THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS, 35 
and the confines of perpetual snow.” Some of the villages, as Kanum and Soongnum, 
are populous and wealthy, with luxuriant vineyards, and orchards of apples, apricots, 
and walnuts, of most of which the fruit is ripe in September. Gooseberries are also 
met with, and wheat and Siberian barley thrive at great elevations. Captain Herbert 
describes the two crops in the year, as consisting of wheat, ooa, barley, cheena 
(Panicum miliaceum), phapur, ogla (two species of Polygonum), and turnips; the 
three last following barley, but wheat and cheena exhaust the soil. To these may be 
added. peas and beans, mentioned by the Messrs. Gerard. Kunawur is every where 
intersected by very elevated ranges, which are crossed by passes varying in elevation 
from twelve to eight&n thousand feet; on some of these to the eastward, even at the 
latter height, little snow is seen, and that only in streaks. Vegetation extends to 
sixteen thousand six hundred feet, junipers are found at fourteen thousand five hundred, 
birches as high as fourteen thousand, and Rhododendron lepidotum above them; pines 
do not appear to extend beyond twelve thousand three hundred feet. The highest 
cultivation seen was to the eastward of Dabling, where, at thirteen thousand six hundred 
feet, crops of barley, buckwheat, and turnips were seen by the Messrs. Gerard; and 
a little lower the ground was covered with thyme, sage, and many other aromatic 
plants, besides juniper, Tartaric furze (Genista versicolor), sweet briar, and goose- 
berries. Even at this great height the sun was at times found very powerful, and 
the thermometer rose to 68° on the 23d July, at fourteen thousand seven hundred feet of 
elevation. Near the Charang Pass, continuous snow-beds commenced about the height 
of sixteen thousand three hundred feet. Upon the left bank of the Tagla, no snow 
appears at sixteen thousand feet; on the right bank, at eighteen thousand feet, there 
is only a little in streaks. 4 
If we proceed to the northward of Kunawur, we shall see how much the intervention 
of even a single range can alter the face of a country, for crossing the Hungarung pass, 
at an elevation of fourteen thousand eight hundred feet, coinciding here with the limit of 
snow, we enter the Tartar pergunnah of Hungarung, which, besides being destitute of 
trees, differs from Kunawur considerably in the nature of its climate, and in having but 
one crop in the year. The mountains, instead of the pointed pinnacles of the Himalaya, 
present only a rounded outline, -with gentle declivities, covered at top with a little 
snow, but bare of forests, and every where presenting the traveller a picture of arid 
barrenness. The stunted trees, consisting of apricots, willows, walnut, are only found 
in the neighbourhood of villages, with the dog-rose, gooseberry, and currant; and two 
kinds of fruit not familiar to Captain Herbert, the one yellow and acid, about the size of 
a currant (an Hippophae?), the other red and mawkishly sweet (an Eleagnus?), The 
Whin and Furze of travellers are now known to be species of Genista and Astragalus. 
The elevation of the villages is from ten to twelve thousand feet, and cultivation is 
carried on ata still greater height. Nako, on the western face of Parkyul, and on the 
eastern bank of the Spiti, is at least twelve thousand feet above the level of the sea; 
yet there are produced most luxuriant crops of wheat, barley, buckwheat, and seni 
F 2 rising 
