanterns, all covered with the finest of traceries and
reliefs.

The beautiful colour of the copper work is obtained
by boiHng in apricot juice and salted water and much
hard brushing, and this is what he recommended for
the cleaning of all brasses and coppers. So good house-
wives, take note! Also, that if the necessary dried
apricots cannot be obtained, almost as good results can
be obtained by lemon juice. From the heat of the
workshed it was pleasant to pass into the lofty, cool
exhibition rooms, to be shown to a deep, low chair
banked up with cushions, and while Russian tea of the
most expensive kind was being brewed in a huge silver
samovar, to look at the exquisite wares spread at one's
feet — ornaments, tiny dishes, deUcate stands, into which
the light grace of the leafy models, always chosen for the
patterns on these things, seem to have passed. The tea
prepared, the golden liquid was poured into a tiny cup
of priceless Chinese porcelain, and small native cakes

162 AFOOT THROUGH THE

were broken into a silver plate for me, and sweetmeats
were handed in an enamelled silver bowl. Then the
" Presence " feeling sufficiently restored for such exer-
cise, I was shown other rooms with handsome pieces of
copper -yv^are and many things of silvered tin, and I was
struck with the delicate tact that refused to press me
to buy when I had come as an honoured guest. In my
own boat I was evidently considered capable of fighting
my own battles!

Long were their lists of visitors and customers.
Their books were a guide to the men at the " helm of
the Indian Empire " for many decades ; orders, too,
came by every post ; several fat envelopes arrived while
I was there, and with many apologies I was asked to
decipher the contents, as none in the establishment
could read though several could speak English. One
proved to be from a large English house asking for a
consignment of some hundreds of goods, and laying
great stress on the necessity for an equality of metal,
a hint the hosts evidently considered extremely unneces-
sary. Another w^as from a very highly-placed lady,
ordering a complete silver toilet set ; while a third from
an officer — young, I presumed — wishing for the sort of
thing people use on tables for a wedding present, to be
neither too costly or too rubbishy. Then, as payment
for the trouble inflicted, I was offered and deigned to
accept a little napkin ring of crushed turquoise work,
and with much courteous salaaming I parted from my
kind entertainers and wandered into a neighbouring
warehouse, where was a family of workers in " papier-
mache."

That word is somewhat of a misnomer nowadays, for
practically that material, made by pulping and moulding
coarse country paper, is scarcely seen, but the style of

KASHMIR VALLEYS 163

painting used on it in Persia and introduced from there
centuries ago, is now employed for decorating a variety
of objects made of a close-grained white wood, and the
result is very similar, the varnish, procured by boiling
clear copal (sundras) in pure turpentine, being that
used for the genuine fafier-mdche. The artist whose
work I was looking at was a well-known worker,
and certainly he deserved his reputation. Quite old,
his thin, dried-up hands still retained their early
steadiness and dexterity, and without measurements
or compasses he produced the most intricate and oft-
repeated designs with almost mathematical precision;
his colouring, too, was very lovely, and his combina-
tions of cherry red and green, blue greens and purples,
and his use of gold showed the perfection of his art.
Few of the Kashmir industries have suffered more than
the fafier-mdche trade from the many visitors who of
late years have wandered up to the northern capital
for the hot months, and the cheap, quick work, which
is chiefly in demand, has ruined the quality. A few,
however, still remain who are clever enough to be able
to get their own prices, and the one I visited was one
of these. It was impossible to hurry him, but each
thing finished, whether tiny stamp -box or larger wares,
such as blotting-book or card table, was a masterpiece.
Many of his patterns were of unknown antiquity — the
" flower patterns " of Persian origin showing a network
of blossoms on a golden ground, the " devil pattern,"
from mysterious Kabul, with a thousand fiendish
figures mixed in inextricable confusion. He was also
willing to copy anything that struck him as suitable or
pretty — sprigs of flowers from a sketch-book, birds, or
scrolls from English cards — ^and he was vastly delighted
by the present of a painting of a kingfisher, that being

164 AFOOT THROUGH THE

such a familiar bit of colour to him, but he had never
been able to introduce it into his work, not being able
to copy except from the flat.

On leaving he pressed me to visit a neighbour who
had wonderful brocades from Central Asia, and, on
my pleading absolute inability to purchase, he assured
me that would not be in the least expected. So I
went, and found a royal personage with a vast following,
filling most of the warehouse, though room was made for
me, and, examining such riches of embroideries, silk
draperies, antique brocades, gold cloths, and softest
satins from many countries and many lands as I had
hardly realised existed nowadays, I thought they must
have been raped from some rich fairy store, and the
silence of the owner as to their origin strengthened the
idea, but I do not know. They may be merely the
harvest of many visits to such hovels as I had visited
in the morning in my search after carpets, and savage
kings and wild tribesmen in Central Asia may own such
gorgeous draperies. Anything is possible in the general
topsy-turveydom east of Suez, where men write from
right to left, and keep their heads covered to be
respectful, where they run away when beckoned to,
and have to be waved away if desired to approach,
where the correct hanging of a portrait is head down-
ward, and even the robin wears his red under his tail!

The Hght was fast failing as I left that treasure-
house of colour and material, and I bade my boatmen
paddle fast that I might not be too late on the water
without warm wraps. Reluctantly they made ready
to start; they had been listening to a quarrel
between two women — each stalwart, abusive, truculent
— and wished to watch the conclusion. However, the
principals themselves considered that nightfall was too

KASHMIR VALLEYS 165

near at hand to end their argument on the spot, and
adjourned the finish till the following day, inverting
their grain-sifters where they had been using them, in
token that they would not forget !

It was nearly eight as we passed the Amiran Kadal,
the first bridge, the rushing current, pent up unnaturally
between the piers, forcing the men to use their best
efforts if they wished to pass under. The last rays of
the setting sun caught various gilded domes and pin-
nacles, and added a beauty to the strange modern Hindu
fanes generally lacking in the garish daylight. The
various heights in the city — the Takht-i-Suleiman and
Hari Parbat — stood out darkly against the deep blue
vault, and as the moon rose shared the flood of her soft
radiance with the dark mountains behind, other
paddlers shouted greetings as we passed, women sitting
in the latticed windows of the high houses craned out
to see who was abroad so late. All the bustle of the
earlier daylight hours was gone, and the city enjoyed
that social intercourse which is the Eastern idea of
spending night, not wasting in sleep the pleasant cool-
time, but waiting for the cold dawn to commence his
rest, the second part of which is enjoyed when the
mid-day heat makes all exercise dffficult and unpleasant.
My headman waited me on the bank as I neared the
doonga, anxious lest an accident should have delayed
me, and there already, tempting to a hungry, chilly
mortal, was the Httle dinner table spread with its
embroidered cloth, my newest acquisition, spread out
to please the eyes, and a savoury smell pervading,
suggestive of a quick soulagement of my hunger pangs.

166 AFOOT THROUGH THE

CHAPTER XIV

By many a name of many a creed

We have called upon them since the sands
Fell through time's hour-glass first ; a seed
Of life ; and out of many lands

Have we stretched hands.

— Swinburne.

Water streets — A Sikh who desired proselytes — Possible faiths
— A sick Sahib — Some truisms of life in the tropics.

Interested and delighted with my experiences in the
city, I devoted several afternoons to paddling about in
my " shikar," watching the gay townsfolk as they strolled
on the bridges, listening to the latest gossip, slowly
moored to the Maharajah's palace, where all may have
free audience, or sat out either in their flower-decorated
balconies or in the cool vine-covered arbours above the
rivers, smoking, taking snuff, and alas! drinking, for
both Hindus and Mussulman have fallen away from
their old abstemious habits, and indulge freely in
fermented liquors, apple brandy, of which they will
take large quantities, being an especial favourite.

The bathing places, too, were much frequented by
men in the daytime, and by the women as the evening
drew in, for they are a water-loving people, and even
the babies paddled, shrieking with delight as the water

KASHMIR VALLEYS

167

covered their fat, brown toes and splashed their soft,
rounded limbs. The various bridges (Kadal) under
which we passed, the boatmen shouting together in
chorus as they worked their hardest to keep the boat
steadily in the middle of the stream, were all of the
same type; their foundations are of deodar piles, then
logs of wood about twenty-five to thirty feet long and
two or three feet in girth are led two feet apart at
right angles, alternately with layers of stone. So piers
are built up from about twenty-five to thirty feet in

Rebviildlngr bridgre after floods, 1893

height, and twenty-five feet square. These stand ninety
feet apart, and are spanned by long, undressed deodar
timbers. The force of the stream is broken by abut-
ments of stones running to a point constructed on the
up-stream side. These answer admirably their purpose,
stemming the wild rush of waters and standing securely
for hundreds of years, save when exceptional floods,

168 AFOOT THROUGH THE

like the terrible one of July, '93, have swept all away.
Even on that occasion the first bridge — the Amiran
Kadal — though submerged, stood, but all the others
were swept away. This was one of the worst floods
ever known in Kashmir, and terrible destruction
to city property resulted from it, more than two
thousand houses disappearing in it. Mercifully, com-
paratively few lives were lost, though, of course, the
amount of discomfort and misery it caused was very
great.

When most peaceful the broad waters of the Jhelum,
whose banks have been constantly encroached upon, are
pent up in an unnaturally restricted bed, and there is
always the danger that one day it will break its barriers,
and once again overwhelm the heedless dwellers.

The waterway is bordered by many strange build-
ings, no two alike, the faQades as irregular and as
dissimilar as the inhabitants. On one side is an extra-
ordinary building, slightly reminiscent of the stern of an
old three-decker — this is the old palace. An older
building just beside it is the palace of the Maharajah
Kanbir Singh, yet others are being added, not strictly
beautiful, but, with their strange colouring, decidedly
effective, while the golden temple is a very gorgeous
spot. Below, the water streets are very picturesque,
with their variety of buildings, great stone steps, grand
tombs, an occasional temple, and, most striking of all,
the great wooden mosque of Shah Hamadan, that earlier
in the year is a blaze of colour; its tulip-covered roof
projecting over the fine carved sides of richest walnut
wood. Here I landed one day to watch closer the gay
throngs visiting it for the chief weekly service, dropping
further down the river afterwards. Below it, on the

KASHMIR VALLEYS 169

other side, is a strange place, once a mosque, but, being
the gift of a woman, now degraded into a granary by
the narrow-minded Mussuhnan.

The townspeople always appeared to me more
cheerful, lazier individually than the countrj^ culti-
vators, the same difference as between a Parisian and a
Brittany peasant. The conditions of life are easier in
the town, food is cheap, and entertainment can always be
had for the mere effort of walking to the market or into
the public offices, or even gaping over the bridge!

The cold is great in w^inter, but can be easily over-
come by pasting up the windows with newspapers, and
filling the rooms with " kangars," the universally-used
charcoal-holders of the country. On the boat drifted,
stopping if I wished to look at a more than usually
attractive house, or to ask some question as to the
various cargoes being taken up and down in the great
barges that perform universally the office of drays in
this Eastern Venice.

By the sixth bridge I landed, and gazed long up
stream at the strange vista the waterway presented,
with its burden of curious boats, its bordering houses,
its varied colouring. The sun was beginning to sink,
throwing a rosy veil over the snow peaks of the Pir
Panjal, and from the lakes arose a flaky mist that
blotted out into a soft obscurity the lower parts of the
town, leaving the temple-crowned Takht and the fortress
on Hari Parbat standing out, dark masses with
aureoles of golden light. I wandered round by back
ways to the large parade-ground to the west of the
city, returning by the poplar-bordered roads to the
second bridge, and then, having again joined my boat,
we returned through the Chenaar Bagrh, where many

170

AFOOT THROUGH THE

house-boats were lying, groups of people dining out
either beneath the great plane trees or on the roofs of
their boats.

Many of these floating houses are ver}^ prettily built.
One I saw on the stocks was in two colours — dark
walnut and light pine — and every part of it was being
exquisitely finished; the ceiling constructed of small
pieces of wood, pieced together into charming designs.

House -boat, Srinagar

Landing just below the house-boats, I walked back
across the golf links and the large polo ground to the
river bank to talk to an old friend, the Sikh postmaster,
a man of extensive learning, and even wider sympathies.
Much had he told me of his religion and his early
studies, his readings in Sanskrit, and his dippings into
foreign creeds, but for all his searchings he found his

KASHMIR VALLEYS 171

own teachers the best, and he wished to share his know-
ledge with all. "Read our writings, Memsahib," he
would say, " follow our precepts." " But how can I ? " I
would reply, " life is short, and I do not know Sanskrit ;
besides, you have a commandment for every day of the
year, and I cannot even obey ten." " Learning comes
quickly to those who labour," was his reply ; " on
Sundays I will teach you Sanskrit, and our command-
ments can all be reduced to one — Do good to one
another. Moreover, I am translating our holy writings,
and they will soon be ready, then you can read them
easily." The Sikh religion, with its contempt for cere-
monies and superstitions, its brave teachings, and its
encouragement of flowers and all lovely things, is
mightily attractive; but alas! what place is there in it
for women ? The " Khalsa " (band of holy soldiers) can
admit no woman; her only chance of future reward is
through the kind offices of some good warrior, and no
independent modem female could consent to her claims
of future happiness being settled on such conditions.
The postmaster understood somewhat of my objec-
tions, but felt quite sure that more study was all that
Avas necessary to convince me; so we agreed for the
present to sink all differences in a hunt for strawberries
in his garden. These proved excellent, and, laden with
them and a nice basket of flowers, we salaamed to
each other, the postmaster grave and erect, his youngest
child held high on his shoulder, looking sadly after me.
I think he regretted that any one, however slightly,
led towards deeper things should turn back to frivolous
wanderings to and fro and — from his point of view —
useless travels.

He had found his own behef after years of deep

172 AFOOT THROUGH THE

study, and thought nothing of rising daily at five that
he might have three hours' work at his self-imposed
tremendous task of translating the Scriptures. True
Sikh — loyal, brave, faithful — I could only trust that
he found his ov^n reward, and that no further misgivings
as to the " highest form " would trouble him. It is not
many who can rise to the highest in three departments,
and he was super-excellent postmaster, a gardener,
whose mere presence appeared to force on the flowers,
and an admirable linguist !

I still possess the book of Sikh daily prayers he gave
me, and the sight of the little brown volume brings
back vividly to me the memory of many early-morning
talks among his bright flowers, the flash of enthusiasm
in his deep-set, dark eyes, the tenderness with which he
carried his little one, and the beautiful words in which
he enunciated those high truths that he so mistakenly
believed to belong only to the Sikh religion. Courage,
love of truth, and kindness — these are noble qualities,
and the faith that inculcates them belongs to a high
order of teaching.

Leaving the little dak office, I walked along the
bank in front of the Residency, a building of darkest
walnut wood carved and ornamented, in beautiful
surroundings, shady gardens stretching to the river on
one side, and ending in lawn-tennis courts on the other.
Beyond, several other English houses stood in gardens
reaching to the water, and the profusion of roses, colossal
hollyhocks, sweetest jessamines and lilies in each, out-
shone any like display I had seen in home gardens. A
great peace was on land and water. As I reached my
boat, the last rays of light were only sufficient to show
up the dark outlines of the houses and the tall rows of

KASHMIR VALLEYS 173

poplars, but not to pierce the deep, mysterious shadows
thrown by the river banks. The air was heavy with the
scent of flowers so familiar that it was easy to imagine
one's self at home in some leafy lane in June. When I
remembered the words used by the postmaster, and
the strangeness of the relative position of teacher and
taught, also in spite of some common ideas, the vast
dissimilarity of thought, then I understood how far —
very far — I was from all my old haunts and home ties,
and the thought brought sadness ; for though it is good
to see strange lands, and to come in contact over seas
with apostles of faiths that are not ours, there is a
desire for sympathy deep down in most human hearts,
however much they may wish to shut themselves up in
their own enclosure, and sympathy is difficult to arrive
at when there is no common plank of early associations
or training on which two individuals can stand and
hold converse!

The thought influenced me to such an extent that
the following day I collected all the light literature I
was possessed of, and went off to visit a friend lately
sent up to Kashmir from the plains on sick leave, and
suffering from bad fever, the result of overwork and too
much plague duty. Fever is not a romantic or an
attractive ailment, its victims do not draw sympathy
by their interesting appearance, and much of it is apt
to engender an uncomfortable shortness of temper, but
as I sat that day and talked to a man who, barely into
the fifth decade, looked old, and watched the thin
fingers, and wondered whether he would ever five to
reach again the home where we had known each other
years before, it struck me there was an infinite
pathos in this toll exacted of nearly all who would

174 AFOOT THROUGH THE

taste life in our great Eastern possession, and shove on
the weighty wheels of empire.

"Dull those Indian chaps are," is the remark
one hears too often at home; "the only thing
they know anything about is that beastly country,
and even that they won't talk of." And no
one realises that these men, rushing home for their
precious ninety days' leave, cannot make " small talk "
of what is the one reality of their lives. It is easier for
them to pretend to the home folk that life in India is a
mere ante-chamber, a waiting for the real thing, which
will only begin when frock coats and top hats are once
more donned and the London pavements are under foot,
a period of pony riding and big game shooting, saun-
tered through, while a vast fortune is accumulating,
which will enable the happy possessor to return and
enjoy himself in the land of his fathers.

If any of the home folks do come out it is
for a cold weather tour, and they kindly accept
the best room in the bungalow, ride the only
trained pony in the stable, lounge in the most com-
fortable chairs, and chaff lightly about the small duties
and large pay of an Indian official. They do not
understand the silence about the other seasons of
the year, that there is a terrible dark tunnel called
the hot weather, which men do not care to think of
when once passed through, that there are days of long-
drawn tension when plague or famine duties demand
aU attention, and it is useless to speculate whether heat,
apoplexy, or sunstroke will give the final quietus,
because no speculation can stave it off, and meanwhile
some one must see the work done. It is easy, no doubt,
when at home to talk of the joys of early retirement.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 175

and of India as a sickening hole, and as men do not
care to discourse of that innermost shrine that nearly
all of us possess hidden away, silent, secret, adorned
with our best thoughts, hung with out highest resolves,
brightened only by hopes, so these will not admit to
any save themselves that they would not exchange for
all the "fleshpots of Israel," nor for all the "little
village " could offer, their acreage of sand and scrub,
their battalions of white turbaned, black-eyed natives,
their charge of weak-kneed folk.

Yes, silence is best about such subjects, for to
talk is to think, and thinking leads to brooding
over sufferings and difficulties, and may ultimately
tend to shakiness of nerve and incapacity for
work. " Strength " is the one thing necessary where
many depend on one man to stand upright. Sometimes,
may be in the charged, electrically -laden hush before a
thunderstorm, or in the calm coolness of a starht night,
surrounded by the siDeechful silence of still jungles,
hearts are opened and hidden streams uncovered, and
strange tales go round of difficulties and dangers, con-
tests with native cruelty and corruption, cunningly-
laid traps eluded, evils and powers of evil but dimly
comprehended, and then the Indian Empire becomes
a very real thing, and Imperiahsm seems different to the
Westminster product: a thing of blood and sinew, a
strength put out by the noblest and best of the sons of
our little northern isle to support the unwieldly mass
that demands all the energies evinced to keep life in
itself!

As I sat talking that day, and noted the sad, weary
expression of the eyes, the exhausted frame, India
seemed some terrible vampire, sucking the energies

176 AFOOT THROUGH THE

from all who would aid and sustain her, an over-exacting
mistress. This man talked no gospel, translated no
sacred screeds, was no sectarian, but his life preached
in no mistakable terms the three great doctrines enunci-
ated by the Sikh, that courage, kindness, and truth are
the great virtues, and that to quietly count the cost
and quietly overcome misgivings is better than courting
needless dangers, to help the weakly brother is more
meritorious than the frantic efforts of much-advertised
philanthropy, and that to take the simple facts of life
as they stand and construct canons for the conduct of
our life from them, is better than to befog ourselves in
searchings after misty phrases of philosophy.

Strength is the soul of man, and all that nourishes
that strength is wholesome, the only thing worth any-
thing; to be subject is bad, and slavish vices are
foul and unworthy, for which reason this wide empire
is a noble institution, and one out of which men, strong
and sinewy, shall be bred, the weak-kneed and unstable
losing caste and class.

It was a pleasant change to sit and talk with any one
who could understand without speaking every word,
who could catch one's meaning before the phrase was
complete, or an allusion but partly indicated; better
still it was to note the sympathy of the strong character
for the weaknesses of his soft underlings, and the real
pity and sorrow for the hopeless, unmerited sufferings
of his peoples. People at home wonder at the incapa-
city in India to deal with appalling disasters — plagues
of sickness and hunger. Folk in India have no time for
wonder or speculation, but give up their strength and
their health, their money, and their enjoyment to
alleviate what they cannot wholly relieve, to aid what
they cannot understand.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 177

As I stood up to say good-bye, the other pulled
himself together. " I'm going down next week," he
said laconically. " Going down ; why, you are shaking
with fever now." " That's nothing ; I've been writing,
and my hand is a bit shaky, but Mit-cham, my chief, has
been sent off — nearly went out altogether last week —
and there's no one to go in his place, and that
native overseer will be stealing the grain if I don't
go and look after things — ^well, it was awfully good
of you to come and bring those papers; made me

think of that day long ago at the Races, those

pictures in the Snorting and Dramatic! Perhaps we
will meet there again, if I am home next year."

"Yes, if!"

Natives are not the only ones who die when plague
and famine stride through the land.

178 AFOOT THROUGH THE

CHAPTER XV

Are we not happy? Sunlit air,
Soft colour, floods of dewy light,

A flowery perfume everywhere

Pour out their wealth for our delight.

—E. W. Gosse.

I start for cooler regions — Good ponies and annoying attendants
— I lose my temper and feel the heat — Arrived in cooler
regions — I arrange my camp and note the colour of spring
flowers.

Searching city waterways and scouring lake lanes had
been pleasant occupations so long as the weather was
not too oppressive and the sun shorn somewhat of his
full power, but there arrived a day when it was too hot
to walk, the lake was too mosquito -covered to be
visited, and merchants and customers were alike too
listless to take interest in the cheapening of an
embroidery or the defeat of a rival salesman. Heat
has a way of drawing the backbone and moral fibre out
of a human being, so that all shame ceases at the
shirking of any effort. Nations would cease to rage and
men to wrangle if only enough warmth could be engen-
dered to reduce nature to a condition of emotionless
pulp !

Preferring an existence of storm and stress to a

KASHMIR VALLEYS 179

Nirvana of heat, I bethought me of higher levels to
be reached by a day or two of marching, and once more
gave the order for a move. The order w^as not received
with any thrill of joy by my faithful attendants; for
them it meant that we were leaving the fleshpots of
Egypt to sojourn in the desert, exchanging a place of
cheap grain and many friends, endless opportunities
for gossip, and a warmth which operated more effectively
than many clothes and without the cost, for loneliness
and cold and few provisions. Sometimes the many must
be sacrificed to the one, and the many, on the mention
of increased pay and plenty of ponies for transport
and riding, cheerfully gave their consent to be
immolated.

The portly and courth' Sir Rao Amamath sent
baggage ponies, and early one morning a lordly pro-
cession was formed on the bank, and slowly drifted off
into the " ewigkeit," or more exactly, disappeared down
the immense avenue of poplars leading from the
Residency to the city, from there on towards the
eternal snows. These ponies were far superior to the
casual baggage animals I had employed in other parts
of the valley, there being all the difference between pro-
fessionals and amateurs. The latter, or rather their
owners for them, had always begun operations by loud
protestations of the powers of their beasts to carry-
limitless burdens, protestations falsified by their incapa-
city to accomplish the firm attachment of even the
smaller of the bundles. Then there would follow a
period of three-cornered insults, beasts, owners, and
followers taking equal shares, the beasts contributing
by snorts and kicks. Lastly, a league defensive and
offensive between the three belUgerent parties would

180 AFOOT THROUGH THE

be cemented, and I would find myself the common enemy
tx) be looted and spoiled to the uttermost. A conflict
usually continued till the offer of slightly-increased
pay — " dastur " (" that which is customary ") was the
polite word employed — brought about renewed activity
and eventually a start.

State transport ponies behaved differently; they
arrived with neat pack saddles and a plethora of hooks
and ropes, bundles were swiftly arranged, balanced,
fastened, and I soon had the pleasure of seeing the
first bearing off a stately tin tub, the others with
my most valued possessions. I followed, the ponies
and retainers, stragglers, outsiders interested in my pro-
ceedings, small fry and female belongings to be gradually
dropped behind, brought up the rear. A dog, two goats,
and a boat were unconsidered trifles also in the proces-
sion, and a few camels and a cow or two would have
made the party eminently patriarchal. I wished to
look at some gardens I had heard of, and deviating to
right and left in search of those made me lose my place
in the order of things, and when I again rejoined the
high road leading directly from the city to Magam, I
fondly imagined all my belongings were well ahead.
Needless to mention, they too had found objects of
interest in the city, and were gossiping, dawdling,
bargaining far behind.

The route was pleasantly reminiscent of Low Country
ways, giant poplars on either side gave a grateful shade,
cattle and sheep grazed in the rich marsh lands stretch-
ing away to the river, and slow, sad-coated peasants
dawdled along, while their womenkind outside the
cottages were busy weaving or drying the ripe
tomatoes and marrows in preparation for the long

KASHMIR VALLEYS 181

winter months when food is scarce. A pleasant breeze
from the river rustled the poplar leaves, and the blue
sky above was duplicated in the sheets of blue iris
flowering profusely in the low-lying, damp fields, and
filling the air with a fragrance that was two parts
essence of spring and one part stolen from the sedges
and other water growths that surrounded them. Spring
sunshine and gladness were everywhere, and the country
was in festive garb for nature's annual flower fete. Even
the coolies could not pass without presenting a spray
of roses or some jessamine freshly plucked, and in the
villages old and young were gathered under the shadiest
trees watching with amazement the energetic Memsahib
who could stride along hot roads, while even they, poor,
" less than the dust," were content to take in a big
draught of sunshine and restful ease against the pinching
season of bitter cold and darkness so soon to follow.
Some thought of being carried by one of the riding
ponies if the high-peaked native saddle would admit of
my sitting sideways on it had been in my mind, and
as the day wore on and the poplars disappeared, leaving
the weary pedestrian feeling like a hapless beetle
crawling over a quite illimitable track, but without
even the comfort of a really adequate black shell, the idea
gathered strength, and so, on arriving at a " ganw "
(village), where I had agreed with my men they were to
wait if I had not already overtaken them, I questioned
some of the people as to whether they had seen my
caravan. No men had been seen, no ponies; misgivings
filled my mind, and — final drop into chaos — a coolie from
the other direction told me of having met them eight
miles back comfortably settled for their " roti khana '*
(dinner)! Devoting men, ponies, he and she goats.

182 AFOOT THROUGH THE

and all other living things to deepest regions, I decided
to push on five more v^eary miles on a dreary, scorching,
blistering road, though the Kashmiri villagers, w^ho
have a fine independent courtesy, were for my
staying and resting under their trees, offering me
milk and mulberries in a plaited grass basket, and
bringing water and salt to refresh my tired feet. I
thanked them, but departed, my heart being hot against
all natives by reason of the faithlessness of my own
followers, so I, in familiar parlance, cut off my nose to
spite my face, and starting out once more on my lonely
way, nearly fell by the wayside, for the sun was powerful,
and almost succeeded in bowling me over!

Marching and a free life in the wild were altogether
at a discount when I at last reached the friendly dak
bungalow at Magam, having been lured on by no
vision of snow-crowned heights and noble forests to be
viewed in the near future, but rather tempted forward
by a sordid will o' the wispish flavour of iced hock. The
idea of obtaining this ambrosial liquid had strengthened
my tottering footsteps, and it was with an echo of
" cooling rills of sparkling hocks," combined with an
after-thought of peaches and grapes in my mind, that
I marched into the verandah and called loudly for
" Khansama." The Khansama was polite and willing,
as is natural to his class of wayside hosts all the world
over, but hock — no; that had been an absurdity bred
in my feverish brain, the " Sahib could have whatever
she desired " — if, if — she were able to provide it ! As
it seemed uncertain whether it would be hours or days
before my straggling cortege came in, I left my refresh-
ment to my host, knowing it useless to order when only
the names of things writ large, clear, and inviting,
were to be noted in the tariff, the substance of them

KASHMIR VALLEYS 183

remaining among the things unseen. As iced hock and
peaches were not to be procured, the Memsahib made
shift with stewed tea and bath ohvers, and as a sun head
was anxious to claim her, turned into an invitingly
shady room, where flies tormented and mosquitoes
devoured, and spent the rest of the day in that condition
of super-self-realisation, induced by having all the most
sensitive portions marked out for the sport of a variety
of pain devils.

My belongings arrived towards dusk, and it was
impossible to blame them for having rested during the
heat of the day while I was stupidly pushing on, and for
arriving fresh and cool, especially when it was pointed
out in sympathetic tones that the immediate cause of
the first lagging had been the belief that the Memsahib
was still behind and might require assistance.

I had become used to a cheerful statement of what
should be rather than what was, and so ought not to
have been led away when my men promised many
ponies, quantities of the best riding ponies for me to
choose from on the morrow. Dawn flushed the sky with
a flood of rosy light, and the dawn was transformed to
broadest daylight, but neither ponies nor owners of
ponies were to be seen. My men continued to chatter
cheerfully of "what was to be," but, as there seemed
no reason to consider a miraculous intervention on my
behalf likely, I decided to consider the riding pony one
of those charming " might have beens," and make use of
that which I had, namely, two walking legs. I could
not, without hard-heartedness, make use of the riding
pony brought from Srinagar, for the aged cook had
developed fever and rheumatism from the bare thought
of camping, and it had been given up to him.

I was not good to talk to that morning, and my

184 AFOOT THROUGH THE

people remained peculiarly obliterated, as is their wise
custom when the air is disturbed, and so I departed for
my solitary tramp, satisfied that when I was found dead
by the way they would be sorr}^ they had treated me
so thoughtlessly. It was an unfriendly road, mounting,
always mounting with that aggravating unsteadiness
which allows of no comfortable downhill breaks to give
an added spurt to the next ascent.

If I had had the energy to look up, white peaks
before me might have served as tempting goal posts,
and had I not realised that to stand still was to be lost,
I could have waited for a few minutes to look behind
at the Jhelum winding its way through the green valley,
that was shut in on the thither side by ranges of
dark hills surmounted by Ilaramuk, from whom it was
impossible to be long separated, and a few other giants.
I would not even delay to drink water from a racy
streamlet that rushed with prodigious noise and splash-
ing down on my right, and, disappearing under the
roadway, turned up again on the left with a fine air
of " Hullo, here we are again, why do you not hurry
along as quickly as I do ? " before it finally made its way
down the rose-clad bank to lower levels where the last
" kushaba " was in progress, the rice plants having by
this time reached fine dimensions. Instruction might
have been sucked in on every side by one who had not
concentrated his whole mind in mere physical progress,
for the road passed through strange strata, and some
curious examples of the " karewa " (explained else-
where) were worth an examining look, not just the
angry contempt which was all I could spare then. I
was wound up to go a certain distance, and any deviation
from straight ahead could only be accomplished at risk
of the works running down too soon.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 185

Hardened non-observer as I was, I could not resist
the begiiilements of a flowery bank that appeared, as
the path, taking a sudden turn to the left, began to rise
steeply; it was covered with roses, such roses,
of ever}^ shade and hue, and with the daintiest
undergrowth of forget-me-not of a blue so deep
and pure that it was easy to understand why
" gentians " had suggested themselves. It was a reviving
spectacle, and when further treasures of jessamine,
berberis, other roses, and other forget-me-nots revealed
themselves the path grew less stony, the sun less tiring,
and finally turning under great blue pines, the road was
absolutely without drawbacks, and I ceased to care how
many miles lay before me, how steep the path, or how
many hours I might have to wait for dilator}^ coolies.
Slowly I moved on, a fresh breeze blowing from the snow
slopes across the valley, an ever-increasing number of
hill flowers luring up steep banks or down precipitous
slopes.

It is difficult to imagine with what intention I picked
the great bunches that cumbered me sadly and were
sorely in my way, but men and women are collecting
animals, and it was impossible to move on without the
doubtful compliment of noting in this drastic fashion
their existence and beauty. Purples and yellows were
the prevailing colours, huge crane's biU, iris, tiny yellow
viola in sheets, and bushes of berberis and jessamine,
asparagus fern made feathery greenery, and sturdier
filice made a suitable background.

Up and up wound the path, and always above
but never growing any nearer was the wooden
bungalow which crowns the height I knew to
be my destination. Two coolies passed me marching
briskly up the incline, heavy, over-filled kiltas

186

.'\AFG0T THROUGH THE

on their backs, and bearing forward on their
strong sticks to support them, and I inquired
of the distance. " The smoke of two pipes,"
was the unlucid answer. I have not yet smoked a
native pipe, so the length of time taken to finish one
was unknown to me. But they told me that above the
weather had been very bad, that snow had fallen a day
or two before, and much rain was soon expected. As
I contemplated camping this was not reassuring, for

Gulmerg bazaar

I had been warned what Gulmerg could be when really
damp.

The coolies told me there was a shorter route up
than the one I had come, and it would probably be taken
by my retainers. This spurred me to renewed efforts,
hoping I should not be kept too long waiting at the
top for them. The air was distinctly cooler, for I was
some three thousand feet higher than my last resting-
place, Magam, and with a little effort I was really up
on a level with the tiny bazaar — still empty, for the
Parsee merchants who come up in the summer were still

KASHMIR VALLEYS 187

below in the valley — the whole merg spread out before
me, vast shelving sweeps of greenness and flowers
screened on every side by secular forests of giant pines
from the fierce blasts and rigorous tempests that sweep
over the lonely snow-clad peaks above.

It was like standing on the outer rim of a great
saucer, winter above, spring at my feet, spring that,
as is her wont, had arrayed herself in her best-hued
cloak of w^hite and blue, the colours of virginal new hfe
and passionless fruitfulness. Among the Alps the snow
slopes give way to the gentians and narcissus; in our
spring gardens the frost-bound soil slowly softens and
clothes itself with a wreath of snowdrops, of anemones,
blue squills, starch hyacinths, and starry chionadoxa;
and here in Kashmir the snows had given place to a
wealth of blue iris that bordered each streamlet, peering
curiously into the waters to watch their liberation from
their long-borne frost chains, or crowned the little
clusters of mud-plastered graves announcing to the poor
bodies hidden away below that they were not forgotten,
while the friendly free breath of the victorious spring
was waking all round to new life.

Above the waters gathered, at the bottom of the
hollow below me were other blossoms that matched the
iris, blue anemones, blue gentians, blue forget-me-nots,
blue Jacob's ladder, and thousands and thousands of
white stitchwort and chickweed, white omithagallum
that imitate the lilies of the valley so well, and white
marsh marigolds. The towering pine forests stood dark
and sombre, ringing round the grassy basin, and dividing
the flower}' whiteness below from the cold glistening
snows above. It was one of these scenes that, like the
court of King Solomon, takes the heart out of a woman,
impressing her with a depressing feeling of fugitiveness

188 AFOOT THROUGH THE

and unimportance, with being a "mere insect of an
hour" crawhng about among the grasses when
compared to the stately forest kings that towered
above. The trees and the heights swallowed up all poor
mortality and that whdch appertained thereto, their
huts and their tents, so that though many were
encamped the place seemed deserted, and it was only
by wearisome walks backwards and forwards that the
si^e of this green oasis was realised, and what in the
distance looked like white specks proved to be tents.

These passing visitors were strangely at the mercy
of the elements in their tiny, fragile shells. Fearful
storms swept down from the heights and came rushing
down the deep valleys which cut off the hills above
Gulmerg from the neighbouring heights, tempests of
thunder and lightning echoed and re-echoed round the
encircling mountains, and sudden swift drifts of snow
would descend ; and yet the chann of the existence was
very great, practically cut off from all the society and
people of the populous valley, alone among the pine
forests and the mergs. For only by chance accident was
it possible to learn the identity of any fellow-sojourners,
and as the " season " had not yet commenced, no people
of sociable tastes had yet arrived, they not considering
Gulmerg worth a visit till summer had made herself
more decidedly felt. Eventually storms and rain up-
rooted me, as they will uproot the strongest, for few are
proof for long periods together against constant and
daily drenchings if dry clothes are an impossibility,
for the reason that every part of the temporary home is
soaking, and the descending floods will not allow of a
fire; but it was with the deepest regret that I left
Gulmerg and those flower-besprent meadows with their
grave forest sentinels cut off from the rest of the valley,

KASHMIR VALLEYS 189

and guarded at a distance by some of the grandest
peaks in the world.

To retiirn to the day of my arrival: I had scarcely
had time to fix on a suitable camping-ground, and station
some coolie to watch ior my belated retainers and
instruct them where I had determined to pitch my
moving tents, when the black clouds that had quickly
been passing over dark Apharwat lowered, expanded,
and emptied themselves on the green merg. Till that
moment I had believed that my morning's walk had
taken all energy away. It was pleasant to find I had
underrated my powers, and in a few brief moments I
was across the merg, swift as " arrow from the bow,"
and into the shelter of the friendly post office, still in
its casual winter condition, not yet in strict working
order for the season. " Much rain," was my sufficiently
obvious remark as I entered. " We do not consider that
much rain," answered the postmaster, without emotion.
" It has not descended before to-day ; the merg has
lately been one flood ; I should advise you to camp high
up, and see that the land is not moving with the wet.
Here there is much rain; the Barsat (the real rainy
season) is expected soon " ! The remark was not cheer-
ing to one who considered the sample received quite
representative enough of moisture without added proofs
of the powers of the god of watering pots and rheu-
matics. Hoping for better things, I made my way
across the sopping merg to where I could see my men
standing about, soaking and miserable, crossing the
many streams by small bridges or stepping-stones.

190 AFOOT THROUGH THE

CHAPTER XVI

Trees are the most civil society. . . . Acres and acres full of patriarchs
contiguously rooted, their green tops billowing in the wind, their stalwart
young twigs pushing up about their knees, a whole forest healthy and beautiful
giving colour to the li£;ht, giving perfume to the air ; what is this but the most
imposing piece in nature's repertory? — Stevenson.

Worried by my camp — I wander into the woods — Am -consoled
by the trees but depressed by the absence of Nano-a Parbat
— Catch a glimpse of him, but my raptures are rudely
interrupted by irrelevant menials.

As my camp was to be of a more permanent order than
any I had had, a good deal of arranging was required,
and as usual when any work was on hand, the
sound of much talking and not a little heated discussion
was to be heard among the men. Each was quite
certain that that afternoon of labour would cause many
and complicated complaints, and they were all equally
sure that provisions would be unobtainable, cooking an
impossibility, and the Memsahib's life a misery.

For all difficulties raised there is but one possible
answer in this land of excuses and procrastination,
" juldi bandobast karo " (do the business quickly). So
having spoken, I wrapped myself in impenetrable
reserve, watched the changing sky, and considered my

KASHMIR VALLEYS 191

future movements while my little white houses gradually
rose among the sheltering pines, and in spite of the
shock of discovering that all chairs save one had been
forgotten, and that water was to be found everywhere
a little below the surface of the soil, began to unpack.
By the time tea was ready I felt myself an old estab-
lished resident, and ready to exchange compliments with
other travellers that might pass my way. Except a few
" gujas " (herds people) who were moving their encamp-
ment, and quite unapproachable from the conversa-
tional point of view, owing to the strange language they
talked, these were mostly of the four-footed order ; two
ponies strayed through our lines, and getting frightened,
nearly broke their legs over the tent ropes, and then a
Sahib's dog, who w^as hugely delighted at finding a
friend of his own order in this distant merg.

A brisk walk, with the post office again as goal,
was pleasantly warming, the damp and the evening
chilliness in this high region being trying, for
we were close on 9000 feet up. The post office could
produce no dak for me, but the master gave me a vast
amount of gossip as to visitors, the date of their likely
arrival, information of the weather, mostly of an ex-
tremely gloomy description, and hints as to the procur-
ing of food-stuffs, a rather difficult question tiU the
regular purveyors had arrived from the valley below.
Finally, a fowl of deUcate proportions and very attenu-
ated limbs was promised for the morrow, a little milk was
available at once, and a few eggs were to be brought
during the following days. Of vegetables there was not
the meagrest representative, and " attar " (flour, the
almost exclusive food of the servants) was immensely
dear.

192 AFOOT THROUGH THE

I was glad then that the aged bawarohi (cook) had
thought it necessary (contrary to my ideas) to bring
dried tongue and a large tin of marmalade, also some
brown flour wherewith to make bread. I was quite
ready for my dinner when I reached the tents, the long
walk and the fact of but two scanty meals of tea taken
during the day having given an edge to my appetite, and
the appearance of my cook with both of his arms tied up
in coloured comforters did not exhilarate me. " How
could he be expected to cook a dinner for the Presence,"
he asked, " when there was no food, the waters were in
his cooking tent, when it was impossible to balance
kettle or cooking pot on the stones (his range was com-
posed of three small boulders and a bar), and both his
arms were useless from rheumatism, and his head con-
fused with fever ? " When quite devoid of ideas it is
well to make no suggestions, so with finely veiled irony
I remarked that I would prepare for dinner, and per-
chance a coolie could be found to arrange for the food.
I also noticed slightingly the position chosen for the
cooking pal — well down on the slope of the hill — and
passed to my little tent in serious doubts as to whether
I should not have to turn in to bed as the only method
of forgetting my hunger.

Twenty minutes later a discreet cough told me the
bearer was outside. " The dinner was on the table,"
and under the dark trees stood a table as well covered
and daintily set out as if there had been no difficulties
in the preparation of my meal, no complainings, no
rheumatic arms to hinder progress. Having entered their
protest the " naukar log " had considered it would be
a covering of themselves with shame if I lacked for any-
thing I was accustomed to. A large bunch of iris faced

KASHMIR VALLEYS 193

me at my small board, trails of clematis, picked low down
on the hillside, wound about the dimly sketched out
vacant places, for no native servant, however scanty
his store of serving wares, can set a table without a
suggestion of four places, the ghostly companions of
the master or mistress. Of the courses, their number
and variety has left no lasting impression; suffice it
that, however unused the ingredients, the results were
excellent, and when savoury eggs of a new order had
been reached and there were still symptoms of more to
follow, I could only cry " hold," for I had partaken
largely of everything, fearing it might be the finale
of the menu. How much of that dinner was legitimately
mine, and how much had been filched from a small
encampment across the merg, whose owner had been
called away for two days, I never cared to consider.

I congratulated the cook, but he remained doubtful
of his future and was without confidence in the present
arrangement. " The Memsahib must eat, therefore
there had been dinner, and who could cook but himself,
but there was certainty that on the morrow such a
climate would have consummated his final collapse, and
then the fate of all the camp would be but a matter of
hours."

The prospect was dreary, but it was impossible to
be long depressed in such surroundings. A young moon
was hidden at times by rushing clouds, swept by the
fitful wind that, whistling among the trees low down
on the hillside, filled the air with a bustling murmur like
the roll of the distant sea. As the light shone clear,
or was overcast, so the merg was lost in deepest gloom,
or showed the rises and depressions that broke up the
surface. As night closed in, the breeze had a warmer

194 AFOOT THROUGH THE

breath, and all the rude severity of the scene, so striking
during the sunny mid-day, was transformed into a
sheltering softness, the tall tree trunks guarded our
tents, warding off untoward storms and cruel blasts,
the stream below murmured gently of the snow peaks
above, from which it had been liberated by the soft
touch of spring, the rustling of the grass as the ponies
moved slowly about gave a feeling of outside fellowship,
the tents on the other side had an added importance
from the illuminating touch of the moon, and cheered
w4th an assurance of near companionship. Better than
all those, as the night hours passed, was the sense of
brotherhood with all life — never enjoyed except by those
who have slept out o' nights and, freed from the fetters
of brick walls and constraining roofs, have known what
it is to inhale the midnight air with no barriers between
them and the stars, and have been given a tiny key to
the full understanding of nature's language. Who has
not felt the strange languor closely allied to natural
death that comes on all things towards the midnight
hours, the breathlesness of supreme exhaustion, followed
by the half-awakening of the " false dawn " — as the
Eastern writers call that curious radiance which causes
all nature " to turn in her sleep " — so that trees rustle,
ferns and flowers sway together, the cattle bestir them-
selves to take a few mouthfuls of herbage, watching
dogs give an anxious bark, and then, with the dying of
the radiance of the misleading light, all turn to rest
again with a lighter sleep and more broken breathing,
till the true herald of the dawn gently blots out the
stars and sweeps the skies in preparation for the grand
procession of the dawn, the glorious lever du rideau of
each new day's toil ? On such a night it is but a loss of

KASHMIR VALLEYS 195

life to sleep — above all, to sleep between close walls in
crowded houses is a horror and no refreshment, very
different to the hght slumber that comes when there is
naught between the wayfarer and the velvety dark sky,
and only the camaraderie of trees and flowers.

That night was an initiation into, or rather the
renewal of an old intimacy with, the secret springs of
nature. I understood how much to be pitied were
all who had not felt the soft, protecting hand of
that transparent darkness laid directly on them
without screens of walls and carpets. Cobwebs
of doubts, difficulties, misgivings were brushed
aside by the besom of an understanding bigger
— greater — than myself, that had taken posession
of my small nature, and so long as those glorious hours
lasted I was caught up into a companionship of great
things, a fellowship with vast enterprise. I was not the
" crushed worm " of some superior being looking con-
descendingly down, but I was honoured like the tiny
stone that becomes part and parcel of a vast and glorious
mosaic. Soon after dawn I was afoot, and walking
round the " circular road " to see whether vast Nanga
Parbat would reveal himself. Alas! mists blotted out
all view; even the nearer peaks were invisible, and
sight could not pierce the intervening clouds sufficiently
to see even the Wular Lake or the Jhelum below.

For two years the temple of Martand and the peak
of Nanga Parbat had been names of magnetic power to
me ; to see them I had crossed seas and lands. Martand
had been closely scanned and shown itself a w^orthy
shrine ; Nanga Parbat still held aloof. It had proved
impossible with the short time at my command to
attempt a nearer approach to that vast monarch of the
Central Asian heights, and as day after day passed at

196 AFOOT THROUGH THE

Gulmerg and still he remained invisible, I feared I
should have to return home and see again his portrait —
most successful, surely, of snow photographs that adorns
the walls of the Royal Geographical — ^without being
cheered by a vision of the prototype. As the regions
above were unpropitious, I thought it advisable to visit
the gorge below Gulmerg, from which it is possible to
reach the Ferozepore nullah and the snow bridge. It
has often appeared to me a strange trait in human
nature that love that seems so ingrained in most people
of a " name," call the most glorious mountain path " a
pass " without surname, and none will feel interested
in visiting it. A mountain will remain unclimbed if it
cannot boast an imposing title. For this reason every
one considered it part of the correct routine of Gulmerg
to visit the Ferozepore nullah. Beautiful as it is, there
are probably a dozen spots round Gulmerg as fair, but
lacking the distinction of a name. I was sufficiently led
away by the popular notion of an excursion to start out
with the intention of visiting the famous stream, but
being but vaguely instructed in the route to follow, and
only meeting with coolies who neither spoke my language
nor knew of the place under that name, I strayed away,
and, slipping down grassy slopes, clambering over
boulders, making my way up snow-bound streams, I
spent twice as happy a day as I should have done if
following the direct path, amid the loneliness of the
vast woods, the colossal trees reaching away to
unfathomable green vaults overhead, their roots hidden
in a carpet of forget-me-nots, alkanets, stitchworts, and
delicate fern tangles!

The air was as strong and uplifting in its
quality as that breathed among the Alps. Free

KASHMIR VALLEYS 197

and untrammelled, even the fact of following a
made footpath seemed an unbearable bondage;
it was better to find new tracks, following fancy.
To strange pitfalls was I led, one steep slope
making a splendid if unexpected glissade, and I arrived
below suddenly, like a swift spirit among some
frightened sheep, and startled their wild keepers.
A conversation usually occurs when folk are thus landed
face to face, but, alack! we had no common tongue.
Certain feminine tastes are a good starting-point for
connnon understanding even when speech is wanting,
and my admiration of the lady shepherdesses' rough
corals and blue beads led to an examination of
my small trinkets, and some desire to know the whence
and whither of my wanderings. I, in turn, questioned
by gesture, and found they were taking herds from the
villages to the upper grazing grounds. Lusty, happy
folk they seemed, not too clean and savour}-, but with
a fine conceit of themselves and their work.

They conversed much, with a happy belief so univer-
sally possessed by the uneducated that the higher
culture must endow with a universal power of under-
standing tongues. Peasants on the Italian-French
frontier speaking uncouth patois, Kerry peasants with
none of the English, Bhils from Central India, the
strange tribesmen of the Kashmir frontier, all alike will
chatter without misgiving as to their intelHgibility, and
doubtless a certain meaning filters through, aided by
gesture and expression. They are cheerful ruffians
these Gujars, have a contempt for all professions save
their own, and are dirty, dishonest, with a dash of the
spirit of enterprise and adventure at variance with the
typical Kashmiri. They possess, too, the hospitable

198

AFOOT THROUGH THE

spirit that comes from sojourning in solitary places
where strangers are a welcome diversion and food hard
to come by, and they brought forth milk and butter, not
in a lordly dish, but in a very dirty earthen vessel. I
refused, knowing that these people have a taste for ripe
flavours, and like their dairy produce in the " fine old
crusted" state.

Eventually, more by good luck than good manage-
ment, I struck the Ferozepore nullah, and walked beside

Group of Gujars

its rushing waters, rejoicing in the coolness, and eventu-
ally, after some rough walking, arrived at the snow
bridge, a poor thing and hopelessly begrimed, and I
once more wondered at the attraction of a " named " goal
for most human beings. More scrambling followed, and
was rewarded with peeps of snow peaks, Haramuk
pre-eminent, when the transparencies of mist that were

KASHMIR VALLEYS 199

constantly gathering were torn aside for a few minutes.
They were fine samples of scenery that I saw that after-
noon, made up of snowy drifts, summer fields, stately
forests, large flowering shrubs, scarred hillsides, where
it was necessary to move with painful care among the
rolling stones and sharp rocks left by the movement of
some ancient glacier, and grass slopes starred with
thousands of blooms. Saving the Gujars seen in the
morning, I met no human being, but never did I feel
less lonely and seldom less weary, my leather sandals
being equally cool, light, and capable of clinging when
either treacherous grass or slippery stones had to be
negotiated.

When after some eight hours of tramping I reached
my tents again, I was glad I had been away, for things
at the camp had not cheered. The servants had found
the grain to be much more expensive than at Srinagar,
and refused to be comforted though offered higher pay.
The cook declared that not only his arms were affected,
but he could no longer use his legs (I had seen him briskly
walking towards my tent before doubling up to impress
me with his suffering state) ; even " Mike Kuti " (the
dog Mike) was suffering from rheumatism. Moreover,
only one egg had been brought in, and the kettle
had knocked a hole in itself by falling off
its rocky perch. All these lesser ills were
forgotten in the speedy preparations necessary
against the advent of a wild storm of thunder
and rain, the deafening roar as it echoed from hill to
hiU seeming unceasing. For one hour and a half the
sound continued without break, merely rising and dying
away alternately; troughs had to be made round the
tents to carry off the water, and our ground was little
better than a quagmire.

200 AFOOT THROUGH THE

At intervals during the night the soughing of the
wind, the swish of the rain, the sound of the swift
stream — swollen far beyond its normal size — replaced
the soft mutterings of the woodland heard during the
preceding night, and effectually prevented sleep, so that
I was quite ready to dress by daybreak and be off on the
chance of a sight of Nanga Parbat, in case he should
reveal himself as is his wont in the early morning
sunlight.

Floods of rain blotted out all view, and kept me in
my tent during the greater part of the day, and reduced
me to that becoming state of humility in which one
welcomes a moment or too of sunHght as an unexpected
blessing, and a dry islet anywhere as a realm of the
blessed. My entourage said so visibly by their expres-
sion, " We told you so," that my pride forbade me
ordering a move to drier regions. Moreover, I had all
along felt that Nanga Parbat was the shrine of my
pilgrimage, and, as it was impossible to get a nearer
view without many long and very difficult marches,
necessitating a far larger staff than I possessed, I felt
obliged either to wait with patience till he chose to reveal
himself to his waiting worshipper, or own myself
conquered by circumstances.

Towards sunset a slight improvement set in, the
weather faired, and with skirts tucked high and discard-
ing my sandals for boots, I marched round the circular
road that rings the hillside below Gulmerg to see if
the sudden severing of the clouds would reveal some of
the distant ranges. The air came up from the valley
below in puffs of damp heat, the true breath of the
sodden rice fields then in their " searage," as they say
in my own country at home. At moments the thick

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KASHMIR VALLEYS 201

miigginess of the atmosphere choked and clogged the
hings, but these periods were compensated for by a swift
gust clearing the intervening strata, tearing open a wide
peephole through which vista the lower country could
be seen, the kind of view that new inmates of the
heavenly regions rejoice in when thoughts fly back to the
comrades left below and their surroundings. Mile after
mile I could see of winding river, the Jhelum rushing
down between flower-besprent banks and rock enclos-
ures, the silver sheet of the Wular glistening in the
uncertain sunlight, a mirror at the foot of vast crags
that lifted jagged rocks and naked peaks heavenwards.
Later on, as the sky showed primrose and pink above
the tall pines that thrust their tops over two hundred and
fifty feet into the air, a shadow rose high above the
smaller ranges that made a triple barrier between the
river and its towering heights, and Nanga Parbat
showed himself! It was but a fleeting vision,
and before I could thoroughly realise that I
had seen his sacred heights the vision faded,
and I could scarcely understand if I had seen
aught, or whether the whole impression had not
been the materialisation of my desire. When next I
saw it I knew my eyes had not deceived me, but I stood
lingering there in the hope that another sight might be
granted me, till startled by a raucous, reproachful
A^oice behind me, and turned to find my faithful body-
guard had come to search for me, fearing evening damp
might be harmful, and reminding me that my bath and
a dinner had been ordered for an earlier hour.

I turned away, feeling all the humiliation an absent-
minded dreamer is continually subject to when dwelling
with those who have less wandering wits. These get all

202 AFOOT THROUGH THE

the small change out of life; indeed, life would come
abrupth^to a close were not folks at hand to grease its
wheels with food and drinks and such like, but I am
not sure that the receivers of the small coin do not
forego the big drafts, which, coming at long intervals,
repay for the intervening blanks. Some prefer a per-
petual trickle of pleasant liquid. I like my thirst
appeased in occasional big draughts from foaming
tankards, otherwise life loses its relief and becomes an
unpleasantly colourless monotone.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 203

CHAPTER XVII

There are miirors of crjstal sliiiiing,

Whenever the cloinl-wraek breaks,
And grass-clad banks are tiering

A wreath of tiie fairy lakes,
Lakes tliat are links in an endless chain,

For the water is out in the swamp again.

— Wil/ Oiji/rie.

This is the sort of thing that readily begets a personal feeling against
nature. — Ste venson.

To escape damp I climb to greater elevations — Meet storms and
stones — Return to the shelter of trees and sing the praises
of botany.

Then followed a wearisome succession of days spent in
wandering forth, receiving the contents of the celestial
tanks, and returning to attempt drying in a soaking
tent with no more adequate flooring than a bogg}' soil
and a muddy scrap of carpet. There are moments when
one would prefer to be the lowest of the sponges than
to rank highly in the scale of life and have no means
of ridding one's self of superfluous damp. I suffered,
struck out new lines of aches and pains, sat sorrowfully
watching the slow submersion of the merg as it was
reduced to a quaking morass, finally settled that, despite
showers and such maUgnities of the weather deities, I

204 AFOOT THROUGH THE

would start next day to visit the snow-capped summits
that had long overshadowed my tents with the sullen
grandeur of their grey crags and snow-bound streams.
The distance did not appear very great, but I
had grown war}^ about deciding offhand the length
of routes, and fortunately started soon after my
early cup of tea. There was a severe touch in
the air then, a smack of winter that braced the
muscles, tinctured the blood with the strength of
the mountain air, and put trilling notes into a voice
not usually prone to sing! The climb was steep
from the set-off, there was scarcely a track through the
trees, and the spreading roots seeking firm foothold made
in places a network, freed from the soil, skilful to catch
the unwary foot. At times there was an interlude of
grass among the closely-growing trees, in colour vivid
almost to dazzling after the sombre shades in the forest,
the flowers themselves taking a more brilliant hue as the
higher levels were reached. Tiny androsace jewelled
the loose soil between the stones, while anemones,
alkanets, and myosotis of many varieties, starred
the grasses with the brilliancy of cut gems. Under
the trees were other treasures of ever-varjdng hues,
small mauve primula giving place to the larger
purple varieties, with bold white eyes and an inde-
pendent sturdiness of stem — flowers beloved of the hill
dwellers, who gaily deck with them their sad-coloured
homespun caps — and higher still, the " crimson snow,"
the exquisite 2^^^^^^^* rosea that scarcely waits the
melting of the frost to peer forth and show its ruddy
trusses of delicate bloom. A small merg is the first
opening reached, and their flocks of ponies were grazing.
The sound of a sawmill at work gave a pleasant sugges-
tion of labour, always agreeable to personal idleness,

KASHMIR VALLEYS 205

and all near things were full of beauty and small
interests. The distant ranges across the valley remained
invisible, blotted out by damp mists as I took a few
minutes' rest for breath, for the height tells on
the lungs even here, though not ten thousand
feet up. The sycamore disappeared above this,
and the trees were almost entirely pines, and
mixed with a few stunted birch. Seeing light
above me through the thinning trees I made a spurt,
and Killenmerg was reached. The sun is one of those
sociable companions that is so invariably looked to, to
share the traveller's emotions that his full power to
cheer and encourage are not realised till withdrawn,
and seldom have desolation and loneliness weighed
more on my spirits that on my arrival that dull day at
the rock-strewn slope above Guhnerg. The elevation
is trying to heart and head, and the darts and stabs that
mark the drawing of each breath, and the dizzy singing
that obscures the sight, conduce to a weighty depression,
closing the footsteps, and generally causing the death
of all energetic effort.

Far below, the little wooden shanties of Gulmerg
could be seen, but mist continued to stop all distant
views. Above, Apharwat looked strangely grey and for-
bidding, its steep sides offering nothing less rugged than
boulders and ice as stepping-stones. A vast moraine
crossed the merg, obliging me to climb over the rocks,
with difficulty avoiding a slip that would have caused
an undignified and painful descent between sharp edges
and perhaps broken limbs, a difficult situation when
the largeness and loneliness of that rocky field was
considered. Through some such stone-strewn field
Childe Roland must have passed on his solitary ride to

206 AFOOT THROUGH THE

the lone tower, and if his spirits were not sore cast down,
he must have been a man all muscle and no nerve !

A cold wind blew at times in short, sharp gusts,
confusing and wearisome as I struggled to keep my pre -
carious foothold over the mighty rocks, buffeting me so
that I could with difficulty draw breath, and could only
wonder wearily at the tireless energy of the- wind and
its persistent power, and strike out blindly. Breathless
and panting I reached the further side, and taking refuge
under some stunted bushes, was pleased to find that,
though progress had seemed slow, I had succeeded in
passing the greater part of the way to the rise leading
to Apharwat, and that once under the lee of the hill I
should be protected from the wind.

Meantime I sat and watched the various flowers that
brightened this blossoming land, fritillaries of dusky
tones hung their heads from their slim green stalks,
showing lurid spots and blotches when the light
shone through. Pink androsace made a soft, sweet
carpet under the dure rocks, and gorgeous golden
anemones struck a cheerful note, they alone
having caught and kept some light when the
sun had last shone on the grey slope. Tiny ferns
forced their way through the hard soil, and a variety of
minute sedums and saxifrages gave their aid in the
embellishment of the drear scene. Time was pressing,
and the steepest of the track had yet to be surmounted,
so I trudged on, and having reached the zigzag track
which marks the next stage of the climb, was consider-
ably humbled to find how narrow the merg was in
reality, though taking so much time in the crossing.

Freed from the fatiguing wind and the hindering
stones, I made better progress, and found myself much
aided by the manufacture of land marks to cheer me on.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 207

A hoary tree, partly disembowelled by the wild tempests,
was noted and climbed to, then a great plant of rhubarb
was marked down, and just when my energies began
again to flag an unusual spot of light colour on the hill-
side raised my curiosity. I had first to decide whether
it were a living thing or blocks of masonry. A few
moments of scramble, and the manufactured theon- was
abandoned. Then came the question whether they
were fagots piled there by coolies ready for transport
down or flowers. Undoubtedly there were flowers,
bunches of them, what joy! a great bank of rhododen-
drons, the beautiful leaves with brown velvet lining, a
fitting background to the heads of soft pink blossoms.
What strange accident had resulted in this beauty spot
in the bleak, drear hillside none could tell, on a height
but seldom and for short periods free from snow and
frost. They were flourishing as cheerily and flowering as
bountifully as in the most favoured home gardens.

It was impossible not to be moved by such a dis-
covery, beauty cut off from all camaraderie is always
pathetic, and these flowered lonely and unseen, save by
a chance wanderer who preferred his own path rather
than to follow in others' footsteps. The deUcacy and
abundance of the bloom, though hampered by the blasts
of fierce tornados and the long continued winter frosts,
was a vastly cheering sight, like the chance meeting
with a kind friend when adrift in an unknown desert,
and I have seldom felt so deeply in Nature's debt as I
did that day, and naught wherewith to pay the debt ! As
some equivalent an undying memory and a thankful
spirit may be counted. From that spot upward there
was little to mark save increasing steepness, rough
stones, added difficulty in breathing. It was past mid-

208 AFOOT THROUGH THE

day when the summit was reached, and hot and with
scanty breath I lay down on the short, stunted heather
and wondered why, hopeless of views without any par-
ticular inducement, a summit, any summit, almost
invariably drew me up, though the climbing was painful
and the goal showed not a tithe of the beauties left
behind. Perhaps a feeling that enduring unnecessary
discomforts will one day be accounted to us for righteous-
ness; perhaps a good self-conceit that will rejoice over
the fact of " going one better " than our neighbours ;
likeliest of all, the merest chance of seeing a little further
afield may be accounted sufficient magnet. That day I
was not destined to be rewarded for my climb, for a
rather bitter, withering blast caught me once more and
made the dreary walk over boulder-strewn fields but more
depressing ; my toes were sore within the leather chaphs
I habitually wore, my face felt as if beaten with birches,
and the height made head and back ache, but I reached
the lonely tarn called the Echo Lake, and felt afraid to
raise my voice, fearing to discover my presence to the
presiding spirits who seemed so angry and forbidding
and warlike.

I only rested long enough to get a fresh supply of
breathing power, chumped some hard biscuits, the only
edible portion of my lunch left, the satchel containing
that and some drawing materials having slipped while
crossing the lower moraine, reducing more fragile
jDortions to an unappetising pulp, and then once more
I clambered down. I had intended returning by a
different route for the sake of seeing other parts of the
great forests, but I did not do so, for the sky was fiercely
threatening, the wind harried me so as to make thought
or observation difficult, and I feared losing the lightly-

KASHMIR VALLEYS 209

marked track. Descents have none of the excitements
or thrills of the outward journey, and thfit day my return
seemed three times more dreary than the ascent. I
managed to miss the rhododendrons, and took a path
obliging me to cross and recross the frozen stream,
sinking occasionally in half-melted snow and chilling
my feet to almost unbearable numbness, and once more
arrived at Killenmerg, a whirlwind caught me, and it
was only by roughest batthngs and a most determined
front to the opposition of the storm that I crossed the
moraine and regained the shelter of the forest, where I
lay under the shade of a great pine, stupidly abashed
at the weakness and small endurance I had shown in
accomplishing an unimportant excursion. The weather
was my only excuse, and though it was late for such
a storm, the coolies who had been watching the hillside
from the camp, and who were sent out with tea in the
hope of meeting me, acknowledged it to be of wintry
power.

More loitering on the summit would have involved
nae in a duel with hail and thick snow, and next day
the side showed white where for some time previously
all snow had disappeared. Slowly making my way
down, keeping to the shelter of trees and bushes when
crossing the smaller mergs, I met the welcome tea
bearers, and one or two cups of that wonderful reviver
sent up my spirits to beyond even the powers of mercury,
and instead of returning immediately, I dawdled slowly
along, collecting flowers and filling my nostrils with the
fresh forest scents, a fragrance that acts as a stimulant,
stirring the pulses to more active life, bracing the
muscles to action, sweet tonics that, once inhaled, never
again leave wholly the lucky wight who has received
Q

(210 AFOOT THROUGH THE

their precious gift. Years after they will still stir his
emotions, bring back afresh to his memory echoes of
past enjoyments ; and, when he is living the sad, sunless
life of a western city, will put such an ache into
his being, such a home-sickness for beautiful glades
and great towering trees to his heart, and bring
to his mind such vivid impressions of acrid-
scented wood fires, lush wet grasses, and the
scents of a thousand flowers that, till the picture
is dulled and the feehng numbed by the manifold
bonds and tyrannies of a modern existence, he will be
willing to cast away all hope of material gain, all ambi-
tions, all petty strivings, and join himself once more to
the life of the forests in order to watch again the
free, fantastic insect life, the floral wealth, and
unfettered, unconfined by walls and streets, to note the
gay processions of the seasons — nature's varying fetes
in honour of the fullest perfections of the year.

A really exhaustive catalogue of Kashmirian plants
and flowers is badly needed. This is a field for amateurs
as yet but little worked, and though a Gulmerg flora
has been put together, much still remains to be done
by those with eyes and leisure. Many of the hitherto
little-known valleys will probably yield rich rewards
to the energetic searcher, and even when no new
varieties can be added to the world's flora, it is
sufficiently cheering to be able to aid those who come
after with perhaps less experience and less spare time
by correctly naming, describing, and locating those
plants already known to exist in this world's garden.
It is not an easy matter determining whether tjie finds
are new friends or old under somewhat varying guise,
for the circumstances of their growth are so different
to aught anywhere else, that they strike very different

KASHMIR VALLEYS 211

notes, and are vastly independent in their colouring
and habit ; even between the lower and upper parts of
the Gulmerg hills the colour and size of the same flower
varied greatly, the upper height giving a depth to the
tone while diminishing greatly the length of stalk
and richness of foliage. Cruciferae are much influenced
by their surroundings, and so are carj^ophyllaceoe, and
I gave up any attempts to do more than group them,
while the variety of iris and lilies of the valley will be
sufficient pabulum for the energies of many enthusiastic
botanists for some time to eome.

The iris, with their capacity for producing spots,
changing their colour, and developing most fragrant
odours, are very kittle cattle to deal with, and, till a
Michael Foster has time and energy to search through
Kashmir, their nomenclature will remain as uncertain
a quantity as it is now, and the amateur will be driven
to the verge of distraction by efforts to decide conscienti-
ously whether a plant that has varied his hue and lost
most of his markings can still be allowed to consider
himself of the same class as a gayer brother who has
elected to remain in closer proximity to water.

In the course of my wood wanderings that afternoon
I collected much — beautiful omithogalums,.two or three
dd.phnes, the tiny gagei lutea, giant crane's bill, a sheaf
of iris, great heads of the blue Jacob's ladder, anemones
of four different colours, ' and varieties of primula,
myosotis, mertensia, and -bugloss galore, small white
labiatae, always dull and forbidding in smell, pretty
yellow geums, Solomon's seal, eremurus, late violets,
and the brilliant viola biflora, and very handsome repre-
sentatives of pedicularis, pink, mauve, and yellow. But
the real difficulty of the work is not the collecting, it is

212 AFOOT THROUGH THE

the safe conveyance to the camp, in a condition in which
they can be examined, the trying of the eyes in a badly-
hghted, close tent when too windy or too wet to work
out of doors, the impossibility of finding a really dry
case, or, when travelling quickly and lightly, finding
time or opportunity of renewing papers, without which
precaution one is certain to lose the greater part of the
specimens by mould. Insects, too, are very destructive,
in fact all the forces of the atmosphere and of animal
life array themselves against the collector, and it is
decidedly advisable, if time will only allow, to make a
sketch of each individual flower, with an accurate
description written below. However roughly executed,
they will prove a better guide than mouldy and muti-
lated vegetables.

Beautiful and characteristic are these flowers,
supplying a sympathetic, cheering background to the
most depressing and dreariest hours of camp life; still,
they never take the big place in one's life that the forest
trees do. Years ago I read a story in which the trees
played the principal parts, and spending many days
and nights alone under their shade, it was difficult to
refrain from gifting them with human traits and
qualities. Among the principal varieties I knew
were the blue pines, so tall and stately, kindly
generous in their gifts of shade and shelter, like
large natures appealed to by the weak; the vast
chenaars, with trunks huge enough to be used as halls,
so full of life that they continue cheerfully and proudly
to put forth, spring after spring, green mantles of
delicately-shaped leaves though their stems are
hollowed, and three hundred years of life have robbed
them of much vigour ; the gigantic " brimij " {Celtis

KASHMIR VALLEYS 213

australis), with roughly scored bark and spreading
foliage capable of sheltering an army; the walnuts and
mulberries, shady and fruitful, ready to aid the hard
life of the people by their bountiful stores of food-stuffs ;
the dainty birch brightening by its vivid tints the
sombre, dim mountain sides, and supplying, through
its light bark, a ready-made, efficient wrapping paper.
Poplars, slender to attenuation, thick fohaged and quick
growing, providing speedily a pleasant shade for hot,
dusty tracks, and the Aesculus Indica, with a more deh-
cate leaf and daintier outline than our representative
horse chestnut, also countless smaller trees, many boast-
ing handsome flowers : buckthorns, sjDindle trees, elders,
viburnums, laurels, bays, w^illows, mountain ashes, haw-
thorns, hazels, lording it over the lowlier herbs — as
the fashion is with lesser lights when their grander
companions are absent.

Wandering about among these trees, I took note of
their cranks and quirks, their rough skins and unex-
pected excrescences, in the same way as constant com-
panionship tends to intimate study of character. Their
looks w^ere as readily recognised, and their various
qualities appreciated, as are those of people in whom we
daily depend. The natives knew a good deal about
the properties of the trees and plants, and if one can
identify their names, a great deal may be learnt from
them. They have a thorough appreciation of their
beauty as well as utility, and often their window gar-
dens in the towns are as bright as a Londoner's, while
the country folk will wear them or take infinite trouble
to pick bouquets to present to the passing wayfarer.

Blessed is the man with a hobby, thrice blessed if
the hobby happens to be botany ! What more could be

214 AFOOT THROUGH THE

wished for than a study, the materials for which may be
garnered by every roadside, in the roughest of gardens,
the poorest of houses? If its sorrow and disappoint-
ments are numerous and bitter, few things in life can
be more exhilarating than the finding of a rare specimen,
the discovery of a new variety, and if, as Stevenson
opined, Solomon merely noted the superlative pleasures
of literature when he said, " of making books there is
no end," the botanical student can rejoice in a taste
which need never fear termination from want of nourish-
ment or novelty. A blade or two of grass and a glass
has kept me quiet and amused during a long journey,
and I have known a severe fit of the blues cured by the
smiling countenance of a new anemone, while many
weary hours of ennui have had an exhilarating excite-
ment imparted to them by the comparing of specimens, a
sister student, and the rivalry arising therefrom.

My wanderings that afternoon after my descent
from Apharwat had not taken me far from my direct
path, but I must own to a cowardly prolonging of them,
for the grumblings of my servants had become a distinct
annoyance. Nor was I to be spared by the mere fact
of returning late. The grievances were all ready for
me if I had shown the slightest sympathy, and the con-
tinued damp and late cold were no doubt causing some
real suffering. It was difficult to make up my mind to
leave without a full vision of Nanga Parbat, so I decided
to give him the chance of one day more on which to
appear, and then, if he still continued obdurate, I deter-
mined to march back to the valley. Time was pressing,
and I had but ten days before I was due in Pindi.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 215

CHAPTER XVIII

King amidst kingly mountains,

Monarch o'er snowy heights,
Girdled with glacial fountains.

Fenced by avalanche might,
Battlements lowering skywards,

Pinnacles glistening bright,
Who shall dispute Dyamir

The crown that's thine by right?

Wishing for a day of experiences — I have one superfluous
emotion — Later I achieve the second object of my pil-
grimage— An unrestful mount — Other folks' facts about
the fauna of the land. »

As it was likely to be my last day of a free and open life,
I determined that, so far as weather permitted, I would
do my best to go through the whole gamut of sylvan
enjoyments, and perhaps it was out of kindness and
consideration that the clerk of the weather withdrew the
rain clouds and allowed the sun to shine forth and dry
up some of the vast lakes that had formed in the merg.
As I wished to make the day as long as possible, I was
afoot betimes and up through the woods to Killenmerg.
The dew-besprent primulas glittered in the early sun-
light, the cobwebs were decked with a thousand jewels ;
even the dusky fritillaries took a gay hue as their heavy

216 AFOOT THROUGH THE

bell heads swung in the hght breeze, displaying the
sparkling drops in their depths. I looked across the
broad valley, and greatly did I rejoice to see, shadowy
and mist-enveloped, but unmistakable as ever, the
outline of great Nanga Parbat. It only remained
distinct for about twenty minutes, and then, as the sun
rose higher in the heavens, faded away into a vague
pink haze. Greatly cheered by the vision,' the longest
I had yet had of that glorious peak, I started on a
journey of exploration to the westward of the merg, and
as not infrequently happens while devoid of all thought
of danger, nearly had a bad accident, the only real
contretemps during my wanderings.

The hillsides were in places very steep. At one point
a kind of rough shoot had been formed by some old
avalanches, and the soil, a loose shale, was treacherous
and crumbling. Some way down on one side beneath
some hardy shrubs I spied, as I imagined, a rare orchid,
and decided to try and capture it. I was obliged to
clamber down on the further side from the plants, and
then to cross the slide. There was nothing to hold to,
and in an instant I felt the whole mass moving beneath
me. I made a great effort by the help of my stick to
reach the further side, lost my foothold, my stick was
torn from my grasp, and with a dizzy motion down
I went, a hailstorm of loose clods and stones about
me. What added to the unpleasant sensation was the
knowledge that some five hundred feet lower there were
a slippery slab of rock and a sheer drop. I did not think
much, but I had the impression of being pelted by
energetic demons with rock, while the world slipped from
under me. A tree trunk stopped the way — a huge blue
pine uprooted, and- luckily lying across my impetuous

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KASHMIR VALLEYS 217

course. I loved the blue pines before ; I now owe them
a gigantic debt of gratitude.

The descent having been stopped, the difficulty was
to return. There was not the slightest track, and the
hill was hterally like the side of a house. My sandals
had been almost torn off my feet, my skirts
were suggestive of the wandering minstrel's garb,
my solar topee was a broken relic, and face
and hands suggested a bear's greeting. Some-
how I clambered up, chiefly by my hands, for my
ankles were weak and strained, and arriving above,
shamefacedly edged round the merg, hidden by the
woods from the unsympathetic sight of man! A warm
tub did much to relieve the soreness after my too close
embrace of Mother Earth, and fresh garments and
soothing ointment to my face restored my self-respect.
Breakfast having put fresh life into me, I determined
to carry out such parts of my programme for the day
as I was capable of.

My men, who forgot their own grumblings and
misery directly I was in difficulties, improvised an
excellent dandy or carrying chair, and bore me away
to a small height to the south of the merg, from which
I knew a grand view could be obtained, and I was not
disappointed. Towards mid-day, peak after peak
appeared, range behind range showed gUstering, and
when all the ranks of snow heights were uncovered,
there arose, ninety miles away as the crow flies, great
Nanga Parbat, nearly twenty-seven thousand feet, one
of the great triad of mountains that dominate the world.
I had never before seen anything like it!

I tasted eternity that day, and felt myself
immortal because I had realised the everlasting

218 AFOOT THROUGH THE

hills. Few things in this life have the power
to hold and possess without dispute mind and
memory, but never can anything replace that vision, and
if when this " passing shadow," this short breath of life
is over, I rise to other existences, this memory will
endure as a haunting sense of kinship with heights
and stainless fields of snow. Beyond the shimmering
river and the smooth surface of the Wular, silvery in the
dazzhng sunlight, rose the lesser heights of the Tragbal,
and behind heights with numbers for names. Further
east that rugged giant Haramuk, threw his rocky
summit seventeen thousand feet to the sky, to be over-
topped further round to the south by the beautiful
Mahadeo's sacred triple peak (Mahadeo, the creator god,
who is three gods), the Gwash Brari or Kolahoi, nearly
eighteen thousand feet, and the peak of Amarnath
sheltering its pilgrim cave. To the south was
the Pir Panjal, named from the Dogra and Kashmiri
words for peaks, " Poi " and " Pantsal," and the
passes by which the traveller marches into the
Poonch country, but often as the eye strayed it returned
always to that north-western corner where Nanga
Parbat raised its massive head and shoulders,
the key of that mysterious massif, the " roof of the
world." Beneath its quiet snows lie the bones of
those who timorously have attempted to pass up it ; its
beauties are only for those who are content to view from
afar, and, cheered by the vision, keep the memory to
help them when circumstances and environment are
changed, and sordid surroundings and daily scenes of
struggle and surrender require that the mind should
possess some sedative as an antidote against unconquer-
able weariness.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 219

Early in the afternoon the ranges had been clear cut
as crystals, a great diamond chain for Mother Earth,
but towards evening a shimmering on the edges, a
softening of outline wrought by faint veilings of vague
mist clouds — pink, purple, blue — indicated that the
moment for the curtain to drop would soon arrive. From
deepest blue the sky changed to a lighter hue, and then
to pink and primrose, and the hills so white imitated the
delicate tints. Presently all the lower heights were
wiped out, hidden in blue haze, and the second range
began also to disappear. A pink cloud was concen-
trated on great Diyamir, " seat of gods " (Kash. for
Nanga Parbat). The slope below me was hidden by
mirk shadows, behind me were the forbidding wintr}^
heights of Apharwat, the valley below had covered its
spring crops imder a ghostly mist, and yonder, far away,
was the promised land, the shrine to gain sight of which
I had come so far.

It must have been under similar circumstances that
Moses viewed the Promised Land, and, seeing below
him summer fields, and with his back to the
drear heights he had passed over, looked to the
distant ranges of hills shining in the glow of
the setting sun, glorious in purples, mauves,
blues, and pinks, flooded in golden light, one perhaps
like Diyamir, greater than the others, like some pro-
tecting strong presence, its might half-veiled by soft
fleecy clouds. Then with appetite whetted by such a
banquet of sweet sights, he was compelled to turn back,
with the hosts he had led, to where, against a sullen sky,
dark grey rocks scarred by frozen streams, and the
rugged, torn tops of huge dark pines reared their heads
and they once again wearily entered their tiny tents,

220 AFOOT THROUGH THE

their only refuge against rains and wintry blasts, the
only places they could call home till the day of " great
deliverance " should dawn and another path be shown
them whereby they could win their way to those snowy
hills without fear or fatal falling from the law. Now,
as then, such renunciations are being enacted among
the dark places of the earth; for their own or others'
sins, pilgrims within sight of their long-sought goal
must turn away, and on stony altars wet with blood-
like tears, offer sad sacrifices, sanctified by self-devotion,
solemnised by the simple faith that commands them.

In spite of its untoward commencement, this had
been a " day of days," my last one among the hills, and
the night was hardly less beautiful. Softly the stars
twinkled, and then their hght was wiped out by the
greater radiance of the moon, a moon that, peering first
between the dark pine stems, gave cheery greeting to all
who had sense to remain awake to fete it. With the flap
of my little tent wide open I watched her playing hide
and seek in the forest, then, mounting to her throne in
the open heaven, saw her shine in dignified solitude,
flooding the open merg with a glittering sheen, which
outlined even tiny flowers into an unreal relief. The
stream below the camp, swollen by the late rains, made
a companionable sound, and the grazing ponies seemed
pleasant fellows. All living things and trilling brooks
and whispering pines were alive that night. Boon
companions were flowers and trees, rushing waters,
chill snows, and melting ice, the grazing herds and tiny
insects being all partners in a great festive confederacy,
smiled on by the moon, encouraged by the cheery, saucy
" lesser lights," who were quite ready to take again their
places and illuminate the world when she had set.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 221

In spite of the change for the better in the weather,
the morrow witnessed my departure. Time was pressing,
some of the servants were really ill, and it was necessary
to make arrangements for the transport of my goods
out of Kashmir. In spite of a certain stiffness from my
yesterday's ghssade I walked, and as I descended to the
lower levels, the steamy heat of the rice fields, and the
rough, uninteresting road, I was cheered by more views
of "great Diyamir," and looked my last on that vast
peak. I shall not see his like again, and I went forward
with that sense of intimate loss and deep sorrow as when
a loved sympathetic soul passes from our life. I had
seen it, so one desired end had been accomplished; but
an influence had passed, a pleasure faded, my lonely
wanderings were drawing to a close, and humdrum life
would have to be once more endured.

The heat was greater than when I had ascended to
Gulmerg, and, still somewhat stiff and sore, I decided,
if possible, to obtain a pony. Once more I was deluded
by the' optimism of my attendants !

In temperament they resembled the Portuguese
devils of legendary fame. If life for a few minutes ran
off the greased track, no evils were too enormous for
them to expect ; but, once again on the right road, their
hopes took the definite outlines of accompHshed facts,
and expectation and realisation were one! At the
mention of ponies on arrival at Magam, I imagined,
from the answers to my inquiries, that the route was
cropped with them, all possessing side saddles of the
latest pattern! Cheered by these hopes, I prepared
to roost, and realised the poor exchange I had
made in regaining choking walls, fly-filled rooms, and
the stuffy valley atmosphere in place of the vast sleeping-

222 AFOOT THROUGH THE

chamber, a small corner of which I had occupied in the
hillside, where, without trouble and without cost, the
lights had been hung out nightly, the carpet swept and
washed, where the air was always fresh, and the per-
fumes strong and invigorating. Early next morning,
very early, every one was afoot, for the certainty of our
march being a hot one was an inducement to get it over
as soon as possible, and after an unsatisfactory break-
fast of stewed tea and smoked toast, I demanded my
pony. Then there was scuffling and evasion — a sugges-
tion that it had not been really expected I would ride,
as my habit was to walk. Finally, as I grew stern, a
shaggy white thing was produced — ewe - necked,
ungroomed, and bearing, in ridiculous disproportions
to the breadth of its back, a tiny man's saddle, bare,
uncompromising, not even a native one, which would
have afforded some grip for the knee.

On almost any other march in Kashmir I would have
risked a cross seat, but the gay Srinagar world was just
beginning to move up to Gulmerg, and I dared not;
as I did actually meet the Resident and his party in all
the state of " official progress," I was thankful not to
have given way to an impulse of comfort. Somehow or
other, I accomplished the twenty-three miles — my
destination was a long way on the other side of Srinagar
— sitting sideways on that minute and slippery triangle
of leather. The first shy nearly sent me to leeward, also
a curious habit of tacking that my mount had whenever
advancing on an object that displeased him, and which
was very disconcerting. Practice is everything, and as
I was petrified with my cramped position, even that
became less trying, and finally, even if I had wished, I
could not have come off, so thoroughly had I grown to
my unpleasing saddle.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 22S

The sun was trying and my head ached from the
glare and the bump gained in my unlucky glissade, and
it was with a vast relief I saw before me, towards two
o'clock, pretty Gupcar with its picturesque bungalows
and shady plantations. Half of the value of roughing it
is the enjoyment of easeful comfort afterwards, and
that afternoon beneath shady walnuts, with many
cushions in place of the unreposeful saddle, will long re-
main to me a synonym of luxury! The house itself was
typically Kashmirian — pretty in design, full of repose,
ornamental and tasteful, ever}- part, of course, leaked
when it rained, and none of the windows or doors could
be tightly closed — such trifles do not enter into a native's
scheme of existence. If it is warm, doors and windows
must be open, and when it is cold, what easier than to
roll up in homespuns and furs, and hedge round the
shivering body with " kangars " of hot charcoal ! What
is time, exactitude, punctuality ? say they ; merely a triad
of annoyances invented by Sahibs and their folk where-
with to worry poor "naukar log" (serving people).
Living that life of dolce far niente by the beautiful Dal
Lake, the Takht-i-Suleiman high above, the Pir Panjal
still lightly crowned by snows, time even to me became a
thing of no importance, one day was as another, " like
beads in careless teller's hands, the hours dropped uncon-
sidered by." My luggage was despatched, with the
vague assurance that if it did not arrive in ten days at
Pindi, it would be there in a fortnight, provided always
cart and car tents were not tumbled down the river
bank. My seat was booked for a mail tonga, or " some
other tonga," provided there was room, and I began to
collect those of my orders that the merchants had
thought fit to complete.

224 AFOOT THROUGH THE

The greater part were unfinished, others had been
varied to suit the taste of the artist. When this tallied
with my preconceived notion I took the proffered
merchandise, and must acknowledge that all the pur-
chases I brought away with me have been things of joy
and enjoyment to me ever since. Where execution was
far from original design I politely refused, and, as this
is the understood agreement, none were disappointed
or annoyed, and buyer and seller retained that inde-
pendence which we as a people have such scant patience
for when exhibited by others than ourselves! An
expedition on the lake occupied one of my last days.
There the glorious lotus was in full beauty, and held
aloft their great crimson heads above the long-stemmed,
cup-like leaves, and swayed and swung gently in the
breeze, filling the air with their almond fragrance, and
standing out like flames from the dense greenery of the
lake growths.

Then, as befitted an idle person " floating careless
on a silver sea," I had much talk with a " shikari " of his
deeds of " derring-do." He had known the valley when
the rocks " crawled with ibex," and barasingh and
other deer were of no account in the land. The falling
into abeyance of the wise game laws of the late
Maharajah did much towards the extermination of the
game, and this has been accelerated by many sportsmen,
unworthy of the name, who have been guilty of such
wholesale slaughter as driving deer in the snows, while
the native shikari and villagers, anxious for food or gain,
have netted for the sake of the meat or the trophies
large quantities of the finer species. Now game laws
and licences have been introduced, and it is to be hoped
that the number of game animals will cease to decrease.

Ever}^ help is given by the hospitable Maharajah and

KASHMIR VALLEYS 225

his State authority to the genuine sportsmen, and some
of the finest stalking in the world may be enjoyed at
almost nominal outlay if the initial cost of arriving at
the good grounds is excluded. For this reason it is best
to wait till five or six months can be set aside for
shooting if expense has to be considered, then good
ground some distance from the main valley can be
reached, and if content to remain more or less within
touch of the base camp, large supplies need not be
moved, and the first cost of coolies and ponies, licences,
etc., are soon covered by the tiny outlay for keeping
" life alive " in those parts.

The life is not at all too rough for any woman
with ordinary health and ordinar}- appreciation of
out-door things, and, without attempting the more
difficult stalks, sufficient exercise and occupation can be
had accompanying her mankind in their near shoots,
perhaps carrying a rifle herself for bear, and looking
after the camp arrangements, mending, making, wash-
ing, if domestically inclined, sketching, photographing,
or botanising, if tastes run on other lines. A friend
accompanied her husband and another gun to Baltistan,
and she told me that during her six months she never
knew a dull moment. She shot three bears, and accom-
panied many of the stalks after ibex and markhor,
sketched, sewed, washed, read, and wrote, and in spite
of being far from strong, and recently recovered from a
very terrible accident, did not know a day's ill health.

The following notes about the chief game animals
were given me by a shikari friend, with many descrip-
tions of exciting chase, and are in accord with what
Colonel Ward, the great authority on Kashmir sport,
says on the same subject. I would also add that good

226 AFOOT THROUGH THE

native shikaris, though scarce and demanding high
wages, are to be obtained, and are rehable and honest.
They are generally only known to the " old hands," who
are inclined to keep them as a " close corporation," but
an introduction works wonders in the East, and no big
expedition should be undertaken without obtaining the
advice of one who knows the country, and can put the
novice up to the ropes.

Leopards are scarce in the valley, the snow leopard
(ounce) almost unknown, and my friend considered that
a leave of three months had been well spent, as he
captured one nearly at the end of the time. Somewhere
beyond the limits of Kashmir their skin is very hand-
some, and makes a beautiful trophy. The curious want
of unanimity among specialists as to the real differences
between the leopard and panther inclines the outsider
to the belief that the points of divergence have been
merely engendered by different circumstances of life.
Wolves are also rare, though a variety of the black
sort is often obtained in the tablelands beyond the
Zogi La; but the jackal, hardly worthy of the name
of game animal, is very common, and their dismal
nocturnal cries added a strange dreariness to the
surroundings of a lonely camp up the valley. Foxes
are fairly common, and are much valued for their very
beautiful skins, wherefore the " Loh " has little chance
of escaping the poaching villager with an eye to gain,
rugs and cloaks of their fur commanding good prices
in the city. Of bears ("harpat," in Kashmirian par-
lance) there are two varieties — the black bear (Ursus
tibetanus), so called because it does not exist there, and
the red bear, the " lal harbat " of the native. The former
are still to be got in fair quantities, and are unpleasant

KASHMIR VALLEYS 227

neighbours to the villagers, who never fail to warn you
against them if wandering out alone in the vicinity of
fruit trees or crops after sundown. They are particularly
fond of mulberries, and apparently the cloying sweet-
ness of this fruit does not pall on their palates. They
are not large, as a rule, though, I believe, some have been
shot over six feet in length, and are not really dajigerous
except when attacked. Like some so-called wild beasts,
they are always far more anxious to avoid than to attract
notice, and are chiefly annoying to the natives from their
ample capacity for fruits and grains. The natives are
fond of attributing to them human attributes — rather,
vices ; this may account partly for their fear of them !

I was told of a strange and terrible encounter betwee.i
one of these, who had killed a native hunter, and an
English sportsman, an exceptionally powerful fellow.
He had fired, hitting, but not stopping the bear, who
came on him so suddenly and fiercely that the rifle was
knocked from his hands, and escape was impossible. He
grappled with his fearful antagonist, attempting to
strangle him, while the bear clawed his arm. Aided by
the bear's weakened condition, the powerful fingers
etfectually choked the life out of the creature, and the
officer was victorious at the cost of a mauled face and
shattered arm. He escaped blood poisoning, an unusual
thing, for a bear's claws are even more poisonous than
a tiger's, only to lose his hfe a little later on an unknown
South African battlefield. He was " missing," and never
heard of again.

The red bear is far more uncommon, remaining high
up, and killing cattle that feed near the snows. When
in good condition it makes a splendid trophy, being of
great size, and the pelt very thick and handsome.

228 AFOOT THROUGH THE

Of all the game animals in the valley, the splendid
varieties of v^ild goat are the most interesting, but to use
an Irishism, they are generally obtained outside the
limits of Kashmir in Astor, Chilas, and Baltistan. Still
good markhor are to be shot in the Pir Panjal and other
high grounds to the south-east, the finest heads having
been obtained on the Kaj-Nag, a record length of horns
being sixty-one inches. They are grand animals, and
will repay any one vs^ith strength and endurance to
follow him into the almost inaccessible fastnesses that
he inhabits, for all the fatigues and dangers of the stalk.

The ibex was far more common, but the " kail," as
the people call them, are now generally sought for
further afield. They yield a far finer head than the
European variety, and, like most of the hill goats, have
an under hair valuable for making cloth. The "tahr"
{Hemitragus jemlaicus) is also occasional^ met with in
the Pir Panjal, and is a grand-looking animal of some
two hundred and fifty pounds weight, with long, vener-
able beard ; but for those who can spare the time, it is
more satisfactory to go to other parts in search of them.

Of the genus " cervus," the " barasingh " is by far
the handsomest and most representative species, though
it is rare for it to act up to its name (the twelve-horned),
ten tines being the usual number. During the hot
weather, relieved of its horns, it wanders high upon
the hillside, returning with new ones in the early
autumn. September and October are the best months
for securing them. There are State forests specially
preserved in the Wangat and at Trahal, and above
Atchibal. Their flesh is much valued, and the antlers
are a very impressive trophy.

The musk deer is much sought after by reason of

KASHMIR VALLEYS 229

its scent pod, and there is some fear of it being entirely
killed out unless a great deal more carefully preserved
than at present.

The Indian wild boar {Sus cristalus) is common,
though generally retiring to heights over three thousand
feet during the hot weather. I saw them once or twice.
They are much dreaded by the natives, as they do so
much damage to the crops. The Dogras and the Sikhs,
othersvise not flesh eaters, consider this pork a great
delicacy.

Of birds there is great variety, and the game ones are
but little diminished, the natives caring for them only
for their gay plumage or sweet song, and hardly naming
those that do not possess these attractive points. Their
orioles and kingfishers, swallows and larks, they love,
and would never think of killing, and so, on the whole,
the winged class have a happy time.

Of pheasants the most sought after by sportsmen
are the ram chikor {Tetrogallus himalayensis), the
beautiful monaul pheasant (Lophophoi'us refulgens),
and the caccabis chukar (the chikor partridge), the only
true partridge to be found in Kashmir. The most
common of this family is the koklas, that I often met
with in the forests, its Latin title being Pucrasin
bidduljjhi.

The ordinary pigeon is the Columba intermedia, the
blue rock pigeon of the plains. There are many hand-
some varieties less common, the Columba hodgsoni and
the C. leuconota.

The woodcock {Scolo'pax rusticola) breeds in large
quantities in the valley, and then disappears into space,
small quantities only being shot. Various other snipe —
the common, jack snipe, etc. — are found.

230 AFOOT THROUGH THE

There are many varieties of duck at different seasons
and in varying numbers. The mallard, shoveller,
brahminy, and blue-winged teal are not very common,
but the red-crested pochard {Branta rufina), the
anthyanyroca, the " harwat " of the natives, and the
gadv^all are common, also the beautiful pintail (Dafila
acuta) tov^ards February, v^hen they pause on their way
north from India and settle on the tanks and ponds.
Large quantities of the grey goose — " aus," as the
Kashmirians call them — are very common, but are not
of large size. Other geese are found.

These are the chief game birds, and I must
ask pardon for treating of them in so summary
and dull a manner, but my interest in Kashmir
was not with sport, but with nature at peace,
and I had few or no means of identifying the
many beautiful birds I saw or heard, golden orioles,
kingfishers, and such obvious varieties excepted. But
as I wish to place as many as possible of the attractive
sides of this lovely valley before the reader, I have given
this rough list of game birds and " sporting bastes " !

KASHMIR VALLEYS 231

CHAPTER XIX

Think in this battered caravanserai,

Whose portals are alternate night and day,

How Sultan after Sultan with his pomp
Abode his destined hour and went his way.

— Omar Khayyam.

A few facts, and still fewer names, indicating the history of
Kashmir — Kings, ancient and modern, of varying tempera-
ments, ending with a model ruler.

It is a strange thing how well the face of a country
may be studied and known, and yet its history but faintly
understood. In the course of my tramps I had gathered
a few facts about Kashmir, but I really knew but little
of its early chronicles or even older traditions, so I was
glad of the days of idleness prior to my final departure
to study such modern compilations as I could obtain.
Most useful of these — and I am glad here to own to my
indebtedness — ^was Mr. Lawrence's splendid work on the
land he did so much for. Government reports do not
usually err on the side of attractiveness or lucidity so far
as the outside reader is concerned, but this one is a
model of clearness and conciseness, not to mention the
superlative quaUty of accuracy, and so, though I read
many other histories, his notes on the political ante-
cedents of the State, whose financial rescue he achieved,

232

AFOOT THROUGH THE

are so clear and accurate that I feel I cannot do better
than briefly summarise them, leaving the befogging
names and much controverted dates for the dry-as-dusts
who have the leisure and memory to dig into such
bewildering matter.

The earliest period about which there are certain
facts is that of the Hindu kings. These have left ever-

Pandrethan

lasting memorials in the glorious temples described in
an earlier chapter. These give an idea of the wealth and
power of this race of kings, and the fact that some of
their irrigation canals exist to this day proves that they
took an interest in the condition of their people. There

KASHMIR VALLEYS 233

was also at that time a regular system of village
administration and a complicated system of bigar
(forced labour). It is the written record of this
period that we have in the Rajatarangini of
Kalhana, a chronicle in Sanskrit verse, the like
of which exists for no other part of India.
Much of the early part relates events and circumstances
of an entirely legendar}' character ; but from the seventh
century to the time a.d. 1148, when the author lived in
the reign of King Jayasimha, he may be generally relied
on. H. H. Wilson states that for a period long ante-
cedent to that chronicled in the Rajatarangini, Kashmir
was certainly an organised kingdom bearing the name
of Caspapyrus or Abisarius in the time of Herodotus
and Alexander, and it is probable that for centuries
l^rior to the time of Greek supremacy the country was
governed by princes of the powerful Pandava clan, who,
spreading over all north-western India, have left their
name more especially to their descendants in the Jhelum
Valley.

Whether the fact of Chinese Tartar influence, often
referred to by people and writers, rests on any real
foundation is difficult now to determine, but it is certain
that Buddhism was at a very early date a great power,
though it did not retain long its position, for in the
seventh century it was already quite subordinate to the
Brahminical teaching. As the peaceful influence
of this happy vale in those days exercised as soothing
an influence as the present time, when Hindus and
Mahomedans live peacefully together, the Brahmins
and Buddhists agreed to differ without conflict or over-
heated contention.

Asoka, who lived soon after the beginning of the

234 AFOOT THROUGH THE

Christian era, and is one of the first kings whose history
stands out clear of misty legends of demons and snakes,
goddesses and strong gods, was a Buddhist and made
himself famous by his wise laws and edicts, but his son
reverted to the worship of Siva, adopting once more
some of the practices of the earlier Nag or snake worship,
the traces of which are still to be found in the current
religion of the valley. Subsequently the rulers returned
to Buddhism, and history becomes misty till there
emerges the figure of the ferocious King Mihirakula
(515 A.D.), who framed moral codes of a trying nature
for his people, and rejoiced in law-breaking, as it gave
rise to "pleasant punishments." This Nero was
succeeded by Gopaditya, of good reputation, and various
other princes of small influence, among whom Mitrigupta
seems to have been amiable and charitable.

Eventually Lalataditya came to the throne in 697,
and reigned thirty-seven years. We heard of him in
connection with the mighty temple of Martand, and
throughout his country he built buildings likely to out-
last anything their own age, though severely tried by
the fierce zeal of fanatics and the terrible powers of
Nature doing her worst with earthquake and flood.
He helped his people by bringing them water, and he
fed vast armies of them. He was a man of mighty deeds
and prodigious plans, and, having endowed his kingdom
with some of the grandest monuments of the known
world, catered for the wellbeing of his subjects, and, it
must be also admitted, horrified them by his cruelties
when intoxicated (for they seem to have been in the same
scale as his benefits when in sober mind), he departed,
in spite of prayers and entreaties, for Turkestan, to
conquer Central Asia, and there died, having bequeathed

KASHMIR VALLEYS 235

a vast collection of wise laws and sapient observations
for the guidance of his successors.

King Avantivarma, of the ninth century, also left a
great reputation for sagacity. Though no soldier, he did
much towards encouraging useful works in the valley.
His son, Shan Karavarman, collected a vast army.
We are not told whether his subjects were men of greater
mettle than their present representatives, or whether
his soldiers were mercenaries, and how his cavalry was
mounted. He memorialised himself more thoroughly
by the temples he built at Patau. Apparently the army
thus assembled, deprived under later kings of legitimate
employment, turned its energies to civil wars, and the
history of this period is chaotic ; rather that word should
be applied to the state of the brain after attempting to
grapple with its chronicles.

The one distinct figure of the time is that of
the Queen Didda, a lady of decided views and unde-
cided principles. Fettered, as others in the like position
have been since her time, she set herself to work to rid
herself of her entourage. Having had much influence
during her husband's life, she proceeded after his death
to remove her minor son, whose guardian she was
supposed to be, also three grandsons; and finally
reigned alone and well, so that the kingdom was safe-
fruarded for a time from the internal strife which was
the ruin of the dynasty.

The country became more and more disintegrated.
Central power was at an end, and at the beginning of the
fourteenth century each party, in turns, appears to have
put forth a candidate for the governorship, the badge of
office being the possession of Kuta Rani, daughter of
Eam Chand, commander-in-chief of the last Hindu king.

236 AFOOT THROUGH THE

Finally, this princess killed herself rather than wed the
Swati Mussulman Shah Mirza, the first of the Salatin-
i-Kashmir. These kings did not worry their subjects
much in the matter of religion till we come to the time
of the infamous Sikander, nearly a century later than
the founder of the dynasty. He, with a thoroughness
worthy of a better cause, hoped to bring his subjects
eventually to paradise by showing to them in this world
all the horrors prepared for the lost, and by a system of
conversion, both prompt and forcible, succeeded in
turning the greater number into at least nominal
followers of the Prophet. Not content with wreaking
vengeance on the stiff-necked, he attempted the destruc-
tion of the temples that had been the glorious memorials
of the earlier kings, not trying with these fanes the
system of conversion so effective and successful in other
parts of India. The fact that at Martand and Avantipur
there still remains some masonry intact is due to no
abating of the king's ill-omened zeal, but to the durable
nature of the work.

Of a very different type was Zain-ul-ab-ul-din,
whose reign of fifty-two years, ending in 1469, brought
peace and prosperity to the valley and its peoples. He
built great palaces, he regulated the waterways, he
encouraged learning, nor did he neglect the many means
of pleasure afforded by the lakes and lovely valleys of
the kingdom, boating, and travelling, as many a lesser
one has done since his time. Tradition has it that thei
spirit of a Hindu Yogi passed into his body after a severe
illness ; more probably other loving spirits influenced his
character and acts, inducing him to make peace with
the Brahmins, the only class of the old Pandits that had
made a real stand against the forcible conversions of

KASHMIR VALLEYS 237

Sikander. When this good Sultan died, his kingdom
extended over Thibet and the Punjab as far as Sirhind,
but, unfortunately, he had not been able effectively to
stem the rise of the Chaks, a people of obscure origin,
who for more than a century had gradually been gaining
power and influence.

Northerners by race, they were Shias by religion,
and seemed to have possessed the strength and courage
of the warlike tribes of Central Asia, coupled with the
instability and lack of steadfastness which is the weak-
ness of migratory peoples. However, having won the
supreme power in the course of the sixteenth century,
they made a firm stand against Akbar and his army,
and in 1582, aided by the natural features of the country,
defeated the invader. But this success was only tem-
porary. Those of the Kashmiris who did not follow the
faith of their ruler made cause with Akbar, and after
many battles and much desultory fighting, Kashmir
passed from the rule of Sultans under the power of the
Moguls.

They inaugurated a period of great splendour,
and if the country occasionally suffered from the harsh
rule of cruel regents, appointed when the emperors were
away in their southern capital of Delhi, on the whole,
the people shared in the prosperity of their chiefs.
Akbar was too much occupied enlarging his boundaries
and consolidating his empire to spend much time in
Kashmir, but he built the Hari Parbat fort, and
encouraged other works, and made a rough land settle-
ment. His successors loved the Happy Valley, and
made it their regular summer residence. Jehangir built
here palaces and planted chenaar groves, the Dal Lake
was surrounded with vast terraced pleasure-grounds
s

238 AFOOT THROUGH THE

belonging to him and his nobles, and the air was spiced
with the perfumes of the millions of rOses and musk
plants grown for " attar." His beautiful wife, too,
planned and built and further beautified the valley,
leaving in far-distant districts evidences of her taste"
and energetic invention in the countless groves and
graceful fountains.

Not content with beautifying his domains, his
successor. Shah Jehan, governed his people well through
clever subordinates, who upheld his power by finally
subduing the Chaks, and also engendered good feeling
by treating the people with consideration and reducing
various vexatious imposts. Less amiable was Aurung-
zeb, whose short visit to the valley remained impressed
on the memories of the people by reason of its terrible
consequences, as the relentless persecution of the
Brahmins.

Under later emperors the central authority of Delhi
was much weakened, and the provincial governors,
including the Subah of Kashmir, became virtually inde-
pendent, and used their power to worry their " misfor-
tunate " people, till in 1751 these fell from the frying
pan into the fire, and became subject to Pathan rule,
the worst they had yet known.

The Shahani Durani period shows no relieving point,
and squeezed by rapacious governors, tortured by cruel
kings, persecuted for their religion, and forced to witness
the destruction of beautiful memories left from happier
times, the lot of the wretched Kashmirians was unenvi-
able. Eventually, considering any change must be
for the better, they invited Ranjit Singh, the great Sikh
leader, the Lion of the Punjab, to turn out their ruler.
The work was accomplished and the price paid, but a
worthless Mussulman, Muhamad Azim Khan, being left

KASHMIR VALLEYS 239

in power, he neglected to pay tribute, hoarded
treasure, and gave himself up to the dehghts of
torturing Hindus. Ranjit Singh was again appealed to.
This time he came in person with his army, accompanied
by the Rajah of Jammu and Poonch, also a Sikh, and
the governor fled before him. Moti Ram was left in
possession, and did much towards the pacification and
improvement of the people, but he was succeeded by less
able and energetic men, and famine and sickness ravaged
the land. Finally, Mian Singh, a fine soldier, was sent,
and governed wisely and well. In 1843 the country- was
disturbed by the turbulent tribe known as the Bombas,
an alien people, their leader having been entrapped
and imprisoned. They rose, raided, and plundered.
The Jammu Rajah, Gulab Singh, sought to intervene,
and appointed a Mahomedan governor. Then for a time
anarchy prevailed, but finally the country, having been
ceded to British Government as part of the indemnity
claimed from the Sikhs, we decided to hand it over to
Jammu. The Mahomedan governor then objected, and
it was not till a British army had made its appearance
that the country finally and absolutely passed into
Hindu hands, the Maharajah Gulab Singh being of
Dogra race.

Here I will put in a short explanation of the word
" Dogra," which will leave most people, so far as imder-
standing it goes, very much where they began, for the
vagueness of Indian terms is only to be equalled by the
assurance with which they are used! Dogra was
originally applied to the people dwelling between
Siroensar and Mansar — two lakes — and they claimed
Rajput origin. Now there are many castes and many
sects among these people. To one and all the term

240 AFOOT THROUGH THE

Dogra is applied, and the only limits of the term are
those of locality, for it is applied to hill tribes of all
faiths within a certain area. They have all the strong,
warlike qualities generally associated with people
brought up in a wild, rough land, and their chiefs have
proved worthy and enlightened rulers of the grand
province, ceded wrongly, as some hold, to them by the
British. Our Government at the time felt unable to
cope with all the vast additions to the then Indian
Empire. Its organisation had not proved elastic or
adaptive enough to keep pace with the energies of the
military commanders, and few then believed in the
possibility of our holding territory beyond the
Himalayas.

It is perhaps a good thing that we did not overburden
ourselves. The rulers have proved good friends to the
Indian authorities, as was proved by the conduct of
Gulab Singh in '57, and that of the present ruler during
the troublesome war in Hunza Nagar, and owing to the
loyal carrying out of Mr. Walter Lawrence's land settle-
ment scheme the people are in as fair a way to enjoy
to the utmost the advantages of living in a rich land
as if directly under British rule. Many small vexatious
restrictions as to building, etc., have been relaxed, and
the wise administration of game laws and the improve-
ment of the tracks — it is an obvious misuse of terms
to talk of roads in Kashmir — ^will show that the country
suffers little from being only indirectly under the Sirkar.

To return to Gulab Singh. He died in '57, and his
wise policy was continued by his successor, Ranbir Singh,
who did much for agriculture, and showed himself
hospitable to Europeans, and ready to imitate their
institutions, such as hospitals and schools, while being

KASHMIR VALLEYS 241

extremely liberal towards those of his subjects who were
not co-religionists. The present Maharajah, Pertab
Singh, is G.C.S.I., and a worthy follower of the tradi-
tions of his family. Under his kind and wise rule, aided
and advised as he has been and is by many Englishmen
of influence and power, the valley bids fair to rival in
prosperity the most favoured parts of the world, and one
need not fear to be considered too sanguine if hoping
that the days of misery, bloodshed, and anarchy, which
were once so frequent in this fertile valley, are things
of the past, and that the far-stretching lands of H.H.
the Maharajah, including, besides Kashmir proper,
Ladakh, Gilgit, Skardo Astor, and Jammu, may
continue to enjoy the Fax Britannica.

Among other innovations which have proved verj^
beneficial to the people has been the training under the
guidance of British officers of a certain number of men
as Imperial service troops. These have proved smart
and efficient, and their conduct goes far to support their
own theory that, till the virile spirit had been crushed
out of them by the tyranny of successive conquerors,
they were a warlike people. But nothing has done more
to raise the people than the land settlement and the
various edicts connected therewith, which, among other
benefits, did away as far as possible with the iniquitous
systems of forced labour till then in vogue. Now the
Kashmirian is, on the whole, a prosperous person, no
longer thwarted in all attempts at improved agriculture
by the increasing exactions of officials. His inborn
industrious habits have full play, and the naturally rich
soil gives forth of her best and richest. An increased
market, too, means higher prices, and the improvement
of the communications with far-distant India by means

242 AFOOT THROUGH THE

of the completed Srinagar-Pindi road has raised prices
and improved greatly the conditions of life.

The manufactured goods — carpets, embroideries,
papier-mache, copper, and silver work — when of first-
rate quality, command ready purchasers in India and
England, and when the merchants thoroughly under-
stand that, with artistic productions thoroughness and
good taste are more essential than cheapness, city
dwellers will have little to complain of. Of course, as
in all countries where a new system has been introduced
and set working, revolutionising suddenly old methods
and old ideas, a certain amount of opposition or half-
hearted support go far to mar complete success, and to
those to whom modern economical studies are new
ground, it is difficult to prove that a system which
raises the cost of living, even if it produce higher wages
and richer products, can be really desirable.

Our trump card in working in this protected state,
where we can only " advise," leaving the " command "
to native officials, has been the impartial energy and
acknowledged integrity of our officials. To all and
every merchant, and even to lambardars (headmen) of
distant villages, the word, even of an unofficial, unknown
traveller, is as good as a bond ; they will take cheques
on unheard-of banks, receive I O U's on scraps of old
paper as if they were coin of the realm, and cheerfully
consent to manufacture and despatch wares to London
without pre-payment, and if there is doubt as to the
value of metal in some antique or curio, they will trust
to the purchaser to have the same valued fairly out of
the country. A small instance of the implicit trust
reposed in a Sahib and of the way it is merited was
brought to my attention one day in Srinagar by a

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KASHMIR VALLEYS 24^

merchant, who asked me to read to him a letter just
arrived enclosing some money. This had been sent by
an officer who had taken with him some Kabuli stamps,
and as there had been no guide to their value, he had
not bargained, but promised to send the full catalogued
price when he could find again a catalogue, and this he
had don© immediately on his return, sending
quite double what had been originally asked! The
coinage causes a little difficulty owing to the
difference between the native rupee, the " chilki,"
worth about ten annas, and the Imperial rupee,
of sixteen annas. There is also a "kham" rupee in
circulation, bearing the letters I.H.S., about which there
are many strange tales, and this being a land of small
payments, care should be taken to impress the value of
the coin given on the payee, for the ignorant people are
sadly victimised by the changers.

The modern royal buildings in Srinagar are hardly
things of beauty or worth a visit, but it is pleasant to
think that all concerned in these works have been paid
in coin, and the old meritricious system of payment in
kind, a great source of misery to the people, has been
completely superseded. The waterworks at Srinagar
have alone put over three million rupees into circulation
for wages, and many other public works are in progress.

H.H. has done much to help the suffering, and his
hospitals and State dispensaries are not only charming
buildings, many of them brightened with pretty gardens,
but they have conferred a boon so great it is difficult to
estimate, for, though as a race Kashmiris are sturdy
and healthy, insanitary conditions produce terrible
epidemics and cause a great deal of suffering, and among
the cultivators the conditions of rice-growing lend them-

244 AFOOT THROUGH THE

selves to much, rheumatism, lumbago, and kindred ills.
As I returned across the lake to my pretty Gupcar home
after my farewell visit to the city, it w^as with the feeling
that I was saying good-bye not only to a most beautiful
land, richly endowed with Nature's best and rarest gifts,
but to a people happy in their government, and with
every encouragement to improve their condition; a
people who, after centuries of a terrible black tunnel
of misery, anarchy, and oppression, had emerged on the
sunny side of the hill.

In my last chapter I will speak of the country as it
affects European residents.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 245

CHAPTER XX

We flash across the level,

We thunder thro' the bridges,
We bicker down the cuttings,

We sway along the ridges.
A rush of streaming hedges,

Of jostling lights and shadows.
Of hurtling, hurrying stations.

Of racing woods and meadows.

— Henlty.

Of joltings and jarrin^s — Wild ponies and fair ways — A gentle-
man in khaki discusses the empire with one of the holy
army — The seamy side of an Indian summer — Homeward
bound.

The last hours of my stay in the Happy Valley had
arrived, and long before the sun rose to wake the
inhabitants to another gorgeous day, I should be on my
way, the first stage of a weary, toilsome journey that,
with but few hours' rest here and there on my passage
through India, I was to accomplish without break from
Srinagar to London during the hottest time of the year,
and under the torturing conditions of an unbroken
monsoon. With such an early start before me it seemed
an unnecessary torment of the flesh to go to bed at all,
but the consideration of those two hundred miles to

246 AFOOT THROUGH THE

Pindi to be accomplished in two days, decided me at
least to enjoy the happiness of a few hours on my back,
as an enforced uprightness was likely to be my lot for
the best part of the next forty-eight hours.

A wild thunderstorm burst about midnight, relieving
the overburdened atmosphere. It had been intensely
hot, and no breathing thing had been able to rest quietly
while the tempest was brewing, and through the open
windows and doors, set ajar to catch the faintest breath
of air, the uneasy movements of my escort sleeping in
the open, the stirrings of ponies could be heard, and in
my head I felt that nerve chords were being screwed
tighter, tighter. Thank Heaven it had come! Round
the hills roared and echoed and repeated the thunder.
The length and breadth of the Dal was illumined with
white flame, the over-powering scent oF flowers was
diluted by the rain drops from scintillating sheets of
liquid crystal. Relieved of one tension, understanding
at last why our own life had been so painfully conscious
to us, as if aware of our imprisoned spirits as distinct
entities, we turned and slept when the fading away of
the noiseful thunder permitted it, the coolies and
jampanis below rolling up in their blankets, sheltered
by the verandah.

The unearthly white flare of the false dawn was in
the sky when I got up an hour or so later, and the stars',
fresh flashed, winked with that pleasant pertness they
win from rain clouds. A cup of tea was a grateful
opener of sleepy eyes, and with a queasy feeling that I
had parted company with all comforts for an indefinite
period, I said good-bye, salaaming gravely to the muffled
ghosts that arose from dark passages, shady verandahs,
outside houses as I passed into the garden. Once more

KASHMIR VALLEYS 247

" good-bye " as I packed into the rickshaw, good-bye to
perfumed rose bushes, to great, gorgeous hollyhocks, to
graceful ipomoeas, " plume-waving ferns," and pearly
portulacas. They had all come to perfection since I
first saw them, showing sketchily their future charms,
and their pleasant, bright faces now looked ghostly and
sad, sprinkled with rain-drop tears, and white in the
starlight. Nature is generally so imsympathetic, so
aloof from the joys and sorrows of the mortals that walk
lovingly in her ways, studying her face and taking
careful note of her mysteries, that this little exhib tion
of feeling touched me, and as my jinrickshaw was
quickly run down the path, I turned again to wave
farewell to the tall ones of the flock, that craned long
necks over the wall, or threw long tendrils across, to
afford me a last glimpse.

Quickly down the road we passed, slowing as we
mounted to the gap, faster again on the long descent to
the Residency, then under the deep shade of giant
poplars to the mail office, a picturesque thatched
building of nogged brickwork. Naturally I had to
wait; that is the East, one eternal waiting where the
fittest (those who survive) know best how to work and
" wait," the fate of those who " hustle the East " is writ
elsewhere with certainty.

That July night there was little hardship in
lingering when the alternative was a passage in a
stuffy waggon. The moon had set early, the skies
were clean swept, the light unseen, hidden by the
gaunt eastern ranges, could be guessed at as the
stars nearing the rocky heights were nipped out. They,
too, were saying good-bye, and the unfeeUng sun was
having his way cleared before him, prepared to shine as

248 AFOOT THROUGH THE

cheerfully and unconcernedly as if no sad farewells were
taking place, no hearts full of sorrow for partings.

Presently a quaint covered vehicle rattled up. Into
its canvas-covered maw many bags were thrown, my
small traps were banged on top, and I contrived to
crawl in. The driver took the heavy leathern straps
doing duty as reins, and we hurtled off. I have been run
away with, I have hunted on wheels in Ireland, and I
have raced in a two-wheeled cart for a wager, but no-
thing had prepared me for that wild thirty-mile burst to
Baramula. I have not ridden a mad bull through space,
nor been dropped from the moon in a barrel with iron
coigns, but I imagine a combination of the two would
approximate our pace and progress !

Our first wild ponies were changed for others,
and these again every six miles, and except that
some stood on their tails while others attempted
a like feat on their heads, and that some always
wished to commence their career by running down
any handy steep bank, while others preferred going
round and round in a vicious circle, there was no
whit more virtue in one pair than another. Meanwhile
I was doing assistant mail distributor at various points
where bags have to be given out or collected, the driver
suggesting that as I could read I might see that the bags
which had nearly smothered me in a preliminary rumble-
tumble were correctly rearranged, he literally having
his hands full with the " ribbons." For which labour I
have not as yet received any remuneration from the
P.O. authorities, nor even a tip from those who benefited
by the correct distribution of their letters that morning!

An hour or two of this progression taught me various
things, and wedging each foot firmly round the supports
of the seat, putting two large cushions between my left

KASHMIR VALLEYS 249

elbow and the side, and ceasing to consider the coach-
man as anything but an angular buffer — the fiercest
joltings or buffetings from me never upset his perfect
equilibrium gained by long practice — I was able to
spare a small amount of attention to the glorious scene
I was passing through.

Blue and white will always remain the colours of
the valley in my memory, a blueness born of distance,
clear skies, bright waters, and the prevailing tint of
the flowers — just then chickory and flax — that
bordered the road. The high peaks were still
crowned with snow, roses and clematis threw their
festoons over all and everything, while there lingered in
a few places some late white iris, and the white water
hlies and lotus adorned every pond and bank with their
golden -hearted cups. The heat was great as the hours
went by, and a splitting head and sore bones detracted
from the joy of li\ing, so that only a spasmodic attention
could be turned to the things of the road. Pan's pipes
only wailed, and an angry antagonism to the fates that
had decreed such annoyance to the unoffending pilgrim
was the prevailing emotion.

Late in the afternoon we reached Garhi, close,
oppressive, and noisy. In the dak (mail) cart walking
had seemed a progress of the gods, but, free of my canvas
cage and on the road, all desire to stir departed; my
limbs were aching machines useless for movement. I
lay down, but the flies were distracting, and a noisy
party on the verandah banished sleep. So strengthened
with tea, I sallied forth to examine the strange
Jhula bridge, which connected the bank I was
on with the thither side. On essaying it, it
proved vastly safer than it looked, and the ropes of
iDuftalo hide, for foothold and guiding lines, were neither

250 AFOOT THROUGH THE

SO slippery nor so swinging as I had imagined, quite
robbing my small effort of the joy of accomplishing a
perilous adventure. Like many of the pleasures sought
after in this world, the joys of " dangers " are sadly
overrated, or at least they are generally remunerative
only in anticipation, or as a memory. At the moment
they prove either insipidly tame or err in the other
direction and are fat^l, and then there is no gauge of
their pleasantness. Other species of bridge used across
the Jhelum are the " chika," a stout cable by which
people are slung across in a basket ; the sangha, a single
span, constructed somewhat on the cantilever principle,
and protected with strong abutments ; and the " targari,"
a simple arrangement of two planks.

An uneasy night, hot and fly-beridden, prepared me
to rise betimes with a thankful spirit that the dark
watches were over, and my last day of progress on
wheels — I will not call it driving — begun. It was a lovely
road, the attractions of which could not be wholly
destroyed by a blazing sun or aching head; but I have
written of it before, and it was in no whit changed in
its principal features, and by these I mean the roughness
of its ways and the grandeur of its guardian mountains.
The trees, however, had put on another mantle,
exchanging their jejeune tints for a richer green, and
the delicate hawthorns and daphnes of early spring had
been replaced by gaudy pomegranates and luscious-
scented jessamines. Many wild fruits, including straw-
berries, raspberries, small plums, apricots, and apples,
stocked these cool larders in the dark woods, while the
monkeys proved to us that the nuts were fast ripening
by throwing their shells at us.

Life in the East assists a casual temperament and

KASHMIR VALLEYS 251

manner of existence, and it is no surprising thing to
meet a sahib by the roadside waiting at the
nearest dak bungalow for his kit to arrive at
some place a hundred miles away, or to pass,
^y^^S peacefully under a shady tree, a pony
tethered close by waiting for a master due for a station
a week's journey off.

We picked up that day, and conveyed for a
short distance a cheery and optimistic sub., who
thought his things ought to be somewhere about, as
he had seen them off by the more usual route three
weeks before, while he in "light marching order," I
believe it consisted of a pal (small tent without centre
pole) and one cooking pot — but there may have been
some small etceteras — came with a pony over the passes
from the Poonch country. Subsequently I heard he
found the major portion of his belongings awaiting him
at Dulai, just within Kashmir territory, but a sun topi,
a pony, and a poshteen (sheepskin coat) were not
retrieved till days later, they having tumbled over the
" khud " (cliff side), and though not much injured, they
had preferred remaining in the village they had literally
fallen upon to rejoining the other servants, who had
not been at all worried by their absence.

It is impossible to lose things in such a
country where every one is either known or to
be heard of, and cases dumped down on the road-
side a hundred miles from ever^-where, or ponies stranded
in distant mountain passes, all come home to roost at
last. I speak from experience, for a trunk of mine
strayed away over the Himalayas, was carried to Chitral
with the Reliefs, got stowed away in a go-down of a
carrying agent, and finally met me at a down-country

252 AFOOT THROUGH THE

station! I have been shown an address on a piece of
paper while far from the beaten track in the eastern end
of the valley, and directed a befogged coolie to his
proper destination at Gulmerg, and a friend, hurriedly
ordered to join the Tochi Valley army, welcomed even-
tually his pony, sent off at the same time as himself, after
two months, during which time it and its " sais " had been
nearly all over the North-West frontier, in and out of
the fighting zone, having first gone to a place somewhat
akin in name but two hundred miles away from the scene
of action! Fortunately in India the old home rule,
" 'Ere's a stranger, 'eave a brick at him," is reversed.
Out there we are all one vast white family, and one does
one's brother, or his ponies, or his chattels a good turn
whenever opportunity occurs, knowing that in all human
probability the day will not be far off when we shall
welcome a return in money or kind! Stranger,
G. T., griffin, whatever opprobrious title I had a right
to, I was made free of all the privileges of my caste from
the moment of arrival, and it will always be a matter
of regret to me that I had no power of " doing likewise."

A few new books, a plentiful supply of papers, a
small power of musicking, and a slight fund of infor-
mation about the march of events " at home," was all
the slender return I could make for countless kindnesses,
boundless hospitality. Fortunately these trifles must
not be gaugea by their intrinsic value, but considered
as they are in a country where literature and art, as we
imderstand them in England, are practically non-
existent for the white sojourner.

Murree was reached early in the afternoon, and I
there renewed my acquaintance with that " darkest of
earth's dark places," an Indian hotel. In my pleasant

KASHMIR VALLEYS 253

sojournings in my canvas house, or under the doonga's
straw roof, I had forgotten them and their noisome
interior. Their bareness and insufficiency were now
borne in upon me with all the freshness of new
acquaintance — dirty, ragged, ceiling cloths, stained
walls, the plaster peeling off in great flakes, scraps
of cotton carpets, serving no purpose save the
tripping up of the unwar}% chairs with fragmentary
legs, tables of unplaned wood, draped with cotton
cloths of another decade, a bed with furnishings
that filled the imagination with awesome phantoms,
iron washstands and cracked crockery, a glass
minus its quicksilver, and a window dark with dusli —
for these luxuries, plus three daily meals of more
than ordinary deadliness, does the wanderer in India pay
prices that at home would procure if not luxuries, at
least comfort and cleanliness.

Oh, ye managers of country inns and ye manager-
esses of seaside hotels away in England, why not leave
the countr}^ of over-competition, where you are crowded
out by sheer weight of numbers, and in a new land
introduce another system and a more consoling cookery
which shall be composed of other compounds than
curries and custards?

Having elected to rest a few hours among the pine
trees at Murree, my dak tonga proceeded without me.
I finished my journey in another, a public vehicle, a
private one not being procurable at such short notice
in mid-season. By half -past four we were rattling off
again, worn out loy the rough-and-tumble method of
jolting over three hundred miles of road. For some
time I realised nothing but my discomfort, first thrown
backwards and forwards till my head and neck held

254 AFOOT THROUGH THE

uneasily together, then borne from side to side as the
wheels bounded over stone and clods. I gave praise
to my sun-topee that saved the battering of my skull
against the iron support of the cover, though it must
somewhat seriously have incommoded the driver when
as happened at frequent intervals, it hurtled against
him, his high white pagri only protecting him partially.
I was aroused to taking a more active interest in
the surroundings by the conversation of my fellow-
travellers a khaki-clad sergeant of a British regiment,
and a trooper of a Bengal Lancer corps in the usual
white mufti. When I first listened the latter
was stating with some pride that he was a
Sikh, the sergeant was not interested, still he
was polite, and evidently considered that time
passes quicker if you make conversation with your
companions, even if they are " a rum lot," the usual
epithet bestowed by Thomas Atkins on natives
of all ranks and kinds. " I don't think I know
rightly what the Sikhs are," said he, which
answer led to an explanation and history of that notable
folk, delivered with a fluency and vivacity few inhabi-
tants of our tongue-tied isles could accomplish in his
own language let alone a foreign tongue; and
he gave details of Nanah Shah and his Bible
called the Granth, and of his famous successor
of the sixteenth century, the Guru, Govind Singh.
The sergeant was surprised into interest; these
people evidently made a religion of what was
to him the A B C of life's conduct ; he obeyed commands,
kept himself clean, had his own code of morals, because —
well, because any one who was a " decent sort "
did the same. This chap, to arrive at the same

KASHMIR VALLEYS 256

result, required a whole hierarchy of teachers,
a tremendous load of precepts. It was incomprehensible
and called for an explanation or two; these
were satisfactory; and then he said in an aston-
ished voice, " You seem to have the same kind
of Bible as we have; not as I knows much
of it, but I hear the chaplain and that is the sort
of way he talks." The Sikh's voice took a curious mystic
tone, " It is all one, but we have our way and you have
yours; we live and die and have our gods which are
really one; ours is the better way, but all paths lead
to the same end." This the khaki one was not inclined
to agree to. It was all very well talking to a native, and
this one seemed a decent one, and, being a lancer, was
likely to be some good ; but he could not allow a religion
to be called the same as his, which worshipped elephant-
headed gods, was prodigal with scents and flowers, and
permitted plurality of wives and child-marriage. His
remarks, as customary with his countrj^men, were stated
curtly, a trifle contemptuously. His antagonist was
perfectly courteous; far more accurate and cultured, a
little conceited, perhaps. He submitted that they did
not worship idols, " certain figures, Krishna, Ganesh,
etc., embodied attributes of the ' great unknown '; you,
too, have figures, I have seen them in your churches."
As for the wife question, that is not correct for a well-
bred native to discuss, but child-marriage and the veiling
of the women were memorials of rougher times, stormy
periods for the weak, he explained, no part of their
scheme of life. When the Mussulman was all-
powerful in the land, the only possible protection to
women was by the covering of their faces, and as the
Mussulman freebooter frequently kidnapped young

256 AFOOT THROUGH THE

girls for the Imperial harem, they were married as
children and then hidden to save them from a terrible
fate.

The mention of some event in the second Sikh v^ar
brought into prominence the familiarity of the native
with all the principal dates of our occupation and know-
ledge of its history. The discussion began to lack
interest; it caught fresh fire from the sergeant's
summing-up — " Jolly glad you'd all be to kick us out
again." The unconscious discourtesy and tactlessness
were blatantly British. Pat came the protest, so self-
evident as to be almost proverbial, the Sikh speaking
pompously, a trifle priggishly, as is the immemorial
custom of natives when they utter a truism. He
was sincere, however, " Why should we ? Are we so
powerful that we could subdue the hated Mahomedans,.
or would they again make cause with the Mahrattis?
When to uphold liberty's sacred cause would you find
the Pathans or Bengalis fighting against your ' glorious *
government ? " (I am sorry to note that the sergeant
sniggled audibly at the qualifier.) "Your Government
says, ' each man follow his own religion, don't be fools
and make riot with each other, and then we will not
interfere with you.' Your government very strong, and
your soldiers well armed," he added significantly.

A common thought struck them. " But the
Russians," suggested Mr. Atkins, feeling himself
a politician. The Sikh's face grew stern; he
had come to facts, and, after all, for a soldier
these were worth more than argument, though
a native's subtle mind seizes on these with avidity.
" You have heard of Penjdeh, Sir Peter Lumsden^
the Pamir delimitation ? " The sergeant nodded ;

KASHMIR VALLEYS 257

he hardly felt up to cross-examination, though
the names brought a hazy memors^ " I was of the
guard ; hard, hard life that ; stone for pillow ; no tents ;
short rations; marching day after day and evening all
round Pathans, Russians " (sinking his voice), " and
never permission to fire one little shot ; that was hard "
— the sergeant nodded sympathetically. " I might have
caught " (the Sikh forbore his regrets and con-
tinued). " We heard much of the Russians, and a Turko-
man here, another tribesman there would come to camp
for protection ; the Russian troops had been in their
houses ; their general no give protection to Turkoman or
their women." Details of unattractive character
followed, summed up by — " These peoples never help
Russian against English; your government good; but

." The conversation dwindled into a discussion over

certain local and working defects of the " Sirkar."

The khaki one jerked his words, and added to his
meaning by strange slang and those foolish non-
meaning expressions so often used by our lower classes
as witticisms. I doubted if the Sikh ever even guessed
his meaning, or if either were within hailing distance of
each other's working consciousness ; but it is one of the
rewards of travel that we sometimes are made to realise
that there are methods of thought differing from our
own, and that we misunderstand them, our sordid
self - sufficiency receives pin - pricks which permit
the ingress of perceptions of others' individualities,
differing minds. " Well, you are brave people,"
epiloguized the sergeant with sincerity but a
touch of patronage, for, of course, of his own
countrymen the fact was too patent to be men-
tioned. "Yes, we brave men," concurred the Sikh

■258 AFOOT THROUGH THE

sincerely too, without noticing the patronage, " and will
fight again for you."

" Now those Afridis they knew we'd just pour
in men and guns again and again till we had
the best of it, but they fought us, though they only
rode for a fall." The Sikh relished but moderately
the comparison with the Pathan, their immemorial race
antagonists, so he merely added, " Well, we fought them
too; it is good fighting, but not being guard, when
not one little shot at enemy allowed." This, at least,
was a common sentiment, and though the sergeant gave
vent to his dislike of India and all things pertaining
thereto, his companion bore no ill-will, bidding good-bye
with all the flowery expressions that pass current in the
East ; the other nodded curtly.

" Rum devils," he ejaculated, as the lithe white
figure disappeared in the gloom; and so we of
alien races shall always be to each other. Our
fighting instincts give us at least one common
ground, and a religious tolerance touches their
sympathies, and just so long as we keep up their pride
as soldiers, and give them liberty to choose their own
methods of approaching the " Unknown," so long shall
we strengthen the only bonds possible between East
and West.

All the way from Murree we had been penetrating
deeper into the burning pit, and as we entered the
station of Pindi we stifled, the weight of unbroken
thunderstorms heavy upon us. I was almost asleep as
the tonga drew up before my hostess's bungalow, and
I fell out into kind, welcoming arms, and was restored
with tea and refreshments. It was nearly midnight,
but no breeze had arisen to break the awful monotony

KASHMIR VALLEYS . 259

of heat. I was among workers once again, and the
realities of Indian life struck harshly on me. It was a
sad record I received of the period while I had been
absent, and enteric and heat were the chief factors in
it. As I looked at white faces and thin drawn hands,
one needed to apologise for one's existence as a leisured
person in a world of strenuous endeavour.

" Yes, it has been very bad," said one ; " only
two showers to represent the rains, and with the
reduced hot weather garrison over thirty cases of
enteric. Still, we do what we can, but the wards in the
hospital are over 94 deg. at nine in the morning. If
the men stay they die, and if they go they die. You knew

Captain ? He had fever, a touch; made sure

Murree would cure it ; of course, the jolting up and the
cold did for him. He died three hours after he arrived.
What gives enteric ? Everything they say, water, milk,
cold, heat ! I think it's dust storms. Sorry to trouble
us? Thank goodness you have come; you are worth
your weight in gold if you will talk of anything but
fever and deaths, at least during meals."

I turned in almost too tired to note the great pile
of correspondence awaiting me, but in that heat no
punkah even could induce sleep; so I took a Europe
morning, and dawdled slowly through my dressing,
standing under the punkah to gasp between each short
stage. The kind sister came in ; she also had not slept,
but then she had already put in four hours in the wards.
The white face in the daylight was more piteous than it
had been at night. " I can't sleep ever in the daytime,
and at night all the native city wakes up, so there is no
quiet then either," was a simple explanation. " The
worst is, that terrible as this want of rain is now in its

260 AFOOT THROUGH THE

present effects, imagine the awful amount of suffering
from famine and disease it entails. It has been good to
see a sunburnt face. Tell them at home what hot
weather is like."

The carriage was so hot as I left in the mail
train that night that salamanders would have thought
it homelike. A weary, anxious-faced woman, lightly
clad — we had dropped into muslin dressing gowns as
soon as the station was left — ^was fanning a tiny,
wizened morsel of humanity. I took a turn — any
diversion to self-centred thought was welcome — ^while
she prepared food over an etna, runlets of heat pouring
down face and neck.

" You see," she explained, " I took baby to
the hills, and Jack was to join us, but they wired
for me two days ago; it seems he is down with fever,
and I could not leave baby with any one, people do not
like the responsibility of a sick child, but it does seem
a pity to bring him down just when he was beginning
to look so bonnie." The sight of the babe's wrinkled
mouth and tiny limbs made me shudder. " And it is so
bad for him travelling so quickly, but, of course, I felt
I must come on, and I am to look out for wires, they
promised to send one if there were a change or
anything."

That night mocking demons continually looked in at
the window, and gibing mouths taunted us as we passed
on, heat phantoms jeering at the weary ghosts who had
at times believed that the world was made for them,
but were being taught by a thousand tortures that they
were no lords of creation, just impotent factors in the
world's hierarchy. It is given us to win victories some-
times, but the price is promptly entered against us. Just

KASHMIR VALLEYS 261

then it was the turn of those in India to pay the pric&
of empire and vast-added territories, and climate,
unfortunately, has still to be conquered.

If Pindi had been hot, Umballa station was
the under- side of a molten mass of metal. Un-
expectedly a friend was on the platform, nearly
unrecognisable from the cheer}^ cold-weather comrade
I had known. " I am the only one in the
station, I believe; the bungalow cannot be worse
than the train, and there is a night mail to go on by.""
I said good-bye to the sad-eyed mother, and passed
quickly from that burning platform to the dusty, thirsty
mall. We drove, we drank cold drinks, we sat under
punkahs, and a " boy " fanned me, but not one single
moment of coolness was to be obtained. " Have you
heard there is cholera below ? They had only two days'^
rains, but they were enough to set it going. They talk,
too, of trouble again in the Swat Valley before the
month is out, but I'm afraid there'll be no such good
luck; any thing's better than rotting out here in this
copper stevdng-pan. My best sergeant went out with
heat apoplexy last week, and I should be gone too only
I get to the hills every ten days or so. I pity those poor
devils down in Central India, nowhere to go to, and they

are dying like flies of enteric at M this season.

Ah, it's good to see any one sunburnt ; talk to me and tell
me about the snows. Yes, everything ; and did you see
any bear ; and was Jerky Jones up there ; and was it
beautifully cold ? "

By midnight I was into the train again. By this
time the carriage was a scalding coffin, and that
particular one was ornamented with thousands of flies.
They squelched as I lay down and caught in my hair,.

262 AFOOT THROUGH THE

and tormented my arms ; but I hoped for another rest
in eighteen hours' time — a short stay at a Central Indian
station I had visited in December, and remembered for
the beauty of its immemorable flowers. A weary-eyed
figure stopped me as I was leaving the carriage. "You
must not stay here, we have cholera." The train moved
on.

This, then, was the glorious East, the other side
of the shield, unseen, unguessed at by itinerant
M.P.'s and cold-weather visitors. Punkahs are a
pleasing pretence when the weather is little warmer
than an ordinary Enghsh summer's day, playing
at the tropics, as the G.T. gaily remarks as he
sips iced sodas in an easy lounge with a ther-
mometer that scarcely touches 86, but somewhere
the furnaces are being stoked. Swiftly and suddenly
the short cold season is superseded by monotonous
months of sweltering sunshine. Will the ra'ns never
come to put an end to the suspense? And sometimes
they come, but as a mockery. A shower or two, a sense
of slight relief, and the awful fact is borne in that the
rains have again failed, the monsoon will not break,
there can be no change till heav}^ snow^s on those stern
guardians of Upper India bring some slight alleviation
to the weary watchers on the far-distant plains.

My journey to Bombay was accomplished to a sad,
monotonous refrain, a death song sung by suffering
people beneath a pitiless sun. A description of these
things savours of exaggeration; having seen them
silence seems the only course. Certain ills must be
borne, and it is best not to make them too evident, other-
wise none could bear to face them ; for that reason folk
at home do not have much mention of this side of Indian
life.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 26a

Bombay was unbearably self-conceited over its cool
climate. It described itself as cold, and in proof thereof
went about clad in serge suits and light woollen coats
and skirts. The steaminess they do not mind, and after
the frying pans I had been in, 92 and 93 were a pleasant
change.

Then the voyage, and to those who desire comfort
and coolness I do not advise a return home in July.
Though on shore its effects had been small, on the
ocean the monsoon was terribly obvious, and a close
cabin for five days at a stretch is not conducive to
enjoyment.

Wearily the days passed ; most of the servants were
down with fever from the close air resulting from
battened-down hatches, and it was a weak, wan company
that re-visited the decks at Aden and compared notes
over experiences that had been of a deadly monotonous
character.

It was hot in the Red Sea, but the change to open
ports and tranquil decks was blissful, and sleeping in
long chairs in the open air, catching whatever of breeze
the dawn brought, carried me back pleasantly to my
camping days and the joys of a star-lit canopy. The
colouring of the banks is a never-ceasing pleasure, and
the gorgeous blue of the sea, and the brilliant rainbows
to be discovered in every wave that breaks against the
side of the steamer, the flights of swallows like flying
fish, the gambols of the huge schools of porpoises — ^all
these things help to fill the long hours with images of
beauty and small but absorbing interests after being
shut up between four very compressed walls.

Then came Port Said, with its reek of hot insanitary
soil, its repelling flashy shows and shops, and its loafing

264 AFOOT THROUGH THE

population, made up of a hundred international varieties
of the genus " shark."

The Mediterranean had accomplished a happy
medium of climate, and the atmosphere was that of a
perfect summer day. So my wanderings drew to a close.
Any small discomforts or fatigues I had endured were
forgotten or decently shrouded in a golden mist of
pleasant memories. All I retained was my early convic-
tion that the " vale of Cashmere " was worthy of many
years of wishing for, many efforts to reach. There are
many lands to see on this earth ; many I wish to visit ;
that I shall find one fairer I cannot hope.

KASHMIR VALLEYS 265

CONCLUSION

Ye who have traced the Pilgrim to the scene
Which is his last, if in your memories dwell
A thought that once was his, if on ye swell
A single recollection, not in vain
He wore his sandal shoon and scallop shell.
Farewell !

— Byron.

A FEW last considerations about Kashmir. Is it suitable
as a place for permanent residents ? Does it offer such
advantages as a healthy climate, one suitable for growing
children and elder folk who can no longer stand the
trying extremes of the Plains? Are there any profes-
sions open to Englishmen apart from the Government
offices? and are there new industries and trades to be
opened up ?

As a holiday ground I do not think I need add
anything to what I have said, for I shall indeed have
written in vain if I have not shown in some small degree
the inexpressible charm of this wondrous country for
the wanderer and vagrant ; but as a haven of rest for the
official worn out with incessant work in India, and too
poor to care to begin life again in England, or for those
who have found it impossible to stand the fogs or damp
of our little island, I have still some remarks to make.

As to climate it is difficult to imagine more healthy
conditions than those offered in a country where the

266 AFOOT THROUGH THE

winters, though cold, are dry, and there is no real rainy
season, the damp weather spreading itself over the
summer months. Rains being very local, too, it is not
difficult to remove from too plashy parts to drier regions.
In cases of consumption and heart disease the climate
has proved peculiarly restorative, and the dryness of the
cold months makes it delightful to those to whom
ordinary cold is trying. Malarial fever is not at all
common, and enteric is practically unknown. In such
cases as are recorded, the germs of the disease have been
brought into the country by the sufferers. Children
thrive here as they would in England, and look as bonnie
and ruddy ; in fact, if it were not for the difficulties of
education, there is no reason that they should ever be
sent home. Even this difficulty may eventually be over-
come.

Men of education and college training have gone
out as heads of native schools, and if the nmnber of
residents increases in the way it has of late, it may be a
profitable undertaking for one to turn his talents and
attention to the instruction and training of white youth.
For girls the difficulties are less considerable. Many
a young woman with a taste for seeing over her own
potato patch and wandering afield, tired of the struggle
at home among many competitors for paid teaching, will
be glad to go out and follow her profession in a country
where much is done to ameliorate the dreariness of a
governess's life.

Then for hobbies and amusements there is ample
provision. Various English gardens I visited, blazing
with flowers raised from English seeds and plants, were
an encouragement to any with the smallest taste for
gardening. Rich soil, clear, abundant supply of water, a

KASHMIR VALLEYS 267

strong sun, and cheap labour — are not these conditions
good enough to tempt the laziest to make the small
effort necessary to produce such rich results?
The heat is never so great as to make work unpleasant,
and it is vastly more repaying than in the plains.
Then there is much to be done in the way of
collecting, complete and careful collections of natural
products, minerals, flowers, etc., being badly wanted
for an accurate knowledge of the country. Good
specimens of coins, curios, and stamps are in demand,
for there is not yet anything like a real record of tho
land.

Besides these things, much can be learned from the
natives themselves and their methods of carving, paint-
ing, and metal beating are curious and worth imitation.
For those who prefer out-door exercises, every kind can
be enjoyed — boating, swimming in the summer, skating,
tobogganing, and sleighing in the winter. There are
good links in various places for golfers. Tennis can also
be indulged in, and for men there are cricket and football
of varying quahty. Riding of ever}^ sort is to be had —
from polo, on well-kept grounds, to wild paper chases,
and still wilder hunts and wanderings on pony backs
among the mountains, where the difficulties and dangers
are such as to please the most ardent seeker of adventure.

For the artistic, the land is so full of beauties of
ever\' kind that no one for an instant need be without
subject for pencil, brush, or camera, and music may be
indulged as in no other part of India, the climate being
kinder to all instruments. Pianos do not go out of tune
after an hour's rains, or violins, zithers, etc., crack from
long-continued drought as they do in those parts where
extremes and changes are more sudden,
u

268 AFOOT THROUGH THE

And for men without professions, what openings are
there ? The question is difficult to answer with certainty,
for in a newly-opened country so much must be of a
purely experimental nature. Certain things have been
tried, and found either successful, or what is really as
good, found to contain the germs of success — I mean the
grounds of their failures have been gauged and proved
to be remediable. Of those things about which there
remains a great deal of uncertainty may be mentioned
the mineral wealth. There are reports of large quantities
of iron of fine quality to be found in certain parts,
notably the Soh district. Other minerals, too, are in
sufficient quantities to make their working profitable,
and the discovery of fine sapphires leads to the supposi-
tion that other native tales of precious stones among
the mountains are worth at least some attention and
sufficient credence to produce an active search.

The manufactures are much benefited by English
advice and supervision, many of them requiring only to
be better known to become in greatly increased demand,
the quality of the raw materials used in such things as
cloths, carpets, silks, etc., and the perfection of the hand
work making them certain of a favourable verdict
wherever shown, however great the number of
competitors.

In the matter of fruits, vegetables, and crops
generally, the transport must be considered, and the
question is a mighty complicated one. The enormous
expense and difficulties in the way of making a railway
into the Maharajah's domain put it — in the estimation
of most of the competent authorities — out of the region
of practical enterprise, but a very great deal might be
done towards improving the present direct road. It is

KASHMIR VALLEYS 269

seldom closed even in the hardest winters for more than
a day or two, and if a better method of keeping it in
repair could be devised and a regular service of runners
instituted, much could be done towards supplying India
with excellent and cheap fruits, nuts, and vegetables,
and their sale would bring in a large return to the
growers. Even under present conditions with a limited
market, and no system of co-operation, fruit and vege-
table raising is one of the most profitable industries in
the valley, and a huge jam and fruit-preserving factory
promised to be a real success, the dearness of sugar
and tins being counterbalanced by the cheapness of fruit
and labour, till, hampered by the want of competent
overseers in the absence of its European head, the
business has, for the time, fallen to the ground.

In the near future probably the most paying concerns
in Srinagar will be the vineyards and hop gardens. The
French vines, originally introduced during Ranbir
Singh's reign, did not prove a success, phylloxera being
the chief enemy. Others were then brought from
America, and, judging by the quality of the wine pro-
duced, in spite of the youth of the plantation, and the
low price at which they can afford to sell, it should
be a great success. Apple brandy is especially
in demand, and is a very delectable beverage
among the snows. It is difficult, indeed, not to regret
its popularity among the natives, for if they understand
moderation in such things, they certainly do not practise
it. The hops have been an even greater success than
the vines, and are largely grown round Soper, and if
once the country people take up their cultivation it will
become a very important and money-making concern.

Many Englishmen find employment as architects,

270 AFOOT THROUGH THE

road contractors, builders, and engineers. In fact,
wherever brains are required to direct and control, there
are berths for Englishmen with some technical training,
and a reasonable amount of energy and perseverance.
Among other purely mercantile businesses that have
been taken up by our countrymen are two agencies.
" Cockburn's " has achieved a wide reputation for the
ever-ready courtesy and consideration with which all
orders are undertaken by them, and for the infinite care
and attention they bestow on the carrying out of the
many and strange requests that they receive.

I would strongly advise all going to travel in Kashmir
to make their first visit to this well-stocked house, for
the practical advice of the managers on all subjects con-
nected with travel is to be thoroughly relied on, and their
recommendations as to boats and servants, etc., are
valuable and of great assistance. Hiring all camp and
river necessaries saves a great amount of worry and
expense too, for the heavy rates for transport from
Pindi to Srinagar are the heaviest items of the cost for
a temporary sojourner.

Of late years various discomforts that tended to dis-
courage visitors to Srinagar have been removed. A
comfortable little dak bungalow has been built, so that
those arriving up tired, or possibly suffering from the
long tonga journey, have now some comfortable place
where they can recover themselves and collect their
various necessaries before starting life in a boat or under
canvas.

Of even greater value to Europeans has been the
beautiful little cottage hospital, which I have men-
tioned elsewhere, which is now in working order,
attractive in its outward aspect and perfect in its

KASHMIR VALLEYS 271

interior arrangements. Before its completion any
travellers in need of medical or surgical care fared badly,
without solid walls and roof to shelter them. Under the
casual care of chance friends, suffering probably from
the great change in climate, there was little chance of
recovery if overtaken by any of the diseases contracted
in the plains, or disabled by any of the accidents likely
to happen to wanderers in strange lands. Now they
can be sure of excellent attendance and advice, comfort-
able quarters, coolness, and the best of food and medi-

Cottage Hospital, Srinagar

cine. Such an institution, established in such distant
parts, is a monument of energy and organisation, and all
who benefit by this real haven of rest will feel very
grateful to those on whom the labour and work of such
an undertaking have fallen.

With the last bars to a happy visit removed, none
need fear to face the small difficulties of the expedition.
During my wanderings I met a lady of more energy
than strength, who, quite unable from bad health to

272 AFOOT THROUGH THE

walk or ride, had travelled about the easier portions of
Kashmir in a dandy carried by four porters, and was
far stronger and better than when she started, and
felt that the efforts made to leave her comfortable
home and invalid arrangements had been amply repaid
by her improved health and the pleasures of the life she
had led.

Some countries only impress by their grandeur,
some by their charm and the grateful colour of their
flower-clad champaigns, while others are attractive as
affording scope for exploration or sport. In Kashmir
each of these things may be enjoyed, with the additional
delights of a healthy climate and friendly inhabitants.

Therefore, to one and all who can go, I say go and
see for yourselves! and the harvest of happy memories
garnered, the wealth of pictures left in the brain — of
sunshiny hours among the snow-crowned hills, and
visions of blue waters and bright flowers — the treasures
of thought and the suggestions that will have passed
from the surrounding scenery into the very source of
our life will be an unfading pleasure, a rich reward
when once again we " crawl under grey skies," and are
choked between narrow walls and huddled in dull
streets.

It is not given to man often to be completely
content or happy for long together, for which
reasons my stay in the Kashmir Valley is endowed with
the interest appertaining to unusual experience, an
experience that has left my heart full of gratitude to
the fates that be, for the gift of a solid block of golden
halo'd memories.

INDEX

Agriculture and Horticulture in Kash-
mir, 268

Akbar, invasion of Kashmir by, 237

Amarnath, peak and sacred cave of, 218

Amiran Kadal bridge, 165, 168

Anchar Lake, 78, 121

Apharwat, Mt. , ascent of, 205

Architectural (juestions, C8

Asoka, King of Kashmir, 233

Assiza, the doonga -man, and his family
and wife, 16, 20, 23

Atchibal, fonner glories of, 47, visit to,
53, description of, 56, royal travellers
near, 57

Avantipura, ruins at, 67, traditions of,
68

Avantivarma, King of Kashmir, 255

Baltal, historic associations of, 98
Balti women, goodlooks of, 83, costume

of, 84, 97
Baltistan, game in, 225
Bandipura, importance of, 22, 29
Baramula, 14
Bawan, forest glade at, 45
Bhuir.ju, rock temple at, 70
Bijbeharra, described, 37
Boats (doongas) and boatmen at Bara-

muUa, 15

used on the Jhelum, 135

Bombay in July, 263

Botany of Kashmir, need for catalogue

of, 210
Bridges, 12, 37, 165, 168
in Srinagar, 167

British possession and cession of Kashmir,

239, 240
Brocades of Kashmir, 164
Building in Kashmir, 233, 234
Buddhism, psist, in Kashmir, 233, few

present traces of, 7 1

CARPET-weaving trade in Srinagar, 155-7
Cave temples near the Liddar river, 46
Chak race of Keishmir, troubles due to,

237
Chenaar Bagh, men's camping-ground in

Srinagar, 127
Coinage in Kashmir, 243
Cold, how met in Srinagar, 169
Conveyances, Dak cart, 248, Ekkas, 9,

Tongas, 5
Costume, male and female, 15, '2Z, 28, 84,
96 ; Hindu and Mahomedan in Srina-
gar, 124, 129, 131
Cottage Hospital, Srinagar, 270-1

Dak, or mail cart, a journey in, 248
Dal Lake, 74, floating gardens of, 127,

136, mountains seen from, 143
Didda, Queen of Kashmir, 235
Dogra Hindus at Srinagar, physical

characteristics and costume of, 124 ;

true racial distinction implied by the

term Dogra, 239
Doongas and their outfit, 18, comfort of

as abodes, 20

Echo Lake, above Killenmerg, 208

Enamel ware, 158

Engineering works in Kashmir, 13

274

INDEX

Fakir at Islamabad, 40, at Manasbal,

110
Ferozepore nullah, 196
Fishing methods, 29
Floating gardens, Dhal Lake, 127, 136
Fruits of Kashmir, 134

Gagancair, lovely camping-ground at,

86, 87
Game, four-footed and winged, in and

around Kashmir, 224-30
Game-laws of the country, 85, 224
Ganderbal, 78, whirlwinds at, 118
Garhi, the Jhula bridge at, 249, the

rest-house, 8
Gilgit, starting-point for, 22, routes to,

29
Gipsies, Indian and Kashmiree names

for, 37, a song by, 38
Greek influence on Kashmir architecture,

the question of, 68-70
Gujar natives, 197
Gulmerg, journey to, 186, stormy weather

at, 188, 193, 199, 203, mountains seen

from, 198
Gupcar suburb, Srinagar, Europeans'

houses at, 133, 223
Gwash Brari, or Kolahoi Mountains, 23.

88, 132, elevation of, 218

Haramuk, triple peaks of, height and
traditions of, 23, seen from the Trag-
bal pass, 33, other views of, 88, 218,
97, 132

Hari Parbat fort, 132, 139, its builder,
237

Hindu costumes, 124, 129, 131

rulers, past and present, of Kash-
mir, 232, 239

Hindus in Srinagar, appearance and
domestic life of, 124, characteristics
of, 125

History of Kashmir, its sources, 233

Hop-growing at Srinagar, 133, and Soper,
269

Horses and ponies, their characteristics,

3, 6, 7, 9 passim
House-boats in Srinagar, 170

Indian hotels, terrors of, 253

officials, their work and lives, 174

Irrigation works of former rulers, 232
Islamabad, eastern centre of Kashmir,
commerce, its Fakir, 40, adventure at
the telegraph office, 42, other Fakirs,
43

Jehangir, buildings of, 109, 237
Jhelum river, boats used on, 135, build-
ings along, in Srinagar, 168, in flood,
168, seen from Gulmerg, 201
road, advantages of, 13

Kangan, halt at, 80, journey from, 81,
mistletoe at, 80, 103

Karewas, the, described, 10, 184

Kashmir as a holiday ground, 265, as
a residence, 266, its climate and re-
sources, ih., openings in, 268

imperial service troops, 241

manufactures of, 265, mineral

wealth of, ih.

native confidence in white integrity,

28, 242

old name of, in the days of Herodo-
tus, 233

villagers, appearance and manners

of, 27

— — working classes in, position of, 241

Killenmerg, first visit to, elevation of,
and view from, 205, 207, second visit,
the adventure, and the great reward,
216

Kohala, last Indian village en route to
Kashmir, 7

Kolahoi, see Gwash Brari

"Kushaba" process in rice cultivation,
26, described, 114

Kuta Rani, Princess of Kashmir, 235

INDEX

275

Ladoo, small temple at, 70
Lalataditya, King of Kashmir, his good

and bad works, 234
Lawrence, Mr. W., his work in Kashmir,

135, 240, hiabook on Kashmir, 231
Liddar river, cave temples near, 46
Luggage, wandering of and eventual

safety, in Kashmir, 251

Magam, route to, 180, dak bungalow at,
182

Mahadeo sacred mountain, 98, triple
peak of, seen from different places,
132, 218

Maharajah Gulab Singh of Kashmir, 239,
240

Pertab Singh, his offer of horses

for South Africa, 102, his rule and
territory, 241

Ranbir Singh, introducer of viti-
culture, 108, 246

Manasbal Lake, journey to, 106, beauty
of and associations, 109, visit to the
Fakir of, 110, water-nuts of , 112

Manufactures of Kashmir, 152, 242, 268

Mar Nulla, at Srinagar, 122

Martand, ruin of, visit to, 58, difficul-
ties of the route, 59, interest attach-
ing to, 68, 61, its builder, 70, associa-
tion with Lalataditya, 234

Mihirakula, King of Kashmir, his penal
code and successors, 234

Mike, the dog, 199

Mineral wealth of Kashmir, 268

Mogul rulers of Kashmir, 237

Moonshi Bagh, ladies' camping-ground,
Srinagar, 77, 127

Mosque of Shah Hamadan, Srinagar, 168

Mountains visible from Killenmerg, 218,
from Takht-i-Suleiman, 132, from the
Zogi lii, 97, 98

Murree, discomforts of journey from, 253

Nag, or Naga (snake), worship, 71, 75,
234

X

Nanga Parbat Mountain, 33, fascination
of, 218, height of, 97, waiting for a
glimpse of, 200, the glimpse vouch-
safed, 201, seen from Killenmerg, 216,
other views of, 221

Narastan, sirxall temple at, 70

Nishat Bagh, historical associations of,
138

Numdahs, and their uses, 19, 154

Nur Mahal's garden, 138

Paxdrethan temple and moat, 71-3

" Papier-mache " ware, visit to a factory

of, 162
Patan, ruined temples at, 73
Pathan rule in Kashmir, 238
Payech, beautiful temple at, 70
Peri Mahal, visit to the ruins of, 144,

their beauty, 148
Pindi, illness prevalent at, on return

journey, 259
Pir Punjal peak, 21, 88, origin of the

name, 218, views of, 31, 132
Pony-breeding in Kashmir, 102
Poonch country, passes into, 218
Public works and buildings in Kashmir,

13, 243

Rai, disease of the rice, 115

Rajatarangini of Kalhana, the chief
authority on early Kashmir history,
233

Ranaditya, builder of Martand, 70, his
wife, 60

Ranjit Singh, and Kashmir, 238-9

Red Sea, in July, 263

Religious toleration in Kashmir, 75, 233

Return journey from Kashmir, the, 245,
incidents of, Sikh and sergeant, a con-
versation, 258, illness at Murree, 258,
fellow travellers, 260, meeting with
friends, 367

Revel, camp at, 82, return march to, 99
meeting with friends at, 101

Rice cultivation, the "kushaba," 26,
114, the "rai" disease, 115

276

INDEX

Rock temple at Bhuniju, 70
Rose cultivation in Jehangir's days, 238
Ruins in Kashmir and theories concern-
ing, 66, 67

Sacred carp at Islamabad, 4.3, their

Mahants, 46
Shah Jehan and his successors, in rela-
tion to Kashmir, 238
Shalimar Bagh, 140, visit to, 141
Shan Karavarman, King of Kashmir,

and his army, 235
Sikander, King of Kashmir, his cruel

reign, 76, 131, 236
Sikh postmaster, Srinagar, and his faith,

170
Sikh and sergeant, conversation between,

254
Silver and copper ware of Srinagar, 155,

visit to a factory of, 159, 160.
Sind river in flood, 84, crossing of, near

Kangar, 81, 82 ; in the plains, 96
Sir Rao Amarnath, master of the trans-
port servnce (see Introduction), 179
Sona Lanka Island, tradition of, 141
Sonanierg, steep ascent to, 88, descrip-
tion of, 92
Songs : —

Lover's lament, 22
Love song, 139
Love song of Hanji, 45
Marriage song, 38
Pathan lament, 104
Regret, 149

Song of the Lowly Born, 111
Song of the Moghra Flower, 143
Soper, hop-cultivation at, 269

Sport and sportsmen and women in

Kashmir, 35, 36, 225
Srinagar, the approach to, 17, bridges

in, 167, its merchandise, 152, native

dwellings in, 122, 168, native life in,

166, visits to, .35, 77, 222

Takht-i-Suleiman hill, temple on, 70, 71,

worship at, 75, visit to, 130, view

from, 132
Temples (see Cave temples, Ladoo, Naras-

tan, Pandrethan, Patau, &c., &c. ), of

Rock, 70, of Stone, 13
Tragbal Pass, ascent to, 29-34
Travelling merchants and others en route,

85

Vkrnag, former glories of, 47, visit to
and description of, 48, the Mahant at,
50-2

Vine-growing in Kashmir, 108, 133, 269

Wular Lake, stories of, 21, views of,
33, 201, water-nuts of, 29

Whirlwind at Ganderbal, 118

Widows in relation to rice cultivation,
116

Woollen fabrics of Kashmir (see Num-
dahs), 153-5

Yaks as beasts of burden, 84

Z4IN-UL-AB-UL-DIN, King of Kashmir, his

good reign, 236
Zebanwan Peak, elevation of and ruins

on, 144, views from, 146, 147
Ziarats, described, 11
Zogi La Pass, 29, crossing prevented by

snow, 94, 97

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