cruel persecutions and destruction ordered by Sikander,
“ the idol destroyer,” and Aurungzeb imbued the people
with a real horror of intolerance; more probably their
forced conversion to a half-understood and wholly
perfunctory form of religion left them still under the
influence of their old hereditary creed.
CHAPTER VII
Such life here, through such lengths of hours,
Such miracles performed in play,
Such priniE^ naked forms of flowers,
.Such letting nature have her way,
While heaven looks from its towers.
—Browning.
An early sta rt—A distressed damsel finds a strange cavalier—-
Snow slopes and sandals—A lonely post office—Supper and
sleep under difficulties.
A f t e r my various expeditions in. search of antiquities,
I felt entitled to a few days’ rest in the shade of the
great chenaar trees, whose sheltering foliage makes
the Moonshi Bagh such an attractive camping-ground.
My doonga was moored there, while I worked my way
through a large pile of correspondence that had
accumulated during my absence, and laid in stores and
collected necessaries for some longer marches than I
had as yet accomplished.
In a few days all mv .preparations were complete.
“ Orders to let go” were given, and I silently vanished
away in that swift and unostentatious fashion which is
customary in Kashmir, and which accentuates the
sensation of restraint on return to regions where houses