KASHMIR 101 



waters which flow to Central Asia, and where the 

 Indian and Chinese Empires touch one another. It 

 may be approached from two directions — from 

 Turkistan or from Kashmir and the Karakoram Pass. 

 The Artist had better approach it by Kashmir, 

 for he will see there certain beauties which even 

 Sikkim does not possess, and this will make him 

 further realise the variety of beauty this earth 

 displays. 



Kashmir is altogether different from Sikkim. 

 In Sikkim the valleys are deep, steep, and narrow, 

 and markedly inclined, so that the rivers run strong 

 and there is no room or level for lakes. In Kashmir 

 the main valley is from twenty to thirty miles broad 

 and ninety miles long. Over a large portion it is 

 nearly dead level. So the river is even and placid. 

 And there are tranquil lakes and duck-haunted 

 marshes. 



The climate is different, too. It is the climate 

 of North Italy. Consequently there are no tropical 

 forests, and the mountain-sides are covered with 

 trees of the temperate zone — the stately deodar 

 cedars, spruce fir, maples, walnut, sycamore, and 

 birch ; while in the valley itself grow poplars, wil- 

 lows, mulberries, and most beautiful of all, and a 

 speciality of Kashmir, the magnificent chenar tree 

 — akin to the plane tree of Europe, but larger, 

 fuller, and richer in its foliage. 



In Kashmir there is also far more variety of 

 colour than there is in Sikkim. And in the spring, 

 with the willows and poplars in freshest green ; the 

 almond, pear, apple, apricot, and peach trees in full 

 blossom, white and pink ; the fields emerald with 



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