COLONEL WARD ON CASHMERE GAME 73 



barren, outlying hills and in the fertile plains with 

 highly cultivated slopes. No railway has as yet 

 desecrated this animal Paradise. 



Only a few paths unite the few solitary and far- 

 apart human dwellings during the summer months. 

 India's Switzerland is up to now a world unto itself, 

 whose inhabitants depend chiefly upon the fertile 

 valley of Srinagar a long narrow basin, not much 

 larger than the county of Kent. All around and 

 above it tower the mountains, making ingress and 

 egress impossible with their snow and ice during six 

 months of the year, and even rendering the path of 

 the trespasser far from easy in the height of summer. 



To the wild animals alone do they offer protection 

 and refuge. For them their icy nature melts even 

 during the winter deep down on the southern preci- 

 pices, so that their four-legged guests shall never feel 

 the pangs of hunger. 



