On the Kashmir Road. 



Snow lay deep in the streets, and at nightfall the air became 

 bitterly cold so that I was glad of the warming influence of a 

 cheery blaze, a change from the hot and arid plains through which 

 we had coursed in the morning. 



At dinner I met two senior officers of the Northumberland 

 Fusiliers, the famous Fighting Fifth, and we foregathered and 

 discussed, amongst other topics, my journey into the wilds of 

 Central Asia, and the prospects of a fine bag on the Pamirs 

 and in the far-distant Thian Shan. 



The following morning dawned clear and frosty, and I was 

 away by lo o'clock, downhill to the Jhelam, the road winding and 

 turning as only mountain roads can. The way was reported to 

 be open, though snow was met with in great quantities, but not 

 sufficiently to bar our progress. In places where it had accumu- 

 lated to any considerable depth we alighted, the tonga was hauled 

 through the obstruction, and the onward run resumed. 



The drive from Murree to Kohala is a very fine one, lying 

 through grand mountain scenery, on one side lofty, forest-covered 

 slopes, on the other sheer precipices rising from the banks of the 

 Jhelum, the Hydaspes of the ancients. 



The distances between stages average about eight miles, 

 the changing of horses being rapidly effected without any of 

 the annoying delays which are the rule and not the exception 

 when one is posting in Russia. There an hour is quick work for 

 this, often as much as two hours elapsing before fresh horses are 

 produced, a proceeding scarcely calculated to improve the 

 energetic Britisher's temper. 



On the Kashmir road the stages consist of a small shelter 

 for the men detailed to look after the animals, and stables for 

 the latter. A syce, or groom, accompanies each tonga to the 

 next stage, hanging on behind, and on arrival leads the relieved 

 pair back. 



It is a 34-mile run to Kohala on the banks of the Jhelum, 

 which marks the frontier between the territories of the Maharajah 

 of Kashmir and British India. There is a dak bungalow here 



