Scattered about the island, also, were many scraps of
columns and carved stones, which gave evidence of having belonged
to some ancient temple or palace. While thus surveying our island,
we were pestered to death by swarms of prodigious mosquitoes, for
which the Wuler Lake is justly celebrated, and during breakfast the
eating was quite as much on their side as ours; so that we were glad
to weigh anchor, and with our curtains tightly tucked in around us,
we floated away, in lazy enjoyment of climate and scenery, towards the
centre of the lake. As we cleared the margin of the water-plants, we
found ourselves on a glassy surface, extending away towards the west
as far as the eye could see, and bordered on all sides by gorgeous
mountains and ranges of snow. Around the edges of the lake a sunny
mirage was playing tricks with the cattle and the objects on the banks,
and as we glided lazily on with the stream, and the splashing paddles,
and even the foiled mosquitoes, made music about us, we began to
enter more into the spirit of our situation, and to appreciate the
peculiar beauties of the "sunny lake of cool Cashmere," with the
DOLCE FAR NIENTE existence which of right belongs to it.
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