KASHMIR VALLEYS 49 



forts in my enjoyment of the refreshing coolness of its 

 many springs and famous trees. The old palace still 

 stands, little altered apparently since the day it was 

 built, more than three hundred years ago, when 

 Jehangir and the fair ladies of his court retired here 

 from the heat of the plains of India and bathed in the 

 blue waters, and arranged banquets and nautches in the 

 torch-lit pleasances. Innumerable springs rise from 

 the limestone rocks, and a part of their waters are 

 caught in a vast tank built by the Great Mogul, and 

 surrounded by him with a terrace supported by stone 

 columns and alcoves forming bathing-houses. The 

 waters as they flow away are spanned by a part of the 

 palace, and are then diverted and divided, forming a 

 series of terraces and waterfalls, the former filled by 

 cleverly constructed fountains, still in good working 

 order and able to fulfil their purpose in life. I laid 

 out on the grass, a light wind just stirring the leaves 

 of the trees above me, and the men made tea the best 

 tea ever presented for human refreshment, it appeared 

 then and when they had laid out my modest equipage 

 close to the water, decorated the cloth with a bunch 

 of apple blossom and pink roses, added a saucer of 

 watercress picked close by to my modest feast, the 

 successor of the emperors felt herself well satisfied 

 with the taste of those long-dead architects, and with 

 the provision made by them for the comfort of posterity. 

 For the first time my experiences of sleeping accom- 

 modation were to be enlarged by the shelter of a palace. 

 Into a large, panelled room overlooking the tank my 

 belongings were placed, the sliding shutters fitted into 

 the carved woodwork were taken out to let in the light, 

 and I sat on the terrace above the water to enjoy the 



