1 82 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



tehsildar its head official. We had sent to the bank 

 in Srinagar, where we had left a deposit, for five hun- 

 dred rupees, and they came to Astore in notes torn 

 in halves, the first set of halves in one packet and 

 the other set in a second, to prevent theft. It was 

 in order to have these notes changed into smaller 

 silver, for use in paying the coolies, that I went to 

 the tehsildar. He was sitting at his desk in a dingy, 

 ill-lighted little office, such as are all the official 

 dwellings in that part of the world, a fat, pom- 

 pous-looking heathen, with a decidedly disagreeable 

 face. He was barely civil to me, but I took a chair, 

 explained to him in Hindustanee my errand, and 

 told him that I was an American. His face bright- 

 ened at once, and from that moment he could not 

 .do enough for me, asked if I would not have a ci- 

 garette, which proved to be a six-inch jet-black 

 cigar of titanic strength, insisted on giving me 

 a glass of " wine," poor rum on nearer acquaint- 

 ance, and set before me native cakes, almonds, 

 raisins, and various other sweetmeats, the acme of 

 native hospitality. 



That evening, by a happy coincidence, Perry ar- 

 rived, en route to his sharpu nullah, and we enjoyed 

 a pleasant evening together, seated in chairs, eating 

 from a table, and looking out of a window, for the 

 first time since leaving Srinagar in April. He had 



