Irrigated gardens
This much is certain, that in all this country of Central Asia the first condition must always have been the life-giving water. The spirit of the garden-paradises of Europe hides in the flowers, the grass, the trees, but the soul of an Eastern garden lies in none of these: it is centred in the running water which alone makes its other beauties possible. Solomon's 'garden of running water' is still an actual reality. Thus the need of irrigation dictated the whole plan and arrangement of these Eastern enclosures, and herein they differ from the great Italian gardens, with which, at first sight, they seem to have so much in common. This resemblance is most striking where a hilly situation has been made use of, as in the Nishat Bagh, which rises in grand imposing terraces from the shores of the Dal Lake in Kashmir; but while in the villa gardens of Italy the beautiful fountains and waterfalls are only one of the principal adornments, in these Eastern baghs the water is the very life and soul, the raison d'etre, of the garden itself.
A very good account of one of these Persian gardens is given in a book edited by Major P. M. Sykes, and called The Glory of the Shia World, in which the arrival of a Vakil-ul-Mulk and his entertainment at Mahun are thus described: 'However, thanks be to Allah, the garden at Mahun was fitted to receive even such a distinguished guest as the Vakil-ul-Mulk; and, since it is one of the famous gardens of Persia, itself a land of most famous gardens, it is right that I should describe its beauties to you.
'We Persians, whenever possible, build our gardens on a gentle slope; and the garden I am describing was so constructed that two streams of crystal-like water met in the front of the building and formed an immense lake, on the surface of which numerous swans, geese, and ducks disported themselves.
'Below this lake there were seven waterfalls, just as there are seven planets; and below these again there was a second lake of smaller dimensions, and a superb gateway decorated with blue tiles.
'Perhaps the reader may think that this was all; but no, not only in the lakes, but also between the waterfalls, jets of water spouted up into the air so high that the falling spray resembled masses of diamonds. And often, when reclining in the beautiful tiled room, the plash of the jets of water and the murmur of the stream hurrying down the terraced garden between rose bushes, backed by weeping willows, planes, acacias, cypresses, and every other description of tree, have moved me strangely; and I have wept from pure joy, and then have been lulled to sleep by the overpowering sense of beauty and the murmur of the running water. 'By Allah ! I think, indeed, that this garden is not surpassed hi beauty by even that famous garden mentioned in the Koran:-
'The Garden of Iram, adorned with lofty pillars, The like of which hath not been created in the World.' '
