124 ORIGIN OF THE SHAWL PATTERN. 



and expecting the most exorbitant wages, besides food and 

 presents of cash. In addition to this, they frequently use 

 their employer's name for obtaining anything they require 

 from the villagers, for which they usually forget to pay. The 

 real good men, of whom there are comparatively few, are only 

 to be got by making arrangements with them beforehand, 

 either by messenger or letter. As such men are, of course, in 

 great request, obtaining their services is not always easy. 

 Should the sportsman, however, fail to get a well-known good 

 shikaree, it is better for him to proceed to his ground without 

 one of any sort, and trust to picking up a non-professional 

 hand at some village in its vicinity, than to engage one of 

 the aforesaid impostors, who, in any case, would get what 

 guidance and information he wanted from a villager, whilst 

 he, the impostor, pocketed the profits. Although these re- 

 marks may not be very entertaining, they may be useful to a 

 sportsman visiting Cashmere for the first time. 



Of course we were soon surrounded by these rascals want- 

 ing service, and as at that time we knew no better, engaged 

 two. My companion was more lucky in his choice than I 

 was in mine, as his man turned out to be a great acquisition ; 

 the one I engaged proved the very reverse. Again taking to 

 our boats, we continued our course up the river to Islamabad. 



For some distance above Srinuggur the windings of the 

 Jhelum are so tortuous as to form a succession of pear-shaped 

 loops, so to speak, of water. There is a legend in Cashmere 

 that the idea of the loop-like pattern, so common in Cashmere 

 shawls, was originally suggested by the appearance of the river 

 thus winding through the valley, as viewed from the top of an 

 eminence near the city, on which stands the ancient temple 

 called Takht-i-Suliman (Solomon's throne). 



Islamabad we reached next day, and after inspecting its 

 tanks, teeming with sacred fish, and collecting men to carry 

 our traps, at once went on to the village of Shangus, about 

 eight miles distant. At this place we purchased a supply of 



