tant Turkistan sends vultures to the prey; and the only heroism is displayed by Queen Rajpútani, the last of its Hindú sovereigns, who, rather than marry an usurping prime minister, upbraided him for his ingratitude and treachery, and stabbed herself before him. The sixth of the Moslem monarchs who succeeded, and who reigned in 1396 A.D., was the ignorant zealot Sikander, nicknamed Bhútshikan or the Image - breaker, who devoted his energies to destroying the ancient architecture and sculpture of Kashmir, and succeeded only too well in his endeavours. In the next century reigned the Badshah or Great King, Zein-ul-abdin, who gave Kashmir its most celebrated manufacture, by introducing wool from Tibet and weavers from Turkistan, as also papier-maché work and the manufacture of paper. This extraordinary man reigned fifty-three years he was a patron of literature, a poet, and a lover of field-sports, as well as a most practical ruler, and he gave the country a great impetus. This vantage-ground, however, was lost almost immediately after his death, and, as he had foreseen, by the growing power of the native clan of the Cháks, who soon rose to supreme power in Kashmír by placing themselves at the head of the national party. Under one of their chiefs the valley asserted itself nobly and victoriously against its external enemies; but this advantage was soon lost, through internal jealousies, enmities, and treachery; and a request for assistance offered by one of the Chák chiefs afforded Akbar the pretext for conquering the country and making it a part of the great Mogul Empire.

On the way from Mártand to Achibal I saw the only serpent which appeared before me in Kashmir; but, before I could get hold of it or strike it, the wily creature had disappeared in the grass; and those who have closely observed serpents know how readily they do

disappear, and how wonderfully the more innocuous ones, even the large rock-snakes, manage to conceal themselves from the human eye in short grass, where it might be thought that even a small snake could. easily be detected. I have been instructed by Indian snake-charmers, who are rather averse to parting with their peculiar knowledge, and have tried my hand successfully on a small wild cobra, between three and four feet in length, so I speak with knowledge and experience on this subject. This Kashmir snake was only about two and a half or three feet long, and had the appearance of a viper; but I do not know what it was. The ganas, or aphia, is a species of viper which is said to be very dangerous, and is most dreaded by the people of the country. The latter name has suggested, and very properly suggests, the opus of the Greeks. Serpents are scarce in Kashmír, and do not at all interfere with the great pleasure of camping out in that country. There is more annoyance from leopards, especially for people who have small dogs with them; for the leopard has quite a mania for that sort of diet, and will not hesitate to penetrate into your tent at night in quest of his game.

Achibal and Vernag are two delightful places, such as no other country in the world can present; but their general characteristics are so similar that I shall not attempt to describe them separately. They resemble the Shalimar and Nishat Gardens, to which I have already alluded, but are more secluded, more beautiful, and more poetic. Bal means a place, and Ash is the satyr of Kashmir traditions. Ver, according to Elmslie, is the name of the district in which the summer palace is situated; but it is properly vir, which may be either the Kashmir word for the weeping willow (which would suit it well enough), or an old Aryan form for the Latin vir. On the latter supposition it would be the haunt of the

man-serpents, and it is exactly the place that would have suited them in ancient or any times.

Both Achibal and Vernag were favourite haunts of our friend Jehángír, and of his wife Núr Jahán, the Light of the World. If that immortal pair required any proof of their superiority, it would be found in the retreats which they chose for themselves, and which mark them out as above the level of ordinary and even royal humanity. At Achibal, a spring of water, the largest in Kashmír, rises at the head of the beautiful pleasure-garden, underneath an overshadowing cliff, and this is supposed to be the reappearance of a river which disappears in the mountains some miles above. At Vernag, also, a large spring bubbles up in almost icy coldness beneath a gigantic cliff, fringed with birch and light ash that

"Pendent from the brow

Of yon dim cave in seeming silence make
A soft eye-music of slow-waving boughs."

It is more specially interesting, however, as the source of the Jhelam or Hydaspes; and as I sat beside it on an evening of delicious repose, an old schoolboy recollection came to mind, and it was pleasant to find that if I could not venture to claim entirely the

"Integer vitæ scelerisque purus,"

yet I had escaped the Maurian darts, and had been enabled to travel in safety

"Sive per Syrtes iter æstuosas,
Sive facturus per inhospitalem
Caucasum, vel quæ loca fabulosus
Lambit Hydaspes.”

CHAPTER XLV.

KASHMIR TO THE HAZARA.

THE MANAS AND WÚLAR LAKES-BEAUTIFUL MIRRORED SCENESSUGGESTIONS OF THE UNDER-WORLD-THE MIDDLE JHELAM

VALLEY-MOZAFARABAD-FAREWELL TO TENTS-THE HAZARA DISTRICT-ABBOTABAD AND ITS SOCIETY.

BEFORE leaving Kashmír I must devote a paragraph to its two most famous sheets of water, the Manasbal and the Wúlar Lake. They are both on the usual way out from Srinagar, which is also the usual way to it, and are seen by most visitors to the valley.

The Manasbal is called the most beautiful, but is rather the most picturesque, lake in Kashmir. It lies close to the Jhelam, on the north-west, and is connected with that river by a canal only about a mile long, through which boats can pass. This little lake is not much larger than Grasmere, being scarcely three miles long by one broad; but its shores are singularly suggestive of peacefulness and solitude. Picturesque mountains stand round a considerable portion of it, and at one point near they rise to the height of 10,000 feet, while snowy summits are visible beyond. In its clear deep-green water the surrounding scenery is seen most beautifully imaged. There being so little wind in Kashmir, and the surrounding trees and mountains being so high, this is one of the most charming fea

tures of its placid lakes. Wordsworth has assigned the occasional calmness of its waters as one of the reasons why he claims that the Lake country of England is more beautiful than Switzerland, where the lakes are seldom seen in an unruffled state; but in this respect the Valley of Roses far surpasses our English district, for its lakes are habitually calm: for hours at a time. they present an almost absolute stillness; they are beautifully clear, and the mountains around them are not only of great height and picturesque shape, but, except in the height of summer, are half covered with snow; the clouds are of a more dazzling whiteness than in England, and the sky is of a deeper blue. There, most emphatically, if I may be allowed slightly to alter Wordsworth's lines,

"The visible scene

May enter unawares into the mind,
With all its solemn imagery, its woods,
Its snow, and that divinest heaven received
Into the bosom of the placid lake."

The poet just quoted has tried to explain the singular effect upon the mind of such mirrored scenes by saying that "the imagination by their aid is carried into recesses of feeling otherwise impenetrable." And he goes on to explain that the reason for this is, that "the heavens are not only brought down into the bosom of the earth, but that the earth is mainly looked at and thought of through the medium of a purer element. The happiest time is when the equinoctial gales have departed; but their fury may probably be called to mind by the sight of a few shattered boughs, whose leaves do not differ in colour from the fading foliage of the stately oaks from which these relics of the storm depend: all else speaks of tranquillity; not a breath of air, no restlessness of insects, and not a moving object perceptible, except the clouds gliding in the depths of the lake, or