Worn since antiquity, the puttee was adopted as part of the service uniform of foot and mounted soldiers serving in British India during the second half of the nineteenth century. In its original form the puttee comprised long strips of cloth worn as a tribal legging in the Himalayas. The British Indian Army found this garment to be both comfortable and inexpensive, although it was considered to lack the smartness of the gaiter previously worn. According to the British author and soldier Patrick Leigh Fermor, infantry puttees were wound up from ankle to knee, but in cavalry regiments they were wound down from knee to ankle.