184 SUMMER GARDENS OF KASHMIR 



are numerous springs, and consequently remains 

 of Mughal gardens. But only some Kashmiri 

 pavilions, and the stone tanks which swarm with 

 sacred carp are left. 



The direct road from Islamabad to Verinag 

 Bagh, Nur-Jahan's favourite Kashmir garden, 

 runs for nineteen miles across the rivers and the 

 rice-fields and a very bad road it is. For the 

 traffic of the country goes down the new Jhelum 

 valley road by Baramulla and Domel, up over 

 the Murree hill, and out to join the railway at 

 Rawal Pindi. Now, if a river washes away a 

 bridge or two between Islamabad and Verinag, no 

 one hurries to replace it ; and the old road is 

 left to the pilgrims from the plains or to stray 

 travellers, such as the little company who gathered 

 in the gardens at the northern foot of the Banihal 

 Pass to spend, after the old fashion, the last hot 

 weeks of June by the ice-cold holy spring. 



The previous autumn I had tried to reach the 

 gardens and failed ; but on my second visit to 

 Kashmir the journey was accomplished, and I 

 and some friends arrived there at last. 



Camped under the chenars of the ruined 

 garden, where the pine forest runs down a steep 

 limestone spur to the tank in which the spring 



