The finest inflorescence is that of the almond and the peach. Outside the hill-country the commencement of blos­soming is the 1st Isfandārmuz (February 10). In the territory of Kashmir it is 1st Farwardīn (March 10), and in the city gardens it is the 9th and 10th of that month, and the end of their blooming joins on to the commencement of that of the blue jessamine. In attendance on my revered father I frequently went round the saffron fields, and beheld the spectacle of the autumn. Thank God that on this occasion I beheld the beauties* of the spring. The beauties of the autumn shall be described in their place. The buildings of Kashmir are all of wood; they make them two-, three-, and four-storied, and covering the roofs with earth, they plant bulbs of the chaughāshī* tulip, which blooms year after year in the spring season, and is exceedingly beautiful. This custom is peculiar to the people of Kashmir. This year, in the little garden* of the palace and on the roof of the chief mosque, the tulips blossomed luxuriantly. There are many blue jessamines in the gardens, and the white jessamines that the people of India call chambīlī are sweet-scented. Another kind is of the colour of sandal-wood, and this is also very sweet-scented. This is special to Kashmir. I saw several sorts of red roses: one is specially sweet-scented, and another is a flower of the colour of sandal (light yellow), with an exceed­ingly delicate scent. It (the scent?) is of the nature of (that of) the red rose, and its stem is like that of the red rose. There are two kinds of lilies. That which is grown in gardens is vigorous (bālīda) and fresh (lit. green) coloured, the other is a wild kind. Although the latter has less colour it is very sweet-scented. The flower of the Ja‘farī* (a yellow flower) is large and sweet-scented; its stem is above a man's height, but in some years, when it has grown large and has flowered, a worm is produced, and spreads over the flower a kind of spider's web, and destroys it and dries up its stem. This year it has so happened. The flowers that are seen in the territories of Kashmir are beyond all calculation. Those that Nādiru-l-‘aṣrī Ustād Manṣūr,* has painted are more than 100. Before my father's time there were no shāh-ālū (cherries).* Muḥammad* Qulī Afshār brought them from Kabul and planted them, and there are now ten or fifteen fruit-bearing trees. There were also some apricot-trees. The aforesaid made them known in this country, and now there are many of them. In fact, the apricot* of Kashmir is good. There was a tree in the Shahr-ārā garden at Kabul, called Mīrzā'ī, better fruit than which I had not eaten, but in Kashmir there are trees equal to this in the gardens. There are pears (nāshpātī) of the best kind, better than those of Kabul, or Badakhshan, and nearly equal to those of Samar-kand. The apples of Kashmir are celebrated for their good­ness. The guavas (amrūd) are middling. Grapes are plenti­ful, but most of them are harsh and inferior, and the pome­granates are not worth much. Water-melons of the best kind can be obtained. The melons are very sweet and creased, (? shikananda)* , but for the most part when they become ripe a worm is found in them that spoils them. If by chance they are preserved from this misfortune they are very delicate. There are no shāh-tūt* (some kind of large mulberry), but there are other (tūt) mulberries everywhere. From the foot of every mulberry-tree a vine-creeper grows* up. In fact, the mulberries of Kashmir are not fit to eat, with the exception of some on trees grown in gardens, but the leaves are used to feed the silkworm. They bring the silkworms' eggs from Gilgit and Tibet. There is plenty of wine and vinegar, but the wine is sour and inferior, and in the Kashmir language is called mas. After they take cups of it some heat of head ensues. They make various pickles with the vinegar. As the garlic of Kashmir is good, the best pickle is that of garlic. There are all kinds of crops except peas. If they sow peas, they give a crop the first year, in the second they are inferior, and in the third year they are like mushang.* Rice is the principal crop. Probably there are three parts under rice and one under all other grains. The chief food of the people of Kashmir is rice, but it is inferior. They boil it fresh,* and allow it to get cold, and then eat it, and call it batha. It is not usual to take their food warm, but people of small means keep a portion of the batha for a night, and eat it next day. Salt is brought from India. It is not the custom to put salt into the batha. They boil vegetables in water, and throw in a little salt in order to alter the flavour, and then eat them along with the batha. Those who want to have something tasty put a little walnut-oil into the vegetables. Walnut-oil soon becomes bitter and evil-flavoured. They also use cow-oil (raughan— i.e., ghi), but this is taken fresh, and fresh from newly-made butter (maska). They throw this into the food, and call it “sadā-pāk” in the Kashmiri language. As the atmosphere is cold and damp, it becomes altered by being kept for three or four days. There are no buffaloes, and the cattle are small and inferior. The wheat* is small and of little substance (kam maghz). It is not the custom to eat bread (nān). There are tailless sheep, resembling the kadī* (or gaddī) of India. They are called handū, and their flesh is not without flavour. Fowls, geese, and ducks (murghābī)—golden and others—are plentiful. There are all kinds of fish, both with and without scales, but they are inferior. The woollen cloths are well known. Men and women wear a woollen tunic (kurtā), and call it paṭṭū. If they do not put on a tunic, they believe that the air affects them, and even that it is impossible to digest their food without it. The shawls of Kashmir, to which my father gave the name of parm-narm, are very famous: there is no need to praise them. Another kind is taharma (naharma in the printed version); it is thicker than a shawl, and soft.* Another is called darma. It is like a jul-i-khirsak,* and is put over carpets. With the exception of shawls they make other woollen materials better in Tibet. Though they bring the wool for the shawls from Tibet they do not make them there. The wool for shawls comes from a goat which is peculiar to Tibet. In Kashmir they weave the paṭṭū shawl from wool, and sewing two shawls together they smooth them into a kind of saqarlāt (broad-cloth), which is not bad for a rain-coat. The men of Kashmir shave the head and put on a round turban, and the common women do not wear clean, washed clothes. They use a tunic of paṭṭū for three or four years; they bring it unwashed from the house of the weaver, and sew it into a tunic, and it does not reach the water till it falls to pieces. It is considered wrong to wear drawers (izār); they wear the tunic long and ample as far as the head and falling down to the feet, and they also wear* a belt. Although most of the houses are on the river-bank not a drop of water touches their bodies. In short, they are as dirty outside as inside, without any cleanliness. In the time of Mīrzā Ḥaidar there were many skilled people there. They were skilled in music, and their lutes, dulcimers, harps, drums, and flutes were celebrated. In former times they had a musical instrument like a lute, and used to sing in the Kashmirī language compositions according to Hindi musical modes, there being even two or three modes combined to­gether. Moreover, many sing together in chorus. In fact, Kashmir is much indebted to Mīrzā Ḥaidar for its excellencies. Before the reign of my father the chief method by which the people of these parts rode was on gūnts (ponies). They had no large horses, but used to bring ‘Irāq and Turki horses by way of rare gifts for their rulers. Gūnt means a yābū* (pony). They have thick shoulders, and are low in the body. They are common in other of the hill-countries of India. For the most part they are vicious* and hard-mouthed. When this God-created flower-garden acquired eternal beauty under the auspices of the State, and by the blessing of the teaching of the Alexander-minded Khāqān, many of the Aimāqs (cavalry) were presented with jagirs in this Subah, and herds of ‘Irāqī and Turkī horses were given them to breed from (kih kurra bagīrand). The soldiers also brought horses* on their own account, and in a short time horses were obtainable, so that many Kashmiri horses were bought and sold for 200 and Rs. 300, and even for Rs. 1,000.

The merchants and artificers of this country are mostly Sunnis, while the soldiers are Imāmiyya Shias. There is also the sect of Nūr-bakhshīs.* There is also a body of Faqirs whom they call Rīshīs.* Though they have not religious knowledge or learning of any sort, yet they possess simplicity, and are without pretence. They abuse no one, they restrain the tongue of desire, and the foot of seeking; they eat no flesh, they have no wives, and always plant fruit-bearing trees in the fields, so that men may benefit by them, themselves deriving no advantage. There are about 2,000 of these people. There is also a body of brahmans living from of old in this country, who still remain there and talk in the Kash­miri tongue. Outwardly one cannot distinguish them from Mussulmans. They have, however, books in the Sanskrit language, and read them. They carry into practice what­ever relates to the worship of idols. Sanskrit is a language in which the learned of India have composed books, and esteem them greatly. The lofty idol temples which were built before the manifestation of Islam are still in existence, and are all built of stones, which from foundation to roof are large, and weigh 30 or 40 maunds, placed one on the other. Near the city there is a small hill which they call Kūh-i-Mārān* (“The Wicked Hill,” Lawrence 298), as well as Harī Parbat. On the east side of the hill there is the Dal Lake, which measures round a little more than 6 1/2 koss.* My father (may the lights of Allah be his testimony!) gave an order that they should build in this place a very strong fort of stone and lime; this has been nearly completed during the reign of this suppliant, so that the little hill has been brought into the midst of the fortifications, and the wall of the fort built round it. The lake is close to the fort, and the palace overlooks the water. In the palace there was a little garden, with a small building in it in which my revered father used constantly to sit. At this period it appeared to me to be very much out of order and ruinous. As it was the place where that veritable qibla (place turned towards in prayer) and visible Deity used to sit, and it is really a place of prostration for this suppliant, therefore its neglected state did not appear right to me. I ordered Mu‘tamid K., who is a servant who knows my temperament, to make every effort to put the little garden in order and repair the buildings. In a short space of time, through his great assiduity, it acquired new beauty. In the garden he put up a lofty terrace 32 yards square, in three divisions (qi‘a), and having repaired the building he adorned it with pictures by masterhands, and so made it the envy of the picture gallery of China. I called this garden Nūr-afzā (light increasing).

On Friday, the 15th of the Divine month of Farwardīn, two quās oxen, out of the offerings of the Zamindar of Tibet, were brought before me. In form and appearance they closely resemble the buffalo. All the limbs are covered with wool which properly belongs to animals in a cold country. For instance, the rang goats (ibex), which they brought from the country of Bhakkar (Sind) and the hill-country of the Garmsīr (in Afghanistan) were very handsome, and had but little wool, and those that are met with in these hills, on account of the excessive cold and snow, are covered with hair and ugly. The Kashmiris call the rang kapal.* On this day they brought a musk deer as an offering. As I had not tasted its flesh, I ordered it to be cooked; it appeared very tasteless and bad for food. The flesh of no other wild animal is so inferior. The musk-bag when fresh has no scent, but when it is left for some days and becomes dry, it is sweet-scented. The female has no musk-bag. In these two or three days I fre­quently embarked in a boat, and was delighted to go* round and look at the flowers of Phāk and Shālamār. Phāk is the name of a pargana situated on the other side of the lake. Shālamār is near the lake. It has a pleasant stream, which comes down from the hills, and flows into the Dal Lake. I bade my son Khurram dam it up and make a waterfall, which it would be a pleasure to behold. This place is one of the sights of Kashmir.