330 IN THE VISION OF GOD
e
of old style, built of mud, and ill-ventilated and also
thickly crowded. The lanes between thorn are nurro\v and
full of filth and dirt. The principles of sanitation and the
laws of hygiene seemed to have played no part in the adjust-
ment of life and house-building in the city. If one wanted
to know what the shims were like, one had to walkthrough
the streets of this city and dwell for some time in the
houses that were huddled up pell-mell in this phenomenally
unhealthy place.
The population consists of over ninety-live percent of
Mahammadans, the rest being pandits of Kashmir. Kashmir
came to be called by that name because of Kashyapa, the
great sage, who lived there ages ago. The pandits are a
very intelligent class and learned in Sanskrit. Now they
have also a first-grade college, Sir Pratap College, which
turns out brilliant men of first-rate University qualifi-
cations. They are a quiet and good-natured people with a
strong and well-built physique. The extreme cold of the
winter, during which, it is said, the whole valley of Kashmir
is overlaid, with snow, serves to wash away the dirt
and cesspools that accumulate in summer. The cold at
other times of the year might tend, to some extent, to
destroy the disease-breeding germs that the foul vapours,
arising from the insanitary streets and surroundings,
produce. But the general health of the people in the city is
not up to the mark.
(ii) The ways of Kashmiris
The dress of the people is characteristic of the rigours of
the climatic conditions. Both the males and females wear
a long toga or pheran, as they call it, reaching below the
knees, made invariably of wool either of coarse pattu or of
fine texture called pashmina. The sleeves of these gowns
extend beyond the hands, the loose ends serving the pur-
pose of gloves to protect the hands from cold. The old folk
go about with the pheratx, high-heeled wooden sandals