224 AFOOT THROUGH THE 



The greater part were unfinished, others had been 

 varied to suit the taste of the artist. When this tallied 

 with my preconceived notion I took the proffered 

 merchandise, and must acknowledge that all the pur- 

 chases I brought away with me have been things of joy 

 and enjoyment to me ever since. Where execution was 

 far from original design I politely refused, and, as this 

 is the understood agreement, none were disappointed 

 or annoyed, and buyer and seller retained that inde- 

 pendence which we as a people have such scant patience 

 for when exhibited by others than ourselves! An 

 expedition on the lake occupied one of my last days. 

 There the glorious lotus was in full beauty, and held 

 aloft their great crimson heads above the long-stemmed, 

 cup-like leaves, and swayed and swung gently in the 

 breeze, filling the air with their almond fragrance, and 

 standing out like flames from the dense greenery of the 

 lake growths. 



Then, as befitted an idle person " floating careless 

 on a silver sea," I had much talk with a " shikari " of his 

 deeds of " derring-do." He had known the valley when 

 the rocks " crawled with ibex," and barasingh and 

 other deer were of no account in the land. The falling 

 into abeyance of the wise game laws of the late 

 Maharajah did much towards the extermination of the 

 game, and this has been accelerated by many sportsmen, 

 unworthy of the name, who have been guilty of such 

 wholesale slaughter as driving deer in the snows, while 

 the native shikari and villagers, anxious for food or gain, 

 have netted for the sake of the meat or the trophies 

 large quantities of the finer species. Now game laws 

 and licences have been introduced, and it is to be hoped 

 that the number of game animals will cease to decrease. 



Every help is given by the hospitable Maharajah and 



