BOTANICAT, INFORMATION. 663 
to more than one-third or so of the distance traversed. The snow 
soon disappeared close to the river, but the weather continued 
cold and unpleasant; vegetation making no progress, and the 
road getting worse and worse, I turned back after six marches, 
and reached Iskardoh again on the 11th inst. The road is quite 
impracticable for horses in consequence of the number of ladders, 
which form the only means of getting up precipices, so you may 
conceive that it was of the worst possible description. I did not 
get down below 6000 feet of absolute elevation, or 1000 below 
Iskardoh, and obtained scarce any additions to my collection. 
Since my return the change in the weather has been rapid; the 
thermometer now rises to 64°, and the snow may be said to have 
quite disappeared from the plains. I therefore start to-morrow for 
Kashmir, which place I hope to reach in eighteen days. The 
progress in vegetation is much slower than I anticipated. The 
wheat and barley were sown early in the month, and are now 
above the ground, by the aid of irrigation, but the willow buds 
are only beginning to swell and the Plane trees, Walnuts, Apri- 
cots and Mulberries are still quite dead to all appearance. 
“ Kashmir, 26th April, 1848. 
“ My situation for the last four or five months, in the midst of 
snow and cold, has been so thoroughly anti-botanical, that I 
have not had any matter to communicate to you which would 
have justified me in troubling you with many letters. That 
of 28th January, if it reached England, will haye informed you 
of my unsuccessful attempt to cross the pass into Kashmir, and 
of my return to Iskardoh. At that time I was sanguine enough | 
to hope that the winter was about to terminate. Unfortunately 
my anticipation did not prove correct: the heaviest snows and 
coldest weather occurred in February ; and it was not till the 
25th of that month that a change in the temperature sufficient 
to produce rapid thaw having taken place, I was enabled to com- 
mence moving about. Neither road being available, I turned 
my course down the Indus, but after six days’ journey, finding the 
country exceedingly barren and mountainous, and that the change. 
