KASHMIR VALLEYS 171 



own teachers the best, and he wished to share his know- 

 ledge with all. "Kead our writings, Memsahib," he 

 would say, " follow our precepts." " But how can I ? " I 

 would reply, " life is short, and I do not know Sanskrit ; 

 besides, you have a commandment for every day of the 

 year, and I cannot even obey ten." " Learning comes 

 quickly to those who labour," was his reply ; " on 

 Sundays I will teach you Sanskrit, and our command- 

 ments can all be reduced to one Do good to one 

 another. Moreover, I am translating our holy writings, 

 and they will soon be ready, then you can read them 

 easily." The Sikh religion, with its contempt for cere- 

 monies and superstitions, its brave teachings, and its 

 encouragement of flowers and all lovely things, is 

 mightily attractive; but alas! what place is there in it 

 for women ? The " Khalsa " (band of holy soldiers) can 

 admit no woman; her only chance of future reward is 

 through the kind offices of some good warrior, and no 

 independent modern female could consent to her claims 

 of future happiness being settled on such conditions. 

 The postmaster understood somewhat of my objec- 

 tions, but felt quite sure that more study was all that 

 was necessary to convince me; so we agreed for the 

 present to sink all differences in a hunt for strawberries 

 in his garden. These proved excellent, and, laden with 

 them and a nice basket of flowers, we salaamed to 

 each other, the postmaster grave and erect, his youngest 

 child held high on his shoulder, looking sadly after me. 

 I think he regretted that any one, however slightly, 

 led towards deeper things should turn back to frivolous 

 wanderings to and fro and from his point of view- 

 useless travels. 



He had found his own belief after years of deep 



