HUBBLE-BUBBLE, TOIL AXD TROUBLE. 145 



boundary of the Chamba State. I am very thankful for 

 a cup of tea Alan has ordered to be prepared ; and also to 

 find the ekkas waiting, for the servants are some distance 

 behind, and I begin to fear they will not reach Pathankot 

 to-night. I am very tired, and we still have twenty miles 

 before us. Four men carry my dandy, and four more run 

 beside, one of them with the common hubble-bubble from 

 which they all in turns take a whiff. Every five or six 

 minutes they change rounds, and then the in-going coolies 

 rush for a farewell puff. At the end of a stage they all sit 

 down to°ether, and are an unconscionable time gurffline 

 their pipe. When we once get under way they relieve one 

 another almost without stopping, but before taking his turn, 

 each man carefully arranges his turban, and folds up the 

 cotton blanket he wears cloak fashion on his shoulder. 

 When he comes out he reverses the process, and then with a 

 grunt of satisfaction sits down and takes a pull at the 

 hubble-bubble. After dusk, one man runs in front bearing 

 a torch. This is simply made ; at the end of a stick a few 

 old rags are tied, on which kerosine oil is poured. 



At intervals the light is fed from a bottle by pouring oil 

 on the naked flame. It seems only a question of time 

 before the man and his bottle are blown into space. About 

 every hour, eight ghosts, all in white, rise out of the dark- 

 ness, and prove to my delight that yet one more stage is 

 past. At length, about eleven o'clock, the red light of an 



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