Kashmir 155 



shikari Lalla proved to be a plausible old villain. 

 Kashmiris are not show-specimens among mankind : 

 lazy, cunning, liars ; if they constitute, as people say, 

 remnants of part of the lost Ten Tribes of Israel, who 

 would be an Israelite ? They are certainly Jewish- 

 looking dark, with hooked noses. 



We were inundated with competitors for the two 

 posts ; but the cook we chose, and Lalla, had both 

 of them better chits than the rest. Natives have 

 the most extraordinary faith in chits that is, written 

 testimonials as to character from old masters. Dismiss 

 a man, cut his pay, punish him as you like, but 

 give him a chit. Though he cannot, probably, read 

 a word of what you have written, he looks upon 

 it as a talisman. A native handed us a chit from a 

 former master, a Captain-sahib, with immense pride ; 

 it ran thus : " This man surpasses all other Kashmiris 

 for rascality and cunning." 



By law of the State, no European can buy land 

 and build himself a house in Kashmir, consequently 

 travellers all use tents or house-boats, or rent a log 

 hut in a place like Gulmerg. The admission of 

 British visitors used to be limited, and permission 

 was granted to military officers by the Government of 

 India. In like manner more than eight hundred years 

 ago, as we learn from Arabic histories, the passes used 

 to be watched, and few outsiders admitted. 



Connected with this long-cherished exclusiveness is 

 the non-existence of roads of any sort. Picture a 

 country in which there are nothing but paths and 



