especially the four men who had *been with me in 1896. All of them had worked hard and endured many privations without a murmur. Though they were naturally destitute of fighting courage they had -never hesitated to risk their lives on dangerous tracks and breaking ice, nor had they ever shown any desire to quit my service even when they knew that my route was across mountains quite unknown to them. Whatever may be the general reputation of Ladakis, most of those of whom I had experience.served me well in the most trying circumstances of country and climate. In parting with them I distributed amongst them many of the animals which it had taken much time and trouble to collect, selling the few which -I did not thus dispose of.
The march to Kashmir was performed without trouble, - thanks to the excellent arrangements for transport and supplies at each halting place, and I was fortunate in having the company of Major L. Graham and Captain Riccard.
On reaching Srinagar, from which I had been absent about two years, during which I had covered more than 5,300 miles with a caravan, I felt rather ashamed of my general appearance, for I was in a very rough and unkempt condition, with a coat torn, worn, patched and stained, and I attempted, unsuccessfully, to slip unperceived into the dak bungalow (State rest house) .
To avoid the heat of Debra DIM and the Punjab in August, I went to Simla, intending to recuperate for a few weeks, but, being overtaken with a combination of maladies—malarial fever, congestion of the liver, sciatica, rheumatism, and gout—I was detained for two months in the Ripon hospital, where I was carefully tended by doctors and nurses. The weary days of sickness were enlivened by visits of many friends, whose bright faces, kind attention, and pleasant, cheerful talk I shall always
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