After skirting the snow for perhaps half a mile, I descended a little to cross a ravine, and immediately after began to ascend rapidly over snow, which was hard and firm, so that it was traversed without difficulty. Throughout the whole ascent, there were at intervals steep slopes and masses of rock bare of snow, and even on the smallest of these spots vegetation was making rapid progress, under the encouragement of a powerful sun and abundant moisture. The plants observed were all alpine: among the number were several Primulæ, and species of Draba, Potentilla, Sibbaldia, Ranunculus, and Pedicularis. The ascent continued steady to the top of the pass, which was a mass of bare rock, quite free of snow, and elevated 14,800 feet. The pass (the name of which is Sach Joth) was a deep depression in the crest of the range, which rose on both sides to a considerable height. The ridge was a mass of black slate rock, in highly inclined strata, on which no snow lay, and which absorbed so much heat from the sun, that a number of minute plants were not only vegetating but in full flower. Primula minutissima and a yellow Draba were common, and a little Ranunculus and Potentilla, with one moss and a species of lichen, also occurred more sparingly. The view from the pass was extensive to the southward, but to the north entirely intercepted by lofty precipitous ridges, distant not more than a mile. The morning had been beautiful, but before I reached the summit, a high wind had sprung up from the south, drifting heavy watery clouds over the crest, from which there were slight showers of hail.

DESCENT INTO THE VALLEY OF THE CHENAB.
June, 1848.

The descent on the north side was over snow, commencing a few feet from the rocky crest of the pass. After the first few hundred yards, the snow-bed was very steep, and perhaps covered a small glacier. Further on, the mountains on both sides closed in so as to form a narrow valley, the course of which I followed for many miles, before I could find a bare spot upon which to encamp. The valley was bounded on both sides by exceedingly steep rocky mountains, sometimes quite precipitous, which soon became bare of snow. After descending rapidly for a considerable time, patches of juniper appeared on the hill-sides, succeeded by birch, and soon after by a few pines, which, from their shape, were, I believe, silver fir. A little lower, pines became frequent wherever the mountain-sides were not absolutely precipitous; Picea and Pinus excelsa were first recognized, and a little lower down Abies Smithiana; deodar did not appear till I had nearly reached the end of the day's journey. I encamped at 8500 feet, on the first available bare spot, among a few pine-trees.

From the summit of the pass till within a few hundred yards of my encampment, snow was continuous in the valley along which I descended, covering the stream and the whole of the level portion of the valley for many miles after it had melted from the steep sloping hills on both sides, on which vegetation was already making rapid progress. This snow-bed was not in the least icy, but consisted of pure snow, much compressed and often dirty. Its slope followed that of the valley, and its surface was quite smooth till close to its termination, where it was broken up into fragments by the fall of portions into the stream below. The greater permanence of snow in valleys and ravines than on mountain slopes seems to be due to its accumulation there during the winter to a great depth by avalanches from both sides.

CHAPTER XII.

Marked change in the Vegetation—Bridge over Chenab—Pargwal—Description of Chenab valley—Asdhari—Chatargarh—Road turns up valley of Butna—Vegetation of Chenab valley—Chishot—Snow-beds—Camp at 10,500 feet—Ancient moraines—Glacier—Camp at 11,500 feet—Rapid ascent along glacier—Camp on moraine, at 14,600 feet—Change of weather—Ascent towards pass over glacier—Cross Umasi La—Descent—Immense glacier—Encamp in Tibet, at 13,800 feet—Open valley of Zanskar—Padum—Great change of climate—and in vegetation.

As a great part of my baggage and some of my servants did not reach camp till after dark, in the evening of the 12th of May, I halted on the 13th. I was encamped in a very narrow valley, on both sides of which lofty mountains rose very abruptly. The spurs which projected into this ravine were all of very peculiar configuration, their northern face being uniformly quite precipitous, while to the south, though still steep, they were green and sloping. I ascended on the southern slope of the spur, nearest to my tent, to a height of perhaps 1500 feet, without obtaining any extensive view of the valley of the Chenab, though I afterwards found that I was not more than two miles in a direct line from that river, but that the rocky mountains right and left, retaining their elevation till they were close to it, completely interrupted the view in every direction, except directly down the ravine, where a small portion of the snow-topped mountains beyond the river was visible.

VEGETATION OF CHENAB VALLEY.
June, 1848.

From the great elevation of the mountains which I had just crossed, I was prepared to find a marked change in the aspect of the vegetation, and I was not disappointed. The steep slopes were covered with a most luxuriant herbage, above two feet in height. A tall panicled Rheum was very common, and numerous Umbelliferæ, Silene inflata, Geranium, and Pteris aquilina were abundant. The most remarkable plant, however, from the extreme quantity in which it occurred, was an Asphodelaceous plant (Eremurus, Bieb.), the long scapes of which, from four to five feet in height, covered the hill-sides in countless myriads. These scapes were clothed, for nearly half their length, with a profusion of elegant white flowers, very slightly tinged with a pale yellowish green. I met, during the day, with most of the characteristic plants of the Kunawar flora; as instances, I may mention Ephedra, Dictamnus, Rosa Webbiana, Dianthus, and Scutellaria orientalis. The arboreous vegetation was much the same as on the other side of the pass. The right side of the ravine was well clothed with pines, of all the four ordinary species; the left side was usually bare, the northern faces of the spurs, which are generally wooded, being too precipitous, but in the hollows there were a few small clumps of trees, principally pine, walnut, and sycamore.

VALLEY OF CHENAB
June, 1848.