246 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



that the first troops he sent up were driven out of the 

 country, and he was enabled to establish himself in 

 it only by claiming the' assistance of the Indian 

 Government, and getting from it an order that the 

 existing Governor was to yield obedience to the new 

 sovereign, or to consider himself an enemy of the 

 British Government. No doubt we wanted the money 

 very much at the time, miserable sum as it was, and 

 only double the revenue which Ranjit Singh drew in 

 one year from Kashmir. It is possible, too, that 

 there may have been some policy in thus making a 

 friend of one of the chiefs of the Khalsa ; but the 

 transaction was not an advisable one. Of all India 

 and its adjacent countries Kashmir is the district best 

 suited for Europeans, and it affords large room for 

 English colonisation. It has now a population of 

 about half a million ; but it had formerly one of four 

 millions, and it could easily support that number. It 

 has an immense amount of fertile land lying waste in 

 all the valleys, and it would have been just the place 

 for the retirement of Anglo-Indians at the close of 

 their periods of service. As it is, Kashmir is practi- 

 cally closed to us except as a place of resort for a few 

 summer visitors. Probably the visitors would be a 

 good deal worse off than they are at present if it were 

 under British rule ; but that is not a matter of much 

 importance. The Maharajah acknowledges the supre- 

 macy of the British Government, and yet no English- 

 man can settle in the country or purchase a foot of 



