I took care
to have a clear day for this excursion, and the whole valley was seen
stretched out like a map, and spreading far away to the feet of its
stupendous mountain boundaries. The lakes like huge mirrors reflecting a
dazzling radiance. The Jhelum twisting like a "gilded snake" and forming
at the foot of the hill the original of the well-known shawl pattern;
miles upon miles of bright and verdant fields, divided and marked out by
the banks and hedges; clumps and groves of lofty trees diminished by
distance to the appearance of mere dark green bushy excrescences; the
poplar avenue looking like two long and paralleled lines drawn upon the
ground; the fort and hill but a pigmy now; the city of sombre colour,
with its houses closely huddled together and presenting an expanse of
mud--unworthy stone for such a setting! The high and rugged mountains
on every side piercing the clouds, out of which the everlasting snow and
ice rock regions untrod by mortal foot gleam and glisten coldly in the
scene below; these are the constituent parts of a view which taken
altogether ranks among the finest (if indeed it be not itself the
finest) in the world. But I have no description for it as a whole, words
would fail me if I attempted to reproduce it on paper, so you must take
the items and arrange them to your own satisfaction, and wish you had
the opportunity of seeing the glorious original.
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