140 AFOOT THROUGH THE 



and gold, covering the western sky with a scarlet mist, 

 touching all the palaces and temples with the illumi- 

 nator's brush, I was filled with a sense of joyousness 

 and thankfulness that at least this day I was alive in 

 such a world, where compensations many and adequate 

 are given for imperfections and shortcomings, where 

 the dreariness of mid-day heat and glare and the dull 

 colourlessness of the noontide are qualified by the fresh- 

 ness and glory of the opening and the gorgeous serenity 

 of its closing hours. Beauty fades and visions pass, 

 and in that lies their greatest charm, for we unstable 

 mortals wear}- of sameness, and that we might never be 

 without something to cheer us, even in our dreariest 

 hours, have been given a canopy overhead where the 

 procession of the hours is marked by answering changes, 

 and each minute marks a varying aspect of the glories 

 in earth and sky. 



So long had I delayed watching the fair scene before 

 me that it was too late to visit the Shalimar Bagh, the 

 great " garden of love," at the head of the lake ; but 

 leaving that for another day, I returned' in my little 

 boat, all the humbler members of the lake population 

 very fully alive now that evening had brought its accus- 

 tomed coolness. Countless dragon flies skimmed the 

 waters, little frogs took flying leaps from one floating 

 green islet to another, and hundreds of kingfishers, 

 perched on the edges of the great lotus leaves, dived 

 off with swift, dashing movements, captured their prey, 

 and returned once more to their watching places. 

 Golden orioles like lost sunbeams glinted in and out 

 of the high stems of the innumerable water plants, and 

 in the depths countless fish caroused among the shining 

 weeds, the water world had come to life, and doubtless 



