A DUCK-SHOOT 15
solitary stag to sitting in a boat in the middle of a lake with thousands of ducks incessantly swishing round, is only one other example of the variety of scene and interest which Kashmir affords.
Hokrar is right in the centre of the valley, and from the lake a complete elliptical ring of snowy mountains can be seen. The nearest and most conspicuous peak is Haramokh, 16,903 feet high, and twenty-four miles distant. From this the eye ranges from peak to peak to the Khagan range seventy miles distant in the extreme west of the valley; then along over the Kaj Nag mountains separated by the gorge of the Jhelum River valley from the Pir Panjal range, which forms the southern boundary of the valley, with Gulmarg, twenty-four miles distant, on its southern slopes. Then traversing the whole length of the Pir Panjal range from the highest point, ‘Tatakute, 15,524 feet, the eye falls to the depression over which lies the Banihal Pass, and rising again meets the Kishtwar range sixty-five miles distant, closing in the valley on the east, from whence the eye wanders along snowy ranges till Haramokh in the north again is met.
The day I spent there was another of glorious sunshine, and in the noonday sun the southern
