KASHMIR. 227 



its inhabitants ; and it seemed to me that the 

 Wuzeer's Wuzeer administered the stick to the entire 

 population of that unhappy village. When I came 

 out of my tent, I had a momentary glimpse of a little 

 man in something like a red dressing-gown, dancing 

 furiously round a very big man, and hitting him with 

 a long stick ; but, on my appearance, he suddenly 

 retired into his dull. After that, on the six marches 

 down to Srinagar, I never found myself clear of the 

 retinue of the Yarkand envoy : for the whole road 

 down was covered with men carrying his things ; and 

 tents, guarded by Kashmir soldiers, had been pitched 

 for him at various places. There were said to be 

 3000 coolies employed in carrying up himself and 

 the effects he had purchased in Europe. I cannot 

 say as to the exact number ; but really there seemed 

 to be no end of them, and they came from all parts 

 of Kashmir. They were to be met with at almost 

 every turning, and in very various positions. At one 

 moment I would find half-a-dozen of them resting 

 to groan under the weight of a 24-pounder gun, 

 wrapped in straw, while a sepoy of the Kashmir 

 Maharajah threatened them with his stick, or even 

 with his sword ; half an hour after another party of 

 them were pulling down walnuts from some grand old 

 tree, while some grand -looking old dame (for the 

 Kashmir women who survive to old age have an aris- 

 tocratic appearance, which would attract attention in 

 the Courts of Europe) was looking on the spoliation 



