glad when our tour is over." In the next month he had reached 2o^ 

 the land of his search, to write from Houseboat 817, Nasim 

 Bagh, Srinagar (April 27, 1930) : 



I was glad to hear from you. ... As to the college of medi- 

 cine, your comments on the new system prove again that we 

 two think alike. My question is — Reorganize} Reorganize 

 what? Instead of meeting some of the real needs of our uni- 

 versity — like better men at better salaries in the liberal arts 

 and engineering schools, full-time men in obstetrics, gyne- 

 cology & skin & venereal in our own school — I bet you that 

 the whole show will end in a rewriting of the catalogue. And 

 when the catalogue is rewritten, the same old boys will be 

 teaching the same old subjects in the same old way. And why? 

 Because they are the same old boys with the same old ideas. 

 No, I don't think I shall come back feeling that the university 

 has made any progress. But why should I bother about the 

 marionettes on the other side of the world when the beautiful 

 vale of Kashmir urges me to produce horrible reproductions 

 of her snow-clad mountains encircling her floating gardens — 

 islands covered with huge chenar and poplar trees, gardens full 

 of blooming apples, pears & pomegranates, and wide stretches 

 of yellow mustard fields? This has been a cold spring. Even so, 

 the plant life is very beautiful. I shall be sorry when we leave. 



Our houseboat is quite comfortable. There are six of us 

 [Frank McCuskey and sister Lillian had joined the group], 

 fed & taken care of by a crew which lives on an accompanying 

 houseboat. We have a large living room, a dining room, a 

 pantry & three bed rooms, each with its bath. We eat kicheri, 

 pilau, curry & rice, soup, lamb, mutton & vegetables & much 

 tea & many muffins. We have chota hazri at 7:30, breakfast 

 at 1 1, tea at 4: 30 & dinner at 8. The boat is provided with a 

 shikar a, a flat bottomed canoe some 2 feet long & 3 feet wide, 

 upon which a canopy is erected; when cushioned & paddled 

 by 4 men it makes a convenient and comfortable way of 

 getting to neighboring points of interest. If we want to go on 

 a long trip we hire a larger shikar a for 8 annas [16 cents] an 

 hour. 



Nasim Bagh, or Nasim gardens, is on the shore of Dal lake. 

 Here we have a wonderful grove of chenar (plane) trees — 



