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

182 THE ROMANTIC EAST
over two and a half miles wide. The bottom is
covered with a dense growth of aquatic plants, and
the famous "floating gardens" have been made
by cutting these plants off below the surface,
sprinkling earth
over the matted top and planting
vegetables. At the time we saw them, these
floating gardens simply
looked like the flat surface
of a marsh slightly elevated above the level of the
lake. Around the lake are orchards, vineyards,
and hop-fields, and at the northern end of the
eastern shore is the Nishat Bagh. This garden,
1800 feet long and containing about forty-four
acres, is laid out in terraces, rising
back from the
lake nearly to the high road on the flank
of the
hills above, through
the centre of which a stream
of water is led in cascades and fountains to the
pavilion near the entrance. In the pavilion are
carved window screens, some glass windows, and
a lacquered papier-mache ceiling,
and there are
fountains in the square, open courtyard. The
garden is planted with cherry-trees and chenars ;
and roses, lilacs, and syringas grow there in profusion.
Across the lake in front of the Nishat
Bagh is a curious little humpbacked bridge over