ESTIMATE EOR TRIP IN LADAK 



495 



Brought forward 

 ■5 I khidmatgar at Rs. 12 + 5 rasad 

 p I sweeper at Rs.7 + 3 rasad 

 ^ I permanent coolie at Rs.8 + 3 rasad 



Total 

 Total cost of servants for three months 

 Add for occasional local shikari 

 Transport at Rs.7 a day for 14 ponies or yaks 

 Food at Rs.2 a day 

 Miscellaneous .... 



A couple could, I think, easily do a three months' trip in 

 Ladak for Rs.400 a month. I found that our transport 

 from the 28th of June, when I left Manasbal for my 

 second trip up the Sind valley, to the 17th of October, 

 when we reached Srinagar, including the cost of post- 

 runners and of the ponies used by my wife when she 

 marched with the Beeches and Captain Trench to Leh, 

 came to Rs. 780.4, or roughly, an average of Rs.7 a 

 day for the 11 1 days. This includes ponies frequently 

 allowed to different men, e.g. on the Hanle trip the 

 shikari always rode, and while in Changchenmo I had 

 four riding ponies. As a general rule, I found that 

 about twelve animals were enough to carry our combined 

 baggage, though at starting from Leh on the 13th of July I 

 took no less than fifteen ponies. This was partly because 

 at the beginning of a trip the supplies are at a maximum, 

 and partly because I had not arranged the loads as 

 economically as I might have done. As supplies were 

 consumed the number of animals naturally decreased. 

 From the i8th to the end of the month 13 yaks 



