continue lightly at intervals for about a month from the
^middle of June; after which they cease entirely. I have
already pointed out that the climate of lower Kunawar is
precisely the same in character, and these two valleys are
equally similar in situation with respect to the mountain
ranges.
I had reached the Chenab at a point a good deal
higher up than Chatargarh, from which place the most
frequented road into the Zanskar valley turns to the
north. There is, I believe, another pass a good deal
more to the eastward, the road to which leaves the
Chenab not far from the place where I crossed i t ; but I
was informed that it is at all times extremely difficult,
and that the season was still too early to attempt it. I
therefore proceeded, on the 15th and 16th of June,
down the right bank of the Chenab, through an exceedingly
mountainous country, and generally at a great
height above the stream, but with frequent descents to
cross lateral torrents. The mountains to the north were
generally crested with snow, and dipped very abruptly
to the river. The north-west face of each ridge was
invariably precipitous, so that all the descents along
the road were abrupt, rocky, and difficult. Many villages
were met with in the valley, and much cultivation
usually high up on the sides of the mountains.
Poplars (P. nigra and alba) and apricots were commonly
planted, but the favourite fruit-tree seemed to be the
walnut. I did not see any vines cultivated. On both
days the scenery was extremely fine, varying with every
turn of the valley; at times the view from the top of
the scarped precipices, which were frequent, was of the
grandest possible description. The south side of the
valley, where not absolutely precipitous, was covered with
forest, most frequently of pine; and on the north side,
on which the road lay, though the upper parts were often
bare and grassy, or only covered with brushwood, yet
the banks of the river were usually well wooded, and all
the ravines, which were deep and shady, were filled with
a dense forest of deodar, horse-chesnut, hazel, sycamore,
birch, and Fothergilla, with many other trees. Finns
Gerardiana, which may be looked upon as more characteristic
of a moderately dry climate than any other
tree, inasmuch as it will not flourish where the rains are
at all heavy, was extremely common. On the 16th a
great part of the road lay through an extensive wood, of
a species of oak (Q. Ilex), which I had only before seen
in Kunawar, where it is not uncommon.
On the 15th I encamped at the village of Asdhari, at
an elevation of 8800 feet, and nearly 2000 feet above
the river. On the 16th my halting-place was Shol, a
large village close to the Chenab, with an extensive tract
of cultivation, quite bare of trees, except a few cherries.
The elevation of my tent was here about 6900 feet: it
was not more than fifty feet above the river. Opposite
the village, on the south bank of the river, under a cliff
which screened it from the rays of the sun, there was a
very large patch of snow.
The early part of my march of the 17th was still along
the Chenab, through fine shady forest, for about three
miles, rising to the height of about 1000 feet, and again
descending close to the water’s edge. The road then
continued nearly on a level with the stream, and became