NATURALIST IN INDIA. 203 



mately joins tlie Barengi, a tributary of the Jhelum, In the 

 limestone near the stream there is a vein of iron, which pro- 

 duces small quantities of the metal. After a few miles' 

 journey through a country densely clad with tree, bush, and 

 scrub, chiefly the hazel-like Fothergilla, and across several 

 branches of the Jhelum, we arrived at the celebrated fountain 

 of Vernag. This place, although in ruins, bore still the impress 

 of its pristine grandeur, and, even in all its fallen beauty, 

 stood in point of comparison with the wretched edifices built 

 there by Goulab Singh as would its noble founders have 

 ranked with the avaricious and tyrannical Jumoo Eajah. 

 Over the ruined gateway is inscribed in Persian — "This 

 fountain has sprung from the waters of Paradise ;" and on the 

 octagonal wall which surrounds the spring is another tablet on 

 which it is recorded that — "This place of unparalleled beauty 

 was raised to the skies by Jehangiere Shah Akbar Shah, 

 in the year 1029 " (a.d. 1619). The weU sends forth a volume 

 of water of some size ; the former abounds with trout. The 

 little lull behind Vemag hides the view towards the east, 

 but in every other direction the fine valley, with its gentle 

 slopes, fields, and crystal streams, gladdens the eye. We 

 ranged through beautifal copses, by smiling hamlets, and 

 across grassy levels, through rice-fields ; at others winding up 

 the wUlow-fringed banks of rivulets, that " chatter, chatter 

 as they flow, to join the brimming river." The gay little 

 kingfisher and the spotted enicurus were seen hunting along 

 the babbling brook-sides. I gathered many well-known Eng- 

 lish plants, which may have been in part introduced from time 

 to time with the cereals and other grains. The bird's-foot 

 trefoil, the wood strawberry, burnet saxifrage, were all common. 

 Again, • white and red clovers clad the grassy banks. A 

 species of burdock, resembling the British ; the dandelion. 



