h Kabul and Bokhara. From the former come raw silk
and fruit, and from the latter gold and silver thread and lace _en
route_ to Kashmir. The Kabuli and Bokharan traders carry back silk
cloth, cotton piece goods, sugar, tea, salt, and Kashmir shawls.

~Simla~ (31.6 N., 77.1 E.) lies on a spur of the Central Himalaya at a
mean height exceeding 7000 feet. A fine hill, Jakko, rising 1000 feet
higher, and clothed with _deodar_, oak, and rhododendron, occupies the
east of the station and many of the houses are on its slopes. The other
heights are Prospect Hill and Observatory Hill in the western part of
the ridge. Viceregal Lodge is a conspicuous object on the latter, and
below, between it and the Annandale race-course, is a fine glen, where
the visitor in April from the dry and dusty plains can gather yellow
primroses (Primula floribunda) from the dripping rocks. The beautiful
Elysium Hill is on a small spur running northwards from the main ridge.
Simla is 58 miles by cart road from Kalka, at the foot of the hills, and
somewhat further by the narrow gauge railway.

[Illustration: Fig. 149. Trans-border traders in Peshawar.]

~History.~--Part of the site was retained at the close of the Gurkha war
in 1816, and the first English house, a wooden cottage with a thatched
roof, was built three years later. The first Governor General to spend
the summer in Simla was Lord Amherst in 1827. After the annexation of
the Panjab in 1849 Lord Dalhousie went there every year, and from 1864
Simla may be said to have become the summer capital of India. It became
the summer headquarters of the Panjab Government twelve years later. The
thirty houses of 1830 have now increased to about 2000. Six miles
distant on the beautiful Mahasu Ridge the Viceroy has a "Retreat," and
on the same ridge and below it at Mashobra there are a number of
European houses. There are excellent hotels in Simla, and the cold
weather tourist can pay it a very pleasant visit, provided he avoids the
months of January and February.

~Srinagar~ (34.5 N., 74.5 E.), the summer capital of the Maharaja of
Kashmir, is beautifully situated on both banks of the river Jhelam at a
level of 5250 feet above the sea. To the north are the Hariparvat or
Hill of Vishnu with a rampart built by Akbar and the beautiful Dal lake.
Every visitor must be rowed up its still waters to the Nasim Bagh, a
grove of plane (_chenar_) trees, laid out originally in the reign of the
same Emperor. Between