204 A Sportswoman in India 



had leave from Sir A. Talbot to shoot here one of 

 the Rajah's private preserves. 



Everything was flourishing down in this valley : 

 tomatoes grew abundantly, also curious little plum- 

 cherry things, and big pears, apples, mulberries ; 

 above all, walnut-trees such gigantic, gnarled old 

 trunks, leaves and walnuts lying thick on the ground 

 under them. These are no travellers' tales ; believe 

 me, vegetarians would lose their heads in Kashmir. 



Sala Bux, recovered from fever, was as annoying 

 as usual. As S. put on his coat that evening, he 

 found one of the buttons missing. Now, I had 

 seen dear Sala Bux sewing at the coat before tea, 

 and I wondered a foolish wonder that he had not 

 noticed the button. S. called him up and spoke 

 severely to him, and Sala Bux retired to grovel about 

 on his hands and knees in S.'s tent, hunting for it 

 in an aimless way. 



S. put the coat on, and as he did so, felt something 

 hard in the place where the button should have been. 

 He looked Sala Bux had evidently, when I 

 noticed him, been sewing it firmly on to the wrong 

 side of the coat inside, in spite of the fact that 

 there were all the remaining buttons on the outside 

 to guide him. We asked him to explain why he 

 had not shown us this. He would give no reason, 

 no answer, but only salaamed with clasped hands. 

 Natives have no capacity for seeing jokes ; they never 

 laugh. Their eyes have been described as two unseeing, 

 unfathomable pools, at which one gazes and gazes, 



