22 SCENERY AND SEASONS

the birds, the lowing of cattle, the neighing of the ponies grazing on the rich green grass in the valley bottom, and the distant calls of the shepherd boys to the flocks of sheep and goats on the mountain- sides, further enlivened the scene. And whether it was more entrancing now, or three weeks later when the irises were over, but when it was wreathed in white roses, it would be difficult to say. Irises and roses are the two especial beauties of Kashmir villages and Kashmir lanes and hedgerows. And I would not like positively to state which was the more beautiful—the rich clumps of mauve and purple irises surrounding the village with warmth and colour in the spring, or the clustering wreaths of roses, white and pink, brightening the village lands and hedgerows in the summer. Only one desire we must feel in regard to these villages— that all this natural beauty could be enhanced by the trim little cottages of rural Entgland or the picturesque chalets of Switzerland. Every time one sees a Kashmir village and succumbs to the charm of what Nature has done, one longs to see the squalor, untidiness, and dirt of house and man and clothing removed, and justice done by man to what Nature has done for him.