to be caught.
Three or four men were engaged in catching them, but one every now and
then started back when about to lay his hand on a sheep, exclaiming,
"_Wuh doomwala hai!_"--"It is a tailed one! it is a tailed one!"--as if
he would be hopelessly defiled by touching it, while his less scrupulous
companions of the same caste said, "You fool! what does it matter? It
will do you no harm." They would not have eaten its flesh, but their
caste spirit was sufficiently relaxed to allow them to touch it.

I have referred to sanitary regulations issued by the authorities to
guard the people against epidemics caused by want of cleanliness. One of
these regulations forbids the dwelling together of animals and human
beings. On our first visit to the hills in 1847 I came unpleasantly into
contact with this dual occupation of the same house. As night was
setting in I came to the top of a hill, and from it I could see a few
straggling houses at a short distance. I had with me two or three men,
who proposed to put up a booth for the night. Unhappily for my comfort,
a thunderstorm came on with heavy rain, and the booth was no protection.
I was taken to a house a short way off, but on entering it the smell
from the animals occupying it with their owners was so strong that it
drove me out. I preferred to face the storm to bearing the effluvia of
that highland abode. I was told of a little unoccupied grass-shed a mile
down the hill. I found the grass so thick and well tied that the rain
did not get through, and the entrance was on the lee side. Into this I
crept, and slept soundly till the morning, for I was very tired with the
long walk of the day.

The new sanitary orders have no doubt done good, but it is difficult to
secure compliance with them, though fines are imposed on persons
convicted of disobedience. If there had been a reward for informers I
could have more than once won it by telling what I had seen.

[Sidenote: NYNEE TAL.]

A very pleasant break during our life at Ranee Khet was a yearly visit
paid to Nynee Tal, about thirty miles distant, which had become the seat
of Government for the North-West for half the year, and a place of great
resort from the plains during the hot and wet months. It has many
advantages as a Sanitarium. It is within sixteen miles of the Bhabhur,
and has an elevation of from 6,300 to 8,000 feet above the level of the
sea. There is a small, beautiful mountain lake, from one end of which
one looks