66 AFOOT THROUGH THE 



CHAPTER VI 



Past the masses hoary 



Of cities great in story, 



Past their towers and temples drifting lone and free ; 



Gliding, never hasting ; 



Gliding, never resting ; 



Ever with the river that glideth to the sea. 



James Thomson. 



Some ruins Fragments of their supposed histories Dry-as- 

 dust details and a short discourse on religion in the valley. 



ON my way down the river I stopped at various places 

 to visit different temples and ancient ruins, for there 

 is not a village in the whole of the valley that does not 

 boast of some relic of old days. Fragments of beautiful 

 carvings and pieces of sculpture may often be found 

 lying about or built into the miserable edifices that 

 represent all that a Kashmiri can accomplish in the 

 present day. The people take little or no interest in 

 these things, using them merely as easy quarries where 

 all that they need in the way of stonework is provided, 

 or turning them to account to increase their incomes, 

 our countrymen seldom caring to visit what has ever 

 been a place of worship without leaving some small 

 contribution, though the showman is seldom a follower 

 of the faith which the shrine was erected to honour. 



