128 



Correspondence of the Commissioner 



[Feb. 



Date. 



26th Nov. 



27th . . 



28th 



Halting 

 place. 



Path an. 



Sopur. 



Baramula. 



No. of 

 miles. 



m 



12 



10 



Remarks. 



These two data will give a height of 

 about 6,200 feet for the surface level of 

 the original lake, or Sati-saras, which 

 must therefore have been at least 900 ft. 

 deep. I was unable to discover any spe- 

 cimens of these univalve shells in the 

 present waters of Kashmir, but I pro- 

 cured specimens of three varieties of ex- 

 isting shells, two univalves and one bi- 

 valve, and I am happy to add that I 

 found numerous old specimens of the bi- 

 valve in the alluvial formations of Avan- 

 tipur, at least 200 feet above the present 

 river. This fact proves that a fresh wa- 

 ter lake, 200 feet in depth, formerly ex- 

 isted in Kashmir, the waters of which 

 must have covered the whole of the val- 

 ley excepting the Karewahs, or elevated 

 table-lands, which are themselves of al- 

 luvial formation. 



The road first crossed the Behat or 

 Jehlam at Sim-bal, by a bridge of five 

 arches, where the river was 340 ft. broad. 

 It then proceeded by a devious course, 

 skirting swampy ground the whole way 

 to Pathan. At this place I made ground 

 plans of the two existing temples, which 

 are similar to those at Avantipur, but 

 much inferior to them, both in size and 

 in their ornamental details. They were 

 both built by Sankara Vermma, who 

 reigned from a. d. 883 to 901. The 

 one was named Sankara-gaureswara, af- 

 ter himself, and the other Sugandheswa- 

 ra, after his Ranee, Sugandha. 



Heavy snow having fallen during the 

 night, and there being no prospect of the 

 weather clearing up, I made my way with 

 much difficulty through deep snow to So- 

 pur, on the river. 



Snow continued falling the whole night, 

 and I proceeded by water to Baramula, 

 which received its name from the Vara- 



