The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1939-07-06
Former BlufftOn Woman Visits
Kashmir, Beauty Spot Ut India

All Interesting a1SOoitt VI s. N"S0NiotA
spent in Kashmir, the Venice of India,
is contained in a letter received here
this week from Mrs. P. A. Wenger,
the former Adah Good. of Bluffton,
who now is a missionary located at
Koeba, India.
The letter was written to Mrs. II.
E. Beidler of South Jackson street,
a sister of Mrs. Wenger.
In the account Mrs. Wenger COM
ments on the beauty and picturesque
ness of Kashmir, where one finds
floating gardens, the richness of orr
entail furnishings and way of liv-
ing that is truly peculiar to that To-
cality.
The letter follows:
You will perhaps be interested to
hear of our trip to Kashmir, so
shall try to write about it. No
doubt you will have to get out your
map to get any understanding as to
where we went. | viii mention a
few of the large stations along the
way. You may begin tracing at Al
lahabad, as that is the first large
station. A few of the others are Del
hi, Saharanpur, Lahore, and last Ra-
walpindi. From Rawalpindi we took
the motor bus for about two hundred
miles. We left Rawalpindi about
twelve noon one day and arrived at
our destination the next evening.
You will no doubt think that this
was very slow travelling. But the
reason was rather that the driver
took his good old time at various stop
ping places and often wasted lot of
time. The only thing that one can
do in such a case is to be patient!
Much of the way of course We were
travelling in the mountains, and some
times we wished that he would drive
more slowly for he often rounded
corners so fast that the bus seemed
to be going on two wheels and sway
ed. With the narrow roads and two
way traffic, this was not always too
pleasant.
The first night we spent in nice
rest house in beautiful spot. Try
to locate the Jhelum river on your
map. This is a famous river and de-
serves to be. 1t is a terrifically
swift stream. 1t carries great logs
down the stream at the rate of many
miles per hour, and is used as a
means of transporting them. The
rest house was on the banks of the
river and we could hear the rushing
torrent all night. We walked down
to the river and across it on a sus-
pension bridge. We could feel the
bridge swinging as we walked over
it, but it was safe as it was so well
wired on both sides that one could
hardly have fallen out even by trying
The second day we passed through
most beautiful pine forests where the
pine scent was lovely. After having
crossed the mountain pass we again
travelled on fairly level road be-
fore reaching Srinagar, which is the
main city of the Cashmir Hill station
Srinagar is built on the banks of the
Jhelum, and of a lake called Dali
Lake. There are not many Euro
peans living in Srinagar and most OF
the visitors who go there live out on
the lake in house-boats or on islands
in tents.
Most of the business traffic of the
Kashpair residents is carried on by
boat, likely somewhat as it is in Ven
ice. The boats are for the most part
crude wooden affairs of various sizes,
propelled by means of round or heart
shaped paddles. One often sees quite
large boat propelled by a woman
or child sitting at the very point of
the prov of the boat, but for the pas
senger boats they usually have not
less than three oarsmen.
We lived in house-boat together
with Rev. and Mrs. Menzies of the
Disciples Mission. A house-boat con-
sists of long boat from about eight
to twelve feet wide with rooms built
on it similar to a house. There are
usually a sitting room, dining roomi
two or three bedrooms with bath
rooms. Then there is another smaller
boat attached to it which all the SER
wants live and where the cooking is
done. That is a thing which was al
most too much for ones appetite. The
food looked nice and tasted good
when it arrived on the table, so there
was only one thing to do. just de.
liberately close out of your mind the
kitchen scenery, and all the unsani.
tary possibilities and eat.
We of course tried to give instruc
tions in cleanliness, but who know:
what happens when your back is turn
ed. Well, | am convinced that thu
same thing holds true in many eating
houses at home, but it is more care
fully hidden. When we wanted to g
to the city to see the shops, we ha'
to go by boat and it took US almost a.
hour to make the trip. At first
was always more or less afraid bu
got over it to some extent. | suppos