CASHMERE, formerly a province of Northern Hindustan, but in later times an appendage of Afghanistan. It is an extensive valley, nearly of an oval form, and surrounded by lofty mountains, and is estimated to extend ninety miles in a winding direction from the south-east to the north-west, and is from forty to sixty-nine miles in breadth. Its situation is between the 34th and 35th degrees of north latitude, and between the 73d and 76th degrees of east longitude. It is divided by its mountainous barrier from Little Thibet on the north, from Ladauk on the east, from the Punjab on the south, and from Pukhlee on the west. This country is universally celebrated in the east for its romantic beauties, its fertile soil, and its temperate climate. According to ancient tradition, this valley, inclosed by mountains rising above the limit of perpetual snow, was the bed of a great lake, into which flowed all the streams from the adjacent hills, carrying with them large quantities of soil. The lake at last opening itself a passage through the mountains, left the valley [7:6:213]covered with a rich alluvial deposit, an admirable field for human industry. The valley of Cashmere is not exposed to the periodical rains which deluge the rest of India, the clouds being shut out by the height of the mountains; and it has only light showers. These, however, are in sufficient abundance to feed some thousands of cascades, which roll down into the valley from every part of the lofty barrier that encircles it. The Behut or Jhelum, the Hydaspes of Alexander, is the chief river: it runs through the whole length of the valley with a remarkably smooth current from east to west, and receives numerous tributary streams from every quarter. The plains of Cashmere being abundantly supplied with moisture, yield rich crops of rice, which form the common food of the inhabitants. On the higher grounds, among the hills, all the European grains, namely, wheat, barley, and other species, arrive at maturity. In this elevated region are also found most of the plants, fruit and forest trees, and flowers, common to Europe, such as violets, roses, narcis-susses, and other flowers, which grow wild, and perfume the air; and of fruits, the apple, the pear, the plum, the aprico, and the nut, with abundance of grapes; and many kitchen herbs peculiar to cold countries. A species of nut which grows in the lakes affords an article of food to the lower classes. A superior sort of saffron is also produced in some parts; and iron of an excellent quality is found in the high lands.

The mountains which surround Cashmere are some of them of great elevation; and, ascending from the plains, we find various climates and the productions of distant regions concentrated within a short space. The lower ridges of these mountains, which are of a moderate height, are covered with trees and verdure, and afford excellent pasturage for cattle of various species, as well as for wild beasts; while they are entirely unfrequented by the ferocious animals, such as lions and tigers. Above these fertile and romantic regions, the increasing cold gradually stunts the vegetation; and the traveller reaches that highest range of mountains which tower above the clouds into the regions of perpetual snow. Among these mountains are interspersed many fruitful and well-watered valleys; and they afford shelter to a rude and bold class of inhabitants, who, in these deep recesses, bid defiance to conquering ' armies, and who have little intercourse with the inhabitants of the plains, their poverty offering as little inducement to the visits of merchants as of warriors.

Cashmere has been long famed for the manufacture of shawls, which are distributed all over northern and western Asia, and are exported in great quantities to Europe. These shawls owe their peculiar beauty and fine texture to the wool which is brought from Thibet, lying at a distance of a month’s journey to the north-east. The wool forms the inner coat with which the goat is covered, and the breed is peculiar to Thibet, all attempts to introduce it into India or Persia having invariably failed. The wool, which is originally of a dark gray colour, is bleached in Cashmere by the help of a preparation of rice-flour. The process of manufacture is very slow; not more than one inch being added to the finest shawls in the course of a day. It is estimated that about 16,000 looms were at one time employed in this manufacture; but of late years the demand has declined, owing to the decay of the Persian and Hindustance empires, and the desolation and poverty of the eastern countries. When Cashmere was tributary to Afghanistan, a great portion of the public revenue was exacted in shawls. The yarn into which the wool is spun is dyed with various colours, and after being woven, the piece is once washed, and the border, in which is displayed a variety of figures and colours, is attached to the shawls in so dexterous a manner that it is hardly possible to discover the junction. The price varies, in proportion to the quality, from ten or twelve, to fifty shillings; and where the shawl is of flowered work, the price sometimes rises as high as L.5 or L.6. A species of writing paper is also made in Cashmere, which is highly praised throughout the East, and was formerly a great article of traffic; as were also its lacquered ware, cutlery, and sugar. A wine resembling Madeira is manufactured; and a spirituous liquor is distilled from the grape. But very little trade is now carried on. The internal intercourse of the country is chiefly maintained by means of the numerous streams by which it is intersected, and which are navigated in long and narrow boats moved with paddles. Owing to the disorderly state of the country, commerce is insecure; and the course of the river is beset by robbers, who frequently set upon and plunder the unwary traveller.

The people of Cashmere are a distinct nation of the Hindu stock, and differ in appearance, language, and manners, from all their Tartar neighbours, who are an ugly race. The men are remarkably stout, active, and industrious; while the females have been celebrated for their beauty and complexions, which approach to the brunette. They have been on this account much sought after for wives by the Mogul nobility of Delhi. They are naturally a gay and lively people; excessively addicted to pleasure, and notorious for falsehood and cunning all over the East. They are eager in the pursuit of wealth; and are considered as much more acute and intriguing than the natives of Hindustan generally are. They are said to be addicted to literature and poetry, which is probably limited to a few popular Songs. The country, although fertile, has but a scanty population; both industry and agriculture being retarded by the disorderly habits of the people, and by the want of any efficient police to maintain order and peace. The total number of inhabitants is not estimated to exceed half a million, a great proportion of whom are Hindus. There are also Mahommedans, partly Soonies, and partly also of the sect of Ali. All Cashmere is reckoned holy land; and miraculous fountains abound in all parts. There are numerous temples dedicated to the various objects of Hindu superstition, as Siva, Vishnu, Brahma, &c.; though many of these monuments of Brah- * minical superstition have been destroyed by Mahommc-dan invaders. The country is subject to the dreadful evil of earthquakes; and, to guard against their effects, all the houses are built of wood, which is abundant. The author of the Ayeen Acbery dwells with rapture on the romantic beauty of the valley of Cashmere, which was said to be the favourite retreat of the Mogul emperors when they relaxed from the cares of government; and this description is so far confirmed by Bernier, who in 1663 visited this country in the suite of Aurungzebe.

As far as the history of Cashmere can be collected from imperfect traditions, the people appear originally to have been Hindus. The period of its subjugation to its Mahommedan conquerors is uncertain. About the year 1012 Mahmoud of Ghizni invaded and plundered the country, but does not appear to have taken permanent possession of it. In the year 1323 it was invaded by an army of about seventy thousand Tartars, whose commander established himself as sovereign of the country, and was soon after converted to Mahommedanism by a priest, who in return was made his prime minister. His descendants reigned in Cashmere till the year 1541, when it was conquered by Mirza Hyder, on the part of the Emperor Humayon, and was annexed by Acbar to his empire in 1588. It was ruled by the house of Timour for a hundred and sixty years, after which it was betrayed by the Mogul governor, about 1754, to Ahmed Shah Duranny, and constituted a province of the Afghan sovereignty.
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During the revolutions in that kingdom in 1809, the governor, Mohammed Khan, revolted, and still continues to maintain his independence. The principal towns are Cashmere, called also Serinagur; and Islamabad.

Cashmere, the capital of the above province, is a large city, which extends three miles on each side of the river Jhelum, over which there are five wooden bridges. It is of unequal breadth; but in some places it is nearly two miles. It has a small citadel called Shore Ghur, in the south-east quarter, where the governor resides. The houses are mostly built*of wood, with partition walls of brick and mortar. They are high, being many of them three stories, having sloping wooden roofs covered with a bed of fine earth, which in summer is sown with flowers, and exhibits a lively appearance. The town, like most of those in the East, is dirty in the extreme, its narrow streets being covered with the filth of the inhabitants, who, even in the East, are proverbially unclean. The river is, notwithstanding, covered with baths. The public buildings in the city are not of any consequence; but in the environs there are the remains of palaces built by the emperors of Hindustan. There is a beautiful lake near the town, which extends from the north-east quarter in an oval circumference of five or six miles, and communicates, with the Jhelum by a narrow channel near the suburbs. On the east side of the lake is a detached hill called Tukhti Solomon. On this eminence stands a mosque dedicated to Solomon, to whose miraculous interposition the Mahommedans ascribe the draining off of the waters from the valley; whilst the Hindus claim this river for their divinities. Near this lake stands another hill, which is covered with orchards and gardens, and has on its summit a mosque dedicated to a Mahommedan saint held in high estimation; and in the centre of the lake is an island, on which the Emperor Jehangire built a palace, which he adorned with gardens and water-works at an immense expense, and to which he frequently retired from the heat of India and the noise of a court. A heavy fall of rain, accompanied by a tremendous flood, which took place in 1635, greatly injured the city and all the buildings in the vicinity. Bernier, who visited Cashmere in 1663, gives a romantic and interesting description of it. But since it has come under the dominion of the Afghans, it has fallen into decay, and its buildings are many of them crumbling into ruin. The travelling distance from Lahore is 587 miles, from Agra 724, from Lucknow 866, from Bombay 1277, from Calcutta 1564, and from Madras 1882. (Rennell’s Memoir of a Map of Hindustan ; Elphinstone’s Account of the Kingdom of Caubul ; Foster’s Journey from Bengal to England ; Bernier, Hamilton, &c.)