174 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



attached to the castle which was the seat of 

 government of the old Kings of Ladak. 



The occasion is that of the annual entry of 

 the British Commissioner. This official, together 

 with a colleague appointed by the Kashmir Dar- 

 bar, looks after the trade with Central Asia, and 

 resides for the purpose half the year in the 

 Kashmir capital and the other half in Ladak, his 

 arrival in the latter place being always made an 

 excuse for a f6te. It would be hard to imagine 

 a queerer spectacle than we presented as we, our 

 numbers augmented by the elite of Leh who had 

 come out to welcome us, toiled up the straight 

 track across the sloping plain of sand and stones 

 which lies between the Indus and the town. 

 The Wazir, a black - bearded Afghan Sirdar, in 

 dark blue and gold, bestrode a screaming Kabuli 

 stallion. The Abbot, stout, clean-shaven, and 

 wrinkled, in a lama's red robe and cardinal's 

 hat, sat hunched up on a fat white Tibetan 

 pony, which was led by an acolyte. The 

 Spituk " Incarnation," sleek but austere, was 

 otherwise remarkable by a wonderful yellow hat 

 of polished papier-mache. The ex-King of Ladak, 

 a man in these days of no political importance, 

 but much revered by Ladakis by reason of his 

 asceticism, prayers, and fasting, was evidently full 

 of alarms at finding himself on the back of a 



