A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



and had them sent on post-haste, that I managed 

 to retrieve them. However, one might spend 

 one's time worse than by passing the months of 

 April and May in Kashmir, which surely at this" 

 time of year must be hard to beat anywhere for 

 beauty. The trees, meadows, and even houses, 

 are covered with many-coloured flowers, while the 

 whiteness of the snows, still low down on the 

 mountain-sides, forms a brilliant background to 

 every picturesque scene. Nor had I eventually 

 any cause to regret the delay, though I have 

 mentioned it here to explain the lateness of my 

 departure (so late was it, indeed, that everyone 

 declared that I might as well give up the 

 expedition as far as sport was concerned), since, 

 during my stay in Srinagar, I formed the acquaint- 

 ance of many kind friends, amongst them the Joint- 

 Commissioner of Ladakh, Captain S. H. Godfrey, 

 to whom I was subsequently so much indebted for 

 the success of my expedition. The pleasures of a 

 sojourn in the beautiful Vale of Kashmir have been 

 so often dilated upon by abler pens that it is 

 unnecessary for me to add anything here ; so suffice 

 it to say, that after a pleasant stay, during which I 

 spent some time in pursuing apocryphal black 

 bears, and getting into training on the steep hill- 

 sides that surround the Woolar Lake, I eventually 

 set forth from Srinagar on the 2ist of May, 1894, 

 and reached the first stage, the village of Ganderbal, 

 that evening. 



