Sporting Trips of a Subaltern 



rajah's winter residence and a large temple are 

 most noticeable. The rajah himself was away 

 up the hills, hut kindly sent us a " chuprassi " 

 (messenger) to help with supplies, etc. Going 

 through the town next day we saw the schools, 

 a jail, the rajah's elephants for shooting in the 

 Dun helow, and a very uneven-looking polo- 

 ground. 



Our route now was up the valley of the Billung 

 river, which here joins the Bairgrathi. It was 

 very hot; there was no view hut the wild and 

 rocky sides of the valley, and there was no shikar. 

 The only consolation was that every night we 

 camped higher and the air got cooler. 



On the outer fringe of this part of the Hima- 

 layas the tracks run along high up on the spurs, 

 and almost everywhere afford grand views right 

 across to the snows. In places you can see a 

 hundred miles of snowy peaks ; as, however, you 

 get further into the mountains, they become 

 higher and more broken and precipitous, so that 

 the only practicable routes lie up the bottoms of 

 the narrow valleys, and unless you leave your line 

 of march to do a tremendous climb up places 

 where no loaded carrier can follow you, it is a 

 case of good-bye to your views till you emerge, 

 days after, right among the peaks themselves. 

 Even then there is a disappointment ; your range 

 of view from propinquity has become very limited, 



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