I landed however, but was soon forced
to beat a rapid retreat. Such a mass of all kinds of filth crowded in so
small a space, I have never before witnessed. Man is ever the plague
spot of the world, where he is not, all is peace, and beauty, with his
presence comes contamination and discord. Saw many a whistling seal in
one part of the lake. The water soon became contracted into a narrow
channel, with a low bank on either side, after travelling a few miles
more we reached the broad Jhelum above its entrance into the lake.
Remained for the night at Hajun.
JULY 26th, Sunday.--Moved on in the morning to Manusbul, a small lake
connected with the river by a canal. This lake is about three miles long
and one mile wide, it is very deep in the middle, and said by the
natives to be unfathomable. In one of the Hindoo Legends we are told a
story of a holy man who spent all his life endeavouring to make a rope
long enough to reach to the bottom, and failing, at length threw
himself in and was never seen again. My boatman to give me an idea of
its depth, dropped in white pebbles which could be seen for a long time
sinking in the clear green water, until they gradually disappeared from
sight. I longed to take a plunge into the cool fluid, and Ungoo
evidently read my wish in my looks, for he proposed that I should gussul
or bathe.
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