BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 671 
mate. think, i assuming it in places at 100 feet deep, I am 
very considerably under the mark. This of course was not from 
direct falls, but from repeated accumulations of avalanches one on 
the top of another. The stream was often quite covered over for 
hundreds of yards uninterruptedly, so as to be completely invisible, 
The descent on the south side was also at first gentle, so much 
so, that from the great quantity of snow, I was not aware of the 
precise point where it commenced. It soon however became con- 
siderable, and latterly was very abrupt indeed, down a ravine and 
snowy pine forest, forming a striking contrast to the country in 
which I had passed the winter. —— 
* [t was on the 13th April that I crossed the pass, and as it con- 
tinued to snow heavily all the next day, I did not attempt to 
move, but remained at Baltal, and made myself as comfortable as 
I could in the large room which I have described. My only 
suffering was from smoke which affected my eyes, already weak- 
ened by so much exposure to snow, to a very painful extent ; nor 
was it possible for me to forbid fires, the whole party requiring not 
only warmth but food, of which they had had very little the day 
before. The part of Kashmir which I had entered was the valley 
of the Scinde river running east and west, and separated from the 
greater valley by a high range of mountains forming its boundary. 
Down this river I commenced my march on the 15th still through 
deep snow, but descending rapidly at the end of the second day, I 
found the country free of snow. Heavy rain compelled me to halt 
again on the 17th, and the next two days were not very much 
better, but I succeeded in making marches, and on the 20th I 
halted for the purpose of looking over my collections. 
* As I had descended the valley of the Scinde river it had 
gradually widened, and on my march of the 21st, turning 
considerably to the south, I found it became very wide, and took 
up my quarters for the day in a villfge close to its termination 
and junction with the great valley. On the 22d, my road, after 
rounding a low ridge of hills (the termination of the range on the 
south of the Scinde valley), lay due east to, and through, the town 
of Kashmir to a very pleasant house in a garden, in which I have 
taken up my quarters. T. Tuomson.” 
L3 
