fantry, and is now, probably for the first time,
being turned to its proper use.

LINGMATHANG,
_March 18._

I have left the discomforts of Phari, and am camping now on the
Lingmathang Plain. I am writing in a natural cave in the rock. The
opening is walled in by a sangar of stones 5 feet high, from which
pine-branches support a projecting roof. On fine days the space between
the roof and wall is left open, and called the window; but when it
snows, gunny-bags are let down as purdahs, and the den becomes very warm
and comfortable. There is a natural hearth, a natural chimney-piece, and
a natural chimney that draws excellently. The place is sheltered by high
cliffs, and it is very pleasant to look out from this snugness on a
wintry landscape, and ground covered deep with snow.

Outside, seventy shaggy Tibetan ponies, rough and unshod, averaging 12.2
hands, are tethered under the shelter of a rocky cliff. They are being
trained according to the most approved methods of modern warfare. The
Mounted Infantry Corps, mostly volunteers from the 23rd and 32nd
Pioneers and 8th Gurkhas, are under the command of Captain Ottley of the
23rd. The corps was raised at Gnatong in December, and though many of
the men had not ridden before, after two months' training they cut a
very respectable figure in the saddle. A few years ago a proposal was
made to the military authorities that the Pioneers, like other
regiments, should go in for a course of mounted infantry training. The
reply caused much amusement at the time. The suggestion was not adopted,
but orders were issued that 'every available opportunity should be taken
of teaching the Pioneers to ride in carts.' A wag in the force naturally
suggests that the new Ekka Corps, now running between Phari and Tuna,
should be utilized to carry out the spirit of this order. Certainly on
the road beyond the Tangla the ekkas would require some sitting.

The present mission is the third 'show' on which the 23rd and 32nd have
been together during the last nine years. In Chitral and Waziristan they
fought side by side. It is no exaggeration to say that these regiments
have been on active service three years out of five since they were
raised in 1857. The original draft of the 32nd, it will be remembered,
was the unarmed volunteer corps of Mazbi Sikhs, who offered themselves
as an escort to the convoy from Lahore to Delhi during the siege. The
Mazbis were the most lawless and refractory