4 SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR chap. 



ekkas were to reach Kohala, about 70 miles out, that 

 evening, the 19th, and we proposed arriving there at the 

 same time. As the ekkas could not do more than 30 to 

 35 miles a day, with one pony each for the whole distance 

 of about 160 miles, we had to suit our pace to theirs. 

 But as they had got a start of twenty-four hours, we were 

 able to do a double stage that day in the tonga. 



The journey to Srinagar has been so often described 

 that it seems unnecessary to give details as to it here. 

 But it should be remembered that the conditions vary 

 considerably in different years. Mr. E. F. Knight, who 

 visited Kashmir in 1891, went in the beginning of April, 

 as he tells us in Where Three Empires Meet, and found 

 eight feet of snow on the road near Murree, When we 

 passed on the 19th of March 1896, there was a little 

 snow drifted up at the side of the road immediately below 

 Murree, but that was all. Many people also had gone 

 in before us, so the road must have been clear unusually 

 early that year. 



The Kohala dak-bungalow,^ the last in English terri- 

 tory, was not reached till after dark, at 7.30 p.m., when 

 we were lucky enough to get the only unoccupied room. 

 The arrangements were very dirty and uncomfortable, but 

 a lire was a great luxury, and compensated for a good deal. 



The next morning, the 20th, we entered Kashmir, 

 when we crossed the Jhelum by a fine iron bridge, 

 and after paying the light tolls there charged for the 

 upkeep of the road, continued our journey to Garhi, 

 about 35 miles on. Here there is a good bungalow, 

 not very much above the level of the Jhelum, which 



1 Traveller's rest-house. 



