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Fig. 139. Sketch Map of Chenáb and Jhelam Valleys (Jammu and Kashmír).

Divisions.—The following broad divisions may be recognised:

1. Chenáb Valley(a) Plain and Kandí or Low Hills.
(b) Uplands of Kishtwár and Bhadráwah.
2. Jhelam Valley(a) Vale of Kashmír with adjoining glens and hills.
(b) Gorge below Báramúla and Kishnganga Valley.
3. Indus Valley(a) Ladákh including Zánskar and Rupshu.
(b) Báltistán.
(c) Astor and Gilgit.

Chenáb Valley.—(a) Plain and Kandí. This tract extends from Mírpur on the Jhelam to Kathua near the Ráví and close to the head-works of the Upper Bárí Doáb Canal at Mádhopur. It is coterminous with the Panjáb districts of Jhelam, Gujrát, Siálkot, and Gurdáspur, and comprises four of the five districts of the Jammu Province, Mírpur, Riásí, Jammu, and Jasrota, and a part of the fifth, Udhampur. The plain is moist and unhealthy. The rough country behind with a stony and thirsty red soil covered in its natural state with garna (Carissa spinarum), sanatan (Dodonaea viscosa), and bhekar (Adhatoda vasica) does not suffer in this respect. The chief crops of the Kandí are wheat, barley, and rape in the spring, and maize and bájra in the autumn, harvest. Behind the Kandí is a higher and better tract, including Naoshera, with wide valleys, in which maize replaces bájra.

(b) Uplands. The greater part of the Upper Chenáb Valley is occupied by Kishtwár and Jagír Bhadráwah. The rainfall is heavy and there is copious irrigation from kuhls (page [142]), but elevation and rapid drainage make the climate healthy. In the upper parts snow and cold winds sometimes prevent the ripening of the crops. The poppy is grown in Kishtwár and Bhadráwah. Kishtwár is a part of the Udhampur district.

Jhelam Valley.—(a) Vale of Kashmír with adjoining glens and mountains. This first division of the Jhelam Valley extends from the source above Vernág to Báramúla, and embraces not only the Vale of Kashmír, over 80 miles long and from 20 to 25 miles in breadth, but the glens which drain into it and the mountains that surround it. It therefore includes cultivation of all sorts from rich irrigated rice fields to narrow plots terraced up mountain slopes on which buckwheat and the beardless Tibetan barley are grown. The administrative divisions are the wazárat or district of South Kashmir and the southern part of North Kashmír. The central valley has an elevation of 6000 feet. It was undoubtedly once a lake bed. Shelving fan-shaped "karewas" spread out into it from the bases of the hills. The object of the Kashmírí is to raise as much rice as he possibly can on the alluvium of his valley and on the rich soil deposited on the banks of mountain streams. Manure and facilities for irrigation exist in abundance, and full use is made of them in the cultivation of the favourite crop. Kangní takes the place of rice in many fields if there is any deficiency of water. On reclaimed swamps near the Jhelam heavy crops of maize are raised. The tillage for wheat and barley is as careless as that for rice is careful. The cultivation of saffron (Crocus sativus) on karewas is famous, but the area is now limited, as the starving people ate up the bulbs in the great famine of 1877 and recovery is slow. Saffron is used as a pigment for the sectarian marks on the forehead of the orthodox Hindu and also as a condiment. The little floating vegetable gardens on the Dal lake are a very curious feature. The "demb" lands on the borders of the same lake are a rich field for the market gardener's art. He fences a bit of land with willows, and deposits on it weeds and mud from the lake bed. He is of the boatman or Hanz caste, whose reputation is by no means high, and can himself convey by water his vegetables and fruits to the Srínagar market. The production of fruit in Kashmír is very large, and the extension of the railway to Srínagar should lead to much improvement in the quality and in the extent of the trade. It may also improve the prospects of sericulture.