222 AFOOT THROUGH THE 



chamber, a small corner of which I had occupied in the 

 hillside, where, without trouble and without cost, the 

 lights had been hung out nightly, the carpet swept and 

 washed, where the air was always fresh, and the per- 

 fumes strong and invigorating. Early next morning, 

 very early, every one was afoot, for the certainty of our 

 march being a hot one was an inducement to get it over 

 as soon as possible, and after an unsatisfactory break- 

 fast of stewed tea and smoked toast, I demanded my 

 pony. Then there was scuffling and evasion a sugges- 

 tion that it had not been really expected I would ride, 

 as my habit was to walk. Finally, as I grew stern, a 

 shaggy white thing was produced ewe - necked, 

 ungroomed, and bearing, in ridiculous disproportions 

 to the breadth of its back, a tiny man's saddle, bare, 

 uncompromising, not even a native one, which would 

 have afforded some grip for the knee. 



On almost any other march in Kashmir I would have 

 risked a cross seat, but the gay Srinagar w^orld was just 

 beginning to move up to Gulmerg, and I dared not; 

 as I did actually meet the Resident and his party in all 

 the state of " official progress," I was thankful not to 

 have given way to an impulse of comfort. Somehow or 

 other, I accomplished the twenty-three miles my 

 destination was a long way on the other side of Srinagar 

 sitting sideways on that minute and slippery triangle 

 of leather. The first shy nearly sent me to leeward, also 

 a curious habit of tacking that my mount had whenever 

 advancing on an object that displeased him, and which 

 was very disconcerting. Practice is everything, and as 

 I was petrified with my cramped position, even that 

 became less trying, and finally, even if I had wished, I 

 could not have come off, so thoroughly had I grown to 

 my unpleasing saddle. 



