with snow, which had descended in avalanches down the
narrow ravines, and had accumulated in the bed of the
stream. We crossed the river three times on snow-beds.
From the rapidity of the descent, however, the climate
changed rapidly. After four or five miles there was no
snow, except in ravines, where it had accumulated in avalanches,
and at last even these had almost entirely melted
away. Still snow lay in patches on the right bank of
the river, in the village of Gagangir, at which I halted
for the day; and on the left bank, which faced the north,
and was therefore in shade, snow still covered the whole
surface down to the bank of the river.
At the village of Gagangir the Sind river resumes its
south-westerly direction, and its valley becomes more
open, and the descent of its bed less abrupt. The elevation
of the village is about 7900 feet above the level
of the sea, so that the descent from Sonamarg is probably
not less than a thousand feet in a distance of nine
miles—a very considerable fall. On the latter part of
,the day’s journey, a very considerable change was observable
in the aspect of the vegetation. Birch and willow
continued common throughout, but were mixed latterly
with many other trees and shrubs, all of which were beginning
to show symptoms of vitality. The hazel (Corylus
lacera) and a species of Viburnum were in full flower, both
still devoid of leaves; a few herbaceous plants were also in
flower in open places, the most abundant of which were
a species cf Colchicum, remarkable for its bright orange-
coloured flowers, and a pretty little rose-purple Corydalis,
very closely allied to, if not the same as, a species of
eastern Europe. Still the general aspect of the country
was very wintry, as there were few pines, and the forest
was therefore quite bare of leaves, while the signs of
progress, though evident on a near inspection, did not
attract attention in the general view.
At Gagangir, which is the first village of Kashmir by
the route along which I was travelling, I was enabled to
relieve my Dras porters, who had accompanied me so far.
The discharge and payment of these men occupied me a
great part of the 17th of April; and as the day was rainy
I did not leave Gagangir till the 18th, when I marched
to Gond, seven miles. The road still followed the course
of the Sind river, which I crossed twice during the day.
The width of the valley was considerable all along,
with much arable land, and a good many villages in
ruins on both sides. The mountains on the right hand
were uniformly bare of trees, and often rocky; on the
left they were well wooded to the summit, the forest
being most dense above. Early in the day several of
the ravines were still full of snow; and on the shady
side a good deal lay in patches. Further on, the
snow in the valley had quite disappeared, but on the
mountain slopes there was still plenty. As I advanced
the cultivated land increased in extent, and the appearance
of the valley became exceedingly picturesque, the
centre being occupied by a broad belt of fields and
orchards, while the hills on both sides rose abruptly to
a great elevation. The fruit-trees were principally walnuts,
apples, and apricots. Groves of poplar occurred
occasionally along the river, but I saw no birch during
the day. Many more spring plants were in flower than
on the previous day; Crucifer a were the prevailing
T