Chamba into Kashmir 139 



to pour volumes of smoke into our tents when a 

 capricious gust set that way. But still it looked 

 very cheery, and threw ruddy gleams into the shades 

 and hollows of the ghostly mountain side on which 

 we were camped. 



We had our evening meal inside my tent. In 

 order to keep warm these freezing evenings, the 

 most scratch kit imaginable was raised. Recollect 

 we had marched as light as possible. We slept in 

 all our clothes ; and as we sat down to our meals at 

 night wore woollen gloves, caps, and flannel coats which 

 went over everything. 



Thus arrayed, we sat at a little rough camp-table, 

 upon such a slope that we each of us tilted over in 

 our chairs once, before we had learnt the " lay " of 

 things. No cloth on the table, but a large tin tea- 

 pot, three great teacups, a tin plate, knife and fork 

 each, a cup with butter in it, a cup of sugar, a saucer 

 of salt and another of mustard, and a whisky-bottle. 

 A couple of bedroom candles supplied our light ; 

 these Mamdln stuck upright on to the table in a 

 pond of their own grease to keep them firm. 



But our dinner itself was recherche to a degree. 

 As everybody has heard, native cooks can work 

 miracles, producing passable dinners under quite hope- 

 less conditions : so to-night we had mulligatawny 

 soup ; a capon and a hump followed a really good 

 Bengal hump is hard to beat ; next the inevitable 

 chicken cutlets; next curried mutton and rice, with 

 (poppadums) thin wafers, only seen in the East, and 



