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, and that men must believe this though they may never see, or hear of, them ! The Wular Lake is almost oval in shape, and is at its greatest 12 miles long from north to south, 10 miles wide from east to west, and 16 feet deep ; (the average depth is just 12 feet). The boatmen always approach this magnificent piece of water with fear and trem- bling, and once started, hasten over it as though it were a grave ready every laoment to swallow them up. They have many tales, ancient and modem, true and fictitious, which they will tell with great enthusiasm if the visitor desires. Sandijih dkvan zuli tah hendawend tsalan nirit. Taking up some mustard-seed in the hand, and a water-melon escapes. A great loss to a careful man. Sang-i-P haras. The Philosopher's stone. The daughter of one of the principal citizens of Srmagar went to the river to drink. Instead of drinking with her hands, as is the custom, she bent down her face iiito the water and drank like a dog. While she was drinking a young snake, almost invisible, entered her mouth. (The people say that snakes lay eggs and that in each egg there are thousands of pieces of the finest cotton-like mat- 185 .r, which ercntnally developo into snakes.) For many years this girl nourished this snake in hor stomach. She had no pain, she did not even feel any tiling that ought not to be inside. In course of time she was married ; and a sorry marriage for the husband it turned out to be : — for while they were both sleeping in their bod, at the dead of night, a snake came out from the mouth of the wife and bit her husband, so that he died in dreadful pain soon after- wards. The poor woman's grief in the morning, when she discovered the cold corpse of her beloved husband, was beyond all description; she tore her hair and clothes, she beat her breasts, and shrieked aloud. I'he people came and encjuired what was the matter, and when they heard, they all charged her with having poisoned the man. This report was carried all over the city, even to the great Mnghal gover- nor, 'All Manl'in Khdn. When ho heard of it. he sent for the girl, and kept her with him. He enquired of her the truth of the matter, and the girl replied in tears that she did not know anything con- roming it, and that she was asleep at the time. The governor told her to go to her room, and when she had closed her eyes in sleep, he went and sat by her to watch. Ho waited and waited until at last ho saw a snake appear from her month, and put out its fangs with a most menacing look. *Ali Mard&n KhAn went away as quickly as possible and informed his attendants what he had sct>n, and ordered them to tell this girl to make .some broad on the morrow. The big oven was to bo heated, and when the girl had finished making the loaf, and was putting it into the oven somebody standing by was to ike her up and fling her headlong into the oven. This was done, id when they opened the oven some hoars afterwards to see wliat I Hid become of the girl, they found only a stone about half-a-ponnd iti weight, which was carno<l to the governor and kept very care- fully by him. It appeared that this was the famous alchemist's stone, and that by its means 'AH Mard&n Khun was able to trans- mute copper and brass and all other metals into gold. His person, his servants, his horses, his rooms glittered with gold. ('All Marddn Khan was the most magnificent of the Mu|(bal governors. The expenses of each of his trips into Kashmir are said to have exceeded a l&kh of rupis.) When 'AH Mardan Khdn was about to die he called his four sons unto him, and giving the precious stone to the eldest of them, he told him to throw it into the river (Indus). The eldest son refused to obey this strange order; so it was handed to the second, and then to the third, but all most resolutely refused to throw away so precious a stone ; at length the fourth and young- est son threw it with all his might into the water opposite Atak (Attock) ; and where the stone pitched a great blazing flame arose from the midst of the river, as of ignited gold. 'AH Mard/in KhAn onlered the stone to be thrown into the river because ho feared lest it should imss into the bunds of another, antl they becomo as wealthv as he. '2\ 186 The Kashmtrfs say that the stone is there in the river to the present day. Kanjit Singh tried hard to obtain it. He had the water stopped a hundred yards above and below the place where the stone had pitched, the place was drained, and a most rigid search made, but nothing was discovered. (This is only one . out of many stories extant in the valley concerning the origin of the Philosopher's stone. — Capt. Temple has a variant of the above story with some excellent notes concerning the Lamid in ' the Indian Antiquary, " Vol XI., Part cxxxv., pp. 230.) Sangal-rlipuch padmdn. Sangal- Dip's beautiful woman. Humph ! you might be a grand woman ! It is related that one day Shiva and P^rvati were sitting together, when the latter rose up suddenly and ran away. Shiva followed her aa fast as he could, but was not able to catch her. At last thoroughly exhausted he lay clown in a certain place, Sangal-Dfp by name, and went to sleep ; and it happened that there in that place a madan-pit became. Shiva woke up in a great rage, and tm-ning to the pit he said, " If you should ever see a beautiful woman like a lotus you must follow her ." He then departed. The inhabitants of Sangal-Dfp are constantly going to other coun- tries, and seizing their beautiful women, are taking them to their own country, where they teach them to ride the most beautiful and swift horses. When they are able to ride well, these beautiful women are taken close to the pit and obliged to say, '• 0 Kfimadeva, O Kdmadeva. I am Padmun" (i.e., a beautiful woman and like a lotus. Cf. note " Khoran nah Jchrdv.") On hearing this Kfimadeva comes forth and runs after her with all the swiftness with which he can run; and should it happen that he overtakes her, she will immediately be killed. After killing the woman Kdmadeva returns to the pit, and it generally happens that madan (procreating principle) escapes from him into the pits, which precede his own special abode, and which have been dug for this purpose. Dip. (Sanskrit. — Dvipa) Hindu philosophers say that the terrestrial globe contains seven dips or islands, encompassed by seven seas, the whole land and water measuring 7,957,752 yojanas. The Sangal Dip (Simhald) is in the north direction. (Cf. Dvipa. Monier Williams, Diet.) Kdmadeva is generally regarded as the god of sexual love, like Eros of the Greeks and Cupid of the Latins. He is worshipped at the time of marriage ; and happiness in the married state, and offspring are sought from him. (Cf. Kennedy, " Hindu Myth," &c.) Sant gai tim, yim mutrah suet trdmas bani.wan svn. They are faqirs, who by means of water transmute copper into gold. Not every man is a monk who wears a cowl. In the Chinsir Bagh, Srinagar, there is a temple in memory of a deceased faqir, who was able to perform this wonder. He, also, taught 187 a Pandit, who is now a very old man living in Siinagar, too old to do anything — even to make gold ! Muthar = Sanskrit mutra, and Persian pesh-dh. Santoshih hiydHh buwih unanduk phal, A harvest of peace is produced from a seed of contentment. This proverb is credited to a holy and clever Pandit called Nand Rim, who lived at 6&wan, a sacred Hind6 village in Kashmir. This man wrote many rather clever verses in praise of Krishna, lie eeems to have been terribly dunned by the oBicials of Biwan, if one may judge from the following lines :— Nand Him aus zaminddr, Hurit diydr tas aUraB nah Idr Wiingujwdrich tjajis ntih gdngal. Santoshih hii/dlih hoioih dnanduk phal, Nand R&m was a husbandman. And he paid his debts ; but thero was always somebody after him (for money.) He never knew what it was to live freely in his own house, bat was continually obliged to lodge in the house of another. (Never mind), from the seed of contentment a harvest of poaoe will be reaped. The piece of poetry from which the above proverb is taken is the following : — Dharmah h&mikdyih wavizih harmuk phal. Santoshih hiydlih botcih dnanduk phal. J}f>yih prdnah ddndah-jiiri den tah rdt wdi ; Kumbake kurah Morah timanui Idi ; Hilah kar bihit yut nah rozih ak ril. Santoshih biydlih bowih dnanduk phal.