Nick Fielding
What could possibly be the connection between a box of old photographic slides and my decision to travel to Kashmir recently? It is not obvious, but let me explain. When I bought a box of 87 very old photographic slides a few months ago I had no idea what they were, other than that some of them, at least, were connected to Central Asia. They were all captioned, but there was no indication of who had taken the pictures. It was a mystery.
Nicholas Fielding, Dr Abdul Qayoom Loan , professor Mohammed Amin Malik & Mushtaq Bala
As I examined them in more detail, I realised that they were all taken during a trip that, from the captions, clearly started in Srinagar – and probably before the First World War. There were no cars in any of the pictures. But there was the old polo ground and various other local sights. It was also clear that they illustrated a hunting trip, as some of the slides were of ‘trophies’ shot in the mountains – ibex, snow leopard, Marco Polo sheep and so on. And from some of the captions I began to work out the itinerary of the journey. The more I found out, the more I was amazed.
Starting in Srinagar, the lone hunter – I presumed he was English – had set out for Bandipora, where he picked up his guides – known as shikaris – and then made his way (as one could before 1947) up to the Astor Valley, the Burzil Pass, then on the Gilgit and Hunza. From there the hunter and his small team of shikaris crossed onto the Pamirs via the Killik Pass, then on to Kashgar, Aksu, Maralbashi and further into Central Asia. They spent weeks shooting in the Tekkes Valley and Tien Shan Mountains in what is now Kazakhstan, before continuing north, crossing into Russian Turkestan at Chuguchak (now Tachen) and making their way using snow sleighs – by now it was late autumn – to Omsk in Southern Siberia. From here, presumably, the hunter caught the Trans-Siberian express and returned to Europe.
By any stretch of the imagination this was an epic journey, totalling over 2,500 miles. But who was this hunter? I have a good knowledge of the literature on Central Asia and knew many of the books written by British Army officers about their hunting expeditions. But although there were some similarities, not one of these books matched the route of ‘my’ hunter. It only made me more determined to identify him.
My first breakthrough came when I remembered a book written by Theodore and Kermit Roosevelt called East of the Sun and West of the Moon. It was sitting on my shelf at home. I opened it and was amazed to see a photo of a man who clearly was one of the shikaris used by my hunter. The hunter’s photo of him was simply captioned Raheem My Shikari. But the Roosevelts had gone one better, naming him as ‘Raheem Loon’ and singing his praises as a great companion in the mountains. They had even taken his to China with them.
Now I had something to go on. Further internet searching led me to a backcopy of the magazine Kashmir Pen, published in Srinagar about five years ago, that told the story of the famous Lone Brothers, Raheem and Khalil, and their association with the Roosevelts. The article also mentioned some of their living descendants and that they had an archive of letters.
Soon I was on the phone to Mushtaq Bala, editor of Kashmir Pen, explaining my dilemma and asking if he could help me. He promised to call me back and within a day sent me a message to say that the Lone descendants were ready to receive me in Srinagar. I could scarcely believe it. But now I had to make a decision. Should I fly 4,000 miles from England to Kashmir in the hope that someone might be able to help me identify the hunter? I was not doing this for money, simply to satisfy my own curiosity. It was a big risk. Would they know who the hunter was?
Putting all caution aside, I booked a flight and on 7th March I arrived in Srinagar and moved onto the New Balmoral House Boat, run by Hilal Guroo. The next day I met up with Mushtaq Bala and he told me he would introduce me to Dr Mohd. Amin Malik, principal of a degree college in Srinagar, who was the great-grandson of Rahim Lone. I could barely sleep that night as I thought about what would happen.
The following day I met Dr Malik at his college, where he told me about the family and crucially, showed me some of the letters in his possession connected to his ancestor. These were known in the old days as ‘chits’ and were effectively recommendations from Raheem’s clients, extolling his virtues as a shikari and all-round companion in the mountains. There were dozens of them, dating from the 1890s, when Raheem first started working as a shikari with his father Sammad, until the 1930s.
Almost immediately I recognised some of the names. Besides the Roosevelts, there were also letters from Douglas Burden, a famous collector of specimens on behalf of the American Natural History Museum, and many British officers. Many of them listed the animals they had shot during their trips into the mountains.
Dr Malik kindly made copies of all the letters and let me have them. Then he told me of another relative, Dr Abdul Qayoom Lone, who had expressed a desire to meet me. Dr Lone is a professor of anaesthesiology and critical care at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and is a grandson of Raheem Lone. He too was very welcoming and filled me in on more details of the Lone family.
After a few days I was beginning to build a picture of Raheem Lone, as well as of the shikari community of which he was such a prominent member. Raheem, although not an educated man, spoke maybe six or seven languages. His eyesight was legendary. He could tell from several hundred yards whether or not a specimen was large enough to be worth a shot. His ‘bandobast’ was widely admired and his energy was boundless. No wonder that he had been hired by some of the most prominent specimen collectors and hunters who ever came to Kashmir.
There was another surprise awaiting me in Kashmir. Dr Malik asked me to accompany him to Bandipora, the hometown of the Lones, to see the house that Raheem had built to entertain his clients and to meet the family of one of his great friends. Thus it was that on Monday 12th March we set out for Bandipora. The house, built in 1920 and still owned by the family, sits above the town. Although presently empty, it is a wonderful example of a turn-of-the-century traditional house, beautifully panelled inside and divided into two upper rooms and two downstairs. Close by is the burial place of Raheem, where we were able to locate his gravestone.
After meeting more family members, Dr Malik then took me to the house of Ghulam Ahmad Baht, now 94, who remembered Raheem – who died in the 1950s – and whose father, Ghulam Hassan Baht, had been his great friend and companion. Ghulam Ahmad’s sons, Ibraheem and Mohammad, were also present. They told me that they too had a folder somewhere containing ‘chits’ in praise of their grandfather. After some searching they found it and I was astonished to see yet more letters from prominent explorers, including William Morden, author of Across Asia’s Snows and Deserts (1927). He too was a collector for various American Museums. His most famous journey, on which he was accompanied by Ghulam Hassan, started in Kashmir and ended up 8,500 miles later, in China.
As with Raheem, the letters were full of praise for the skills of Ghulam Hassan. When I returned to England I was able to find three photographs of ‘Hassan Bat’, as he was called, in Morden’s book. The family, who had never seen them before, were delighted to receive them.
So what was the upshot of all this travel and talk? I noticed that several of the letters to Raheem were from someone called Captain W R Read of the Kings Dragoon Guards. In one, he said how fondly he remembered their trip to Central Asia. And in another I was amazed to read that Raheem had on one occasion accompanied Captain Read to England! Suddenly it seemed to me that I had a prime suspect.
On my return I began to search for more information on Read. I already knew from the record books that the second largest Ovis Ammon Littledalei sheep ever shot, at 58” round the horns, was by Captain Read. One of his photos was marked ‘My record Ovis Ammon Littledalei’. So that was a possible confirmation. But finally I found the proof I was looking for. His pilot’s license, issued in 1913, contained a photograph of Read that exactly matched the pictures from the box of slides. I was ecstatic.
I found out much more about Captain Read. Although originally a soldier, he had been one of the first men to join the Royal Flying Corps (later the Royal Air Force) in 1914 and had been highly decorated during WW1, receiving the Military Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Force Medal (three times). He had been wounded in action, but returned to active service. Whether or not he ever got back to Kashmir I do not know, but he lived a good life, dying in 1972 aged 89.
However, it is now clear to me that instead of turning back at some point and returning to Kashmir, Raheem Lone had continued on with Captain Read to Siberia and thence to England, where he had stayed at the Captain’s house in Shoreham by Sea. This was in 1912. Later he must have returned to India by ship.
So eventually, with the help of my friends in Kashmir, I got the answers I had been seeking. I identified my mystery hunter, but more importantly, I learned that without the great shikaris of Bandipora and surrounding districts, very few if any of the hunting expeditions that set off from the Vale in the early 20thC would have been successful. These were the men whose toughness and great skills protected their clients, whatever circumstances they faced.
Of course, things have changed. Trophy hunting is now discouraged – and rightly so. We should be protecting our wild places and their inhabitants from indiscriminate shooting. But no-one should forget these shikaris of earlier generations, for their skills, their openness and honesty and their ability to deliver precisely what they promised. These qualities will never go out of fashion.
….to be continued
The author can be reached at nicholas.fielding@btinternet.com
