clear, the very heavy rain of the preceding day having,
for the time, quite removed the usual haze, and the view
from my tent was superb. The last village in the valley
was many miles behind, and no cultivation was anywhere
in sight. The opposite spurs, which rose, like
that on which my tent was pitched, abruptly from the
snowy ravine, were beautifully wooded, up to the limit
of forest, while all above was covered "with snow.
On the 12th of June, I crossed the snowy range into
the valley of the Ohenab. At starting, the road lay
through forest, which covered the precipitous face of the
rocky hill overhanging the deep ravine above which I had
encamped. After crossing the ravine, which was full of
snow, the road ascended a bare steep slope, which was
swampy and covered with Caltha and Primula. Every
other part of the face of the hill was occupied by a dense
jungle of shrubs, almost impenetrable from the prostrate
position which their branches had taken from the
pressure of the winter’s snow. Very stunted bushes
of Quercus semecarpifolia constituted the greater part of
this shrubby jungle. With it grew Rhododendron cam-
panulatum, a cherry, and a birch, whose silvery trunks
rose conspicuous above all the others. This dense covering
of shrubs being confined to the lower part of the
slope, the road soon rose above its level, and continued
obliquely along the face of the bare grassy hill, rising
very gently, and by degrees approaching the line of
snow. I observed that the fine of the highest level of
trees varied much according to the exposure, being more
elevated on the shady side than on slopes exposed to the
sun. The snow level, as might have been expected, was
extremely indefinite, varying with the degree of inclination
of the surface, with the absence or presence of trees,
and especially with the exposure. On the slope facing
the south, it was about 12,000 feet, while on that opposite
it descended among the trees several hundred feet
lower. Close to the snow, among rocks and in swampy
places, the alpine vegetation was extremely luxuriant and
beautiful.
After skirting the snow for perhaps half a mile, I
descended a little to cross a ravine, and immediately
after began to ascend rapidly over snow, which was hard
and firm, so that it was traversed without difficulty.
Throughout the whole ascent, there were at intervals
steep slopes and masses of rock bare of snow, and even
on the smallest of these spots vegetation was making rapid
progress, under the encouragement of a powerful sun and
abundant moisture. The plants observed were all alpine:
among the number were several Primula, and species of
Draba, Potentilla, Sibbaldia, Ranunculus, and Pedicu-
laris. The ascent continued steady to the top of the
pass, which was a mass of bare rock, quite free of snow,
and elevated 14,800 feet. The pass (the name of which
is Sack Jot/i) was a deep depression in the crest of the
range, which rose on both sides to a considerable height.
The ridge was a mass of black slate rock, in highly
in c lin ed strata, on which no snow lay, and which absorbed
so much heat from the sun, that a number of
minute plants were not only vegetating but in full
flower. Primula minutissima and a yellow Draba were
common, and a little Ranunculus and Potentilla, with
one moss and a species of lichen, also occurred more
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