1 86 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



lucrative trade. In these days charas is a less 

 profitable article to deal in than it was, owing to a 

 heavy duty having been imposed on its importation 

 into India, a measure which, however unpalatable 

 to the traders of Ladak, was certainly sound ; for, 

 in addition to countless other evils for which the 

 charas habit is responsible, not a few of the 

 fanatical murders which take place in northern 

 India may be traced to its use. 1 



The sarais generally consist of two quadrangular 

 courtyards. The outer one has stables all round 

 for baggage animals, for the whole of the trade is 

 by pack transport ; while the inner one, for the 

 traders themselves, is enclosed by double-storeyed 

 buildings with verandahs. The inmates wear the 

 garb of Central Asia, voluminous wadded cloaks 

 tied in at the waist with a cotton girdle. On their 

 feet are long riding-boots, much crinkled at the 

 ankle, the more usual kind being those which have 

 a detachable slipper for outdoors ; and the advan- 

 tages of such a footgear in a cold country, where 

 etiquette forbids the wearing of boots on a carpet, 



1 Many of the charas traders belong to the queer sect of Maulais, 

 whose tenets allow the use of intoxicants. By a curious coincid- 

 ence these people are to-day's representatives of the Haschishins 

 (or eaters of the hemp compound, Haschish), who were famous in 

 history as the " assassins," and originated the word. They were the 

 followers of the Sheikh-ul-Jabal, or " Old Man of the Mountains," 

 a name of terror at the time of the Crusades, from his methods of 

 secret assassination. 



