Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-26

| about it7' she said, and he instantly re-
, sponded. Il am going to find IT." and he
did find 1t in the course of an hour or two,
during which time we fioated' or were poled
| about in state of evaporation over the
| strident bowls of our men. who thought
| nothing of calling to other boatmen nearly
a mile away to inquire as to our where
| abouts.
| We always had the beautiful mountains
| of the Wular lake to guide ourselves by, so
| we had no fear as to the result. In all
| the houses we passed the natives were liv-
| ing In the upper stories. their cattle on the
! mud roofs of the godowns, which, in some
| cases, made good grazing grounds. the
| rains having brought up goodly crop OK
| grass and weeds. At last We reached the
| beautiful lake, the finest in Kashmir. in
| our opinion, and our boatmen picked out
| particularly dirty little town and informed
US that it would be necessary to spend the
| night there. as it was dangerous to cross
| the lake in the afternoon on account OF the
! winds.
| We were perfectly willing to spend tie
| afternoon on the Wular, which is a very
! dangerous lake to cross, but not at that
| nasty little village. AS our first and great
| est necessity was clean water for cooking
| and tasting. We asked where it could be
| found. With a wave of the hand toward
| the lake, Rasoula said: Behold Mem Sahib,
| water of most clean. and dirty not at all.
and not until after a long and wordy arsu-
| ment did we succeed in impressins him that
the water from well We must have not
| from the lakes in which dead bodies of ami
| mails abounded, drowned in the flood: as
| no well was to be found in that nasty little
| town. we gave the command to go to
| larger place about ten minutes further on.
Could Not Tell Lie.
II will not won't co. quoth the boatman
| In all gentleness. go at once we insist
| ed mildly. mo, highness, your honor"
said the idead being, 1.-The wind will
| come upon US and l cannot tell a lie,
must not the damages having!' Water
We must have" we said sternly land ii
yCE go not in ten minutes we must bring
GU. our 'pistoor." And SO We went. If
the wind had pursued us it could have only
blown us over to our destination. When we
| arrived at the town, which looked rather
imposing from a distance, we found well
az the foot of a small hill, on which was
dirty-loOking farmyard.
The cover of logs was carefully taken OIL
and a thick green scum disclosed. alive
with worms and froglets. That would not
dc, of course, so we sent for the head man,
a patriarchal looking being, with long
beard dyed a brilliant crimson and yards
of very dirty drapery swathed about him.
He said in Hindustanee: Yes, huZoor,
wells there be five of them, each one dirtler
than the other. but let the huzoors see lot
themselves" and he waved to small
shikara full of water lily pads, beside
which four bullocks were drawn up, hap
PLY munchng the lily leaf. nearly
naked youth at once Tie Co"S
away, SO to speak, and we were helped ill.,
One of US slid unsteadily along the wet.
muddy boards, coming down on the seat
with a thump, which smashed 1t nat, at
which the others heartleSsly laughed. but
the throng of natives who had gathered
about showed not the tremor of a smile
From well to well we sped. each scumm'er
and froggier than the last. and finally we
gave up in despair where. we asked
the head man. can fresh water be foun 1!
We, being ladies'. cannot drink of the water
in which pigs are drowned .-
Hit It at Last.
AS the pig Is a tabooed animal this
speech made some imposing effect. There
was silence for moment, and then the OLD
patriarch said: "Oh huZoor, If the water
of the lake you like not. then go you must
to Sopor, ten miles from this, my village
Whereupon we gave the command to go 10
that distant town, but the men apsoluteiy
refused to risk the lake in the afternoon.
We knew well that there was risk. o'it
at the same time water we must nave 80
we engaged six coolies, and feehns t'ie
danger reduced our boatmen allowed US 10
start The four new men on our BOAT az
sat together in the front and PADDED hestlt
ily our boatmen polling with VIII, s,nu
their wives steering in the stern 1t was
ar exciting two hours, l confess, OF as
Rasoula says, Il cannot tell lie, II Was
an exciting two hours. -, .,.
Little HurrleS OIL "l1lu eiAS
now and again. but we never once hea'u
that dreadful and indescribable roar or a
Kashmir wind storm! Sopor we 5ound na ~,
under water; men, women anu an a
wading no and down the streets ana
most dreadful smell everywhere we sent
at once for the head man. who proved al
most irnpossibly stupid. When we asked Tor
water he pointed to the nasty river ana
said Here there is water, why not eating
thereof" At last we gave him up, and see
ing houseboat full of Englishmen moored
near the bridge we sent Rasouia to ask
Their servants where they got water.
By that time it was nearly o'clock; the
sun had set and left the sky all aglow, of
clear deep crimson, and the full moon gave
US plenty of light, Rasoula appeared shortly
and informed US that the English sahib's
servant said that his masters ate water
from spring to which he, Rasoula, would
now take us So we We're led along in the
lovely cleaning up a pretty lane, and at
the end of 1t stopped to inquire of a person
who was literally roosting on the extreme
edge of a stone wall, wrapped to the nose
in dirty rags and apparently guarding
MISUNDERSTANDING goat, the way to the
spring
He gazed at US silently for several min
utes and then disentangled a brown arm
from among his swathings and waved 1T
haughtily and silently to the right, then at
once thrust 1t back, and. leaning his chin on
his chest, closed his eyes. Quite embar-
raised by his majesty of manner we hast
ened on, and soon small boy appeared
who volunteered to show the spring and
led through the deepest mud and over
the toughest road he could find, smiling
roguishly over his shoulder all the time.
The spring was at last reached and the
covering removed. The water jar was low
cred and we waited eagerly and in silence.
but alas. such a smell came up with the
water that we turned tail and hedr' at
once.
A Doubtful Record.
However. one more spring remained, and
the lordly being who guided us to it in
formed us that ut. indeed. was of the best
that all the gentlemen-folk eaten of it"
Did not the Kashmiris eat of it?" we in
qured. mo. Huzoors the Kashmiris did Of
one time eaten that water. but now" and
he smiled vaguely. 1.-The Kashmiris did
eaten of the water of the river" 81 can