The romantic East: Burma, Assam, & Kashmir - Khamkoo

152 THE ROMANTIC EAST
formed by large stones laid in horizontal courses,
and embellished with a pyramidal hood-moulding or
pediment. Such doorways and fluted columns, with
wide intervals between them, form the characteristic
features of the ancient stone architecture of
Kashmir.
Beyond Buniar the valley opens, then comes
the village of Nowshera, and two miles farther
on (88f) the village of Chantamula. Then "the
March lamb " began to shed its fleece, and at noon it
was snowing hard. Between milestones 91 and 92
the valley opens out on our side, while across the
river is a wide plateau which ends in cliffs opposite
Hichama (92 miles), where our side becomes still
more open. We found at Hichama the mail tonga,
which had forced its
way down through the snow
from Baramula, and also a sahib who was going
towards Rampur on a pony.
The road has a heavy gradient after Hichama,
and the valley closes in again near Sheri but afterwards
opens out, and the road was fairly easy up to
the cross-road to Baramula Bridge. We reached
Dhanjibhoy's office at a quarter-past three ; but it
was nearly half-past four before we had had some