国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

be procured at a price varying from a hundred to a hundred and fifty rupis. Par-
ticular care should be taken in its selection. An inferior animal for the servants
will cost from forty to sixty rupis.

Different opinions exist with reference to the shoeing of horses. It is often
maintained, that a horse once shod is no longer sure-footed—one of the most ne-
cessary and essential qualities of a horse to be used in the mountains. This assertion
is quite true for cases in which shoes are applied to horses according to the European
fashion; but a horse with thin and properly fitting shoes is not only as sure-footed
as one without, but will prove more serviceable over stony and rocky ground. The
traveller does best to accommodate himself to the custom of the province through
which he is passing. Horses are scarcely ever shod in Kámáon and Gárhvál, so
that the animal is likely to be ruined there, from this operation being unskilfully
performed by inexpert natives (nalbánds); whilst in Turkistán the people are all in
the habit of shoeing their horses, a manipulation which they perform very dexterously:
most of the Turkistánis have even a slight knowledge of the veterinary art. Each
caravan carries with it the instruments required, and the men are thus enabled to
shoe any of the horses whenever it may be found necessary.

The mode in which the saddle and the luggage are put on the horse's back¹
is very important. Pads (námdas) made of felt or wool (to each side of which pockets
may be attached for carrying weapons or any other articles) are very essential to
keep the back from being chafed: but on longer and protracted marches, in spite
of all precautions, a great number of the animals will become so sore in the back
as to be altogether unfit for service.

To ladies, or to invalids unable to ride, a dándi is to be recommended, in which,
if carried by trained men, they can be brought up very bad and rough ground, and
even over some of the more frequented passes. In cases of short temporary illness
a dándi may occasionally be very useful. Any strong pole, with a cloth sufficiently
large, elliptically folded, and solidly attached to it in a longitudinal form, may at
once be converted into a dándi.

Jhámpans, or carrying-chairs, can only be used on better roads, chiefly in the
outer parts of the Himálaya; but travelling is not very agreeable either in a jhámpan
or in a dándi.