116 THE HISTORY OF KASHMIR
impress a race by its natural beauty. Has it ever made any such impression ?
The shawls for which the country is noted are some indication that its inhabitants have a sense of form and colour, and some delicacy and refine- ment. But a great people would have produced something more impressive than shawls. Are there no remains of buildings, roads, aqueducts, canals, statues, or any other such mark by which a people leaves its impress on a country ? And is there any literature or history ?
Certainly there are the remains of buildings all over the Kashmir valley, remarkable for their almost Egyptian solidity, simplicity, and durability, as well as for what Cunningham describes as the graceful elegance of their outlines, the massive boldness of their parts, and the happy pippriety of their out- lines. The ancient Kashmirian architecture, with its noble fluted pillars, its vast colbnnades, its lofty pediments, and its elegant trefoiled arches, is, he thinks, entitled to be classed as a distinct style; and we may take it as implying the existence of just such a people as this mountain country might be expected to produce. Three miles beyond Uri, on the road into Kashmir, are the ruins of a temple of extremely pleasing execution. Near ‘Dunia;
