KISHTIWAR HOUSES. 85 



and beg for "chits." Even the Tehsildar asks Alan to 

 write a letter to the Maharaja's brother saying how well 

 he has treated us. Alan is not acquainted with the 

 gentleman in question, but obligingly gives the letter. 

 At last we get off and are taken in procession through 

 the town and bazaar. Alan, on a piebald pony with a 

 gorgeous red velvet saddle, makes quite a conspicuous 

 figure in the show. 



The town is of fair size, clustered round a fort which 

 occupies a commanding position on the hill. The houses 

 are built mostly on one plan. A piece is scooped out of 

 the hill-side on a steep slope, side -walls built, and a flat 

 roof plastered with mud put on. The door is in front, 

 generally with a verandah. The ground-floor forms the 

 living rooms, the upper floor a cowshed. The family 

 generally live on the roof, or when several houses are 

 built together, on that of their neighbours. Sometimes 

 the street gives a hollow sound to the foot, and you 

 discover you are walking on the tops of the houses which 

 make up the street below. 



There is a Ions; hot descent from the town. My 

 coolie brings me a great bunch of hollies, which make 

 a most welcome shade from the sun when we stop for 

 luncheon. All the shikaris and servants arrive with nose- 

 gays and daffodils and wild flowers as a present for me, 

 and are much vexed to find Khaira has forestalled them. 



