198 TRAVEL, AD VENTURE, AND SPORT. 



a matter of favour. Between Virumgaum and the 

 English station of Bajkot, where the political resi- 

 dent has his headquarters, something like public 

 traffic now goes on ; but in most parts of the country 

 the traveller may have the greatest difficulty in get- 

 ting a worn-out camel or donkey to ride on, and one 

 egg to appease his hunger with, unless he is Avel- 

 comed, and almost as a guest, by the chief of the 

 district. In Kathiawar there still lingers the idea 

 that all visitors should be guests ; and though this, 

 of course, does not imply that travelling there is 

 really very much cheaper than anywhere else, yet 

 those who attempt to proceed on any other footing 

 will find great, though almost intangible, difficulties 

 rising in their path for nothing that they require 

 will be forthcoming when they want it, or perhaps 

 at all, if they get irritated. 



Personally, I had no experiences of difficulties of 

 this kind, having been invited to visit the country 

 by one of its greatest princes, and having introduc- 

 tions to the political agent and other English officers, 

 who can see that travellers are well cared for; but, 

 even with such advantages, many things have to be 

 provided for, and a run through Kathiawar is not 

 less expensive than a run from Bombay to England 

 and back. Servants, cooking-pots, bedding, liquors, 

 preserved provisions, and many other things, have to 

 be carried with one ; and though a tent and a riding- 

 horse are not absolute necessities, yet they will be 



