62 TKAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



I rode almost every mile of the way, on which it 

 was at all possible to ride, from Chinese Tartary to 

 the Kyber Pass, on anything which turned up 

 yaks, zo-pos, cows, Spiti ponies, a Khiva horse, and 

 blood-horses. On getting to Kashmir I purchased a 

 horse, but did not do so before, as it is impossible to 

 take any such animal over rope and twig bridges, 

 and the rivers are too rapid and furious to allow of a 

 horse being swum across these latter obstacles. The 

 traveller in the Himaliya, however, ought always to 

 take a saddle with him ; for the native saddles, 

 though well adapted for riding down nearly perpen- 

 dicular slopes, are extremely uncomfortable, and the 

 safety which they might afford is considerably de- 

 creased by the fact that their straps are often in a 

 rotten condition, and exceedingly apt to give way 

 just at the critical moment. An English saddle will 

 do perfectly well if it has a crupper to it, but that is 

 absolutely necessary. Some places are so steep that, 

 when riding down them, I was obliged to have a 

 rope put round my chest and held by two men 

 above, in order to prevent me going over the pony's 

 head, or throwing it off its balance. But on the 

 Hindusthan and Tibet road I had to be carried in a 

 dandy, which is the only kind of conveyance that 

 can be taken over the Himaliya. The dandy is 

 unknown in Europe, and is not very easily described, 

 as there is no other means of conveyance which can 

 afford the faintest idea of it. The nearest approach 



