THE JOURNEY INTO KASHMIR 125 



not the kind I should have cared to address to a 

 professor of languages. 



I may say that in point of size the personnel of our 

 outfit, as I looked back and saw the cavalcade form- 

 ing in single file behind us, fairly took my breath 

 away. Kadera But and Salia Melik, our two ven- 

 erable chief shikaris, headed on horseback what 

 might have been called their respective companies ; 

 Sidka and Lussoo, the chota or assistant shikaris, 

 acted as their lieutenants ; the seven or eight naukar 

 or servant-coolies, who, unlike the relays of vil- 

 lagers, were to serve as permanent camp-servants, 

 performed the duties of non-commissioned officers ; 

 while under their able guidance, and the persuasion 

 of several stout sticks, our horde of forty-odd vil- 

 lagers composed the rank and file of this imposing 

 if diminutive army. The two tiffin-coolies, following 

 close at our heels with cameras and lunch-baskets, 

 were certainly entitled to the regard usually accorded 

 to color-bearers; and as for the commissariat, to 

 leave nothing to be desired in this military showing, 

 the cook and Thomas ably represented that indis- 

 pensable department. 



The road led between rice-fields, and was muddy 

 from recent rains, but no such petty annoyance 

 could prevent our enjoying the surrounding scene : 

 ahead lay the entrance to the Sind Valley, flanked 



