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LADAK. 



to watch and see that no one meddled. " Nobody," said 

 Subhan, " was ever allowed to see what was put into 

 these holes, and, when questioned, the sahebs told them 

 the matter was beyond their comprehension." But, he 

 added, it got about, and was confidently asserted, that 

 these strange operators had purchased a slave to whom 

 they administered doses of 'shraV (spirits) till he was 

 insensible : they then buried him in the ground, in order 

 to make a good specimen to add to their collection. The 

 shikarries all eyed me in that peculiar manner denoting 

 a partial belief in a wonder, with a certain sense of its 

 improbability. I burst out laughing, of course, at this 

 extraordinary misconception of some scientific experi- 

 ments, and believe I removed this lurking suspicion 

 of black deeds on the part of the innocent philosophers 

 from their deluded minds. 



I understand that search is still being made after the 

 effects of the unfortunate one of these three, whose death 

 in the wild regions north-east of Simla is yet enveloped 

 in obscurity. I heard just before leaving the Punjab, 

 that some tidings had been received, and there were hopes 

 of recovering the poor fellow's effects and papers, the 

 latter of which would, doubtless, prove valuable to science. 



All arranged for a move to-morrow. 



