CASH M E R E. 



.591 



. Sei- I)ii Inittn.tii c ili In (><d". com- 

 - ' .!. IViifhi-t; Ik-niie;' / 



, ; Kennel's Mfinnir ; loi..t'i't, Jmir- 



; Mi-inv:r on (In: IVtml and .S/^r/j of C,i\/t. 



ami lio:t\in t by Alex, le Goux de Flaix, in t!u 



I'/iHoxti/i/i. Mugaz. vol. xviii. ; and Pennant';* Indian 



'/.oology. ( K ) 



>11M1.KE, CACIIEMIRE, or CASMMIK, the 

 capital of the above province, called also Sirinagur, 

 and sometimes Nagaz, is situated in N. Lat. 3-t 12', 

 and E. Long. 73 45'. Rennel places it in N. Lat. 

 33 49', E. Long. 73 1 1'. This city has been sup- 

 posed, but there is reason to believe incorrectly, to 

 be the same that is mentioned by Herodotus, under 

 the name of Caspira, or Caspirus. That opinion has 

 been sanctioned by D'Anville. Dr John Reinhold 

 Forstcr, on the contrary, conceives the old Caspirus 

 not to have been Cashmere, but a city lying nearer 

 to Persia, perhaps Gha/.na, or Gha/.min. ( See Barto- 

 lomeo's Voyage to the East Indies.} It extends on both 

 sides of the river Chelum for about the space of three 

 miles, and the different parts of it thus disjoined are in 

 some degree connected by four or five wooden bridges, 

 which are here thrown over the river. The houses in 

 this city are slightly built of brick and mortar, with 

 which there is intermixed a large proportion of tim- 

 ber work. Many of them are two or three, some 

 even four or more stories high. The usual manner 

 in which the different parts of these houses are ap- 

 propriated is this : the lower floor is occupied by 

 the cattle, the second is inhabited by the family, and 

 the third, and those above, are used as warehouses. 

 On a standing roof of wood, there is laid a covering 

 of fine earth, by means of which a defence is form- 

 ed for them that is equally useful in every season. 

 During the \vinter, it shelters the buildings from the 

 great quantity of snow that falls at that period, and 

 communicates an agreeable warmth. In the summer, 

 it yields a refreshing coolness ; and the tops of the 

 houses being at the same time planted with a variety 

 of flowers, exhibit at a distance the spacious view of 

 a beautifully chequered parterre. This city enjoys 

 many natural advantages. Besides that of a river, 

 which flows through its centre, it is blessed with a 

 mild salubrious air. There is a lake also which ex- 

 tends from the north-east quarter of the city, in an 

 oval circumference of five or six miles, and which 

 joins the Chelum by a narrow channel near the su- 

 burbs. This lake has been long noted for its beau- 

 ties, and the pleasure which it affords to the inhabi- 

 tants of the country. The citizens frequently go 

 upon it in boats, having, many of them, for this 

 purpose, a communication by little canals even be- 

 tween it and their own houses. They here en- 

 joy the sport of pursuing the cranes or other birds 

 which frequent the lake. Taken in connection with 

 the adjacent and neighbouring grounds, the scene 

 which is at the same time presented by it to their 

 eyes, is at once rich in pleasing natural prospects, 

 and exhibits the remains of many striking works of 

 art. Towards the east, the Tucht Suliman, and the 

 Hirney Purvet, form the two sides of what may 

 be called a grand portal to the lake. These are 



two hills, of which the o&e u sacred to the great Culunerc. 



Kin :i, who ia rcvucd in Ca^Im. "*"" /"^"' 



who l .i favoured valley of its execs, of wa- 



ter : on the other, Mu :iheb is honoured, 



to whom, on every important occasion, persons of 

 all descriptions, and of both sexes, present their ear- 

 nest, and often, it is fa-aid, successful vows. The 

 northern view of the lake i.s terminated, at the dis- 

 tance of twelve miles, by a detached range of moun- 

 tains which slope from the centre to each angle, and 

 from the base of which a spacious plain, preserved iu 

 constant verdure by numerous streams, extends with 

 an easy declivity to the margin of the water. In 

 the centre of the plain, as it approaches to the lake, 

 there is a spacious garden, which appears to have 

 been constructed by Shah Jehan, one of the Delhi 

 emperors, during the period that this district was in 

 the possession of the Moguls. This garden is abun- 

 dantly stored with fruit trees and other flowering 

 shrubs. Some of the rivulets which intersect the 

 plain are led into a canal at the back of the garden, 

 and flowing through its centre, or occasionally thrown 

 into a variety of water works, form one of the chief 

 beauties of the place. It is farther decorated by va- 

 rious elegant and commodious pieces of architecture, 

 in the erection and distribution of which, the Mo- 

 gul princes of India have displayed equally taste and 

 magnificence. These buildings are said to have de- 

 rived some of their ornaments from the spoils of a 

 Hindoo temple. The other sides of the lake are oc- 

 cupied by gardens of an inferior description, two of 

 which, however, that arc the property of the go- 

 vernment, the Baugh Nusscem, lying on the north- 

 west, and Baugh Nishat, on the south-east quarter of 

 the Shalimar, are deserving of notice for their lar- 

 ger size and their agreeable appearance. The scene 

 is farther ornamented by the numerous small islands 

 which emerge from the waters of the lake. To the 

 east of this pleasing spot, is the wreck of a fortified 

 palace, erected by Amir Khan, a Persian, when go- 

 vernor of Cashmere. He used to pass much of his 

 time in this residence, which was curiously adapted 

 to the enjoyment of the various species of Asiatic 

 luxury ; but the materials of which it was built had 

 been so unsubstantial, that within the space of not 

 more than eight years from the period when it was 

 erected, it could no longer with safety be inhabited. . 

 The environs of the town, in general, to the east 

 and the west, are laid out in private gardens, which 

 skirting the banks of the Chelum, or supplied with 

 canals from the lake, afford to the inhabitants vari- 

 ous pleasant retreats, and the several little hilh that 

 border upon the water, are decorated with villas, 

 mosques, and pagodas, which, intermingled with 

 trees and other forms of beautiful vegetation, pre- 

 sent a prospect at once grateful to the eye, and high- 

 ly pleasing to the imagination. 



Many of the houses in the city of Cashmere arc 

 large and commodious. No buildings, however, oc- 

 cur particularly worthy of remark. The Cashme- 

 rians, indeed, boast much of a wooden mosque, cal- 

 led the Jumah Mussid ; * but its claim to distinction 

 appears to be very moderate. The subahdar, or go- 



Tbis is the appellation by which the principal place of prayer in Mahometan cities is usually distinguished. 



