MY SHOOTING ESTABLISHMENT 37 



kept the colonel and his regiment shut in for several days. 

 At last, after a parley, Bhup Singh and his men were 

 allowed to come out, on condition that they left their arms 

 behind. All did so except two Furhids (southerners — 

 men from Hindustan), who refused to give up their arms. 

 The defenceless men, being well away from the rocks, were 

 surrounded by the three brothers and their retainers, who 

 butchered them on the spot. The two Piirbias jumped 

 into the river with their swords and swam down to Bunji, 

 the only survivors of Bhup Singh's regiment. This is the 

 native account ; the authentic story may be read in Drew's 

 work. Our Northern Barrier. 



I had brought with me only one servant from the plains 

 — a Khidmatsar, or table servant, a weak-kneed and slim 

 young Mahomedan, whose first experience this was in 

 snow travelling. He did not like it at all ; the night he 

 spent in the snowstorm at Eiat, he said, was the most 

 wretched he had ever passed in his life ! He stood in 

 great awe of the shikari Sharafa, whom he called Bara 

 Mian (" Great Sir "), and treated with the greatest respect. 

 He addressed the coolies as " my brothers " whenever he 

 asked them to mend their pace or do anything for him, 

 and in consequence was frankly laughed at. Altogether 

 he had a bad time of it, being completely out of his 

 element. I had given him an old cloth coat and a pair of 

 warm trousers ; they were a very bad fit, but gave him a 

 certain air of distinction. With a blue pugri round his 

 head and a pair of blue goggles, he had the appearance of 

 a decayed Persian gentleman. Sharafa, the shikari, should 

 have received attention first, as the most important 

 man of my following. I engaged him a month before my 

 expedition began, on the recommendation of the author of 

 that most useful book Tlie Sportsman's Guide to Kashmir, 

 whom I have to thank for his good selection, as well as 



