344 Mr. H. T. Colebrooke's Remarks on the Setlej River. 



10,000 feet. The wheat seldom ripens ; and, when the rains fall early in 

 June, most of the grains are cut green. 



The travellers proceeded from R61 through a fine wood of oak, yew, 

 pine, rhododendron, and horse-chestnut, with some juniper, and long thin 

 bambus,* to Bitclikdlghat, just overtopping the forest at the elevation of 

 11,800 feet. 



They passed by an extremely difficult and tiresome way, amongst piles 

 of loose stones, which seemed to have been but lately precipitated from 

 above, to Reiini, a halting-place for travellers, on the bank of a rivulet, at 

 an elevation of 11,750 feet. In the vicinity were stunted birches, dwarf 

 oaks, pines, and juniper, and two species of rhododendron ; one, as called 

 by the natives, 2'dlsdr. Flowers abounded, such a? thyme and cowslips. 

 The soil is a rich moist black turf, not unlike peat. 



The Shdlul pass had not been traversed since the month of September, 

 1820, when Mr. James G. Gerard effected the passage with much difHculty 

 and danger, and lost two of his servants, who were frozen to death at 

 mid-day. It was attended with less peril at this early season : Messrs. 

 Gerard were the first persons who visited it in 1821. Having before 

 travelled the ordinary road through the pass, they determined to strike 

 directly across the ridge, which they accomplished. Its elevation was 

 found by barometric measurement to be 15,556 feet above the sea,t 

 confirming a similar measurement in the preceding year, which made it 

 but two feet less. 



The rocks were chiefly mica slate, and gneiss. In the ascent they had 

 noticed a huge granitic rock, in the chilly recess of which they rested ; 

 and their route had led them in some places over heaps of angular frag- 

 ments of gneiss, granite, qnartz, and felspar, jumbled together in wild 

 disorder, where every step was dangerous. 



* Throughout the diary, with rare exceptions, I have retained Captain Gerard's names of 

 plants. Probably the English names are not always rightly applied ; or, if ri^ht generically, 

 the species must be for the most part different. They will be corrected in an appendix, so far 

 as I may be in possession of su6Bcient information for the purpose, before the present volume is 

 closed.— H.T.C. 



f The heights of most remarkable places are calculated from corresponding observations of 

 the barometer at Subdthu: the exact number of feet is in such instances noted. Others were 

 obtained by differences, and they are put down to the nearest fifty feet. 



