KASHMIR VALLEYS 179 



Nirvana of heat, I bethought me of higher levels to 

 be reached by a day or two of marching, and once more 

 gave the order for a move. The order was not received 

 with any thrill of joy by my faithful attendants; for 

 them it meant that we were leaving the fleshpots of 

 Egypt to sojourn in the desert, exchanging a place of 

 cheap grain and many friends, endless opportunities 

 for gossip, and a warmth which operated more effectively 

 than many clothes and without the cost, for loneliness 

 and cold and few provisions. Sometimes the many must 

 be sacrificed to the one, and the many, on the mention 

 of increased pay and plenty of ponies for transport 

 and riding, cheerfully gave their consent to be 

 immolated. 



The portly and courtly Sir Rao Amarnath sent 

 baggage ponies, and early one morning a lordly pro- 

 cession was formed on the bank, and slowly drifted off 

 into the " ewigkeit," or more exactly, disappeared down 

 the immense avenue of poplars leading from the 

 Residency to the city, from there on towards the 

 eternal snows. These ponies were far superior to the 

 casual baggage animals I had employed in other parts 

 of the valley, there being all the difference between pro- 

 fessionals and amateurs. The latter, or rather their 

 owners for them, had always begun operations by loud 

 protestations of the powers of their beasts to carry 

 limitless burdens, protestations falsified by their incapa- 

 city to accomplish the firm attachment of even the 

 smaller of the bundles. Then there would follow a 

 period of three-cornered insults, beasts, owners, and 

 followers taking equal shares, the beasts contributing 

 by snorts and kicks. Lastly, a league defensive and 

 offensive between the three belligerent parties would 



