2i8 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



in my time, rather more than half were forest and 

 jungle. The valley takes its name from its capital, the 

 little town of Dehra, which is situated at about the 

 centre of its length ; and the town is so called because 

 it was on a spot near adjacent to it that " Gooroo 

 Nanuck," one of the founders of the Sikh religion, set 

 up his "dehra," or tent, when, over two centuries ago, 

 he sought refuge in the valley from the persecutions 

 of the Mahomedans of the Punjaub. 



The valley and a portion of the adjacent mountains 

 came into the English possession at the conclusion 

 of the Nepaulese war in 1818. The Nepaulese had 

 themselves then only recently acquired it. The valley 

 had previously formed a portion of the territories of 

 the hill raja of Srinugger. The Doon, when it then 

 came into our possession, was little more than a 

 wilderness. What cultivation existed was confined to 

 the immediate neighbourhood of Dehra and to a 

 narrow strip extending along the centre of the valley 

 to the westward. The villages were mere grass huts, 

 and even Dehra, the capital, with the exception of the 

 tomb of the Gooroo and the buildings attached to it, 

 did not possess a single masonry structure. The Doon 

 of to-day presents a different aspect, and one that 

 speaks eloquently to the benefits of English domina- 

 tion. 



In beauty or grandeur of scenery the Doon can bear 

 no comparison with Cashmere. Still it is exceedingly 

 pretty, especially all that part that surrounds its capital 

 of Dehra. Embosomed in mountains, lying at an 

 elevation of over two thousand feet above the sea, it 



