Fourteen Thousand Feet High 191 



either side underneath the great, shady chenars, and 

 upon the banks tents of every shape and kind. 



This, then, was the European quarter of Srinagar ; 

 the native city lay beyond. There are various camping- 

 grounds the Chenar Bagh, the Nishat Bagh, the 

 Munshi Bagh, the Shalimar Bagh, etc., some near and 

 some far from the native city. 



We took up a central position on Topa, a semi- 

 island, which had the advantage of being near the 

 polo-ground, the post office, and the agency. Our 

 tents were soon up ; and as we were sitting down to 

 tea, the familiar face of Mary beamed upon us with 

 the two syce s and three ponies. Mary had " lost 

 count " of his age ; but he could not have been more 

 than twenty years old, though he had a wife and a 

 son down in Madras. He always reminded me of a 

 monkey, wearing a little loose white shirt, very tight, 

 white trousers, and a small blue turban. He had bow 

 legs and long, bare feet. He always spoke in the 

 present tense, coming* up every morning and saying 

 to S., " What time master wanting ponies ? " He 

 was an excellent groom, a real honest boy. 



The little Arab ponies were wonderfully quiet and 

 childlike, removing flies on the march off their ears 

 with a hind hoof, and walking casually across the 

 narrowest plank. They were apt to catch up branches 

 in their long tails, when I would make the pony I 

 rode tread on the branch and release them of it. 



A game of polo was going on, and we strolled across 

 after tea to find all our old Gulmerg friends, who had, 



