Jii MATAIYUN rO PANDRAS 39 



living thing, or suggestion of a living thing, except the 

 curHng smoke, visible anywhere. Nothing but the white 

 valley around, and broken rocks standing out far up on 

 the hillsides, and over all the steadily descending snow. 



Luckily there was no wind, and in half an hour 

 we were all on foot again. About 5 miles further we 

 reached Pandras, Although the distance covered was 

 very little, the travelling through the soft snow was most 

 laborious and tedious, and necessitated frequent halts, 



I was here overtaken by the Rentons, and the village 

 headman very civilly cleaned out a dry room for us, 

 and we had breakfast together. Mrs. Renton said 

 that, as her coolies had found it impossible to carry 

 her through the soft snow the previous day, she had 

 walked the distance to Machahoi. She was a delicate- 

 looking woman, and it was surprising to see how well 

 she was bearing the discomforts she was going through. 

 Of course she wore grass shoes like all of us, and, 

 as no quilted socks small enough for her were pro- 

 curable in Srinagar, she had an additional trial in the 

 boat-like things she was compelled to wear. Above 

 the socks she wore khaki ^ putties," and a sensible, 

 gray puttoo skirt came nearly down to her ankles. A 

 gray puttoo Norfolk jacket, a muffler round her neck, 

 blue goggles, and a soft hat completed her costume. 

 Each of us had, of course, our faces well smeared with 

 vinolia cream, or lanoline, to prevent the skin peeling 

 from the effects of the sun reflected up from the snow. 



1 Dust coloured. 



^ Cloth bandages wound round the legs from ankle to knee, largely worn in 

 India. 



