KASHMIR. 241 



beauty ; but even that is not brought out well by the 

 state of their physique; and I don't suppose the most 

 beautiful woman in the world would show to ad- 

 vantage if she were imperfectly Avashed and dressed 

 in the ordinary feminine attire of Kashmir a dirty, 

 whitish cotton night-gown. 



It is unfortunate for the reputation of Kashmir 

 that a sudden death, not entirely free from suspicious 

 circumstances, should have befallen three of our 

 countrymen who had distinguished themselves by 

 exposing the abuses existing in the country ; and it 

 is at least remarkable that suspicion on the subject 

 should have been roused by the Kashmiris themselves 

 that is to say, by reports generally current in Srina- 

 gar. I allude to Lieutenant Thorpe, Dr Elmslie, and 

 Mr Hayward. The first of these gentlemen had pub- 

 lished a pamphlet entitled 'Kashmir Misgovern- 

 ment;' and in November 1868, Avhen almost all 

 visitors except himself had left Kashmir for the 

 season, he expired suddenly at Srinagar, after having 

 walked up the Takht-i-Suliman, a hill which rises 

 close to the city to the height of a thousand feet. 

 Katurally the supposition was that he had been 

 poisoned ; but Surgeon Caley, who happened to be on 

 his way down from Ladak, examined the body shortly 

 after death, and reported that there had been " rup- 

 ture of the heart." Dr Elmslie was a devoted medical 

 missionary, who did an immense deal of good in 

 Kashmir, and had published a valuable vocabulary 



