178 NY AN (OVIS AMMON) SHOOTING 



post. At Eokchen I had paid three rupees to a man, and 

 started him off (as I thought) to Leh for my letters ; he 

 solemnly promised to meet me at Shi'ishal, but he never 

 came, and I had to send another man from the latter place. 

 I found out afterwards that the Eokchen man pocketed 

 my money and remained at home. To he deprived of 

 one's letters and papers for weeks at a time is another of 

 the disagreeables of travel in these wild parts. This is a 

 hardship which the over-civilised Englishman feels acutely. 

 There was only one post office in the whole of Ladakh (at 

 Leh), so far as I was aware, but with the improved means 

 of carriage as far as Srinagar a letter from any part of 

 India should reach Leh in ten days, and in another ten 

 days find the sportsman in the most distant shooting 

 grounds. But I was again the victim of the unsophisti- 

 cated nomad : that he should never be trusted under any 

 circumstances was my conclusion. 



Continuing my journey up the Tsaka valley, I saw some 

 animals on the hillside, which Sarap insisted were nyan, 

 but after close inspection they were found to be barhal. 

 This man was not worth a coolie's wages, so I deposed him. 

 I had a Shiishal boy with me to carry tiffin, etc., and he 

 was much more useful than Sarap. As he was unusually 

 intelligent, I kept him with me as head shikari. Com- 

 munication between us was somewhat limited, but he was 

 less aooravatinor than the fraud I had brought from Lahoul ; 

 keen as mustard, and a capital worker ; also he knew the 

 country well. His eyesight, of course, was equal to a pair 

 of good binoculars. He was a short, stumpy little fellow, 

 hardly fourteen years of age. This was a smaller estab- 

 lishment than the usual Kashmir shikar outfit: head 

 shikari at thirty rupees a month, tea and all the luxuries 

 thrown in ; second shikari at fifteen rupees a month ; tiffin 

 coolie at ten rupees a month, etc. etc. How the inexperi- 



