FROM KASHMIR TO KUSSOWLIE. 119 



Kashmir had been the purchase of shawls and 

 other noteworthy products of Kashmiri handlooms, 

 whicli would take their place in the Indian depart- 

 ment of the Great Exhibition, to be held in the 

 following year in the great glass palace designed 

 by Sir Joseph Paxton. Hodson, of course, threw 

 himself gladly into the congenial business of select- 

 ing the daintiest samples of native workmanship. 

 Nor could he resist the temptation to order a pair 

 of shawls on his own account. As the making of 

 these elaborate works of art would take many 

 months, he trusted that he would have the means 

 of paying for them when the bills were sent in. 



In due time the precious goods were delivered, 

 but the means of payment were not at once forth- 

 comino-. Hodson therefore sent the shawls to 

 England for sale, and the money obtained for 

 them enabled him at last to meet the claims of 

 the Kashmiri merchants. Owing to some mis- 

 carriage there had been unforeseen delays in the 

 settlement of this affair ; and the merchants com- 

 plained to Sir Henry Lawrence, who was naturally 

 much annoyed, and no doubt spoke his mind freely 

 to the seeming delinquent. It is quite a mistake, 

 however, to suppose that Sir Henry's wrath on this 

 occasion went beyond a passing outburst over an 

 act of venial indiscretion due to his young friend's 

 sanguine temperament alone. Sir Henry's whole 

 conduct at this period belies the assertion put 

 forward by Hodson's enemies, that he had lost all 

 faith in Hodson's personal integrity. Sir Henry's 

 two most intimate friends, Lord Napier of Magdala 

 and Sir Robert Montgomery, both assured the Rev. 



