Western Himalaya and Tibet / A Narrative of a Journey Through the Mountains of Northern India During the Years 1847-8

by Thomas Thomson

The morning of the 3rd of August was densely foggy, but without rain, and it was unanimously decided that it would be advisable to push on to the next stage, Mattiana, a distance of fifteen miles. Our anticipations of fair weather were unfortunately disappointed, for it began to rain heavily before ten o'clock, and continued to do so with little intermission till nearly two, when it cleared, and the remainder of the day was fine.

GIRI VALLEY.
August, 1847.

The whole day's journey lay along the ridge, which scarcely fell below 7500 feet, and nowhere rose above 9000 feet. Fagu is situated immediately above the valley of the river Giri, a large mountain stream, the most western tributary of the Jumna. A road across the Jumnetic valleys to Massuri descends abruptly towards that river, descending more than 5000 feet in little more than five miles, and crossing the river by a bridge at an elevation of 3000 feet. The mountains to the right, which dip into the valley of the Giri, are bare of forest, with a good deal of cultivation in small terraced fields on the steep sunny slopes, while scattered houses, scarcely collected into villages, are seen here and there among the fields. On the left hand, again, the deep valley which runs towards the Sutlej is full of forest, not rising however to the ridge, which is bare, or lined only with scattered jungle of Indigofera, Desmodium, Spiræa, roses, and brambles. It seems to be a constant rule that the depressions of the ridges are bare and open, while the more elevated portions are covered with forest. Probably the cause of this is the greater humidity of the higher slopes, which attract the rain-clouds, while the lower ranges are dry. The currents of air which sweep up the valleys may also in part be the cause of the bareness of the ridges opposite their summits.

THEOG.
August, 1847.

At Theog, nearly eight miles from Fagu, there is a fort belonging to a Rana, or hill chieftain, and a small village, with a good many fields. The cultivation at this great elevation, for the fields reach to at least 8000 feet, is principally of barley, which is sown in early spring, and reaped in the beginning or middle of June, according to the season. Beyond Theog the road rises a little, and is covered with brushwood on the left hand, but bare on the right. The highest part of the road is about two miles beyond Theog, and has an elevation of about 9000 feet. The northern face of this hill is prettily wooded with the holly-leaved oak, and covered with numerous large angular boulders, whose origin is rather difficult to explain. After passing this little hill the ridge sweeps round to the left in a semicircle, ascending very gradually and gently to a low ridge, from the crest of which the bungalow of Mattiana comes into sight, at a distance of nearly two miles, the whole of which is a gentle descent. The latter part of the road has a direction nearly due north, and the bungalow is situated in a very commanding position on the top of a little eminence, a quarter of a mile from the village, which occupies the slope of the hill facing the south-east, at a considerably lower level. The hills on both sides of the bungalow, which has an elevation of 8200 feet, are extremely steep, and descend at least 2000 feet. The valley on the left, tributary to the Sutlej, is well wooded, but that on the right is rather bare, with only a little wood here and there in the ravines, and on the more shady exposures.

MATTIANA.
August, 1847.

The slopes below Mattiana are covered with numerous scattered houses and a good deal of cultivation. A little rice is grown during the rains, but the principal crops are barley and some wheat, sown in spring and reaped before the commencement of the rains. The opium poppy, also a spring crop, is cultivated to some extent in the lower part of the valley. It is sown in early spring, and the opium is gathered in June.

On the morning of the 4th of August we resumed our journey, proceeding as far as Nagkanda, about thirteen miles. Nagkanda, like Mattiana and Fagu, lies exactly on the crest of the main range, south of the Sutlej, and it is possible to proceed to it by a footpath along the ridge. The ascent, however, immediately north of Mattiana, where the ridge rises suddenly to nearly 10,000 feet, is so steep, rocky, and difficult, that it is quite impassable for horses, and so nearly for loaded men, that a more easy, though somewhat longer road is always preferred. I have more than once walked from Nagkanda to Mattiana by the upper road, and found it quite easy on foot, and so very beautiful as to be well worth a visit. The ascent from Mattiana is exceedingly steep, and facing nearly due south, very bare, stony, and barren; but when the higher portion of the ridge has been gained, the remainder of the road lies through beautiful forest, with much fine scenery—the earlier part steep and rocky, the remainder nearly level, till the last descent, and generally on the north face of the range.

VALLEY BEFORE MATTIANA.
August, 1847.

On our present journey, however, we took the usual road, which descends from Mattiana to the valley immediately on the east, crosses it, and passes over a long spur on its eastern side, into another valley, the head of which is immediately below Nagkanda, to which place the road ascends, at last very steeply. The ravine immediately below Mattiana is crossed at an elevation probably a little above 6000 feet, as the trees of the temperate region, such as the holly-leaved and woolly oak, Andromeda, and Rhododendron, continue to the very bottom of the descent; and Pinus excelsa is common on the eastern slope, a little way above the stream, which descends very abruptly, like all the hill torrents near their sources, along a rocky channel, filled with large boulders. On the banks of the little stream there were a few trees of an Acacia, common in the lower forests, which Mr. Bentham considers a hairy variety of the Albizzia Julibrissin of western Asia. I observed also a Laurel, an Olive, Rhus, and the common Toon (Cedrela Toona), all indicative of the commencement of a subtropical vegetation, which no doubt must be abundant on its banks a very few miles further down. Few of the plants observed in the valley were different from those common around Simla; a species of Caragana, a Leguminous genus abundant in Siberia, and in the interior and more dry parts of the Himalaya, was perhaps the most interesting.