KASHMIR DUNG AS 



On the 2 1st we reached Baramulla about noon, after 

 a short drive of 21 miles. I had arranged with an agent 

 in Srinagar to have boats here waiting for us, as the 

 road into the capital had not then been completed. I 

 had particularly asked for a boarded dunga to be sent for 

 us, as the weather in March is very cold, but found instead 

 that only a matted dunga had arrived. Dunga is the 

 name for the Kashmir travelling boat. Some are closed 

 in with boards at the sides, others have only mats. 

 Travellers to Kashmir in the early part of the year 

 should remember the fact, that a matted dunga is a very 

 cold and cheerless conveyance, as a fire cannot be lighted 

 in one. A boarded dunga, besides being naturally less 

 draughty, has usually a fireplace — a very material ad- 

 vantage. 



As it happened, however, we did not suffer, for a 

 friend of mine. Captain Merewether, with whom I had 

 been in communication about this trip, and who had been 

 shooting duck on the Wular lake, had come down to 

 Baramulla to meet us. He had seen the condition of 

 things, and before our arrival had transferred his own 

 belongings to our dunga, and very kindly placed his com- 

 fortable house-boat at our disposal. Our ekkas arrived 

 about 2.30 P.M., and their contents were quickly trans- 

 ferred to the two boats for luggage and servants which 

 had also been sent for us. 



About an hour later we all started, the flotilla, con- 

 sisting of Merewether's house-boat, his cook-boat, and 

 our three boats, being towed up the river, which is here 

 very tranquil and with hardly any current — a curious 

 contrast to the foaming torrent rushing over boulders. 



