inhabited, and deserted villages and abandoned cultivation
showed that the population is diminishing. The
lower part of the valley, however, is very populous.
The villages are numerous and large, and the houses
good: they are usually built entirely or partially of
wood, with high sloping roofs, which are either thatched
or covered with wood. The cultivated lands all rest
upon platforms or banks of alluvium, which are probably
analogous to those of the Tibetan valleys, though, as they
are generally faced by sloping banks covered with bush-
jungle, their structure is not so easily determined as that
•of the platforms of that more barren country.
On the morning of the 22nd of April, after following
the base of the low hills for half a mile, till the last projecting
point had been rounded, I entered the valley of
Kashmir. This “ celebrated valley” did not at all come
up to the expectations which I had formed from previous
descriptions, and from the appearance of the termination
of the valley of the Sind river. The first impression was
one of considerable disappointment. It was by no means
well wooded, and the centre of the valley along the river,
being very low, had an unpleasant swampy appearance.
The road to the town, which is about ten miles from Gan-
derbal, led over an elevated platform. There were several
villages, and plane, willow, and fruit-trees were scattered
here and there, though far from abundantly. The platform
was in general covered with a carpet of green, now
spangled with myriads of dandelions and other spring
flowers. The mountains on the left, which at first were
very low, gradually rose in elevation, and were throughout
rugged and bare. As I approached the town I
mounted an elephant, which formed a part of the cortege
sent, according to the usual oriental etiquette, to receive
an expected visitor; and I consequently saw the town
to much better advantage than I should have done had
I ridden through it on my little Ladak pony. Passing
completely through the city, I was conducted to the
Sheikh Bagh, a garden on the banks of the Jelam, at
its eastern extremity, in a pavilion in the centre of which
I took up my quarters.
The town of Kashmir is apparently of great extent,
and seems very densely populated. Its length is much
greater than its width, as it is hemmed in between the
Jelam on the south and a lake on the north. The principal
part of the town is on the north side of the Jelam,
but a large suburb occupies the opposite bank, surrounding
the Sher-Garhi, or fortified palace of the ruler of the
country. The streets are in general so narrow, that there
are but few through which an elephant can pass; and the
houses, which have mostly several stories, are built with
a wooden frame-work, the lower story of stone and those
above of brick. There are no buildings of any great
note; and the elaborate account of Moorcroft renders it
unnecessary to enter into any detail. The river is crossed
by many bridges, all built of deodar-wood.
The province or country of Kashmir consists of an extensive
plain, surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains.
It is the valley of the river Behat, or Jelam, which is separated
from that of the Chenab on the south, by rugged
and often snowy ranges, and from the basin of the Indus
on the north, by the main axis of the Western Himalaya,
which, originating in the peaks of Kailas, separates the