15 A Sportswoman in India 



Kashmir is an elevated and enclosed valley in the 

 Himalaya Mountains, north of the Punjab. It is 

 surrounded by lofty hills with one opening on the 

 west, at Baramoula, by which flows out from the 

 valley the River Jhelum. In an old Sanscrit history, a 

 copy of which was presented to Akbar when he invaded 

 Kashmir, it is stated that the valley was formerly a 

 lake, and that it was drained by one of the sons of 

 Brahma cutting the gap in the hills at Baramoula. 



In the existing physical condition of the country 

 we may see some ground for this story waterworn 

 pebbles are to be found in the clay and sand, and 

 the ancient name from which Kashmir is derived, 

 " Kasyapa-pur," is connected with the draining of the 

 lake. The low, level floor of the vale is about 

 eighty- four miles long and twenty-four miles broad ; 

 its mean height is six thousand feet above sea-level. 



Much has been said and written about the beauty 

 of the Vale of Kashmir. Spring encircles a fresh, 

 green, smiling valley with a noble belt of glistening, 

 snow-capped mountains. Autumn fills the eye with 

 the wonderful riches of the gloriously coloured foliage. 

 At all times, from end to end of the vale, flows on 

 the quiet, glassy river, reflecting the groves and 

 avenues upon its banks, the craggy hills and the 

 far-off mountains. There is no place, no season, 

 which has not its beauty : the rapturous praises of 

 the Mohammedans, the romances of Moore, may be 

 extravagant ; but, after all, few will dare to deny 

 that fiction is not surpassed by fact. 



