432 SPORT IN 7 HE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR chap. 



should Start for the nala he wishes to secure, with nothing 

 but his bedding, a tiffin basket, a couple of cooking pots, 

 and a few stores. His only attendants should be, one 

 man to cook for him, and one man to arrange for coolies, 

 ponies, and other details of the journey. If the latter indi- 

 vidual can cook, so much the better, as one servant would 

 then be enough. Three ponies (or, if there is no separate 

 cook, two) will carry the entire party, men and luggage 

 included. Where ponies cannot be used — as over snow 

 — coolies must be employed ; but ponies will save time, 

 and should therefore be taken whenever it is possible. 

 The start should be made by dawn each morning, and 

 travelling should be continued with one halt of, say, an 

 hour for breakfast, till it is nearly dusk, when the party 

 can stop at the nearest point where wood and water are 

 procurable. It is not pleasant going like this for days, 

 without a tub, with hardly a change of shirts, and with 

 nothing to relieve the monotony of the perpetual march- 

 ing ; but when a favourite nala has to be raced for, the 

 man who can stand most of this sort of travelling^ will 

 generally get it. Once in the nala that is required, the 

 race is over, and the sportsman who has won can rest 

 there quietly till his things are brought up by his 

 servants. But it must be remembered that he must 

 himself get into the nala first, in order to win it, as 

 sending on a shikari with his tent would certainly not 

 secure it. 



Unless the sportsman proposes to shoot in Ladak, he 

 should, if possible before entering Kashmir, if not, as soon 

 as he can afterwards, secure the services of a good shikari. 

 Generally this is best done through a friend or acquaint- 



