Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/263

 he carries me capitally: nevertheless, he is "vicious as he is little ."

The whole day I roamed about Rajpūr; the Paharīs (the Hill-men), who had come down to bring up our luggage, were animals to stare at: like the pictures I have seen of Tartars,—little fellows, with such flat ugly faces, dressed in black woollen coarse trowsers, a blanket of the same over their shoulders; a black, greasy, round leather cap on their heads, sometimes decorated all round their faces with bunches of Hill-flowers, freshly gathered; a rope round their waists. Their limbs are stout, and the sinews in the legs strongly developed, from constantly climbing the Hills. They are very honest and very idle; moreover, most exceedingly dirty. Such were the little Hill fellows we met at Rajpūr.

16th.—This morning the gūnth came to the door for my companion to ride up the Hills: I was to be carried up in a jampān. A jampān is an arm-chair, with a top to it, to shelter you from the sun or rain; four long poles are affixed to it. Eight of those funny little black Hill fellows were harnessed between the poles, after their fashion, and they carried me up the hill. My two women went up in dolīs, a sort of tray for women, in which one person can sit native fashion; these trays are hung upon long poles, and carried by Hill-men. The ascent from Rajpūr is seven miles, climbing almost every yard of the way. The different views delighted me: on the side of the Hills facing Rajpūr the trees were stunted, and there was but little vegetation; on the other side, the northern, we came upon fine oak and rhododendron trees—such beautiful rhododendrons! they are forest trees, not shrubs, as you have them in England. The people gathered the wild flowers, and filled my lap with them. The jangal pear, in full blossom, the raspberry bushes, and the nettles delighted me; I could not help sending a man from the plains, who had never seen a nettle, to gather one; he took hold of it, and, relinquishing his hold instantly in excessive surprise, exclaimed,—"It has stung me; it is a scorpion plant."