XXiV INTRODUCTION. 
which Mr.V. conceives to be 18,000 or 19,000. From the summit of the Passes between Ludak and Nobra, the 
Muztagh presents a most noble appearance, and Mr. Vigne thinks that the Hindoo Koosh may be said to be 
joined to the Himalaya of Tibet by the Laureh Pass between Chitral and the valley of the Dair ; that which 
joins the Kabul river at Hashtnagur, or the valley of Peshawar : Vide Journ. As. Soc. Calcutta, Sept. 1837 ; 
Proc. of the Royal Asiatic and of the Geographical Society, for November ‘1839. 
Mr. V. also informs me that there is no snowy range connecting the Muztagh with the Spiti mountains, but 
that there are a few isolated peaks of great altitude that rise above the others ; and there certainly is a break 
inthe Himalayan chain, if this may be called one, as he has distinctly seen it, both from Acho and the Passes 
to Nobra. 
Dr. Falconer, in travelling north from Cashmere, crossed the lofty ridge which separates the drainage of the 
Krishna Gtnga from that of the Indus. He crossed the Pass over extensive beds of snow, and descended 
through a steep and narrow gorge to Sookarun Murbul, a bleak rocky tract abounding with Tibetan Marmot. 
The great plain called Bearsah or Deosah, also described by Mr. Vigné, constitutes one of the principal 
features of the Tibetan region near Cashmere. Elevated 13,100 feet above the sea, and surrounded by lofty 
snowy peaks, it forms a nearly level plateau, about fifty miles in length and forty in breadth, occupying the 
interval between the Indus and the Krishna Gunga. High above the forest, or birch region, its vegetation is 
restricted to herbaceous species and a few dwarf willows, but these are so abundantly produced as to clothe it 
with verdure. At one extremity of this, he ascended the Boorgee Pass, the summit of which he found to be 
elevated 15,600 feet above the sea. This commands an extensive view of the mountains which stretch beyond the 
Indus towards Toorkistan, and of part of the immediate vicinity of Iskardo ; they looked down upon a level tract 
below, and countless lines of mountains running off into the remote distance ; but there, no signs of vegetation 
were visible; sterile sand and naked rugged rocks met the view on every side. Dr, F.'crossed the Indus, with the 
object of pushing north in the direction of the Muztagh range (Kuenlun of Humboldt), which separates the 
valley of the Indus from Chinese Tartary, and proceeded to Askolee in a Pass which leads from Little Tibet 
towards the Muztagh, in N. latitude 35° 30’, and reached the limit of cultivation; all beyond, on to the Pass 
across the Muztagh, was reported to be a region of ice. On returning, on the 30th of August, he crossed the 
Braldoh river, whence the road led over the lofty mountain of Skora, which was crossed at 16,200 feet above the 
level of the sea, while a pass between Iskardoh and Astore was 15,822 feet. 
With respect to the vegetation, Dr. F. writes me, under date of January and June, 1838, from Cashmere, 
whither he had proceeded on a Botanic mission in connexion with Sir Alex. Burnes’ Expedition, that “ The 
Flora of the Punjab is exactly that of the neighbourhood of Delhi; Peganum Harmala everywhere, with Cap- 
paridee, Crotolaria Bushia, Calotropis Hamiltonii, Alhagi Maurorum, Tamarix, Acacia modesta, &c. &c. Near 
Lahore I got what I believe to be a new Asclepiadeous genus, exactly intermediate between Calotropis and 
Parotropts, which I have called Eutropis. It is in great abundance in the Punjab. I met with the Dhak 
(Buteafrondosa) as far as the western bank of the Jhelum. The Flora begins to change at Rawul Pindee, 
which is elevated and continues so, on to the plain of Chuch, along the banks of the Attock. Here I first 
came on the famous Zuetoon, the wild olive, Olea ? and further on, at Hussan Abdal, I found Himalayan 
Rubi and a Cashmere Dianthus, white flowered and new to you. The lower part of the plain of Peshawur is 
sandy, and has exactly the Flora of the arid tracts of the Punjab; Salsolas, Chenopodee, Alhagi, Calotropis, 
Peganum, Tamarix, &c. But when we got to Peshawur, so much do the seasons differ, that peaches were _ 
coming into fruit the 15th August, and the Kurreel (Capparis aphylla) out of flower only lately. From Pesha- 
wur, I made an excursion to Cohaut, and from thence to the Salt Hills and the valley of Rungush. In the 
Salt Hills I got a Stapeliaceous Asclepiad, unfortunately neither in flower nor fruit, very probably one of 
Wight’s Carallumas or Boucerosias. Also the Cassia obovata, the Egyptian senna, in flower. I had previously 
got the same plant from near Delhi: no doubt about the species, certainly not the odtusa of Roxb.; the 
legumes always crested over the bulge of the seeds. From Attock, I made an attempt to run up the Indus 
into the hills ; I got on three marches, and was forcibly stopped at Durbund, and threatened with rather rough 
usage. I then turned across the hills, and rejoined Capt. Mackeson in the noble valley of Huzara. The vegeta- 
tion along the banks of the Indus, from Attock to Durbund, surprised me much. It is quite that of the charac- 
teristic forms of the Deyra Doon, and, taking difference of latitude and altitude into account, with the great 
distance westward, this might not have been looked for: Grislea tomentosa, Rottlera tinctoria, Hastingia coccinea, 
Acacia Catechu, Holostemma, &c. On the banks of the Indus, in the valley leading up to Cashmere from 
Huzara, I found the Dodoncea Burmanniana. You remark, in your notice of the Sapindacee, its absence from 
the Bengal and Hindoostan region ; its occurrence with a leap so far north is remarkable. From Huzara, we 
marched on by the military road to Mosufferabad. Near DrumberI came on the Hovenia dulcis. At Mosuffe- 
rabad I got ona high ridge, and followed it on to Cashmere, where we arrived early in October. It was now 
too 
