170 GARDENS OF THE DAL LAKE 



and the long carved water-chutes were white with 

 foam. A faithful servant, risking his life, had 

 defied the Emperor's orders, and removed the 

 obstruction from the stream. Asaf Khan re- 

 buked him for his zeal and hastily had the stream 

 closed again. But the news reached the Emperor 

 in his gardens at Shalimar; whereupon he sent 

 for the terrified servant, and, much to the surprise 

 of the Court, instead of punishing him, bestowed 

 a robe of honour upon him to mark his admiration 

 for this act of devoted service ; at the same time 

 granting a sanad which gave the right to his 

 master to draw water for the garden from the 

 Shalimar stream. 



The old approach was by water, and the 

 Nishat Bagh, like other Kashmir gardens, loses 

 greatly by the intrusion of the modern road, 

 which cuts off the lake-side terrace from all the 

 others. The enclosure is now five hundred and 

 ninety-five yards long and three hundred and 

 sixty wide. Being a private garden, and not a 

 royal pleasure-ground, there are only two large 

 divisions : the main garden built in a series of 

 terraces each slightly higher than the other; 

 and the upper zenana terrace, where the wall 

 is eighteen feet high, and runs across the full 



