CHAPTER XXVIII 



CURING OF SKINS AND CLEANING OF SKULLS 



Consignments sent in — Charges made by skinman — Charges actually paid 

 — Best way of deahng with skins. 



There are several men who do curino; of skins in 

 Srinagar, and there is no business in which the looting 

 of the stranger is more systematically carried on there 

 than in this. I was recommended, when leaving for 

 Baltistan, to send my skins and heads to a particular man 

 in Srinagar, and I accordingly sent him five consign- 

 ments. Part of the time that I was shooting in Baltistan, 

 Sarsal was where the Cabul tent and thinofs I did not 

 want with me were kept. Then on the 24th of April the 

 headquarters were transferred to Honuspa. When I 

 went into the Khaltar nala, on the 8th of May, the 

 Cabul tent and other things were moved to Darsu, 

 where they stayed till I passed through on my w^ay to 

 Sarsal on the 6th of June. As the heads and skins 

 were obtained I kept sending them down to the head- 

 quarters' camp, and letting them accumulate there. As 

 mentioned above, the first consignment was despatched to 

 Srinagar on the 15th of May; the second was sent in 

 with the boats on the 27th of June; the third was 



