Nature and Art, May 1, 18G7.] 
THE VALE OF CASHMERE. 
149 
duty upon the shawls when they are sent out of 
the country. Tea comes overland from China by 
Thibet, and pays a heavy- duty when it enters 
Cashmere. It comes in large square paper packages, 
and from its shape it is called “ brick tea.” It is 
in great demand among the more wealthy, and if 
you go to inspect the stock of the shawl merchants, 
while you are looking over his goods, he regales 
you with “ the cup that cheers.” In preparing the 
tea for themselves they put spices in it, but they 
have found out that the “ Sahib log ” prefers it 
without these condiments, and so they prepare it 
accordingly. The Nautch girls are very fond of 
this beverage, and always refresh themselves with 
it during their performances. The hookah is also 
an indispensable necessity ; but this is not peculiar 
to one class in India : from a queen to a coolie 
they all “drink” tobacco. “Drink” is the idiom 
by which they express the imbibing of smoke. 
During my visit to the Happy Valley, Colonel 
Seymour and Greatrex, of the Bays, arrived, and 
they determined to have a Nautch on a grand 
scale. One of their objects was to realize, partly 
for my benefit, the past times of Xoormahal ; and 
to accomplish this, it was to take place in the very 
building in the Shalimar in which Moore places 
the scene of his story. At the time there was 
only one copy of “ Lalla Bookli ” known to be in 
Srinugger, and it was in great demand for a couple 
of days before the Nautch. On the afternoon of 
that day I found myself sailing over the Dali, or 
lake, with General Van Cortland t, Avho was the 
British resident for that season in Cashmere. Moore 
must have read up his subject most carefully, for 
his description of the lake is very truthful. He 
describes it as being “ like a garden,” 
“ With the rich buds that o’er it lie, 
As if a shower of fairy wreaths 
Had fallen upon it from the sky ! ” 
The most striking feature is the lotus ; it is a 
large flower, with rose-coloured petals, and a large 
round flat leaf, which generally lies floating on the 
surface of the water. They were at the time in 
full flower, and portions of the lake were entirely 
covered by them, so thickly, that the water was not 
seen, and it looked more like a field, or, as Moore 
expresses it, “ like a garden,” than the surface of a 
lake. The mass of colour produced by such a 
number of flowers is very fine, and for several 
evenings at this season the sunsets were particu- 
larly gorgeous. The sky made great efforts to 
rival the rose-coloured lotus on the lake • and the 
effort was not confined to the sky, the 
“ Silent pinnacles of aged snow 
Stood sunset-flush’d,” 
and the lower ranges of hills came out in strong 
crimson. I have seldom seen more beautiful sun- 
sets than those which I saw on the Lake of Cash- 
mere. Our way over the lake was past the “ Isle 
of Chenars,” as Moore calls it. It derives its name 
from the Chunar tree, a number of which grow on 
it. The ruins of a mosque ai’e still to be seen on 
the island, which has a charmed look about it, 
from the unnumbered lotuses surrounding it. 
We pulled the leaves of the lotus, and used them 
as umbrellas ; and when we could catch one of 
the seed-vessels, it was hauled on board. It is 
like a cone, base upwards, full of seeds, which 
are very like green peas, not only in size, but in 
taste. Finding them very tempting to the palate, 
we continued eating as we went along. The boat- 
men, seeing that these seeds were liked, helped 
us to all they could reach. We became veritable 
“ Lotos Eaters,” and were told that we should forget 
our own country. The reply to this was simple. 
“ For such a place as Cashmere who would not 
send their own country to oblivion 1” We con- 
tinued to eat this fruit of forgetfulness. There may 
be something somniferous in the seeds, or perhaps 
it might be the heat, or the locality — a beautiful 
lake, along which we moved among flowers “ like 
a garden,” islands, trees, hills, snowy peaks “ sun- 
set flushed.” No paradise could equal it. Who 
cared although the whole outer world might be 
forgotten in such a land of beauty 1 
“ Let us swear an oath, and keep it with an equal mind, 
In the hollow lotos-land to live and lie reclined 
On the hills, like gods together, careless of mankind.” 
We had attained to “ Nirwana,” we had reached 
the final state of absorption into bliss, which is the 
heavenly existence of Buddhism. The Mahomedan 
enjoys in the celestial regions a supreme exaltation, 
which he calls “ Kief.” When the Hindoo enters 
Go-lok — the heaven of Vishnu — he will enjoy a 
beatification, which he believes in as “ Moksh.” 
But the heaven of cows could not possibly surpass 
the moksh of the lotos-eater on the Lake of Cash- 
mere. And who would run the risk of that 
dreadful bridge Al-Sirat, when Kief can be reached 
without walking on the edge of a razor 1 Let any 
man become a lotos-eater on that lake, and he will 
cease to have any doubts about the original site of 
the Garden of Eden. He will never attain to the 
true knowledge of good and evil till he has eaten 
the seeds of that plant. Who could refuse to eat 
such fruit, so pleasant to the eyes as well as to the 
taste 1 
Moore gives the following extract from Forster 
descriptive of the Shalimar : — 
“ One of the Delhi emperors — I believe Shah Jehan — - 
constructed a spacious garden called the Shalimar, which is 
abundantly stored with fruit-trees and flowering shrubs. 
Some of the rivulets which intersect the plain are led into a 
canal at the back of the garden, and flowing through its 
centre, or occasionally thrown into a variety of water-works, 
compose the chief beauty of the Shalimar. To decorate this 
spot, the Mogul princes of India have displayed an equal 
magnificence and taste, especially Jehan Gheer, who, with 
the enchanting Noor Mahal, made Kashmire his usual 
residence during the summer months. On arches thrown 
ov#r the canal are erected, at equal distances, four or five 
suites of apartments, each consisting of a saloon, with four 
rooms at the angles, where the followers of the Court 
attend, and the servants prepare sherbets, coffee, and the 
hookah. The frame of the doors of the principal saloon is 
composed of pieces of a stone of a black colour, streaked 
with yellow lines, and of a closer grain and higher polish 
than porphyry. They were taken, it is said, from a Hindoo 
temple, by one of the Mogul princes, and are esteemed of 
great value.” 
