n goblet into
the sea.

[Illustration: PLATE VIII. SRINAGAR AND THE JHELUM RIVER.]

Alexander died at Babylon at the age of thirty-three. His
world-embracing campaign spread Greek enlightenment over all western
Asia, and his eventful life did not pass like a meteor into the night of
time without leaving a trace behind.

KASHMIR AND LADAK

When I arrived at Rawalpindi the first thing I did was to order a
_tonga_ for the drive of 180 miles to Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir.
A _tonga_ is a two-wheeled tilted cart drawn by two horses, which are
changed every half hour, for as long as the pair are on the way they go
at full speed. The road was excellent, and we left the hot suffocating
steam of India below us as we ascended along the bank of the Jhelum
River. Sometimes we dashed at headlong speed over stretches of open road
bathed in sunlight; sometimes through dark cool tunnels where the driver
blew a sonorous signal with his brass horn; and then again through
rustling woods of pine-trees.

Srinagar is a beautiful city, intersected as it is by the rippling
Jhelum River and winding canals (Plate VIII.). The houses on their banks
rise up directly from the water, and long, narrow, graceful boats pass
to and fro, propelled at a swift pace by broad-bladed oars in the hands
of active and muscular white-clad Kashmiris.

Kashmir is one of the native states of our Indian Empire, and its
inhabitants number about three millions. Many of them are artistic and
dexterous craftsmen, who make fine boxes and caskets inlaid with ivory,
mother-of-pearl, and ebony; beautifully chased weapons; tankards, bowls,
and vases of beaten silver with panthers and elephants on the sides,
chasing one another through the jungle. The saddlery and leather work of
all kinds cannot be surpassed, but most famous of all the manufactures
are the soft, dainty Kashmir shawls, so fine that they can be drawn
through a finger ring.

Round about the Kashmir valley stand the ridges and snow-clad heights of
the Himalayas, and among them lie innumerable valleys. Up one of these
valleys toiled our caravan of thirty-six mules and a hundred horses, and
after a journey of some 250 miles to the eastward we arrived again at
the banks of the Indus and crossed it by a swaying bridge of wood. Two
days later the poplars of Leh stood in front of us.

This little town is nearly 11,500 feet above sea-level. It contains an
open bazaar street, and a mound above the town is