Fourteen Thousand Feet High 189 



proceeded to hand us in, from their boat on to the 

 floor of ours, hot plates ; soup followed ; then a 

 roast leg of mutton with potatoes and tomatoes ; next 

 rumble-tumble as natives always call buttered eggs ; 

 lastly stewed pears and custard. Finally, plates were 

 removed, the servants' kishty fell back behind us, and 

 we paddled along. 



When it grew dark, a light was fastened ahead, and 

 we passed several other doonghas y some of them singing 

 weird chants natives evidently. We drifted under 

 dark, wooden, ghostly-looking bridges ; the moon 

 rose ; the land seemed all asleep ; and the drip and 

 gurgle of our paddles in the water was the only sound. 



In our own camp-beds we had a real, long, lazy 

 night, and a true Europe morning, for breakfast came 

 off at ten o'clock ! 



All night long the rhythmical sound of the paddling 

 lulled one to sleep. I awoke once or twice to hear 

 S. cursing the lazy boatmen, who had stopped working 

 altogether and were just allowing us to drift. Renewed 

 efforts followed, and the doongha glided through the 

 water faster than ever, until, I expect, we were both 

 asleep again. 



I lay in bed hours after the sun had risen, and 

 rolling up a bit of the matting by my side, stretched 

 my arm out and dabbled in the warm water. It was 

 an odd little place to tub and to dress in. S. took 

 a header off the punt and had a few minutes' swim. 



The Jhelum recalls vividly the Thames near Staines, 

 except that everywhere in the distance we could see 



