Note 67 — The Fifteenth New Year’s Feast after the Auspicious Accession

On Friday, the 15th of the Divine month of Farwardīn, two qut̤ās oxen, out of the offerings of the Zamindar of Tibet, were brought before me. In form and appearance they closely resemble the buffalo. All the limbs are covered with wool which properly belongs to animals in a cold country. For instance, the rang goats (ibex), which they brought from the country of Bhakkar (Sind) and the hill-country of the Garmsīr (in Afghanistan) were very handsome, and had but little wool, and those that are met with in these hills, on account of the excessive cold and snow, are covered with hair and ugly. The Kashmiris call the rang kapal.67 On this day they brought a musk deer as an offering. As I had not tasted its flesh, I ordered it to be cooked; it appeared very tasteless and bad for food. The flesh of no other wild animal is so inferior. The musk-bag when fresh has no scent, but when it is left for some days and becomes dry, it is sweet-scented. The female has no musk-bag. In these two or three days I frequently embarked in a boat, and was delighted to go68 round and look at the flowers of Phāk and S͟hālamār. Phāk is the name of a pargana situated on the other side of the lake. S͟hālamār is near the lake. It has a pleasant stream, which comes down from the hills, and flows into the Dal Lake. I bade my son K͟hurram dam it up and make a waterfall, which it would be a pleasure to behold. This place is one of the sights of Kashmir.