By
Means Of Jehangeer Shah, Son Of Akbar Shah, This Building Has Raised
Its Head To The Heavens."
"The 'Inventor of Wisdom' has fixed its date in this line, viz :
-
'Aqsirabad o Chushma Wurnak.' "
The fountain or reservoir, and the canal, &c. seem to have been the
work of Shah Jehan, Noor Jehan's son, or were probably remodelled in
his reign. The inscription referring to them runs also in the Persian
character on a slab of copper:
"Hyan, by order of Shah Jahan, King, thanks be to God, built this
fountain and canal. From these have the country of Cashmere become
renowned, and the fountains aye as the fountains of Paradise."
"The poet Survashi Ghaib has written the date in this sentence, viz: -
'From the waters of Paradise have these fountains flowed.' "
JULY 16. - On the road again at daybreak, with the intention of
going to a place called Kukunath, where there were more springs, and
which, from information obtained from the sepoy who accompanied us,
was on our road to Islamabad. However, like most information relative
to either direction or to distance in this country, it turned out to
be wrong, and we accordingly altered our course and made for our old
quarters. Breakfasted under a huge walnut-tree, at a village about six
kos off, and reached Islamabad about one P.M., after a very hot tramp
of ten kos, through groves of sycamore and walnuts, and hundreds and
hundreds of acres of rice-fields, immersed in water, and tenanted by
whole armies of croaking frogs. The people were principally employed
in weeding their rice-crops, standing up to their knees in mud and
water, and grubbing about, with their heads in a position admirably
adapted to give anybody but a native, apoplexy in such a hot sun.
JULY 17. - In the middle of the night we were awoke by a tremendous
uproar in our wooden habitation, as if some one was crashing about the
boards and panels with a big stick; immediately afterwards something
jumped upon my bed, and with a whisk and a rush, clattered through the
room to F.'s side, over the table, and back again to my quarter. Half
asleep and half awake, I hit out energetically, without encountering
anything of our uninvited guest; and the faithful Rajoo coming in
with a light, I found F. brandishing a stick valiantly in the air,
everything knocked about the room; an earthenware vessel of milk spilt
upon the floor, a tumbler broken, and a plate of biscuits on the table
with marks of teeth in them. This latter discovery was quite a relief
to my mind, for the visitation had a most diabolic savour about it,
and we were just beginning to fancy that there was a slight smell of
sulphur. However, the milk and the biscuits being such innocent food,
we were enabled to fancy that the intruder might have been no worse
than a wild cat, which had frightened itself by breaking, our tumbler,
and had eventually jumped through the window and made its escape.
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