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87
from the very foot of the mountains are scattered white-walled
villages, and it is there that one may find later in the same year
some of the fruits for which the country has acquired a world-
wide fame.
In November a gentle haze rests in soft indecision upon the
dust-coloured landscape—heavier and bluer over the low-lying
fields, from which all vegetation has been lifted. It is a different
world now from the world of the spring—all utterly sad and dust-
laden, but it is then that the strings of fruit-laden donkeys and
trucks make their way towards the city, where the shops are seen
piled up from floor to the roof with these delicious fruits.
Besides fruits, Koh Daman yields grains, cotton, tobacco
and various kinds of vegetables. It is thickly studded with cast-
les and decorated with gardens and vineyards. This delightful
district, full of clustering hamlets, has an invigorating climate.
Few districts possess a town that can rival Istaliff perched at the
foot of the Paghman range. A small river runs through this
beautiful hamlet, and on either side of it are gardens, green, gay,
and surpassingly lovely, where
"A million and million flowers
The fields and gardens adorn,
And the purple iris scents the air,
As each fresh bloom is born".
Its water, even in the months of June and July, is so cold
that there is no need of icing it. The Takhat (Throne), where
people flock in hundreds on every holiday, is one of the finest
beauty spots of Koh Daman. Its magnificent spreading poplars
(Panja Chinar) as they are called here, perhaps survivors of
Mughal days, throw broad shade on all sides, where a few hours'
Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.