M o u n t a i n
B e m b e r .
E u r o p e a n
T r e e s -
I n d i a n -
caufed by the lofty mountains of Cajhmere, keeping the cool air
o f the north from refrefhing the parched plains. Between the
Cbenaub and the Bebut is the vaft mountain Bember. It feems
like a purgatory to be paffed before the entrance into the Par
a d i s e of Hindoojlan can be accompliihed. It is fteep, black,
and burned. The proceflron encamped in the channel of a
large torrent, dried up, full of fand and ftones burning hot.
“ After palling th& Bember,” fays the elegant traveller, “ wepafs
“ from a torrid to a temperate zone: for we had no fooner
“ mounted this dreadful wall of the world, I mean, this high,
“ fteep, black and bald mountain of Bember, but that in defcend-
“ ing on the other fide, we found an air that was pretty tolerable,
“ frefh, gentle, and temperate. But that which furprifed me
“ more in thefe mountains, was to find myfelf in a trice tranf-
“ ported out o f the Indies into Europe. ;For feeing the earth
“ covered with all our plants and ihrubbs, except Iffop, Thyme,
“ Marjoram, and Rofemary,‘ I imagined I was in fome of our
“ mountains of Auvergne, in the midft of a foreft of all our
“ kinds of Trees, Pines, Oaks, Elms, Plane-trees. And I was
“ the more aftoniihed, becaufe in all thofe burning fields
“ of Indoftan, whence I came, I had feen almoft nothing of
“ all that.”'
“ A m o n g other things relating to plants this iurprized me,
“ that one and a half days journey from Bember I found a moun-
“ tain that was covered with them, on both fides, but with this
“ difference, that on the fide of the mountain that was faulherly,
“ towards the Indies, there was a mixture of Indian and Euro-
“ pean plants, and on that which was expofed to the North, I
“ obferved none but'European onesas if the former had par-
“ ticipated
“ ticipated o f the air and temper o f Europe and thej In$ief , and
“ the .other had ;be,en meetly E u r o p e a n■
1 n o w enter the kingdom of Cajhmere, and immediately refume
the words, of the elegant traveller, p Thoitfands of caf-
“ cades defcend from the furrounding .rnovintains of this Ten-
I chanting plain, and forming rivulets'meandring: through all
“ parts render it fo fair and fruitful,:that one would take this
“ whole kingdom for fome great Evergreen garden/intermixed
“ with villages and burroughs, difcovering themfelves between
c trees, and diverfified by Meadows, Fields of Rice, Corn, and
“ divers other Legumes, of Hemp and Saffron ;-all interlaced
“ with ditches full of water, with Channels;, with fmall Lakes
“ and Rivulets here and thfere. Up and down and every where
“ are alfo feen fome of our European plants, Flowers, and all
“ forts: of; our Trees, as. Apples,’ Pears, Prunes,: Apricots;
“ Cherries, Nuts, Vines; the particular Gardens; are full o f
“ Melons, Skirrets, Beets, Radiihes, all forts of our Pot-herbs,
“ and of fome we have not.”
T h i s H a p p y V a l l e y , this P a r a d i s e o f H i n d o o s t a n , of
the Indian poets, is of an oval form, about eighty miles long and
forty broad, and was once fuppofed to have been entirely filled
with water; which having burft its mound, left this vale in-
riched to the moft diftant. ages by the fertilizing mud o f the
rivers-which fed its expanfe. This delicious fpot is furrounded
by mountains o f vaft height and rude afpedt, covered with fnow,
or enchafed in glacieres, in which this enchanting jewel is firmly
fet. At the foot of the exterior chain is an interior circle of
hills, fertile in grafs, abundant in trees and various forts of vegetation,
and full of all kinds of cattle, as Cows, Sheep, Goats,
Gazelles,
K in g d o m o p
C a s h m e r e .
O n c e a L a k e ,