young black bear, which they had just caught to show me. It was no
larger than a good-sized dog, but had very long sharp claws; its
expression was anything but ferocious. A dense pine and walnut forest
extends down one of the hills to the verge of the village. I was
strolling in that direction, not a hundred yards from the huts--before
the arrival of my baggage--when two men ran after me and begged me to
come back on account of the number of tigers there. I imagined they
meant leopards, but on making enquiries I find cows are carried away,
which could not be done by leopards. This would be a good ground for the
sportsman, but no Europeans come here as it is off the regular track up
the valley. I crossed the river this morning by a ricketty bridge built
of a couple of firs, on which logs were loosely laid, leaving the main
road which runs along the other or right bank. Just behind my tent a
stream of deliciously cold and transparent water issues from the hill
side; a rough sort of shed is erected over it, and the water is
conducted a short distance in a wooden trough, from the end of which it
falls to the ground. It is the custom in Kashmir to build over the
springs and esteem them holy. No mosquitoes up here, delightful prospect
of a good night's rest.


JULY 31st.--Back to Kungan in one march, but did not encamp on the same
ground as before, as I found a better place by the side of the river. I
have been thinking all the morning about my future career, whether I
shall obtain the appointment in the Guards that I have applied for, (my
application has by this time reached England) if not, what will they do
with me when I get home, or shall I remain in the army? These questions
have been running in my head and occasionally a more delicate one
obtruded. Shall I marry, and if so, when and whom, and here, where all
my thoughts are revealed, I must needs confess that now at twenty-nine