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the richest cultivation, irrigated by streams which 

 descend from perennial snows, and interspersed 

 with homesteads buried in the midst of groves and 

 fruit trees. Turning from this scene of peaceful 

 beauty, the stern and majestic hills confront us. 

 Their sides are furrowed with precipitous water- 

 courses. Forests of Oak clothe their flanks, and 

 higher up give place to gloomy and funereal pines. 

 Above all, are wastes of snow or pyramidal 

 masses of granite too perpendicular for the snow to 

 rest on." 



GENERAL APPEARANCE. 



" These Valleys by no means present a general 

 evenness of surface. Their contour is pleasantly 

 broken by transverse ridges and numerous streams 

 which descend from the mountains above. A 

 hundred canals, filled with clear water, intersect the 

 area in all directions, and convey the blessings of irrig- 

 ation to every field. Trees and plants of 'opposite 

 zones are here intermingled, and Alpine vegetation 

 contends for pre-eminence with the growth of the 

 tropics. The Bamboo, the peepul and the mangoe, 

 attain a luxuriance not excelled in Bengal, while 

 firs and dwarf oaks, the cherry, the barberry, and 

 the dog-rose, flourish in their immediate vicinity. 

 Among cereal productions, rice and maize alternate 

 with wheat, linseed, and barley : and three -fifths of 

 the soil yield double crops in the course of the year. 

 The dwellings of the people are seldom grouped 

 together, but lie sprinkled in isolated spots over the 



