A Lonely Summer in Kashmir

Contents

. Visrr TO PAYECH

. Hisrory oF KasHmMir .

. Marrann

Chapter I Alone In Kashmir

Tue question I had to decide when at the end of May gor, I was suddenly, through no fault of my own, thrown entirely on my own resources in Kashmir, with no friend in the land and no one with whom to travel or chum, was whether to hang around Srinagar or the hill-station of Gulmarg, and by mixing persistently with others try to forget my own loneliness, or whether to follow out my original plan of seeing something of the country, and explore alone the mountains and side-valleys as I had intended doing in the company of my friend. I had as yet seen only two sides of Kashmir life, that of the river, amid lovely scenery, on a house-boat ; and the life of the English residents in the capital, Srinagar, The river life is exquisite for a time, especially in the spring; the trees all bursting into life, the white blossom to be seen everywhere, the river

I A banks and fields blue with iris, the chains of snow-capped mountains on either hand which unfold their beauty slowly as the boat goes winding up the valley. After the long and tiring journey into Kashmir nothing more delightful at first can be imagined ; but after a time this lazy life is found to have its limitations; there is not enough variety for one actively inclined, the novelty of watching the boatmen punt, tow and paddle the boat wears off, there is no other exercise to be had but to walk along the bank while the boat slowly follows behind, and every day the mountains ‘look more alluring and seem to invite one into their fastnesses and to leave the sluggish river life.

Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir and the only big town in the country, is a place full of life and picturesqueness, which captivates the visitor by its novelty and perpetually amuses him by the many quaint similarities to places seen ’ before. With the polo-ground, tennis-courts, and smartly dressed ladies, one might think oneself in an ordinary Indian station; at the Residency garden-parties, where. croquet is played on the softest of lawns, and strawberries and cream dispensed under cool spreading trees, any one would think himself at a country house in England ; on the

PHE MAR CANAL, SRINAGAR river above the town, where house-boats are crowded closé together for over a mile, the sight recalls Henley a few days before the regatta ; a row down the town where houses and temples line the banks, where gracefully carved wooden balconies overhang the water, where men and women loiter chattering on the steps, and half the population lives in boats, brings back faint memories of Venice. But a visit to the Dhal Lake, with its willow-lined water canals and unique floating gardens, or a stiff climb up the hill, called ‘the Takht-i-Suléiman, to obtain a panoramic view of the city, so green in spring-time, with grass growing thickly on all the roofs ; and lastly, the perpetual swarm of merchant round one’s boat thrusting themselves and their goods in at the window repeating their never ceasing cry of: “ Only see, lady, only see; don’t buy, Mem-sahib”—these are suggestive of Srinagar, and only Srinagar, for their like is seen in no other part of the earth.

To be sure my own recent experience had not put me in _a mood to appreciate all this; for in the fortnight since my friend had left I had spent most of the time at the telegraph office, wiring and being wired to. No sooner did a message come announcing her return, than almost the next moment another would follow contradicting it; friends at Simla would send me urgent invitations to forsake my loneliness and join them at once, then before they had had time to receive my warmly worded acceptance, that plan would crumble to the dust, and they would wire to ask if I had any alternative plans. Alternative plans were not likely to be plentiful with one who owned not half a dozen friends over the million and odd square miles of the peninsula, so after a dozen such messages had passed between us, all to no purpose, I was seized with a great longing to get away into the wilds where the wire might cease from troubling . and the weary be at rest. It seemed better to be alone in the hills than hanging as a stranger on to the outskirts of a community, and I had already abundantly tested in Srinagar the truth of the saying that there is no loneliness so desolate as that to, be felt in a crowd; so I determined to be off at once, and spent the next few days in hiring tents and camping outfit, laying in stores, buying enamel plates and cups, and severely weeding from my wardrobe all but the most necessary clothes. When this was done I heard with pleasure, at sjx o'clock on the morning of June 8, the crew shouting, and the house-boat

LVOU MOOD UNV .L¥YOR-aSNOH begin to creak, then the sound of rushing water under the keel, and I knew we were free from our moorings and were moving slowly up the river in the direction of Islamabad, from which place I was to depart with my tents into the mountains.

Those who travel in boats in Kashmir have nothing to complain of on the score of comfort. The boat on which I had spent the last two months was of a kind very popular in these parts, and is known as a ‘‘ House-doonga.” The hull was long, narrow, and flat-bottomed, ending at both bow and stern in a long point which projected out of the water, and on which ‘the men walked up and down when punting. The middle of the boat was covered by the house (built of light wood, and the roof covered with rush matting for coolness), which contained one sitting-room, two bed-rooms, and a bath-room, besides a sort ‘of verandah in the front which served as an extra room, and with its open sides afforded a good view. of the scenery when the boat was “moving. * The crew for this consisted of four men who towed, punted, or paddled her along, with tolerable ease. A larger boat would have allowed room for more luxury, but would have been less easy to move against the current. Behind. the house-boat, following in her track like a shadow and yet trying to keep out of sight, as if half ashamed of its own shabbiness, followed the cook-boat, on which our meals were cooked, our three servants lived, as well as the crew, their wives, and numerous progeny. The cook-boat had a hull ‘similar to ours, only smaller, and the roof and sides were made of matting, supported by light poles; the side mats could be rolled up or let down according as protection from the sun or wind demanded, and so long as the weather was fine nothing could be nicer, but, on wet days or in a storm, they blew about sadly and were practically no use. The majority of Kashmir boats (doongas they are called), are built on this latter pattern ; whether large or small, their number is endless on all parts of the river, and , the boatmen form an important percentage of the population.

The Jhelum river, on which Srinagar stands and which flows down the main ‘valley of Kashmir, allows itself, immediately above the capital, a number of twists and curves far beyond that which would content an ordinary self-respecting stream ; a distance which is two miles by

NVNIS TAS T LH MV AHL AO WALA road is ten by the river, so that after working up against the current for several hours the traveller is rather disconcerted to find himself apparently much in the same place from whence he started ; therefore, though the men worked . well on this first day, there was little to note in the way of change of scenery. That I might have my tea in peace the boats were moored at a pretty spot where four immense chenars (plane-trees) spread their shade, over a square grassy space, in the centre of which stood a little Hindoo temple. The place was so lovely in the evening light that I jotted down some of the chief features of it for future memory. The river here makes a wide curve; straight facing us on the other shore rose the Takht-i-Suleiman, a hill 1000 feet high, on whose summit the ancient stone temple stood out in striking outline against the sky ; one side of the hill lay already in shade from the slanting evening sun; higher behind it ‘rose the blue chain of mountains which encircle ‘the Dhal Lake, and the fort-crowned hill of Hari Parabat showed a little to the left. The river ran broad and full, there were no house-boats in sight, but now and then a doonga floated Jazily down: stream, towards Srinagar.

Close to our boats two little kingfishers were busily diving for their evening meal from off a willow-tree ; above in the chenars several noisy families of crows were selecting suitable sites for the night. Sheep, cows, and ponies wandered about, getting but a scanty feed from the short and intensely green spring grass. The cheerful sound of voices came from a neighbouring village where boys and men were merry over a game of tip-cat. Behind us stretched the wide, rich valley, half trees half cultivation ; a recent flood had spread a sheet of water over some wide meadows, out of which jutted a long line of willows, marking the course the footpath usually took. The valley to the south was bounded by the grand Pir Panjal range, jagged and snow-capped and basking in the evening sun. Here and there a feathery bunch of white cloud nestled flat round a peak, or rose column-wise into the air, like smoke from a volcano, The intense bluewhite of the snow seemed almost to melt into the sky above; it was only as the sun dipped nearer and nearer to the horizon that the mountains took on a faintly rosy hue, and after a time that also passed, vanishing slowly from peak to peak, the shadows ever creeping higher and higher, till at last all was grey and cold and colourless in the gathering twilight.

The first night we moored at Karkapoor, an uninter-- esting collection of mud huts, but I wished from thence to visit the little temple of Payech some six miles away, and so ordered a pony from the village to be in readiness next day.

Chapter II Visit To Payech

Ir was on the stroke of six next morning when, taking with me the English saddle I had hired in Srinagar, I rowed over to the other side of the river where, in a ploughed field, a pony and man were waiting. As some years had passed since I had been on a horse, and at the best had never been a good rider, it was with distinct nervousness that I locked forward to this first experience on an untrained country pony. However one glance at the poor little rat awaiting me dispelled all fears for myself, though it made me full of compassion for the little animal I was to mount. He was white, very ugly and bony, his grey glassy eyes had a watery pink setting ; his nose was mottled grey and white, and gave none of that irresistible desire to pat it which a soft, velvety, horse’s nose usually inspires. He pulled and jibbed violently when being saddled, and here a few 10 difficulties presented themselves. Firstly, neither the two men nor myself knew any thing about saddling a horse; and, secondly, the girths had been designed for a good sized English animal and went nearly twice round this creature, who was not much bigger than a donkey. It was the resourcefulness of the boatman which overcame this difficulty by hitching a knot into the straps, which reduced their length considerably, but other puzzles remained to. confront us. The saddle had been sent short of one girth, and also one of the straps to keep the flap in position was missing ; this we cheerfully decided was of minor importance, so left its fellow to hang down gracefully alone; a third odd strap confused us very much and we pushed it through one of the’ many buckles which studded the saddle, apparently without any definite purpose ; it kept in position and, as far as I was able to judge, did no harm, but I cannot say I have ever seen an English horse girthed in a similar way. However, the whole thing seemed firm, which was the, main point, and when I got into my seat a few minutes afterwards the pony showed not the slightest objection, so we started at once, the owner of the pony carrying my tiffin basket wrapped round in a blanket and slung over his II shoulder, and the boatman following as guide and protector.

The path at first lay through iris-grown meadows, a very common feature of the Kashmir valley, where the plants take so firm hold upon the soil that it is next to impossible to weed them out for other crops. This is not the large, broad-leafed iris such as we have in our gardens, and which grows here also in patches on the hill-sides, chiefly over the cemeteries, but a smaller, more delicate sort, whose leaves resemble those of the jonquil. They are not a valueless crop by any means, for. the sheep and cattle feed on them largely. My pony picked his way carefully along the uneven path, and a more sure-footed little animal could nowhere have been found ; we came to an excellent understanding together, on the. basis that I was to leave the selection of the path entirely to him. This left me freer to hold up my sunshade against the sun and saved me from pulling his mouth with the heavy bit. He had an unerring eye for the best place to plant his foot among the loose rough stones, never once’ stumbling, while bridges which would have sent an English horse wild with fear did not trouble him an instant. At sight of the first bridge we had

2 * to cross I confess that my heart came into my mouth, for physical courage and love of danger never found a place in my composition. The bridge consisted of four or five pine-trees stretched over the torrent from bank to bank ; across these some rough unhewn logs had been thrown, and, though some sods of earth had been placed over the lot to fill up the vacancies, yet the gaps were sufficiently yawning to enable one to see clearly the rushing water beneath. The whole structure was not more than four feet wide, with no balustrade of any sort, so that the least start or false step on the part of the pony would have sent us down twenty feet into the river below, where the water was too full of rocks to break a fall comfortably ; but my little animal never: turned a hair, he looked easily to right and left as if the sight and sound of the rushing water afforded him pleasure, carefully picked his way among the loose logs so as to avoid putting his hoof down a hole, and behaved as if he were on the best macadamised road. I breathed freely again, and when we came to the next bridge thought I had nothing to fear, for though the river was larger and the bridge consequently longer, it was a more elaborate structure and had a rail on either side ; but just at the moment I came up a3 to it, a cow appeared at the other end and seemed as anxious to hold it against all comers as the dauntless three in “‘ Horatius.” My coolie therefore ran forward to drive her back, and the movement set up by the two of them caused the bridge to sway backwards and forwards as if it had been hung only on loose ropes; I allowed it a few seconds to subside, but even then as I passed it creaked and swung to such an extent as to make me feel, as the Irishman expressed it, as if “ each moment would be my next.”

We passed through several villages, picturesque and dirty as all Kashmir villages are ; the houses were of mud and timber, with ramshackle. wooden verandahs and projecting balconies, blackened usually with age or smoke ; there is far

~more picturesqueness of structure to be seen here than in an Indian village. Unfortunately the people themselves never lend the beautiful touches of colour which are such a delight to the eye in India; the Kashmiri is essentially of the earth, earthy. In a land flowing with water he appears never to wash from one year’s end to the other ; his shapeless and effeminate cotton garment, which ‘might be white, is usually black with the dirt of ages ; his dark homespun is an ugly brown colour, and clean or not, would never look so. AS he stands cultivating the fields, both his own complexion and that of his clothes blend with the tone of the new ploughed earth. It is, of course, not fair to judge other people by our own standards, and in a land where it is considered the sign of a loose character for a woman to be clean, it is not likely that’ cleanliness will be reckoned next to godliness.

” Once passed the villages with their mulberry- and walnut-trees growing on the village green, and the pretty streams over-hung with willows, (there was surely never such a country for willows,) a long stretch across open rice-fields lay before us. Rice has to be grown in running water; to this end the whole valley had been graduated in terraces enclosed by ‘little banks of grass, and rivulets of water came down from the highlands above and trickled from terrace to terrace down the whole valley, making it shine like a lake in the morning sun, for the crops were only just beginning to sprout, and showed up like thin blades of grass through the water. Overhead the larks were singing with that Whole-hearted happiness which seems to characterise the lark all the world over; there was a thin morning haze over the landscape, through which the line of snow-capped mountains, 15 which fringed the horizon, looked more than usually ethereal. The track was now very narrow, not more than a thin raised mud bank winding through the rice-fields, and was made very slippery by the water, but that excellent pony kept his foothold like a cat, and never slipped or wavered for a moment. We gradually neared a curious low sandhill, flat as a billiard table on the top, the face of which was honeycombed with small holes in which birds of all sorts were building. “A shallow river ran at the foot of this hill, winding as small streams will, for which reason our little foot-track suddenly made a great effort to keep straight, and boldly cut through the water as often as it got in the way, therefore we had to wade three times before we were finished with it. Where the river came in close to the foot of the hill the path struck upwards, and rather nervous work I found it as we rose higher and higher, for the path at best was not more than a yard wide, and being of loose, sandy soil it often crumbled half away. It was here that | realised that it was best to let my apparently meek pony have everything entirely his own way, for at one part where the path had almost disappeared down the cliff, a fresh track had been worn a few yards higher up the face of the hill. 16

I naturally preferred the latter as farthest removed from the yawning depth on my right, but the pony thought otherwise and wished for the older and more level path. With whip and rein I gained my point, only to regret it sincerely the next minute ; for, arrived at the top, that most sedate animal pretended to be smitten with a fit of nerves, he hesitated and balanced from one foot to another, but refused to go down the edge of the slope ; I coaxed and persuaded, he in reply plainly asserted that he really cou/dn’s, his courage was not equal to such a task, though of course it was nothing to places down which we had already come. Retreat was out of the question, for there was no room to turn ; on my left rose @ perpendicular sand cliff, on my right was a clear drop of fifty feet into the stream below ; dismounting was equally impossible, therefore progression was our only salvation, and that was the one method my steed refused to consider. After what seemed to me an-age, but which was probably only a few seconds by the watch, he put one foot gingerly forward and, finding the earth firm beneath, stiffly and. still nervously continued down the path, until we at last reached level ground once more ; but I had learned my lesson, and then and there resolved no more to impose my foreign ignorance on his local instinct, and the rest of our ride passed in peace.

The Temple of Payech, the aim and object of my ride, is small but very well preserved; like many other Kashmir temples it is of uncertain date, though opinion seems to favour the end of the fifth century a.p., as the time of its erection. The accompanying snapshot will give a better idea of the general outline than a tedious verbal description, though the finer details of carving round the lintels are necessarily lost in so small a photograph. Perhaps the pretty surroundings of this temple help as much as anything to make it a favourite with travellers; the sloping green knoll on which it stands, the cool shade of a clump of walnut-trees close by, the’ glimpses of @ village seen through the trees behind, and the cheerful brook running at the foot of the slope, form a charming setting to a building which would be dwarfed by scenery of a grander scale.

After viewing it from every position, and making a brief note of the details to serve for comparison with other temples yet to be seen, I settled down comfortably to tiffin under a thick-foliaged walnut-tree, the sad pony snatched a scanty meal of grass, and half the village turned out to squat amie ee am on-¢

RIVER ABOVE SRINAGAR

THE TEMPLE OF PAYECH down on the ground with my two men, and gossip in the never-ending way habitual to Kashmiris. So we enjoyed an hour’s rest, and only fear of the ever increasing heat prevented us from making the rest longer ; as it was, long before the return journey was accomplished the sun was striking down with increasing intensity, and I was glad to reach the shelter of the boat again and enjoy a well-earned “bath and rest after the dusty ride; then the boatmen cast loose and we continued the journey up stream.

Chapter III Achibal

Two days more up the river brought me to Islamabad, the Ultima Thule for travellers on the Jhelum, for beyond that it is too shallow for house-boats to go. It was a grand evening of packing, that last one on the boat; both I, the boatmen, and servants wrestled till eleven o’clock at night v th refractory household goods’; such things as knives, ’ forks, lamps, groceries, books, bottles of oil, vinegar cand: ink, lamp oil and house linen, do not take kindly at first to travelling in close company, but we triumphed with patience, and in the end the damask table-cloth and the pot of blacking, the glass lamp-chimney and the hard enamel soup plate, lay down in the ké/ta side by side, and like the young lion and the calf in Isaiah, were no worse for the contact,

A kilta I should explain, for those who have not

KASHMIRI BOATMAN face pics travelled in Kashmir, is an invaluable article for camping, and may be best described as a cross between an Ali Baba “jar and a clothes basket ; that is to say, it has the pleasantly bulging shape of the Ali Baba jars of one’s childhood’s pictures, but is of basket work, covered with leather ; this, with the round lid and the modest way it has of occupying a corner of the tent, suggests the useful soiled-linen basket of a well regulated English bed-room. I had invested in Srinagar in two new kiltas, of which I was very proud, and into these most of my stores and household things were packed. When half full, the cook, who was young and excitable, burst into the sitting-room and said he must have one kilta for the meat; the Bearer and I hotly protested against this desecration of our clean new purchases, and said the meat must travel in the place obviously intended for it by Nature, i.e., the meat-safe ; whereupon the cook retired grumbling, saying that the sun would spoil his wares, ,but we shouted after him to try paper for a protection, and with that, as they say in diplomatic circles, the incident was closed, for certainly when we’ reached the first halting-place that night the meat seemed no worse for its ‘sun-baked journey. 21

As with every previous packing of which I have had the guidance the books were the bane of the whole arrangement and the rugs the means of salvation. I have packed for many journeys and under every variety of circumstance, and never yet have I succeeded in making the articles fit into the boxes intended for them; then, in the midst of blank despair, comes the rest-bringing thought that the rugs have yet to be rolled up, and what will it matter if the straps have to be let out a few more holes? No one will notice it. The result is, I generally set out on ‘my travels with an elegant Gladstone bag, a still more lady-like hatbox, and a bundle of. rugs which looks as if it had just

.arrived from a wholesale carpet warehouse.

I had intended placing the books in the kiltas, but when these. latter were filled nearly to the brim with stores, my better feelings revolted against seeing my new Morley’s “Cromwell,” Lord Roberts’ “Forty-One Years,” the “Forest Lovers,” and a Browning, not to mention other valued friends, packed cheek by jowl with the scourings of a grocer’s shop, (also, to speak quite truthfully, the Bearer told me he needed the remaining space for his lamps,) so the usual gloom was settling upon me, while the servants stood round in a circle, asking with endless insistence where I meant to pack the things, when like an inspiration the never failing solution flashed upon me, and dragging the hold-all into the middle of the room I shook out a warm dressing-gown and fur-cloak, then before they knew what was happening to them, poet, statesman, and field-marshal were nestling snugly in the warm folds, where they remained free from damp and harm during the next three days’ travelling.

The first day’s march is always full of interest even to an old traveller ; itis important to know how many coolies will be wanted, and what sort of loads the ponies will carry, for then the total expense of the journey can be roughly calculated. Now this was my very first experience of marching, and, moreover, I was personally conducting myself, with no outside aid from any one, so I will be forgiven when I say that I rose next morning ina state of unusual excitement. When I stepped on shore a curious sight presented itself, for amidst a crowd of coolies, ponies, and boatmen, I perceived lying strewn over the ground every stick of furniture I possessed, apparently in wild disorder ; and yet not in utter disorder, for there was a certain method in the madness. On looking closer I noticed that where one kilta lay, there lay the other one also, bound to it by strands of cord and sharing a small piece of square sacking ; my bedding and a bundle of tent canvas: were similarly mated together on another little black bed, while farther on three camp-chairs and a dining-table went, so to speak, hand in hand. There was reason in all this, for it is essential both for the safety of the luggage and the comfort of the pack-pony that the load should be evenly balanced ; the coolies had seen to all this, and there was now nothing to do but to lift each burden on to the ponies’ backs where their own weight kept them in position. There are of course some things which always refuse to find their. counterpoise, and for which special arrangements havé to be made; my zinc bath was one of these and usually graced the top of a pony’s back after the side-loads had been arranged. Similarly the meat-safe had to travel alone, strapped to the shoulders of a coolie, who also carried in his hand a tin of kerosene oil, .which had been voted too dangerous a neighbour for close association. with other things.

It was a curious sight as the ponies tailed off up the road

FOLK

KASHMIRI BOAT to see one’s usually inanimate furniture galvanised into life and action by the journey ; my wicker chair which I had ~hitherto regarded as prosaic, now reclined with a jaunty tilt on the back of one animal and seemed as it passed to rakishly dare me to take my customary seat between its comfortable arms ; next came the tea-table (usually so peacefully suggestive of afternoon tea) with legs kicking angrily in the air in protest at the indignity of being made to perform the whole journey on its head ; the following pony went by to the sound of a mighty cackling, for three poor chickens, tied by the legs, were made fast to the top of the load and much resented being compulsory travellers. I was always ‘sorry when we had to travel with live stock, for animals fare badly at the hands of native servants, and it seemed hard after sharing in all the fatigues of the day that they should only find rest in the stock-pot. I wished it could have been so ordered that death preceded the funeral march, as with human beings; but under a tropical sun this was not always feasible, so the march came first and death followed.