PREPARATIONS AND EQUIPMENTS. 5 



charge of my khansamah, Abdoolah, on the evening of 

 the 8th April. 



I must not forget, in my catalogue of live stock, two 

 little dogs, of no particular merit, but dear to me as 

 affectionate companions after their kind. 



I had made ample provision for my creature comforts, 

 having been told by an experienced traveller, and having 

 gleaned from books of travel, that the Ladak country is 

 sterile in the extreme, and consequently possesses little of 

 what constitutes by habit the necessaries of an European. 



I took 4 tins of bacon, 1 case of maccaroni, 1 ditto 

 vermicelli, 2 ditto biscuits, 1 tin of cheese, 3 pots of jam, 

 7 bottles of pickles, 24 Ibs. of tea in 3 tins, and 3 Ibs. for 

 immediate use, two 8-lb. boxes of China sugar, and some 



5 or 6 Ibs. I had by me, 3 bottles essence of coffee, 7 Ibs. 

 raw ditto, 2 bottles fish sauce, 4 various ditto, 3 bottles 

 lime juice, 2 vinegar, 2 oil, 6 Ibs. candles, besides which 

 Clarke's patent lamp, and lots of candles, 6 bottles brandy, 

 12 sherry, 12 beer, to which I added, carrying with me, 



6 bottles of hock and 6 claret some of a batch arriving 

 the day I left, which, having ordered expressly for the 

 mess myself, I was anxious to taste. I took, by way of 

 medicines, 12 drams of quinine, a box of Peake's pills, 

 one phial chloridyne, some Holloway's ointment and 

 sticking-plaister, with some odds and ends I do not 

 remember. This was my stock. 



Of fire arms, I took a double rifle by Blissett, 10 bore 

 one heavy double Enfield, ditto one rifle, military 

 pattern, by Whitworth one double-barrelled Westley 

 Richards for shot ; 8 Ibs. powder, good supply of bullets, 

 shot No 3 and 6, caps, wads, &c. 



These guns were taken from their cases and placed in 

 a woollen case, then in a leathern case respectively, this 

 being, I think, the most convenient way of carrying them, 



