THE OUTER HIMALAYA!!. 7 



commanding officer, we received at various times for 

 short periods during the last six months leave of absence 

 for that purpose. 



A short description of the various arrangements for 

 one of these little trips to Holta may not prove tedious 

 or uninteresting to persons not acquainted with these 

 parts, and whose experiences of travelling have been 

 confined to a small portmanteau with a few necessaries, 

 a ticket at a railway station, and a comfortable seat in a 

 first-class railway carriage, with the Times for a com- 

 panion, in which newspaper on the morrow may appear 

 some terrible denunciation should any untoward accident 

 occur on the voyage. 



A tent for ourselves and a smaller one for our servants, 

 a camp-table, chairs, cooking utensils, plates, stores of 

 food, &c., and various other odds and ends (for to be 

 comfortable one entirely depends upon the forethought 

 exercised on starting), were despatched on camels and 

 mules under the charge of our khitmudgars,* bheesties,f 

 and klassie,J the day before our projected departure. 

 Two ponies with syces were also sent on, with in- 

 structions to proceed half way, and there to wait, in 

 order to form a relay for us. Early the next morning 

 our charpoys|| and bedding were despatched on coolies' 

 heads under the care of our bearers or head servants, 

 the latter mounted on mules ; two sets of coolies suffic- 

 ing in the present instance instead of the number of 

 relays necessary for a long journey. Our heavy baggage 

 having started the day before, halted for the night, so 



* Cooks. f Carriers and drawers of water. J Tent pitcher. 



Horsekeepers. || A light bedstead made of string and bamboo. 



