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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books
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The heart of a continent : vol.1 |
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very noticeable, and on the roadside the houses are actually
built on to the trees.
We drove into an inn yard, but found there was no room;
and were told that a batch of soldiers were passing through,
so all the inns had closed their doors. The gallant defenders
of their country are not held in much esteem by their fellow-
countrymen. After waiting for half an hour in the cart, the
landlord made arrangements for a room for me.
A Turk who spoke Hindustani now appeared. He was
a Hajji, and had spent ten years in India, horse-dealing. He
was very friendly, and asked if he could be of any service. I
said I wanted a Turk servant to go to India with me, and
also wanted to buy a good pony. He went off, saying there
were plenty of both, and soon the inn yard was full of ponies.
He was a regular Indian horse-dealer, and I laughed when
he began with the usual "Sahib, ham juth ne bolenge" ("I
will not tell a lie"), "dam assi rupiye" ("the price is eighty
rupees"). I told him I never told lies either, and what I
would give was twenty taels (he reckoned eighty rupees at
thirty taels). All sorts of ponies appeared, and I rode between
twenty and thirty up and down the main street, which was
the only place handy for trying them. They were asking
about three times the price usually given for ponies in these
parts, so I only selected one, which I bought for twenty-five
taels (£5). It was about the lowest-priced pony they brought,
but they were going by a different standard to mine, for size
and weight-carrying capacity is what they value. The Hajji
was very keen upon my buying a two-year-old pony marked
with black spots all over. I said it was too young. "Not
at all," he said. "He will be three or four years old by the
time you get to India." This after he had told me I could
get there in two months! Two Afghans also, who had lived
here for twenty years, visited me. I asked them if they were
here in Yakoob Beg's time. They said, "Yes; that was a
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471
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482
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