66 IBEX SHOOTING 



plain our tents were pitched for the first 

 time during the expedition, and this gave 

 us the pleasant feeling that now business 

 was about to begin in real earnest. 



The hot springs were close down by the 

 river itself, and only a few feet above the 

 flood. They are of some repute, and people 

 with rheumatism are in the habit of bathing 

 in them when the weather is warmer. For 

 their convenience the Cashmere govern- 

 ment had built a very comfortable wooden 

 shed, with a boarded floor, and open on all 

 sides, with the exception of a three-foot 

 boarding along the two long sides as a pro- 

 tection from the wind. Over the spring 

 itself a rough wooden roof has been con- 

 structed. I had a bathe myself, and enjoyed 

 it very much, as I had not had a bath for a 

 month. The water inside the bathing-shed 

 was about two feet deep, and just comfortably 

 hot ; bubbling up at one end, and running 

 out into the river at the other, with a bottom 

 of fine white pebbles ; a most luxurious 

 bath of some five yards square. One had 



