descended very abruptly along the face of rugged and
precipitous rocks, to the valley of the Sildang river, a
large stream which was crossed in two branches by two
very indifferent wooden bridges. The Sildang valley, at
the point where the road crosses it, has been stated by
Gerard to be elevated 5800 feet above the level of the
sea. It is a larger stream than any of those yet crossed
since leaving Rampur, and its ravine is beautifully
wooded. The ascent to the east was gentle, through
woods of oak and pine, and after rising a few hundred
feet, the road continued nearly level for some miles, with
the Sutlej in sight below. A large village was passed
on the latter part of the march, with many temples evidently
of old date, and situated in a grove of very large
deodar-trees, several of which were upwards of twenty
feet in circumference. One large tree with a flattened
trunk, as if formed by the union of two, measured, at
five feet from the base, thirty-five and a-half feet round.
This grove was evidently of great age, and probably
consisted of old trees, at the time the village was
founded, and the temples were built under its sacred
shade.
Nachar, at which we took up our quarters for the
night, is a very large village, by far the most considerable
yet passed, with many good houses, much cultivated
land, and great numbers of fine fruit-trees. Walnuts,
peaches, apricots, and mulberries, were all common; and
I saw one grape-vine, which bore a good many bunches
of fruit. The crops cultivated were chiefly millet and
buckwheat, with a good many fields of Amaranthus and
Chenopodwm. The fruit-trees were evidently, from their
numbers and luxuriance, a very valuable part of the possessions
of the inhabitants; and it was very interesting
to meet with the vine, though only in small quantity, and
evidently not yet in a thoroughly suitable climate. The
elevation of the village, which occupied a great extent of
the hill-side sloping down towards the Sutlej, now close
at hand, was nearly 7000 feet.
Nearly opposite Nachar, the district of Kunawar, which
had hitherto been confined to the south bank of the Sutlej,
extends to both sides of the river; the province of
Kulu, which had hitherto occupied the northern bank,
being bounded on the east by the mountain-chain which
separates the waters of the Beas river from those of the
Piti, a tributary of the Sutlej. By this very lofty chain,
the villages on the north side of the Sutlej, to the east
of the point now reached, are entirely cut off from
the valley of the Beas, and naturally become connected
with the district immediately opposite to them, with
which alone they have an easy communication. Kulu,
till the campaign of 1846, had belonged to the Punjab;
but one of the results of the Sikh war, in that year, was
the transfer of that district to British rule, so that the
Sutlej, in its lower course, no longer served as a boundary
between hostile states. In Kunawar, the north side
of the river is the most important, because it is more
populous and fertile than the south, not only from its
more favourable exposure, but because the chain to the
south of the Sutlej continues to increase in elevation as
it proceeds eastward, while that on the north becomes
gradually lower as it advances towards the confluence of
the Sutlej and Piti rivers.