A Day in Chitral 15 



about four o'clock, summoning every one to the 

 national game. In Chitral and the adjacent 

 countries every village has its polo-ground, in 

 spite of the fact that there is frequently but 

 barely sufficient cultivated land to support the 

 inhabitants. Every one that possesses a pony 

 plays, and those that have not risen to this 

 height of affluence have a separate game on foot. 

 The game as played in the Himalaya has been 

 so often described that I will not do so here. 

 Suffice it to say, that though the glimpses of 

 the players a stranger to the game may catch 

 amid the clouds of dust, give but a confused 

 impression of a melee of wild horsemen with hair 

 and garments streaming in the wind, shouting, 

 galloping madly, recklessly, here and there, ac- 

 companied by the clash of sticks and the click 

 of the hit ball, and the constant crescendo and 

 diminuendo of the band, the game is really 

 played with a very high degree of skill. The 

 force and accuracy with which these hillmen hit 

 on both sides of the pony with their short heavy 

 sticks is certainly not exceeded anywhere. 



The ponies are strong, wiry little beasts, with 

 wonderful stamina those from Khatgan, whose 

 reputation extends over the greater part of Cen- 

 tral Asia, being the best. 



The game lasts till one or the other side has 



