NATURAUST IN INDIA. 245 



for a specimen of the " Cashmere Madeira wine " mentioned by- 

 Foster, but only obtained a most execrable compound which 

 even the natives themselves agreed was by no means well- 

 flavoured. My companion, doubting Kkewise the opinion 

 of that very intelligent traveller regarding the fecundity of 

 the women, made repeated inquiries, and, I believe, even 

 visited the fish-market to ascertain if the latter article entered 

 so extensively into the dietry of the female sex in Cashmere 

 as to give cause for Foster attributing their prolificness to 

 eating fish in great quantities. The facts, however, were all 

 in favour of a decided decrease in the productiveness of the 

 fair sex, and that both the men and women of Cashmere had 

 fallen off since 1783, when Foster wandered over the Happy 

 Valley. 



I started early with my friend, Captain Eattray, 2d Eegi- 

 ment Native Infantry, to visit the far-famed temple of Solo- 

 mon,* which stands on the summit of a little hill to the 

 east of the city. The chief object of Captain R's visit was to 

 settle some points connected with a panoramic sketch of the 

 valley at which he was then employed, for to a name al- 

 ready established as a landscape-painter, from his beautiful 

 portfolio of Afghan scenery executed during the disastrous 

 campaign in that country in 1841, he was at the time 

 designing another series of sketches, chiefly of Cashmere 

 scenery. 



It appears strange, from the length of time Cashmere 

 has been accessible to Europeans, especially by its proxi- 

 mity to India, that no painter of eminence has immor- 

 talised its magnificent grandeur and beauty; but it is the 

 same everywhere on the Himalaya, as Humboldt truly re- 

 marks — " He who with a keen appreciation of the beauties 

 * Height 6263 feet above the level of the sea. 



