42 TRAVEL IN KASHMIR
dition, but excessively bad after heavy rain, when at places the whole mountain-side slides with the road down into the river. The usual mode of con- veyance is a tonga, a very common form of vehicle in the Indian “hills.” It has two wheels, is drawn by a pair of ponies, has four seats back to back, and carries a mountain of luggage piled up on the splash-boards and on the roof. The ponies, when the season is not crowded and the road is good, gallop at full speed, and are changed every five or six miles. In the full part of the season, with much beating, pulling, and shouting they can scarcely be induced to reach a trot, and may think themselves lucky if they find a change at the end of their stage.
Other means of conveyance, for which extra charge is made, are landaus and victorias. These, though more comfortable, are heavier for the ponies, and are more difficult to tanipulate over bad places in the rainy season. And now motors can be hired.
Spare baggage and servants can be brought up in the ordinary Indian ekka, which, with one pony without changes, takes six to eight days to reach Srinagar; or in bullock carts, which take fourteen days.
