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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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idea of greatness : to them that country is the greatest which
conquers most ; and he knew the history of how we had advanced
up from Calcutta and gradually conquered the whole of India.
In regard to the people, I found them as gay and cheerful
as could be, now that their harvest was in, and the question
of the Mehtarship was apparently settled. At each village we
arrived at, crowds would come out to meet the Mehtar, a band
played in the cavalcade, and, if a halt was to be made, there
would certainly be polo, firing at the popinjay, or dancing.
The Chitralis love amusement. Gloominess is not their natural
trait at all ; and, when they can be seen free from restraint, there
is something very attractive about them. All day, as we rode
along on the march, they used to be chaffing and laughing,
and they are then as wild and simple and careless as children.
We were crossing a pass one day ; it was over thirteen thousand
feet high, and snow was falling heavily the whole way over ;
but when a man came up to say there were some ibex (wild
goats) in a neighbouring valley, they all wanted to go off
after the ibex, although doing so would have meant sleeping
out on the pass without tents. Whenever news of any sport
like this reaches them, they all shout with excitement, and
become as keen about it as a boy. On this occasion the ibex
disappeared before we got up to them, so we proceeded over
the pass, and waited at the foot of it, on the opposite side,
for the baggage to come up. The Mehtar had a couple of
hundred men with him, but only he had a tent, and as there
was no village, they had to sleep in the open. A huge fire
was lighted, and we all sat round in a circle till the Mehtar's
and my tent arrived, and, in spite of the snow and the cold,
I never saw men more cheery. Then, as we marched on down
the Turikho valley the next few days, at each village, as we
approached, the heights were lined with matchlock-men firing
a rude feu de joie, and all the principal men and the Mehtar
and I would join in a wild game of polo, every one galloping
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