KASHMIE. 291 



position it would be the haunt of the man-serpents, 

 and it is exactly the place that Avould have suited 

 them in ancient or any times. 



Both Achibal and Vernag were favourite haunts of 

 our friend Jehangi'r, and of his wife !N"ur Jahan, the 

 Light of the "World. If that immortal pair required 

 any proof of their superiority, it would be found in 

 the retreats which they chose for themselves, and 

 which mark them out as above the level of ordinary 

 and even royal humanity. At Achibal, a spring of 

 water, the largest in Kashmir, rises at the head of 

 the beautiful pleasure - garden, underneath an over- 

 shadowing cliff, and this is supposed to be the 

 reappearance of a river which disappears in. the 

 mountains some miles above. At Vernag, also, a large 

 spring bubbles up in almost icy coldness beneath 

 a gigantic cliff, fringed with birch and light ash 

 that 



" Pendent from the brow 

 Of yon dim cave in seeming silence make 

 A soft eye-music of slow-waving boughs.' 



It is more specially interesting, however, as the 

 source of the Jhelam or Hydaspes ; and as I sat be- 

 side it on an evening of delicious repose, an old 

 schoolboy recollection came to mind, and it was 

 pleasant to find that if I could not venture to claim 

 entirely the 



" Integer vitsc scelerisque purus," 



