' f '^ « "^ r c r . 



INTRODUCTORY 



it can be imagined what time was lost before the 

 impatient sportsman got within striking distance of his 

 game. How changed now are the means of locomotion 

 between these two points ! The railway brings the 

 tourist to Eawalpindi, within three days, from any point 

 in India ; a hill cart receives him at the station and 

 whirls him away towards the blue hills without more 

 delay than the pause to drink a cup of tea — for even the 

 brewing of which he has not to wait. He reaches Murree 

 in time for breakfast, and is off again on the long stretch 

 of winding road which has been constructed for cart- 

 traffic within recent years. Well-constructed staging- 

 bungalows occur at every twelve or fifteen miles, and he 

 can rest his weary body on a comfortable bed when 

 darkness overtakes him. Only the old traveller, who has- 

 passed along the same road in years gone by, wearily 

 tramping stage after stage for a fortnight, or wearing out 

 skin and temper on a hired pony, can appreciate the 

 change. At Baramiila the well-known boatman of the 

 Jehlam, with his picturesque belongings, — wives, children, 

 poultry-yard, and all that is his, — will be ready to receive 

 the sportsman who has taken the precaution of telegraphing. 

 Shikari, sporting-kit, and supplies, even the cash necessary 

 for daily travelling expenses, will be on board the boat. 

 The traveller has merely to step in, lie down, and be poled 

 and pulled up the river. The people he employs have for 

 more than a generation made it a study how to " do " (in 

 more senses than one) the travelling Englishman. The 

 latter has only to scatter his coin about w^ith a generous 

 hand, to find the road made smooth from the moment he 

 steps on board to the moment he steps off six months 

 afterwards, poorer in pocket than when he arrived, no 

 doubt, but enriched with a store of health and pleasant 

 memories whose value cannot be appraised in rupees. 



