108 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



even for ghoonts, or mountain ponies, all our 

 baggage had to be carried by Puharree coolies, 

 which considerably swelled the number of our camp 

 followers. The Puharrees, a cast of Hindoos, are 

 divided into two classes, the Gungarees or low- 

 country men (from gunga, " a valley "), and the 

 Purbutees, or hill men (from purbut, " a peak "). 

 The latter are stout, robust, and hardy mountaineers, 

 generally short in stature, but capable of undergo- 

 ing much exertion and fatigue on very simple fare, 

 their ordinary food being chapaties, or girdle cakes 

 made of coarse flour mixed into a paste with water, 

 seasoned with a little salt, and baked upon an iron 

 plate. The men wear loosely-fitting tunics, gathered 

 in and fastened at the waist with a cotton belt, and 

 wide peg-top trousers, tight at the ancle, both 

 garments being made of a coarse blanket-like 

 material, round cap of the same, or sometimes a 

 white turban and network sandals of curious 

 construction. The coolies we engaged were all of 

 the latter class, and had been carefully selected as 

 good men some days before by Surmoor, their chief, 

 who had been with Fred on several former occasions. 



