BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 667 
the most. characteristic species are absent ; on the other hand, we 
have here many of the most characteristic plants of the Indus 
valley; for instance, Juniperus excelsa, Rosa Webbiana, Myri- 
caria, Ribes, Daphne, a violet and several ferns. The cultivated 
trees, too, are common to both ;—there are the same magnificent 
plane trees and walnuts, the same poplars, vines, apricots and 
apples. . 
“The Kashmir valley is very different from any other part of the 
hills that I have seen, and not at all what I expected to find. It 
is an extensive, perfectly flat plain, at present very much under 
water, indeed almost a swamp, and quite devoid of forest. Where 
not cultivated, it is grassy or marshy. Cultivated trees, however, 
are plenty, and, from a height, its appearance, surrounded as it is 
by a magnificent chain of snowy mountains, is exceedingly pleas- 
ing, almost beautiful, though not so much I think as the more 
mountainous and wooded parts of the Himalaya. As in the valley 
of the Scinde river, I am still too early to find many plants, but 
the young corn and the grassy meadows already produce a e 
deal to interest me. I am overwhelmed with Crucifera;w 
yellow, and pink, and as, though in full flower, hardly citis a a 
seed far enough advanced to ascertain the grand discriminating 
character of the tribes, I am quite unable to name them. Among. 
the number, Draba verna (I think) is very common. I. was not 
aware before, that it was a Himalayan plant. Curiously enough 
I have met with more than one of the plants which I had collected 
in early spring at Lahore,—the source of which I had been puz- 
zled to trace,—a species of the Siberian genus, Goldbachia, is one — 
of these. oo 
“ The letter from Humboldt, which you were so kind as to — — 
enclose, has been of the greatest possible interest and value to me, 
bearing as it does so much on the countries which I have visited, 
and to which I hope to return. The observations of our party 
will have done something towards answering some of the points 
referred to, and to the rest, as far as in my power, I shall not fail 
to turn my attention should I again have an opportunity. The 
occurrence of fish in streams at 15,000 feet, T considered at the 
VOL, VII. | AL 
