94 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



the night or that he found the journey and his work 

 too much for him, or, as some one said, he had seen 

 a creditor to whom he owed five rupees, at aU events, 

 when we started in the morning no Chokra was visible, 

 and the only information ahout him we could get was 

 that he was udher gya "gone there," our informant 

 pointing up to a wilderness of forest, rock, and snow. 

 ]STurdass was a very different and much superior sort 

 of youth. His father or at least his surviving father, 

 for, though inhabited by an outlying colony of Hindu 

 Kunaits, polyandry nourishes in Shaso was a doctor 

 as well as a small proprietor, and his son had received 

 such education as could be got among the mountains. 

 The youth, or boy as he looked though fifteen years 

 old, spoke Hindustani very well, as also Kunawari, 

 and yet was never at a loss with any of the Tibetan 

 dialects we came to. He could go up mountains like 

 a wild cat, was not afraid to mount any horse, and 

 though he had never even seen a wheeled carriage 

 until we got to the plains of India, yet amid the bustle 

 and confusion of the railway stations he was cool and 

 collected as possible, and learned immediately what to 

 do there. He was equally at home in a small boat on 

 a rough day in Bombay harbour ; and after seeing 

 three steamers, compared them as critically with one 

 another as if he had been brought up to the iron 

 trade, though there was nothing of the conceited nil 

 admirari of the Chinaman about him, and he was 

 full of wonder and admiration. It was really a bold 



