recently melted, the willows were just beginning to expand
their buds, and the cherry, rhubarb, Thalictrum,
Anemone, Fragaria, and other plants of early spring, were
in full flower.
In descending the Sind valley towards Kashmir, my
route was the same by which I had travelled in April.
The mountains on the left were extremely precipitous
and heavily snowed, and in a ravine a little below Sona-
marg a glacier descended almost to 9000 feet. The
lower part of the valley was one sheet of cultivation,
chiefly of rice, which was almost ripe. In the neighbourhood
of Kashmir, where I arrived on the 5th of October,
the season of vegetation was almost at an end; species
of Nepeta, Eryngium, Baucus, Centaurea, Carpesium, and
several Artemisice being the most remarkable of the herbaceous
plants remaining. In the lake there were vast
groves of Nelumbium leaves, but the flowers and fruit
were both past; Salvinia was everywhere floating in
great abundance; while the other aquatic plants were
species of Eidens, Stachys, Mentha, Scutellaria, Hip-
puris, and Typha, all European or closely resembling
European forms.
Besides rice, which constitutes the staple crop of the
valley, the principal grains cultivated in autumn appeared
to be different kinds of millet, and a good deal of
maize ; Indian species of Phaseolus also were common,
now nearly ripe. The wheat and barley, which are much
earlier, were already above ground. I saw a few fields
of Sesamum (the Til of India), and in drier spots a good
deal of cotton, which was being picked by hand, but appeared
a poor stunted crop, much neglected.
On the high platforms between Pampur and Avanti-
pura the saffron was in flower, and its young leaves were
just shooting up. This crop seems a very remunerative
one to the Raja, who retains the monopoly in his own
hands, compelling the cultivators to sell the produce to
him at a fixed price. The bulbs are allowed to remain
in the ground throughout the year, and continue in vigour
for eight or ten years, after which the produce diminishes
so much in quantity that the beds are broken up, and the
bulbs separated and replanted. The flowers are picked
towards the end of October, and carried into the town
of Kashmir, where the stigmas are extracted.
Another very important product of Kashmir is hemp,
which grows spontaneously along the banks of the river,
forming dense thickets often twelve and fifteen feet in
height, and almost impenetrable. It is only used in the
manufacture of an intoxicating drink, and for smoking;
and the plant is preserved entire, in store-houses, in the
town of Kashmir, till required for consumption.
Erom Kashmir I proceeded towards the'plains of the
Punjab by the same route by which I had travelled in
May. During my absence in Tibet, the second Sikh war
had broken out, and as it was then at its height, it was
not easy to reach the British territories. I was therefore
detained a good while, first in Kashmir, and afterwards
at Jamu, and did not reach Lahore till the 16th
of December.