KASHMIR VALLEYS 57 



my much-appreciated feast must be closely connected 

 with the magnificence over the way! 



When my own men came in I made further efforts 

 to ascertain into what " high society " I was being thrust, 

 but information was vague, and I remained in ignorance. 

 Waiting till the sun was a little subdued I started then 

 for a walk and a quiet read under a spreading May tree 

 of my " Lalla Rookh," eminently suitable literature for 

 the occasion. Later on, trying to reach my camp unseen 

 of my gorgeous neighbours, I was perceived and hailed 

 with a warmth very far removed from the ordinary 

 " Here's a stranger, let's heave a brick at him " of my 

 countrymen a warmth which seems to be generated 

 under foreign skies by their lonely lives and the melt- 

 ing influence of more radiant suns. My lameness 

 received much sympathy, and every kind of help 

 was offered, from the loan of a pony to the 

 proffering of a chair and carriers. Vegetables, 

 fruit, and bread were promised me, all unknown 

 luxuries to the ordinary traveller when away from 

 Srinagar, and incidentally I discovered the Shazada to 

 be a nephew of the King of Italy, touring and enjoying 

 much sport under the escort of the finest and most 

 experienced shikari among the English officials there. 

 What sport he obtained I know not, but the contrast 

 between the open air grandeur, the unaccustomed 

 ceremonies, and the unconventional etiquette to be 

 observed in the palace of a Mogul emperor must have 

 given his tour a very real interest, even if it failed in 

 its ostensible object. I bear this scion of a royal house 

 no personal ill-will, but I trust that fate will not again 

 lead me to spend a night in the vicinity of a royal camp. 

 Natives see no object in wasting the beautiful moon- 



