NATIVE SERVANTS 139 



breakfast, and started again. The snow-bed on the Lahoul side 

 was continuous, and by this time had become softened by the 

 sun's rays ; the mules were continually sinking and falling, 

 and we came to a standstill at last in a bad place. All 

 the loads had to be taken off and carried down a few 

 hundred yards by the five coolies whom I had fortunately 

 brought with me to assist. The made road could not be 

 seen anywhere ; it was entirely obliterated by the snow. 

 Most of the packages had to be pushed down the snowy 

 slopes. To add to our misfortunes, sleet came on, and a 

 piercingly cold wind. The syce in charge of the pony, a 

 Panjilbi Mahomedan, had never seen snow before, and 

 this was his first experience of a snowy pass. He had 

 been toiling up the ascent in a very sad frame of mind, 

 invoking " Shcldtji " at every step. He had served as an 

 attendant on the tonga dak in the plains, and was 

 a stout lump of a man, and, as he was used to horses, I was 

 induced to take him on in preference to the usual class of 

 Hindu syce, as all my marching establishment were of the 

 other religion. This is another tip for travellers and 

 sportsmen : your servants should all be of one caste or 

 religion. They will pull better together, and their impedi- 

 menta will not be so awkward to carry. 



Kallu, the groom, had followed me down the slide with 

 the pony, the latter having cleverly negotiated the passage 

 by sliding down on his haunches. The syce, being now on 

 the right side of the difficulty, took advantage of his 

 position to poke fun at his companion, the cook, who 

 usually made the dull-witted Kallu the butt of his caustic 

 remarks. The latter now had his revenge ; he invited his 

 friend to have a ride free, gratis, all for nothing, and was 

 immensely delighted to see him come down the slide wrong 

 side up, for the unfortunate man lost his balance before he 

 had gone two yards. Chamurti was quite at home as 



