186 Notice of a Visit to the Valley of Kashmir. [March, 



Wuler lake is 30 miles from E. to W. 



Brahmans, the only Hindus in Kashmir, 25,000 in 2000 families ; 

 they are Vishnuvaites and Sivaites, divided into three divisions, who all 

 intermarry : they are darker than the other inhabitants, owing to a 

 colony sent for from the Dekhan about 800 years ago, after the abo- 

 riginal Brahman race was nearly extinguished by the persecution of 

 the Muhammedans. 



There is not in the valley the slightest appearance of its having 

 been drained : the pass through which the Jhelum found its way is 

 one of the most beautiful of the world : its bed 1000 — 1500 feet deep : 

 I do not believe more in the traditions of the Kashmirian Brahmans 

 than in the fables of Manethon. 



All the remaining temples are Bauddha, of a different shape from any 

 I have ever seen ; only one small one reminds me of the caves of Ellora : 

 I have observed no Dagoba. Koran Pandan, near Islamabad, Anatnagh of 

 old, is not only the largest ruin of Kashmir, but one of the splendid ruins 

 of the world : — noble proportions ; — material black marble. I was nearly 

 led into error,at first thinking its form Grecian. The building had nothing 

 on a closer examination which could justify such a hypothesis. Very 

 few temples remain in Kashmir in tolerable preservation, having mostly 

 been destroyed by a fanatic Musalman*, whose zeal did not succeed in 

 overturning them all. 



The only trace of fossil remains in the valley is in a limestone, which 

 contains small shells. 



Nature has done much for Kashmir, art more ; the whole valley is 

 like a nobleman's park : the villages, being surrounded with fruit trees, 

 and having in their centre immense plane and poplar trees, form large 

 masses, having between them one sheet of cultivation, through which 

 the noble river winds itself in elegant sweeps. 



The botany of Kashmir is not rich, and is very nearly allied to that 

 of the Himalaya, between Massuri and Simlah : in the valley itself not 

 a plant is to be seen of indigenous origin : the northern declivity of the 

 mountains is rich in vegetation, the southern steep and barren. The 

 Chunar is the Platanus Orientalis, which so far from being a native of 

 Kashmir does there produce no germinating seeds, and is multiplied by 

 cuttings, which, since the Moghul Emperor, have not been kept up. It 

 is a very extraordinary phenomena to witness the Nilumbium speciosum 

 growing where the orange tree is destroyed by frost. Misri yaleb is not 

 a native of Kashmir. 



I made a remark on the Pir Panjhal, which I afterwards had occa- 

 sion to observe several times, and which is new to me : that the freez- 

 * Sikandar, Bhutsbikan, A. D. 1396. 



