FOR THE HIMALAYAS. 



31 



and stitched around the division. Canvas lined with flannel may 

 be used, but it is too coarse in the joints, and does not pay for the 

 time and trouble. If these leathers get hard from wet, soak them 



in clean grease ; the moisture on the hillsides will soon clean it off 

 your socks if any penetrates through, for, of course, it should be 

 applied by dipping them on the hand into the grease, and not by 

 pouring it into them ! 



For the feet, the covering varies with the country and nature of 

 the ground. Marching on good roads or paths, shooting boots are 

 the thing, but on precipices, after ibex, thar, or markhor, some- 

 thing more tenacious is required. The natives make up grass shoes, 

 as they are called, out of various substances straw (particularly 

 that of rice), the bark of a kind of tall willow, and hempen cords. 

 Those of bark are excellent, lasting much longer than those of 

 straw, but they are inferior to those of hemp, made by the Afridis 

 beyond the Indus chiefly. In Ladak shoes wear out very quickly; 

 one pair of strong shooting boots lasted a hard-working sportsman 

 only a fortnight ! The great thing to look to is, that your men get 

 you plenty of shoes before you reach your ground, or on the way 

 to it; for they have a knack of having none for themselves or 

 you, when you have been a few days in a place and wish to move 

 on or visit some distant point for a week's trip. Of common grass 

 shoes there should be at least thirty pairs in hand, for a pair will 

 only last one day. Of the better materials, fewer pairs will 

 suffice, but no one can have too many pairs. The writer generally 

 had thirty pairs (either ready-made or the material for them), and 

 never found there were too many ; it was always a case of sending 

 for more straw-rope when a man went down to the valleys below. 



