brought to the subool one morning a rowboat of English pattern Come on, boys, row with me." was the invitation. But the boys drew back. We cannot, sir." -Way" -There is leather on the oars, and it would break our caste to wach it" -But I did't want you to tooch the leather. In faty.a must not or you can.c

21 Keep your

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hands above it and let the leather rest in the variickS” -But sini w pet made iar arms. And caly vikar boatmen have that. We cannot sense. Yemstpathy or legs and backs. I dict want you to pull with your then put me in

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ams." our backs, and that is fe cxles, not for Frahmans" Then the Phnapal tumed to the younger teachers and said, You come ca" it they went over the same objectives. coe by one. They were saning to the sub vi steps kaing to the river, the Papal standing above them suddenly be descended on them, and four of them found themselves with the Principal in the boat, Boating rapidly down the stream Now it is pal or be camed away by the river. And carried they are for a time, in response to the impact of knackes co their backs, they begin to pa And s. in time this Brahman crew brought the bat back to the school steps. It had been 3 or actually 3.ze Brahmans had rowed a boat.

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beginning was made. A long struggle followed. But in it was one of those Englishmen who never know when they are beaten. And so it was a winning struggle. And to-day regattas are held on the beautiful Dal Lake; boats with English oars and boats with Kashmir paddles eagerly race on the old Jhelum. It took another and longer struggle to bring the boys to use the country paddles, associated with the low-caste boatmen. But this, too, was accomplished. Monthly regattas are held during the season. There are all sorts of interesting events. And the boys take as keen interest in it all as American boys would. One race I saw, that of half a dozen boats with from eight to twenty-five boys in each boat. Around the turning-point and back to the starting-place they went, and then each crew must overturn its boat in deep water, and, after righting it and bailing it out, row it to the goal. There was much shouting and splashing. The boys swim like fish. The boats were righted and bailed, only hands and oars being allowed for the baling. It was an interesting sight, but far more than interesting.

The swimming was the fruit of another of Mr. Tyndale-Biscoe's numberless struggles. The Kashmiris are constantly on the water, yet few of them can swim. Every boy should-the Principal said must learn to swim, in order to his own

safety, and to be able to help others. But the parents feared their boys would be drowned, and many took their boys from so outrageous a school. But that "must " did not change. And the teachers and boys learned and taught swimming till every one connected with the school could swim. About three hundred new boys are taught every year. And a boy gets as many marks for swimming as he does for Persian and Sanskrit combinedand uses it more. In the swimming matches some lads swim across the lake and down the river into the city, a distance of over five miles. They get marks according to endurance and pluck.

And not only have ugly caste prejudices and abhorrence of honest work received a shock by this boating and swimming, but some superstitions have been laid. Every year now the boat crews are taken to the Woolar Lake, thirty miles down the river. This lake has long been held in great fear because of the goblins, demons, and monsters believed to infest it. None dared to swim across it till Mr. Tyndale-Biscoe and one of his masters did so. Now many swim this lake each year. And this and the crossing of the lake on stormy nights have put a quietus on many a goblin.

Here is an account of a Woolar Lake expedition. Six years before only forcible persuasion could take the boys on the

Woolar. But now so many want to go that a selection must be made. The crew is chosen.

"We start off on a lovely spring day and row to our camp on the Woolar Lake, thirty miles, in a few hours. These fellows are a capital sort to take on a trip, as they are like the renowned Mark Tapley, always jolly,' no matter what happens. When an Englishman has to go without his food, and his arrangements turn out opposite to his wishes, he is apt to be a bit dicky,' and let some one have the rough side of his tongue. But not so the Kashmir school-boy. He seems to be utterly indifferent to circumstances. And here, I think, you see the best side of Kashmir character. Let me explain. We had most dirty weather from start to finish the whole time that we were under canvas. One night a mighty hurricane came down the hillside upon us, and left only one of the five boys' tents standing, the water running riot down the steep slope through the tents. It was a pitchdark night, and no light was possible. Some boys were trying hard to save their things; others hanging on to the tentpoles; a few were buried beneath wet and clammy canvas. Nevertheless they were shouting to and chaffing each other. And when they managed to get a pole to hold up the soaked canvas they sat under it and sang in parties to keep their spirits warm, as it was impossible to get heat into their bodies. In the morning the Mohammedans of the village turned their mosque into a dormitory for the Hindu boys for the rest of our stay.

"On another occasion we started in rain and heavy wind for Bandipore, seven miles distant. We soon had our jigger mast smashed in half and our mainsail blown away, but we held on our course with our twelve oars. When within about two miles of our destination we stuck on the shallows, and, not knowing the navigation of those parts, had half an hour's uninteresting punting in soaking rain, trying to find the channel. However, we kept up our spirits with the thought of hot tea and cakes in Bandipore, and as soon as we got ashore made tracks for the shops. But, alas! we had fallen among Nabals.' The holy Brahmans of Bandipore swore by all the gods they knew

(and they know a good few) that there was no Hindu food in the place. It was useless to ask them how they lived, etc. For some reason best known to themselves, they would not supply any. There were plenty of Mohammedan shops, but the boys, being chiefly Hindus, could not, on account of their insane laws, touch any food from those. So they made their way back to the boats, soaked to their skins, and tired and hungry, but in no way out of spirits, still jolly. I said to them, 'What is the good of your being hungry when there is plenty of food around you? You cannot think that God made such a foolish law? They answered,

Our lawgiver evidently was not a traveler, but had his meals regularly, and therefore made no provision for hungry travelers!'"

"So the boys

Of the recess hour Mr. Tyndale-Biscoe writes: "The classes are marched into the playground-then before you is an animated scene, two or three hundred boys at one time swinging the Indian clubs, twirling on trapeze and rings, circling the horizontal bars, smashing and whacking with the gloves. . . . In Srinagar there are hooligans and scoundrels of all sorts. These animals have to be met at their own game." The police count it no part of their duty to disturb or to help others against these blacklegs. are taught to hit hard and straight, and to defend themselves when attacked. . . . There are times when we should turn our cheek to the smiter; and also times when we should use the knuckles on a scoundrel. Boys who are timid and weak are especially encouraged to use the gloves for their souls' health." "Our aim in all our sports is to impress upon the boys that athletics are only a means to an end, and that end is not in winning prizes, pots, or honors for themselves, but to make muscle and increase strength for the sake of their weaker neighbors. And what is more, many of the boys are gripping the ideas to some purpose. Now it is cold weather, many of the boys are learning to saw and chop up firewood, so that they can go to the aid of people who are too poor to pay wood-cutters, and to those houses where there are only women. When one thinks of the days when they looked aghast when I suggested such