36 RIFLE AND SPEAR WITH THE RAJPOOTS. 



rickety arches, and up little corkscrew nights of stairs 

 ■of the roughest description — when, quite suddenly, we 

 turned into a large room hung with curtains, carpets, &c, 

 like a big ; ' Liberty." Some of the things were quite 

 lovely, and we bought recklessly. They make a beautiful 

 hand-spun cloth called " Pushmeena," very soft, like a 

 Rampur chuddar shawl. It fetches a good price. On 

 the other hand, the common native home-spun called 

 " puttoo " is ridiculously cheap, yet makes quite charming 

 •country suits and dresses. The ordinary price for a man's 

 suit of clothes, made to order, is 4^ rupees (about five 

 shillings and eightpence). I have seen " puttoo " before 

 in London shops, but need not say that it was sold at 

 much the same price as English home-spuns. 



There were many white felt rugs and serge curtains 

 very prettily embroidered with coloured silks in Eastern 

 designs, and sold at very moderate prices. And on 

 every side were piles of gold brocades, and beautiful 

 Kashmir shawls worth thousands of rupees. In the midst 

 of all this splendour, Bahar Shah conjured up from some- 

 where most prosaic articles, such as camp-beds, worsted 

 stockings, tea, sugar, and the many little necessaries of 

 camp life. 



When at last we came out, we found our boat 

 surrounded by sellers of papier-mache, silver and worked 

 ■copper goods, shoemakers, and many others, each with 



