Part 20 (2/2)
_May, 1848._]
The descent to Nasmon, which is only 2700 feet above the level of the sea, was very steep. At first it led along the face of a bare hill, but soon entered a shady ravine, filled with alder, oak, walnut, and _Celtis_, but without any of the superb horse-chesnuts which had been so abundant in the humid valleys on the northern face of the range; nor was there any _Rhododendron_. Crossing a considerable stream, the road ascended through fine forest to the crest of a ridge, beyond which there was a long and steep descent of at least 1500 feet, to the village of Nasmon, on which tropical vegetation made its appearance very abruptly. _Pinus longifolia_ grew scattered along the sides of this hill, and _Daphne_, pomegranate, the olive of the Sutlej valley, _Vitex Negundo_, _Colebrookea_, _Rottlera_, _Sissoo_, _Adhatoda Vasica_, a th.o.r.n.y _Celastrus_, _Acacia modesta_ and _Lebbek_, and _Bauhinia variegata_, made their appearance in succession, in the order in which I have named them. Most of these are the same as the shrubby forms common in the Sutlej valley at Rampur; but the _Celastrus_ and _Acacia modesta_ are plants of the plains of the western Punjab, and do not extend so far west as that river. The range parallel to the Chenab on the north, which I had just crossed, has probably a granitic axis, for boulders of granite were common on the upper part of the ascent on both sides of the pa.s.s, though I did not anywhere see that rock _in situ_. On both sides the first rock exposed was a fine-grained gneiss, with large crystals of felspar. Lower down, on the north face, I observed mica-slate, with garnets; and in the bed of the Banahal river ordinary clay-slate occurred.
[Sidenote: NASMON.
_May, 1848._]
Nasmon is a very large but scattered village, with much cultivation.
It lies on a high platform of alluvium, considerably above the bed of the river. Plane, orange, apricot, and pear trees grew in the gardens, with _Melia Azedarach_, and a few trees of the European cypress (_C. sempervirens_), bearing apparently ripe fruit. The day was oppressively warm, the thermometer rising above 85 in the shade.
On the 13th of May, I crossed the Chenab by a bridge about a mile above Nasmon. The descent to the bank of the river was gradual, and very bare. Rocks of a black clay-slate and of conglomerate, in nearly vertical strata, formed the bed of the river, which was as large as the Sutlej at Rampur, and very much swollen and muddy. The bridge is the simplest form of _jhula_, a single set of ropes, from which a wooden seat is suspended, which is pulled from side to side by means of a rope, worked from the rocks on either side of the river. The banks of the river were adorned with a profusion of bushes of _Nerium odorum_, in full flower, and highly ornamental. The vegetation along the river exhibited the same curious contrast of tropical and temperate forms, which I have already described as characteristic of the dry valleys of the interior of the Himalaya, at elevations between two and four thousand feet; and the tropical plants were so similar to those which I observed on the Sutlej, that I need not particularize them. There was no forest in any part of the valley near the river, but a few trees of _Pinus longifolia_ grew scattered on the bank; and on the stony ground which skirted the stream, there was a low jungle of the same tropical shrubs as had occurred on the lower part of the descent the day before. I saw also _Zizyphus nummularia_, a shrub which is eminently characteristic of a dry climate, being common in the most desert and rainless districts of the Punjab. The shrubby temperate forms were not numerous, being chiefly _Rosa Brunonis_, and the Himalayan pear, _Lonicera diversifolia_, _Myrsine bifaria_, and _Jasminum revolutum_, all plants which have a very wide range in the Himalaya.
[Sidenote: WILD OLIVES AND POMEGRANATES.
_May, 1848._]
Pa.s.sing through the bush jungle which skirted the river, I entered a large tract of almost level cultivated land, covered with fields of barley, ripe and partly cut. One or two plantain-trees, and some buffaloes, were signs that we were still in a very hot region.
Crossing a considerable stream, the road began to ascend rapidly on a narrow ridge. Pa.s.sing some farm-houses, surrounded by fields, I entered a scattered wood of wild olive-trees (_Olea cuspidata_), mixed with _Zizyphus_ and wild pomegranate. The young shoots and panicles of the olive were abundantly covered with a white floccose glutinous matter, the source of which I could not exactly determine; but I could see no trace of any insects by which it could have been formed, so that it was perhaps a natural exudation from the tree. Small woods of _Pinus longifolia_ occurred at intervals, almost alone, for few plants seem to thrive under its shade. At 4000 feet, while the olive and pomegranate were still abundant, _Quercus lanata_ appeared. At 4500 feet, which was about the upper limit of the olive, I re-entered a cultivated district, disposed in terraces on the slopes of the hills.
The barley was quite ripe, and being cut, but the wheat, though in full ear, was still green. There were also a few fields of the opium poppy in full flower, and of safflower (_Carthamus tinctorius_), which was not nearly so far advanced.
I encamped at the village of Balota, elevated 5000 feet. Round the village were some very fine table-topped deodars, perhaps the relics of a former forest, though more likely planted by the villagers. The hills on all sides were richly cultivated, as far up as 6000 feet, above which elevation fine forest commenced; and the snowy top of the mountain behind, which I had seen from the pa.s.s of the 12th, was visible rising behind the forest. During the whole of the ascent from the Chenab, the rock was a coa.r.s.e-grained sandstone, in highly inclined strata, generally of a reddish-brown colour, the surface of which rapidly pa.s.ses into a state of decay.
[Sidenote: LADHE KE DHAR.
_May, 1848._]
The range of mountains to the south of the Chenab, by which that river is separated from the basin of the Tawi or river of Jamu, still lay between me and the plains of India. On the 14th of May, I crossed a spur from this range, descending into a valley watered by a tributary of the Chenab. This ridge, which is called Ladhe ke Dhar, rises a little above 9000 feet, that being the elevation at which the road crosses it. After leaving the cultivated lands of Balota, the ascent, which was steady, lay through fine brushwood and stunted oaks. On the banks of the stream, which occupied the centre of the valley by which I ascended, sycamore, horse-chesnut, and cherry, were abundant. On the slopes there were a few trees of _Pinus excelsa_ and _Picea_, but the forest was not dense. About 7000 feet, on the north-western face of a spur, there was much cultivation of wheat and barley, hardly yet in ear. Here there was a fine view in the direction of the upper valley of the Chenab, of rugged mountains, scarcely wooded on the slope exposed to view, rising behind one another, the more distant still heavily snowed. Higher up, the forest was chiefly formed of the holly-leaved oak, but the latter part of the ascent was through a dark forest of silver fir, intermixed with a few fine yews. The underwood here was chiefly _Viburnum nervosum_, still in flower, though its leaves were almost fully developed. On emerging from this gloomy forest, in the upper part of which there was a thin sprinkling of snow, I found myself on the crest of the range, which was bare and rounded. Snow lay in large patches, and had evidently been till very recently continuous over the whole top, as vegetation was just commencing, and few plants were in flower. _Primula denticulata_ was common, as well as a little gentian, which extended on both sides at least 2000 feet lower; the only alpine plant was the little _Callianthemum_ which I had found some days before on the summit of Wasterwan in Kashmir. The distant view was unfortunately quite obscured by haze, so that I could not see, as I had expected, the plains of India.
[Sidenote: KATTI.
_May, 1848._]
In descending the southern face of this mountain, the road at once entered a forest of silver fir, in the upper part of which I saw one tree of _Quercus semecarpifolia_, a species which I had not met with on the Kashmir pa.s.ses, or anywhere since leaving the Sutlej. About 8000 feet, the pines were replaced by the holly-leaved oak, forming open woods, in the glades of which patches of cultivation soon occurred; I encamped at about 7000 feet, at the village of Katti.
During the day the sandstone rock occurred uninterruptedly, partly, as the day before, of a reddish-brown colour, partly grey, or nearly white. On the descent large angular fragments of this rock were everywhere scattered over the surface, almost always more or less imbedded in the soil: these had somewhat the appearance of a former moraine, but the surface was so much covered with wood, and the boulders were so much buried, that I could not trace their arrangement in a satisfactory manner.
[Sidenote: LANDAR.
_May, 1848._]
Next morning I continued the descent, which was rapid, so that I soon arrived at tropical vegetation. There was but little forest, except in ravines, and the heat soon became very great. About three miles from Katti I pa.s.sed the fort of Landar, built on an almost isolated cliff, overhanging the ravine; and a little further on I descended abruptly to a small stream, running towards the Chenab, the elevation of whose bed was about 3000 feet. The descent, which was almost precipitous, led down the face of a ma.s.s of clay, in some respects like the alluvial deposits so common in Tibet. Similar ma.s.ses of alluvium, all table-topped, and very steep, and much worn by ravines, had occurred throughout the whole of the descent from Katti. A few pines grew on this steep bank, and all the shrubs which I had found on the banks of the Chenab at Nasmon were again met with. After crossing this stream, the bed of which was filled with large water-worn boulders, I again ascended to about 5000 feet, chiefly among cultivation, and encamped at _Mir_, a small village close to the crest of the main range south of the Chenab, the elevation of which was now very inconsiderable.
[Sidenote: OPEN VALLEYS OF THE OUTER HIMALAYA.
_May, 1848._]
Next day, a gentle ascent of half an hour brought me to the crest of this range. The mountain slopes were bare and gra.s.sy, but in the ravines there was now and then some brushwood. _Andromeda ovalifolia_ and _Rhododendron arboreum_ were both noticed; and, much to my surprise, I observed at intervals a few trees of _Fothergilla_, for I had not expected to find this Kashmir tree so close to the plains, and in a district the flora of which was so completely that of the Simla hills. On the summit of the pa.s.s, which was not more than 6000 feet, I found a beautiful gentian (_G. Kurroo_ of Royle) and a yellow spinous _Astragalus_, seemingly the same species which I had found at Nasmon, on the Chenab. It was curious to find a representative of the spiny-petioled group of this genus in so hot a climate and so near the plains; for in the rainy parts of the mountains, and in the more humid parts of the Indian plain, the genus is almost wanting, and this particular section entirely so.
From the summit I descended at once through a pine-wood to the bottom of a valley, the course of which I followed throughout the day in a southerly direction. It gradually widened as I advanced; villages became frequent, and were surrounded by extensive cultivation, and all temperate vegetation disappeared. I encamped at the village of Kirmichi, where the valley which I was following appeared to expand into an open plain of some width. Here oranges and mulberries were cultivated in gardens, and the toon and mango, pipal and banyan (_Ficus religiosa_ and _Indica_) were planted in groves round the houses.
On the 17th of May, I continued my journey towards the plains of the Punjab. An open, somewhat undulating valley lay before me, appearing to stretch from east to west, and to be bounded by two ranges of hills which had the same direction. Trikota Debi, a curious three-peaked hill, the last culminating point of the range separating the Chenab from the Tawi, rose some miles to the westward. To the eastward the valley of the Tawi was open as far as Ramnagar, which was distant about twenty miles. In crossing this open plain, or _dhun_, I nearly followed the course of a little stream which had excavated for itself a deep channel in the soft sandstone of which the plain was composed. This rock was very different in appearance from the red or grey sandstone which had accompanied us from Balota; it was pure white, and almost horizontally stratified, while that was always highly inclined. During the latter part of my journey of the 10th I nowhere saw rock _in situ_, so that I had no opportunity of ascertaining the contact of these two formations, which are probably of very different epochs, the sandstone of the open plain being certainly the Sewalik tertiary formation, while the red sandstone of the higher mountains, which in the total absence of all organic remains is as yet of uncertain age, is perhaps the same as the gypsiferous and saliferous sandstones which skirt a great part of the western Himalaya.
One or two pine-trees, and some bushes of _Euphorbia pentagona_, were almost the only features in the vegetation which distinguished this open valley from the plains of India. On shady rocks along the stream three or four ferns were common; the oleander also grew near water; a dwarf date-palm occupied drier spots; and I saw a few trees of _Ca.s.sia fistula_. Crossing a broad shallow river which flowed to the eastward at the southern boundary of this _dhun_, in a depression faced by cliffs of sandstone, I entered among low hills covered with scattered trees of _Pinus longifolia_. This plant appears to grow luxuriantly on hot dry hills; the trees did not attain a great size, but appeared vigorous and healthy, with thick trunks and gnarled branches, exactly like the Scotch fir, except in the great length of the leaves, which are pendulous from the ends of the branches.
[Sidenote: SANDSTONE RANGES.
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