"Who has not heard of the Vale of Cashmere,
With its roses, the brightest that earth ever gave,
Its temples, and grottos, and fountains as clear
As the love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave?"
With these words Feramorz begins his delightful narrative of the adored Nourmahal, the Light of the Harem. The "unequalled Valley" has ever been to the poets and romancers of the East, as well as in our own half of the world, the ideal of an terrestrial paradise. The striking contrast between the arid plains of Hundustan, but a few miles beyond its circling barrier of mountains, with the constant Spring and verdure of the Happy Valley has contributed to give it fame.