272 POLO 



horrid sounds and harder riding than ever, varied by one stout 

 gentleman in voluminous white garments, whose pony pecked and 

 deposited him with a terrible souse on the broad of his back ; 

 yards of puggree flew about the ground, with considerable dis- 

 arrangement of his remaining attire, but he was immediately 

 surrounded by sympathising menials, who gradually swathed him 

 into shape again, the ball meantime flying about the ground, with 

 riders dashing after it, as if this interesting toilet were going on a 

 hundred miles off, instead of in their midst. 



By this time the sun had almost set, and a golden light spread 

 itself over the country, glorifying the bright cornfields and bright- 

 ening the old fort and the buildings that peeped out from amongst 

 the orchards. Far away a torrent was roaring down from the 

 mountains, its voice softened by the distance to a mellow murmur 

 that sank and swelled on the shifting breeze. The musicians had 

 brought their performance to an end, and the whole scene was 

 picturesque and peaceful beyond anything else that I have ever 

 witnessed. 



The game concluded with salaams from the Rajah and other 

 players, to whom Sumhud Khan conveyed my thanks and com- 

 pliments. I was presented with one of the sticks and given a 

 pony to ride back to my camp. So ended an interesting sight, in 

 a very curious and interesting place a spot lost in the heart of the 

 Himalayas, where our best and one of our most popular games 

 has been played for who shall say how many generations before 

 the time we first saw it and added it to the list of our national 

 sports ? 



There is a great amount of similarity in these two descrip- 

 tions, but I have quoted them both as tending to show that but 

 little alteration has taken place in the game in Thibet and 

 Central Asia during nearly half a century, and we may conclude 

 that polo is played there much as it was centuries ago. The 

 game was known, however, and practised for many a hundred 

 years far nearer our own frontier than the sterile wastes of 

 Little Thibet, and though it slumbered long in comparative 

 obscurity in this out-of-the-way nook, it was destined sooner or 

 later to blossom into popularity not only in India but elsewhere. 



If the reader will glance at a map of India he will see 

 lying between the British provinces of Assam and Cachar and 



