Evening star., 1903-08-01
L0vEL|EST OF WOMEN
Dwell Back of the Kashmir
Hills.
AND STAY THERE, TOO
ONE WoMAN'S HERoIsM TOLD IN
HER PRAISE.
Horrors of Cholera Siege - Natives
Are Record Breaker
Liars.
AND STAY THERE, TOO


The inhabitants Of the beautiful vale of
Kashmir are in looks worthy OF their
birth and heritage but in character far
from It, l fear. We were expressing to
Colonel r. E. our opinion that the women
and children Of the valley were the hand
soonest In India. when he told us OF a part
of Kashmir. back in the hills. called
"Paristan.' literally "fairyland," where the
women are said to be ravishingly beautiful
+ but no account ever married outside
their land. He said he had passed within
a short distance of the place and that his
| coolies had begged him to go there to see
the beautiful women, but unfortunately he
was on duty and could not spare the time.
The valley is full Of legends and super
stitons. one Of which is that certain
stones to be seen beneath the waters of
the lakes were at one time men. who. for
their evil deeds. were condemned to lie as
| rocks beneath the clear water until the
lakes dried up. One IS often shown the
'stone men, which look very much like
any other large rocks to our western eyes.
Another legend IS Of a siren who lives on
the border of the Dal lake, who sings en-
chantfngly If she sees one man alone and
beguileS him away with her and he is
| never seen again. but If two men are to-
gether she does not try to enSnare them or
If the one lone man happens to have a
gun or dog, SO apparently she is timid
fay.
While visiting our friends Colonel and
Mrs R. E. we went one day with Its blue
in their pretty white shikara with its blue
and white awning and ten boatmen in
| livery of white with pale blue turbans and
sashes to the foot Of the steps leading up
to the palace of the maharajahs brother,
the Rajah Amir Singh. as Colonel r: f.
to make call on that prince. When
the rajah discovered that We were also
in the boat he sent to beg that we would
| $1o 1aoA yrrIi inh n
gladly. The rajahs palace is on the
other side Of the canal from that of the
maharajah. and whereas the former Is a
hideous painted brick building, with dread
full decorations of orange, green and red.
| the smaller palace is quite like an EngllSh
| country house, covered entirely with rose
vines and with fine lawns and gardens.
| The rajah came to the top or the broad
stone stairway to meet us and. shaking
hands most cordially. led US to his mouse,
where. on the broad entrance porch we
found two rows of native servants stand
| ing their shoes in pairs behind them. Inc
neatly dressed rajah slipped off his gold
embroidered slippers as he entered the
house and left them side by side in the
middle of the door sill
The room on the left OF the large en-
trance hall we found to be huge billiard
room. lit by electricity and with patent
chalkers for the cues. The raJah pointed
with modest pride to the floor of inlaid
wood. which he had had sent from Eng
land most dreadful looking floor stained
with scratches and destitute OF Oil or pol
ish of any kind. Colonel r: E, having
a kind heart. said casually that he
thought the makers ought to have sent
polish or wax for 1t when they sent the
floor, at which the rajah looked Interested
and asked how 1t used, so Mrs. r.
E. carefully explained that in England
such floor was always either waxed or
oiled and that 1t greatly improved its ap-
pearance. and said that the polish could
be found, she thought, at Calcutta. He
liked the idea The rajah took down the
address with pleasure and interest and We
hope the next time we 60 there that we
may find the floor in a preSentable condi-
ton. We noticed that the table was of
French make without pockets and the walls
were hung with skins, huge antler and
deer heads. The drawing rooms on the
held many interesting photographs of broth
er rajahs and Indian princes. but the car
pets and furniture We're English, alas! they
would have been much prettier if they had
not been. We We're shown with an amused
pride, the sitting room of the little prince
or Milan Sahib.' in which were photo
graphs of horses and dogs. and some Won
derfu old embroideries, but few books and
nothing which might show 1t to be the
room of child One large photograph of
famous horse belonging to Milan Sahib's
grandfather showed an immense growth
of name and tail. at which We exclaimed,
but the rajah smiled and said that the
photographer had added all that hairy
growth suitable to the horse of a ma
harajah. The object of greatest pride to
the rajah seemed TO be teakettle which
was boiled by electricity or perhaps more
interesting still an electrical arrangement
for lighting a cigar. When had seen
these glories we were taken out into the
garden to see the dogs, some thoroughbred
fox terriers, dachshunds and collies, and
finally to see a pair of the huge elk found
only in the Sind valley or higher up in the
mountains. The antlers Were ''in velvet"
and we tried to persuade the huge cree
lures to nibble at cabbage leaves while we
felt the velvety softness. But the elk
seemed greatly to object and would not