ravine continues very narrow, and several steep spurs
are crossed. It then becomes gradually a little wider,
narrow platforms of conglomerate skirting the stream,
and changes its direction from nearly due south to southeast.
The right bank is stony and unproductive the
whole way, but on the left there is one small village,
three miles from the junction of the Shayuk, and thence
after three miles of desert, a succession of small villages
continuing with little intermission on the surface of alluvial
platforms as far as Parkuta, at which I encamped.
In one of the villages a good many small juniper-trees
were seen.
The lacustrine clay formation, though not continuous
throughout the whole of this day’s march, may be traced
in patches, with so little interval that its former continuity
cannot be doubted. The spots in which I observed
its presence in the narrow ravine were all close to
the river, the low level of the road not permitting an
extended view of the higher slopes of the mountains.
Further up, however, patches were in my subsequent
April journey seen at considerable elevations, but in
December the slopes were covered with snow to within
a thousand feet of the river. In several places the clay
formed cliffs, which rose perpendicularly from the Indus,
and could be seen to be covered with modem alluvium
deposited during floods, just as the ancient rocks are in
other places. The clay appeared everywhere extremely
fine, without any intermixture of sand or micaceous grains.
I saw no appearance of fossils, which I think never occur
in the very fine cream-coloured clays, but seem always
to accompany more sandy, or at least gritty varieties, as if
the influx of a small stream, and probably the proximity
of land, were requisite to the existence of testaceous
mollusks; whilfi the central part of the lake, in which
the very finest clays were deposited, was quite devoid of
them.
Parkuta is a very large village, three or four hundred
feet above the river, occupying both slopes of a deep
ravine cut in the thick mass of alluvium by a large stream
from the south. The alluvium is scarped towards the
Indus, and a low granitic hill, the cause of its accumulation
to such a height, just rises above the general surface
of the platform. This is covered with a mass of
buildings, formerly the residence of the Rajah of Parkuta,
a branch of the same family who ruled at Iskardo,
and dependent on them while that state remained independent
; he has, however, been removed by the Sikhs,
and his house is at present untenanted. The village
is large, with extensive cultivation, and many fine
fruit-trees. Vines are plentiful, climbing over the
poplars.
On the 5th of December my day’s journey carried me
to Tolti, a distance of twelve miles. The valley continued
narrow, and the mountains rose precipitously on
both sides. On the early part of the march there were
many villages, and much cultivation on the left bank,
The village of Urdi, three or four miles from Parkuta,
seemed very populous, and extended for a great distance
along the river. It was remarkable for an aqueduct
supported on pillars of stone, which crossed a ravine
immediately above the village. At this spot the cultivation
terminated abruptly, and the alluvial platform was