290 LEH AND LADAK. 



rice, flour, and tea for the entertainment of my establish- 

 ment, to commemorate the safe return of the expedition. 

 Suleiman reports that he had distributed all the Scrip- 

 tures and tracts, but a few which he had kept in reserve 

 in case we should visit Kopalu. He had met with some 

 attentive listeners, one a Sikh from Lucknow, now resi- 

 dent in this country, who said his mind was full and 

 troubled after reading the Gospel, and wished he could 

 consult with a ' padre/ He is going to Kopalu, and 

 Suleiman was going to entrust him with some books for 

 the Rajah of that place, a very intelligent man, and one 

 with whom Suleiman, in his former travels in this country 

 with Colonel Martin, had held communication and 

 discourse, of whom too he was hopeful. But we learn 

 that the Rajah is now in Sirinuggur attending the durbar, 

 so we hope to meet him in person. 



There is also an old man, a bunga, native of Feruckabad, 

 who has been here some years, and has married a native 

 woman, by whom he has three young children : he is 

 earnest in his enquiries, and professes a conviction of the 

 truth of Christianity. He proposes to go under my 

 escort to the mission at Amritsir. But to remove and 

 deport a family of the Maharajah's subjects without full 

 sanction would be going much too far. And, then, how 

 would my friends, the missionaries, approve of my 

 burdening them so heavily ? After pondering over the 

 subject, I resolved, if the customs and laws of the land 

 permitted, to run all risks and encounter the trouble and 

 expense, for the sake of the children nice, lively, dirty, 

 naked, little wretches, always merry and chattering. So 

 I sent Abdoolah and the moonshi to enquire of the 

 thanadar about the matter, who replies that, when 

 a foreigner marries a native of the country, he ought not 

 to quit without due authority from the Maharajah. So 



