merchant, who asked me to read to him a letter just
arrived enclosing some money. This had been sent by
an officer who had taken with him some Kabuli stamps,
and as there had been no guide to their value, he had
not bargained, but promised to send the full catalogued
price when he could find again a catalogue, and this he
had done immediately on his return, sending
quite double what had been originally asked! The
coinage causes a little difficulty owing to the
difference between the native rupee, the “ chilki,”
worth about ten annas, and the Imperial rupee,
of sixteen annas. There is also a “ kham” rupee in
circulation, bearing the letters I.H.S., about which there
are many strange tales, and this being a land of small
payments, care should be taken to impress the value of
the coin given on the payee, for the ignorant people are
sadly victimised by the changers.
The modern royal buildings in 'Srinagar are hardly
things of beauty or worth a visit, but it is pleasant to
think that all concerned in these wrorks have been paid
in coin, and the old meritricious system of payment in
kind, a great source of misery to the people, has been
completely superseded. The waterworks a t Srinagar
have alone put over three million rupees into circulation
for wages, and many other public works are in progress.
H.H. has done much to help the suffering, and his
hospitals and State dispensaries are not only charming
buildings, many of them brightened with pretty gardens,
but they have conferred a boon so great it is difficult to
estimate, for, though as a race Kashmiris are sturdy
and healthy, insanitary conditions' produce terrible
epidemics and cause a great deal of suffering, and among
the cultivators the conditions of rice-growing lend them