Serinuggur, where, at all events, we were certain of fine weather. Though it rains a good deal in the centre of the valley, and almost constantly in the mountains during the monsoon, there is very seldom a shower in Serinuggur. The reason seems to be that the city is sufficiently near the mountains for all the clouds that form over it to be drawn away, while the rain falls in the centre of the valley, which is too far from the mountains to be affected by their power of condensing the vapour.

When the weather improved I started for an excursion up the river. The tent was pitched in a valley stretching far into the hills, and branching amongst them in all directions. As the weather was very fine there was much better shooting on the sides of the mountains. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the view from the mountains, especially at sunrise, when the white peaks all round the valley were gradually lighted up with brilliant colours from the rising sun, and as the mist gradually rose, the whole valley appeared stretched out like a map; the atmosphere was beautifully clear, and the river could be seen winding its way through the whole length of the valley, about seventy miles, like a stream of silver. All the lakes of Cashmir were plainly visible, and the villages could be distinguished by the groves of fruit

trees which surrounded them.

Numbers of beautiful birds flew about the trees. They were of all colours of the rainbow: the prettiest were the mango birds, of a bright yellow and brown, doves of quieter colours, and the most beautiful of all the bulbul of Cashmir, the body and tail jet black and the wings a bright scarlet. One evening, after a long stalk the side of a difficult mountain, I got within 200 yards of two large black bears feeding amongst the trees. Their sense of smell is very acute, though they

up

are dull of sight and hearing, and I had a long scramble to get to leeward of them. I crept to within 30 yards, up a place as steep as the side of a house, through brushwood, and taking a steady aim from behind a stone at the brute's shoulder, fired. He rolled over and commenced tearing the ground with his claws and bellowing like twenty bulls. I lay perdu behind the stone, and when he turned fired the second bullet, which hit him also. He roared louder and louder, making a great noise, and I had to lie close till he set off at a slow pace down the hill. Bears are very plucky, and if they catch sight of anyone when wounded, will attack him in nine cases out of ten; it is dangerous to show oneself, but one is pretty safe hidden behind a stone to leeward. The sportsman should never leave himself without a loaded barrel or two to fire in case of emergency. I had made sure of getting this bear, but they carry a great deal of shot, and there was nothing for it but to follow his tracks. They led us a long way over very difficult ground, and night came on while we were still a long way from the tent, which was in the valley below. We had to sleep where we were, under the lee of large stones. It was an uncomfortable night; the rain, the noise of a thunderstorm, and the melancholy howling of a leopard on the hill side, made sleep almost impossible.

At daylight we resumed the track of the bear, which led us down into the valley close to a village: we were unable to find him, but he was found afterwards by some of the villagers, dead. After some days' shooting here, I started for a valley called Lolab, at the farther end of Cashmir; I went down the river in a boat, but before coming to the lake, I landed and marched along the top of a low range of mountains which ran parallel to the river, in hopes or getting a shot at the twelve-tine deer. They are like the red deer of

Scotland, but a good deal larger. They come down from the higher ranges ofmountains about September, and afford good sport. They feed on low mountains, the tops of which are flat and the sides not steep. These hills are covered with a fine green turf, with groups of large trees scattered about. Few parks could rival in beauty or in fine trees these spots, which owe nothing to art. The deer have a loud and peculiar call: the hunter listens for this, and if the stag is not alarmed by noise or smell, generally succeeds in stalking near enough to get an easy shot. I arrived a few days too early in the season, and the deer were not yet calling, so I descended the mountain to the borders of the lake, crossed to the other side, and landed at the foot of another range of mountains, which bounded the lake. Half way up the mountain were a few acres of land covered with a crop of Indian corn, which was just ripening, and in which the bears did great mischief every night. They never appeared in the daytime, but at night they were very bold, and would hardly move out of the way of a native, while the torches, which generally frightened them away, were quite ineffectual here. I determined to try and get a shot, and took up my post on the flat roof of a labourer's hut till the darkness set in. It was rather an out-of-the-way place, and some of the people had never seen a white man before: the children seemed particularly astonished at the apparition.

As soon as it was dark the bears could be plainly heard feeding amongst the corn, so, tying a piece of white cotton on the sight of the gun, I crept about the field trying to see them. For a long time we could tell by the noise that there were two bears feeding, sometimes not farther off than five yards; but the night was so dark, there being no moon, and the crops so thick, we could not get a sight of them.

At

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last I saw a black shadow in a mor open spot that I thought was bear, so taking as good an aim as I could I fired both barrels, and took to my heels like a lamplighter for a wounded bear is a dangerous customer. We could not tell whether he was hit or not, but both bears rushed up the hill into the wood; they were heard again at work in the corn 15 minutes afterwards, but it was evidently too dark to think of shooting one, and we retired to rest for the remainder of the night. The torches which the people use to drive away bears and to give themselves light are pieces of the wood of a particular kind of fir tree, which burns when green, giving a beautifully clear and bright flame. This wood well supplies the place of oil and candles, which the majority of the people are too poor to buy.

In the morning we crossed the range of hills which separates the valley of Lolab from the lake; the view of this little valley, which is about 12 miles long and 4 broad, from the top of the range, is very beautiful. It is the most fertile spot in the fertile valley of Cashmir, and the rich crops, which were just being gathered in, made the valley the colour of gold. The splendid trees, the villages surrounded by walnut groves, for which this district is famous, the magnificent scenery of the surrounding mountains, the base of which were covered with thick forests, made a beautiful picture.

The finest English fruits could be pulled by any one who wished; vines grew round forest trees, and bunches of grapes hung among the top branches at a great height from the ground. Unfortunately the people are not so well off as they might be: they live under an oppressive gover ment, and the taxes amount to more than half the produce of the land. Government officers were collecting taxes in the valley, and I heard from the farmers that at harvest time the collectors claim nominally half the

produce, which in reality is nearly two thirds, as they use different weights from the people. There are stone houses in different places, where all the corn thus collected is stowed, to be sold for the government: the small portion left the farmer affords a miserable profit for his year's labour.

There are numbers of bears in this valley,'attracted by the walnuts, of which they are very fond, but owing to the thickness of the cover they are very difficult to get at. I managed to secure one near a village where a man had been killed a few days before by a bear.

Having arrived at the end of the valley, before taking to the mountains again it was necessary to procurea supply of provisions for several days. The headman of the village said he had none to spare, and refused to give any. This delayed us nearly a day, but at last he thought better of it and gave us a supply, and we started late in the evening. The objection on the part of the natives to supply provisions arises partly from their being so badly treated in the matter of payment by the servants of Englishmen. The Englishman always pays handsomely for what he gets, but in many instances the money is divided between his own servants and the sepoy who is always sent with Europeans, while the unfortunate native gets little or nothing. They are afraid to complain, and look with suspicion on the next traveller. Payment should never be left to servants, and travellers should take measures to prevent the servants making the villagers give up the money after they have been paid.

The range of mountains we had ascended were very beautiful; they were covered with green turf, interspersed with wood, the air was clear and exhilarating, though rather cold, and the view of the snowy mountains towards Thibet was per

VOL. VIII-NO. XLIII. NEW SERIES.

fectly splendid. From amongst these rose the Nango Parbat mountain, one of the highest in the world, in the form of a sugar loaf, 28,000 feet above the level of the sea: it is 12,000 or 13,000 feet higher than Mont Blanc, and it has never been ascended, nor could any one live in so rarefied an atmosphere as that which surrounds the top. The shooting on these mountains was good, but we had not much time to spend on them. One morning, we saw from the tent a brown bear and two cubs feeding on an adjoining mountain. After two or three hours' stalking, I got within a hundred yards; carefully creeping along the ground, I reduced the distance to fifty yards and got a good shot with the rifle. The cubs scuttled away at the sound, but the old bear fell after running a few yards. She was a large beast, with a beautiful coat of long silky fur, unlike the black bears, whose hair is short and coarse. We secured the skin and some of the bear's grease, and left the carcase, as another bear was reported in sight, intending to get the rest of the grease next day. After a very long and difficult stalk, over ground almost too steep to clamber over, I got within range of the bear, an enormous brown fellow with a splendid coat. He was feeding in a hollow behind a rock, and I thought I could get closer. left the shikari behind, and taking a rifle, I crawled along the ground for eighty yards, and reached the stone, behind which I had seen him. I looked over and there he was, looking as big as a lion, and only five yards off. I had to wait two or three minutes to get steady, and taking a good aim, I fired at his shoulder. I saw the ball strike him, and jumped up thinking he was killed, He rolled over but got up again, and I fired the second barrel, hitting him again. However, he went off. It was very dangerous

I

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to show myself with nothing in the gun, for wounded bears generally attack, and the red ones are the most ferocious, but this one was too much frightened by the sudden apparition so close to him. We followed him for a long way, but lost him, which was very provoking after so close a shot. On the way back to the tents we saw the carcase of the first bear: it had been completely devoured by kites and eagles, and nothing was left but the skeleton. We passed the last night on these hills in a snowstorm, which threatened to blow the little tent over a precipice, on the edge of which it was pitched. In the morning we marched to the borders of the lake, where we procured a boat which took us to Serinuggur in a day and night.

One of the log bridges of Serinuggur had broken down from old age, and half the bridge had fallen, carrying with it the wooden shops built on the sides. The inhabitants never think of keeping them in repair, but are content to wait till they fall of themselves. The beams supporting this bridge had been half broken through the whole summer, and it was evident that the bridge must have fallen before long. There were several people killed by the accident.

Serinuggur contains a number of Mohammedan mosques: the bells ring every evening at sunset, when the muezzin sounds over the town. The priests call the faithful to prayers from the roofs of the

mosques.

The people are oppressed by the Maharajah and his ministers. Čashmir has always been a Mohammedan country since there have been any records of it. The English Government sold it to the family of the present Maharajah, which was an injustice to the people, for their new ruler was not only of a different country, but of a religion the members of which have always been

bitter enemies to the Mohammedans.

The country is famous for its pasturage and its cattle, which should be a source of wealth. The cow, however, is sacred in the eyes of Hindoos, and there is a penal law against their being killed for food; consequently the herds of cattle are only kept for their milk, and many who are now almost starving would be well off if this law were repealed. One day I stopped a man in the streets who was being taken to jail in irons by two sepoys, to find out what he was accused of. He was going to prison for killing a cow for beef. Sheep are allowed to be killed for food, but every now and then an order comes out from the government prohibiting the killing of sheep on a particular day, and often for two or three days together. As no notice is given it is impossible to procure mutton on these days, and the only substitute is fowls, which the Hindoos consider unclean animals, and take no notice of.

Every day, at a particular hour, a most discordant noise from the temple at the Palace might be heard. This was the priest waking up the stone idol to give him his evening feed. Food is placed before it twice a day in this manner, which is afterwards eaten by the priests, to prevent waste. The Fakirs, or priests, go about almost naked, their hair hanging in long uncombed locks, and their bodies covered with white and flame-coloured paint, and the more mad or idiotic they are, or pretend to be, the holier they are considered. They are much given to eating bang and opium, and under the influence of these drugs they sometimes get up the most frantic excitement.

One night the town was awakened about 2 A.M. by heavy guns firing close to Serinuggur, with quite a startling effect, the sound rever