474 SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR chap. 



the glass will inevitably be broken, or the lantern other- 

 wise damaged. The box should carry a couple of spare 

 panes of glass, to replace probable breakages. A tin box 

 to fit into the lantern when packed, and to carry a few 

 candles, is convenient. The lantern should rarely, if 

 ever, be allowed in the kitchen. Kashmiris are accus- 

 tomed to work by firelight, and though they will, of 

 course, use candles if allowed, they do not really require 

 them. I told my men they could have a small lamp, and 

 buy oil locally for themselves if they wanted to, but they 

 never took the trouble to do this, and as they had no 

 candles, they worked all through by firelight. The 

 candles should be kept by the sportsman in his own 

 charge, as their loss would be a serious misfortune. 



A lady must, of course, take her own saddle, as 

 nothing of the kind is locally procurable. A man should 

 also, I think, take an English saddle, as the discomfort of 

 riding in the thing that Kashmiris and Ladakis use is 

 often very great. Generally the pommel is too high, and 

 the distance from pommel to cantle too short. Occasion- 

 ally there are no stirrups, or only a single stirrup. In 

 any case a small bridle and standing martingale are very 

 necessary, as the things supplied with the ponies are 

 generally rotten. The standing martingale will be found 

 specially useful, as most of the ponies have a horrid 

 habit of chucking up their heads the moment the reins 

 are pulled. They then, of course, cannot see where they 

 are going, and a bad accident might very easily occur. 

 On one occasion my wife, when riding to Leh, thought- 

 lessly put up her umbrella, without having ascertained 

 beforehand whether the pony would stand it or not. 



