A Snooze and its Sequel. 



mighty traveller. The main and only door opens on to a central 

 hall, with a raised mud dais at the further end and two rooms on 

 either hand, the windows of which are latticed and the holes 

 therein pasted over with paper. At one side of the room is a 

 high dais, the portion beneath being hollow to admit of a fire 

 in winter, so that the guests have a species of heated bed upon 

 which to repose. The walls are usually decorated with ancient 

 scrolls illuminated with hieroglyphics, probably containing 

 injunctions to the wicked and solace to the wise. 



I arrived at Yaka Kudak at three in the morning and halted 

 till evening. The jungles in the vicinit}- are said to hold the 

 Yarkand stag {Cervus yarcandcnsis), a near relative of the Kashmir 

 stag, or " barasingh." Its numbers have dwindled considerabh- 

 of recent years, due to the belief prevailing amongst the Chinese 

 that its horns possess medicinal properties and they command a 

 long price when in the unformed state, consequently he is 

 hunted relentlessly. 



Two shikaris appeared here and volunteered to show me 

 game in the jungle, also informing me gazelle were to be met with 

 in the neighbourhood. I decided to sally forth in the afternoon, 

 gun in hand, so sent these worthies ahead with orders to bring in 

 any information they might acquire. I started with Giyani about 

 2 o'clock, keeping along an irregular watercourse running through 

 the jungle. On the way I was much amused to come on the two 

 Nimrods peacefully snoozing under a tree, totalh' indifferent to 

 the interests of the chase. One had a gun, an ancient weapon 

 with a long forked attachment for resting on the ground when 

 shooting. This gun I quietly abstracted from its place by the 

 hunter's side and hid it behind an adjacent bush. When I 

 returned to camp these two sportsmen came in stating the 

 devil had dropped from the clouds and annexed their rifle, a 

 source of much grief not unmixed with astonishment to them. 

 After enjoying their discomfiture for some time I advised them 

 to search the surrounding jungle, as possibly his satanic majestv 

 might have left the gun there, so away they went. Later thev 



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