Heroes of Peace (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos or missing text. Not indexed. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1915. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... THE SIEGE OF KASHMIR REAT peaks rise, pointing to the sky of V_J India, and guard the borders of the Vale of Kashmir (Cashmere). One of these mounts is Haramukh, seventeen thousand feet high, and men say that snow falls on it all the year, save for one week in July; but through the white of the snow-cap one may see a streak of green, and this shiny green (so they tell) is costly emerald, and no man who comes within sight of the glorious light of the emerald will be hurt by the bite of ever such deadly snakes. Dark are the woods that clothe these hills, but very green is the grass on the ground, and the brooks dance down, and on their banks grow the clematis, honeysuckle, jasmine, and wild roses. The sky is of a most sweet blue, and at dawn the sun is of gold, and at set is deep red. Sheep and cows graze on the slopes, and wood-cutters swing their axes and fell the timber. As you come down to the valleys you see fields of maize and groves of walnut-trees; rice thrives in the lowlands; the plane spreads its wide arms; mulberry-trees are rich in fruit; the wild indigo puts out its purplish bloom; and the flowers of the horse-chestnut are pink and white. Many are the pools, and on the glassy waters lie the pink lilies. Most enchanting of all the pools is the Dal Lake, four miles long, and in its water are mirrored the tall mountains of Kashmir; and the water-weed is olive and yellow green; and on the shores are silver-gray willows, and a vast multitude of trees are gold and red in hue. Princes of old made gardens by the lake of Dal, and the gardens go down to the water in terraces, and huge plane-trees cast a shade, and through alleys of gloomy cypress-trees streams of roaring water fall in broken leaps to the lake. There is here a river called the Jhelum, pre...