38 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF 
If we turn our attention to the westward of Kunawur, we witness a repetition of the 
same appearances: a road leads from Soongnum up the bed of the Dabrung to Penoo 
and Dunkur, over very elevated passes. Dwarf pines are noticed at ten thousand 
feet, fields of beans, and orchards of apricots are passed through at a considerable 
elevation, and towards Pamacheen a belt of birches at fourteen thousand. Here a 
juniper, called Pama, is used as fuel. On this road the Manerang Pass is elevated 
eighteen thousand six hundred and twelve feet, the last half mile covered with 
perpetual snow ; and some stunted vegetation is observed at the base of the mountains. 
At sunrise the thermometer stood at 31°, and must have been lower during night, as 
the blankets of the Messrs. Gerard were tough as leather. In proceeding towards 
Manes, they found bushes and wild leeks at fifteen thousand feet, and passed over 
gravelly hills covered with tama bushes, and found cultivation of wheat, barley, and 
ooa at twelve thousand feet above the sea. The grain was almost ripe, and there were 
a few poplars, and some barberry and other bushes in the vicinity. At Manes, 
elevated eleven thousand nine hundred feet, the temperature ranged, on Ist September, 
from 52° in the morning, to 81° at the hottest time of the day.. One of the Surveyors, 
in a letter published in the Asiatic Journal for May 1825, p. 629, gives a most animated 
account of the excessive rigour of the climate at the commencement of winter in these 
regions, and of the fierceness with which the sun’s rays dart through the rarefied air of 
great elevations, so as to produce a feeling of scorching in the midst of almost unbear- 
able cold; of this may be adduced as instances, that, at the fort of Dunkur, elevated 
. thirteen thousand feet, while the temperature of the air was 32°, a thermometer in the 
sun rose to 126°, and the inhabitants were thus enabled to keep themselves comfortable 
on the roofs of their houses even in winter. At Rangreek, elevated twelve thousand 
five hundred feet, the thermometer fell to 6° during the night, and ‘rose, at eleven in 
the forenoon, only to 20°; and yet the greatest inconvenience was experienced, as well 
from the dazzling reflection from the snow as from the great power of the sun’s rays ; 
the latter made more sensible by the sharp chill of the air, which was:never heated 
beyond 25°. Towards evening,’a sudden gust of ‘piercingly cold wind destroyed several 
of their followers, the breath of the travellers congealed upon their beards, and their 
clothes grew stiff on their backs. In fording a stream, the water froze as fast as it 
touched them, until their feet and legs became stiff as wicker-work. After a fresh 
and heavy fall of snow, the weather became settled and serene, but the cold increased 
so much that the thermometer fell 2° below zero; and yet, in such regions as the-valley 
of the Peenoo, there are villages and cultivation at not less than thirteen ‘thousand five 
hundred feet of elevation, and, not far distant, poplar trees ‘twelve feet in girth. The 
most western regions of which we have any accounts are those traversed by Mr. Moor- 
croft and Dr. Gerard on the road to Leh or Ludak, through the district of Kooloo. In 
this direction the highest habitation seen by the latter was at eleven thousand feet, the 
thermometer 84° in the shade. On the plateau of Tartary, elevated sixteen thousand 
feet, he saw before him a black ridge, having the uniform height of three thousand feet 
above 
