258 THE UPPER BASPA 



vants with horror and disgust. The fact is, polyandry is 

 rampant in this valley ; and it is impossible for a son, be 

 he ever so wise, to know his own father within, say, half 

 a dozen, or whatever the number of the brothers in the 

 family may be ! In this instance a father had died, but 

 not the one known to my friend. 



The word " garokchs " is an awful one to pronounce ; it 

 means the priest, or the man in charge of the village god. 

 The nearest approach to it in English is as I have spelt it, 

 but the proper pronunciation of the word is impossible to 

 an unaccustomed tongue without danger to the muscles of 

 that organ. The man who volunteered to come with me 

 was strong, intelligent, and keen on shikar; but he said 

 the dcota (god) of the village must be propitiated before 

 we could hope for sport. M., he informed me, went out 

 and got nothing ; then he made an offering of two rupees 

 to the god, and immediately had excellent sport. This 

 logic was irresistible ; I gave in at once. 



All arrangements being reported complete, I went down 

 to the village, had the deota taken out of his abode, and 

 asked him to be kind. He was brought out in a sedan 



o 



chair fixed on two long and flexible poles, like the familiar 

 jhampan of the hill stations. It was made of red cloth 

 with a silver roof embossed with faces ; above this was an 

 umbrella-shaped construction, with long locks of hair taken 

 from yaks' tails. The chair was carried by two men, back- 

 wards and forwards, a few paces in front of the priest, my 

 future shikari's father. When the god came opposite him, 

 the chair was shaken violently up and down and then 

 inclined towards the priest ; this was done twice. On the 

 second occasion my servant offered two rupees to the son, 

 who was standing close by. He mumbled something, 

 meaning, I suppose, that it was not enough — so one rupee 

 more was placed in his hand. He then took the money 



