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 VILLAGERS. 118

ever, for some quite unaccountable reason, lamentably Jacking in personal courage. A Kashmiri soldier is almost a contradiction in terms. There is not sucha thing. They will patiently endure and suffer, but they will not fight. And they are very careful of the truth. As an American once said, they set such value on the truth that they very seldom use it. Their good points are, that they are intelligent and can turn their hands to most things. They are, says Lawrence, excellent cultivators when they are working for themselves. A Kashmiri can weave good woollen cloth, make first-rate baskets, build himself a house, make his own sandals, his own ropes, and a good bargain. He is kind to his wife and children, and divorce scandals or immorality among villagers are rarely heard of. He is not a cheery individual, like many hillmen in the Himalayas, but he seems to be fond of singing ; and dirty as he, his wife, his house and all that belongs to him is, he has one redeeming touch of the asthetic—all round the village he plants his graves with iris and narcissus. The final conclusion one has, then, is that if only he would wash, if only he would dress his wife in some brighter and cleaner clothes, and if only he would

tiaké his house stand upright, then with the good 8