nearly one approaches Srinagar, the more numerous become the
villages embowered in the verdure. At the approach of our boat, some of
their inhabitants came running to see us; the men in their turbans, the
women in their small bonnets, both alike dressed in white gowns reaching
to the ground, the children in a state of nudity which reminded one of
the costumes of our first parents.

When entering the city one sees a range of barks and floating houses in
which entire families reside. The tops of the far-off, snow-covered
mountains were caressed by the last rays of the setting sun, when we
glided between the wooden houses of Srinagar, which closely line both
banks of the river. Life seems to cease here at sunset; the thousands of
many colored open boats (dunga) and palanquin-covered barks (bangla)
were fastened along the beach; men and women gathered near the river, in
the primitive costumes of Adam and Eve, going through their evening
ablutions without feeling any embarrassment or prudery before each
other, since they performed a religious rite, the importance of which is
greater for them than all human prejudices.

On the 20^th of October I awoke in a neat room, from which I had a gay
view upon the river that was now inundated with the rays of the sun of
Kachmyr. As it is not my purpose to describe here my experiences in
detail, I refrain from enumerating the lovely valleys, the paradise of
lakes, the enchanting islands, those historic places, mysterious
pagodas, and coquettish villages which seem lost in vast gardens; on all
sides of which rise the majestic tops of the giants of the Himalaya,
shrouded as far as the eye can see in eternal snow. I shall only note
the preparations I made in view of my journey toward Thibet. I spent six
days at Srinagar, making long excursions into the enchanting
surroundings of the city, examining the numerous ruins which testify to
the ancient prosperity of this region, and studying the strange customs
of the country.

* * * * *

Kachmyr, as well as the other provinces attached to it, Baltistan,
Ladak, etc., are vassals of England. They formerly formed part of the
possessions of Randjid Sing, the Lion of the Pendjab. At his death, the
English troops occupied Lahore, the capital of the Pendjab, separated
Kachmyr from the rest of the empire and ceded it, under color of
hereditary right, and for the sum of 160,000,000 francs, to Goulab-Sing,
one of the fami