Dr. Thomson's Route is coloured Red.

Drawn & Engraved by John Arrowsmith.

WESTERN HIMALAYA
AND
TIBET.

CHAPTER I.

Appointment to a Mission about to proceed to Tibet—Leave Firozpur for Simla—Approach to the Mountains—Appearance of Himalaya from Plains of India—Kalka—Ascent to Kussowlee—Vegetation of Plainward Face—Origin of Kussowlee Ridge—Climate and Vegetation of Kussowlee—Aspect of inner ranges—Road from Kussowlee to Simla—Sabathu—Cross Gambar River—Haripur—Tropical Vegetation of Basin of Gambar—Steep Ascent to Simla—its extent and situation—its Vegetation—Oak-forest—Pines—Flora of Spring Months—of Rainy Season—View from Peak of Jako—Structure of Mountain Ranges.

In the month of May, 1847, while with my Regiment at Firozpur on the south bank of the Sutlej, I received intimation that Lord Hardinge, at that time Governor-General of India, had appointed me a member of a mission which he had determined to despatch across the Himalaya Mountains into Tibet; and I was directed to proceed without delay to Simla, from which place the mission was to start, as soon as the necessary arrangements could be completed.

I left Firozpur on the evening of the 20th of May, and travelling only at night, on account of the extreme heat, I arrived at the foot of the hills, on the morning of the 24th. The greater part of the road was through a perfectly level country, and nearly parallel to the Sutlej, but without following its sinuosities. During a part of the last night's journey, I travelled among low hills, partly composed of loose sand and boulders, partly of clay and sandstone. The road enters this tract by an open valley, bounded on both sides by hills, which on the left are low and rounded. On the right they are scarped towards the plains, as well as towards the valley up which I travelled, and the strata of which they are composed, dip towards the Himalaya. The valley is traversed by a little stream descending from the mountains, one of the tributaries of the Gagar or Markanda, that remarkable river, which runs in a south-west direction, as if about to join the Indus, but ultimately loses itself in the sands of the Bikanir desert.

APPEARANCE OF HIMALAYA FROM THE PLAINS OF INDIA.
May, 1847.