KASHMIR. 231 



Dr Henderson passed over it ; and now that I think 

 of it, I remember that there was something like the 

 brushwood platforms of which he speaks. The great 

 interest of it is that it leads suddenly down upon the 

 beautiful wooded scenery of Kashmir. After months 

 of the sterile, almost treeless Tibetan provinces, the 

 contrast was very striking, and I could not but revel 

 in the beauty and glory of the vegetation ; but even 

 to one who had come up upon it from below the 

 scene would have been very striking. There was a 

 large and lively encampment at the foot of the pass, 

 with tents prepared for the Yarkand envoy, and 

 a number of Kashmir officers and soldiers ; but I 

 pushed on beyond that, and camped in solitude close 

 to the Sind river, just beneath the Panjtarne valley, 

 which leads up towards the caves of Ambernath, a 

 celebrated place for Hindi pilgrimage. This place 

 is called Baltal, but it has no human habitations. 

 Smooth green meadows, carpet-like and embroidered 

 with flowers, extended to the silvery stream, above 

 which there was the most varied luxuriance of foliage, 

 the lower mountains being most richly clothed with 

 woods of many and beautiful colours. It was late 

 autumn, and the trees were in their greatest variety 

 of colour ; but hardly a leaf seemed to have fallen. 

 The dark green of the pines contrasted beautifully 

 with the delicate orange of the birches, because there 

 were intermingling tints of brown and saffron. Great 

 masses of foliage were succeeded by solitary pines, 

 VOL. vi. " Q 



