144 AFOOT THROUGH THE 



CHAPTER XII 



The vast blue height 



Was murmurous with peri's plumes, 



And the leathern wings of genii. 



Henley. 



Look on its broken arch, its ruin'd wall, 

 Its chambers desolate, and portals foul ; 



Yes, this was once ambition's airy hail, 



The dome of thought, the palace of the soul. 



Byron. 



A steep ascent leading to fine views and many backslidings A 

 fairy palace Precipitate descent and an old man's warning. 



WHILE drifting about on the lake I had noticed high 

 up on the side of the hills that close it in on the eastern 

 side some very strange ruins, and as the natives called 

 it the Peri Mahal (palace of the fairies), I thought it 

 ought to be worth visiting, and, determined to be 

 energetic one day, and, instead of floating about on the 

 lake, make the ascent of Zebanwan, a peak some 

 nine thousand feet high to the east of the 

 Takht, and from there walk down the further 

 slope, and visit the spot that had so attracted 

 me. Srinagar is a real holiday land, where to 

 make an effort even for one's own pleasure seems a 



