Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 19.4.7

19.4.7

I was induced to quit the high road for the sake of approaching a large lake that I saw at some distance. It is well stocked with fish, particularly eels, and covered with ducks, wild geese, and many other water-birds. The Governor comes hither in the winter, when these birds are in greatest plenty, to enjoy the sport of fowling. In the centre of the lake is an hermitage, with its little garden, which it is pretended floats miraculously upon the water. The hermit passes the whole of his life there; he never leaves the place. I shall not fill up this letter by recounting the thousand absurd tales reported of this hermitage, except it be the tradition that one of the ancient Kings of Kachemire, out of mere fancy, built it upon a number of thick beams fastened together. The river which runs toward Baramoulay passes through the middle of this lake.