"FIVE MONTHS IN CASHMERE."

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 3971, 14 May 1870, Page 4

"FIVE MONTHS IN CASHMERE."

The first lecture of the winter series for the, Young Men's Christian Association, was delivered last evening, in the Music Hall, Symoncls-street ; the lecturer being the Eight Rev. Dr. Oowie, Bishop of Auckland, and his subject being, "Five Months in Cashmere." His Excellency the Governor presided ; and upon the platform wei-e his Honor the Superintendent ; the Rev. Dr. Matmsell; Mr. S. Hague Smith, M.P.C., President of the Association ; and Mr. W. J. Hurst, M.P.C. The hall was nearly filled. The p oceedrngs were opened with prayer by Dr. Maunsell. — His Excellency briefly introduced the right reverend lecturer. The Bishop's address (for it was spoken from brief notes) occupied about an hour and a quarter in its delivery. The lecturer described the feeling of jealousy which, until 1864, kept Cashmere closed against Europeans generally, and against Englishmen in particular, an Englishman being supposed to come only to spy out the fatness of the land, and to introduce th» "thin end of the wedge" of subjugation and annexation. A power over Cashmere was obtained by the British in 1849, through the annexation of the Punjab. Whoever held the Punjab previously had held, or dominated in, Cashmere ; but Lord Hardinge, the Governor-General of India at the time, presented or sold it to Gholab Singh, for a million sterling; and Gholab's son, Bhumbeer Smgh, was now the ruler. The British Government had undertaken to maintain Gholab and his successors, for three generations, on the tin one ; the Queen, as Empress of India, receiving yearly three shawls The different early cot querers of Cashmere "converted" the people to their own religion ; and there was now a Buddhisb government over a people the mass of whom were Mahommedans. It was to be regretted that the British did not take Cashraere in 1849, to use it as a sanitarium for the troops in India ; but Sir John Lawrence's present policy of non-interference was a most wise one. The Cashmerian Government now allowed a certain number of officers of the army to visit the Vale of Cashmere each year, between May and October ; and it was through the great and good late Bishop of Calcutta, Dr Cotton, that he (Bishop Cowie) spent five months in Cashmere in 1865. He was au army chaplain at the time ; and while he was in Cashmere, he not only received full pay, but liberal travelling expenses, the one condition being that he should on each Sunday hold a service amongst British visitors. The visitors were confined to the Vale of Cashmere, and its surrounding hills ; but the "Vale" was strictly a plain, 100 miles long and 30 miles wide, intersected by the Ghelum, the ancient Hydaspes, into which river flowed numberless streams, from the mountains, 18,000 ft. high (or 3,000 ft. higher than Mont Blanc), which shut in the plain. Rain did not fall more than three or four times during the summer, and the climate was most delightful. The weather in Auckland during that day and the pieceding one had much reminded him of the weather in Cashmere : that climate, in fact, had all the charms of Auckland weather, without any of its dampness. He agreed, so far as his knowledge helped him to do, with Elphinstone, the great historian of India, who wrote, "Cashmere is the most delicious spot in Asia, perhaps in the woild. " The wateis of the Ghelum were said to possess chemical properties, upon which depended some of the most beautiful dyes for the wonderful shawls of Cashmere. The walnut, the vine, the apple, the white mulberry, and the pear were amongst the principal trees and fruits, and they abounded. In some parts, the rose formed thicket, bush, or jungle; and he "had ridden four miles through rose-bush. — The lecturer described the manufacture of shawls; the habits of the people ; the beauty of Serinagar, the capital, which resembled Venice ; and the interesting commencement of a mission enterprise made by Ir. Elmslie, under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society and the Medical Society of Edinburgh. A vote of thanks to the Bishop, for his valuable and interesting lecture, was proposed by the Superintendent, and adopted by acclamation ; and, after thanks to his Excellency for presiding, the Bishop pronounced the benediction.