172 WANDERINGS OF A 



are for tlie most part conveyed by boats. As the small gon- 

 dolas glided slowly towards the entrance to this little Venice 

 of Asia, oux attention was directed to two human skeletons 

 suspended in cages on the river's bank ; these, we were in- 

 formed, were criminals that had been executed some years 

 before, and were left on these gibbets as a warning to aU 

 malefactors. We were not altogether unprepared for such 

 examples of Goulab Singh's mode of rule, having read of his 

 horrible deeds in the days when he was weaving the meshes 

 of the net that ended in capturing Cashmere. One cannot 

 without a shudder recollect that it was he who, at Poonch, 

 under the slopes of the southern Pinjal, had two prisoners 

 flayed alive in his presence, and, not content with that, sent 

 for his son (now the present ruler) in order that he might 

 " take an example " from his father in the art of governing. 

 Such was the ruler of this valley when I had the pleasure of 

 visiting it. A striking difference is worth noticing with refer- 

 ence to the natives of the capital — that is, the healthy and 

 sunburnt faces of the boat people and the pale and blood- 

 less aspects ^f the men and women who crowd the banks 

 of the river. Many of the fair sex are extremely beautiful, 

 but filth, poverty, and tyranny have made their impressions 

 on the Cashmeree, who for centuries has been subject to 

 tyrannical governments. 



With so noble a river, and the natural advantages of 

 situation, it might be supposed that few cities have better op- 

 portunities of preserving cleanliness and comfort ; but, like 

 all Oriental towns, it vies with the filthiest. Let travellers 

 who have sensitive olfactory organs beware of the streets of 

 Cashmere, and content themselves with admiring all its 

 towns from a respectful distance. We had excellent quarters 

 assigned us, by order of the Maharajah, on the right bank of 



