THE SIND RIVER 21 



river, here a wide torrent with a peculiar opalescent tinge, 

 whose surface was covered with short, thick logs of wood, 

 which went bobbing down the stream, knocking up every 

 second against projecting rocks, and then swinging round 

 into the comparatively still water immediately below. 

 These logs, cut in the forests which clothe the mountains 

 on the southern or left bank of the river, are intended 

 presumably for firewood. As the carriage down costs 

 nothing, the fact that a large percentage must be smashed 

 to matchwood is probably immaterial. 



On turning a corner a little beyond Kangan I 

 came on a sportsman sitting on a grassy bank, smok- 

 ing a large meerschaum, as "he pored upon the brook 

 which babbled by." We accosted each other, and 

 he proved to be a gunner of the name of Jebb on six 

 months' leave from Secunderabad. Neither he nor I 

 knew exactly where our respective shikaris were taking 

 us, and those worthies, of course, would not tell each 

 other. Jebb was waiting for his things to come up, as 

 he had a puppy he wanted to get carried, so I went on. 



About 10.30 A.M. Abdulla stopped at the village of 

 Serwan, and suggested that it would be a good place to 

 breakfast. As it was pouring rain at the time, we went 

 into the verandah of a hut a little way off the road. The 

 verandah was full of straw and droppings, — cattle evidently 

 inhabited it at times, — but one end was swept clean for 

 me, while Ramzana lighted a fire at the other and quickly 

 had the kettle on. He had brought one coolie along 

 with him, carrying a kilta (or Kashmiri leather-covered 

 conical basket), filled with the necessaries for preparing 

 breakfast, and in half an hour after we got in he sent up 



