72 BB AITCHISON 0"N THE TLOHA OP LAIirL. 



tiaL This farming is carried out more upon tlie principle of 

 gardening than of field cultivation, as without careful irrigation 

 the crops would completely fail from the extreme dryness of the 

 climate. 



At about lljOOO feet cultivation ceases ; and above this height, 

 with the exception of where the forests exist, the general aspect 

 of the country is barren and arid in the extreme. 



The inhabited part of the Chundra valley from Koksar to the 

 union of the two rivers, presents a barren treeless aspect. The 

 left bank is totally uninhabited and uncultivatedj due chiefly to 

 the great steepness of the rocks, and the presence of numerous 

 precipices; a few miles, however, before the junction of the two 

 rivers some small villages occur, and some cultivation, with one of 

 the two large forests ot* JPinus exceha, called the " Mooling forest ;" 

 whereas, on the right bank, we have a tolerable number of villages 

 with a much more extensive cultivation. 



From the junction of the Bhaga, passing up the Bhaga river, 

 there are villages and cultivation upon both banks of the river 

 (though more on the northern bank) for ten miles ; here the second 

 forest of Pimis exceJsa exists, viz. the ** Kardang," also on the 

 left bank of the river. 



At the village of Tino, which is seven miles, as the crow flies, 

 beyond Kardang, all the cultivation on the eastern bank ceases; 

 from this point, passing upwards, a few villages at some distance 

 from each other are to be met with on the western bank, the last 

 village being " Dharchce," 11,000 feet in elevation, and about 

 nine miles, as the crow flies, from " Tino." At the last house, 

 '' Patseo," a day's march further up, no cultivation exists. From 

 Darchee upwards the valley becames much contracted, nar- 

 rower and in every way more sterile ; the juniper, which existed 

 as a tree, is now but a poor stunted shrub ; and this even becomes 

 rare. 



From the union of the two rivers to the Chumba frontier, 

 the country, as already stated, is called the " low land " or "lower 

 valley ; " cultivation here is much more extensive than in the 

 upper valleys spoken of ; other vegetable products than those met 

 with in the higher valleys occur, as, for instance, the Ahies Smitni- 

 fl«a,AVahiut, and a species o{ Fersica occur wild, with the Apricot 

 freely naturalized and ripening its fruit. 



Here sj)ring is much earlier in its advent, and necessarily 

 seed-time is earlier, giving a longer summer and autumn, and per- 

 mitting of the occasional cultivation of wheat, a thing quite un- 



