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 CHAPTER II TRAVEL IN KASHMIR

I wave known Kashmir since 1887, and ever since I have known it people have said it is getting spoilt. “It is not now what it used to be.” When the cart-road was being built every one said the end of Kashmir had come. And now, when the con- struction of a railway is in contemplation, exactly the same remark is made. The impression con- veyed is that the pleasures of travel in Kashmir are surely and steadily deteriorating. And this, no doubt, is true in certain aspects. Supplies are dearer. Coolies demand higher wages. The visitor disposed to solitude more frequently en- counters his fellow-countryman. These are decided drawbacks, and the visitor who telegraphs to Danjhibhoy for a tonga, to Nedou’s for a room in

the hotel, and to Cockburn’s for a house-boat, and 39