Judicial
business is controlled by the Judge of the High Court. Death sentences
must be confirmed by the Maharaja. The highest executive officers are
the governors of Jammu and Kashmir, and the _Wazirs Wazarat_ of Ladakh
and Gilgit. In Jammu and Kashmir each of the eight districts is in
charge of a _Wazir Wazarat_. In connection with the land revenue
settlement, forests, etc., the services of British officers have been
lent to the State. The Government of India is represented at Srinagar by
a Resident, and a political agent at Gilgit exercises a general
supervision over the _Wazir Wazarat_.

During the reign of the present Maharaja great reforms have been
effected. The construction of the Gilgit road has done away with the
blood tax, which the conveyance of supplies to that remote post formerly
involved. The land revenue settlement has largely substituted cash for
kind payments and done away with many abuses. Official corruption and
oppression have been scotched, but would speedily revive if vigilance
were relaxed. The different peoples ruled by the Maharaja are easily
governed if properly treated, and violent crime is rare.

* * * * *

_Note._ In the map appended to Dr Arthur Neve's _Thirty Years in
Kashmir_ the heights of Gasherbrum and Masherbrum (see page 21) are
given respectively as 26,360 and 25,560 feet, and that of Hidden Peak,
S.E. of Gasherbrum, as 26,470 feet. These with _K2_ are the highest
mountains round the Baltoro Glacier. Further east is the Siachen, "the
greatest glacier in Asia," which feeds the Nubra river (page 36). N.E.
of the Siachen is the Teram Kangri mountain, the height of which does
not probably exceed 25,000 feet. The actual height of the Nun Kun (page
12) is 23,447 feet. Dr Neve gives that of the Karakoram Pass as 18,110
feet, not 18,550 as stated on page 20.

CHAPTER XXIX

CITIES

~Delhi~ (28.38 N., 77.13 E.).--Of imperial cities the most interesting are
those which have felt the tragedies as well as enjoyed the glories of
Empire. From this point of view Delhi, notwithstanding its small extent
and modern foundation, may be grouped with Rome, Constantinople, and
Paris. In the matter of size it is in the same class as Edinburgh. The
present Delhi or Shahjahanabad is a creation of the middle of the
seventeenth century, and the oldest of the Delhis in the neighbourhood
goes back only to the fourth century of our era. The latter endured for
six or