feet two miles farther on, where under the shade of some
magnificent old trees, at Pungo, I halted for lunch. We had entered the
first inhabited village of the Shokas, visually but erroneously called
Botiyas, and were now in that part of their country called Chaudas.

A pleasant surprise awaited me. A smart-looking lad in European clothes
came boldly forward, and, stretching out his hand, shook mine for some
considerable time in a jovial and friendly fashion.

"I am a Christian," said he.

"I should say that you were by the way you shake hands."

"Yes, sir," he proceeded. "I have prepared for you some milk, some
_chapatis_ (native bread), and some nuts. Please accept them."

"Thank you," I said. "You do not seem to be a bad Christian. What is your
name?"

"Master G. B. Walter, sir. I teach in the school."

A crowd of Shokas had collected. Their first shyness having worn off,
they proved to be polite and kind. The _naive_ nature and graceful manner
of the Shoka girls struck me particularly on this my first introduction
to them. Much less shy than the men, they came forward, and joked and
laughed as if they had known me all their lives. I wished to sketch two
or three of the more attractive.

"Where is my book, Chanden Sing?" I inquired of my bearer.

"_Hazur hum mallum neh!_" ("I do not know, sir!") was his melancholy
answer as he searched his empty pockets.

"Ah! you villain! Is that the care you take of my notes and sketches?
What have you done with them?"

"Oh Sahib, I drank some water at the Dholi River. I had the book then in
my hand. I must have left it on a stone when I stooped to drink water
from the stream," the wretched man explained.

It is hardly necessary to say that Chanden Sing was promptly despatched
to the spot he had named, with strict orders not to appear before me
again without the book. I spent two or three pleasant hours in having
the primitive Shoka weaving-looms, the processes of spinning and cloth
manufacture, explained to me. As can be seen from the illustration on p.
42, the weaving looms of the Shokas are in every way similar to those
used by the Tibetans proper, and are quite simple in construction. The
warp is kept at great tension, and the cloth-beam on which the woven
tissue is rolled rests on the woman's lap during the process of weaving.
There are no treadles in the Shoka loom, by which the two sets of warp
threads are alternately raised or depressed between each time that t