[30] - The Most Remarkable Of These Were "Ser" And "Mer," Otherwise Called "Nanoo" And "Kanoo;" Respectively 23,407 And 23,264 Feet Above The Level Of The Sea.

[31] - The true version of the story appears to be that Gulab Singh had quarrelled with the Rajah of Cashmere, his rightful master, and entered into the service of the Rajah of Kushtwar.

After about three years, hearing that Runjeet Singh was preparing an expedition against Cashmere, he went to him and offered his services. Being accepted, he was successful against his old enemy, and took possession of the country for Runjeet Singh; after which he wrote to the Rajah of Kushtwar, falsely telling him that the Maharajah was going to send a force against him also. The Rajah and his people prepared for resistance, and Gulab Singh then forged a paper containing an invitation from the chief men in the army of Kushtwar to the Maharajah, encouraging him to come forward and invade the country.

This paper Gulab then forwarded to the Rajah himself, with a note, in which he told him that it was folly to talk of resistance when the chief men of his country were opposed to him. The Rajah, who had been in possession of Kushtwar for twenty-seven years, was completely deceived, and repaired, by invitation, with only a few followers to Gulab's camp. Here he was kept for three months upon an allowance of 10L. a-day, which was afterwards reduced to 10S., and Gulab Singh in the meantime took possession of Kushtwar without opposition.

[32] - The value which a Kashmirian sets upon his Kangri may be known by the following distich: -

"Oh Kangri! Oh Kangri! You are the gift of Houris and Fairies; When I take you under my arm You drive away fear from my heart." - Vigne.

[33] - "Won't the old bearers get something, your honour?"

[34] - According to M. Voysey, in his Asiatic Researches, "A single flower in the screen contains a hundred stones, each cut to the exact shape necessary, and highly polished; and, although everything is finished like an ornament for a drawing-room chimney-piece, the general effect produced is rather solemn and impressive than gaudy.

"In the minute beauties of execution, the flowers are by no means equal to those on tables and other small works in Pietra dura at Florence. It is the taste displayed in outline and application of this ornament, combined with the lightness and simplicity of the building, which gives it an advantage so prodigious over the gloomy portals of the chapel of the Medici. The graceful flow, the harmonious colours, combined with the mild lustre of the marble on which the ornamentation is displayed, form the peculiar charm of the building, and distinguish it from any other in the world. The materials are Lapis Lazuli, Jasper, Heliotrope or blood stone, Chalcedony, and other agates, Cornelian, Jade, &c."

[35] - A coin of the value of thirty-two shillings.

[36] - Hardy's "Eastern Monachisms."

[37] - Csoma de Koros.

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