I04 THE FORESTS Of^ UPPER INDIA 



sunshine. No words can describe the transformation 

 scene which the view northward presented. 



The contrast was surprising and starthng. Sloping 

 away gradually northward from the summits there were 

 gently rounded hills, smoothed and levelled off almost 

 like plains. To the south the best roads were but dan- 

 gerous tracks, where the most sure-footed might slip or 

 fall down into depths unseen. To the north there was an 

 endless stretch of smooth surface, where a coach and four 

 might be driven without fear of an upset. To the south 

 was a climate where the rainfall for half the year was 200 

 to 300 inches, and the snow line was about 16,000 feet 

 above the sea. To the north was an almost rainless 

 climate, with a snow line at an elevation of 19,000 to 

 20,000 feet. Towards India was dense forest, and vegeta- 

 tion covering every spot and clinging to every hillside 

 where a bush or a blade of grass could grow. To the north 

 there was not a tree in a thousand miles, or perhaps ten 

 thousand, not a bush to be seen, scarce a blade of grass — 

 nothing but stones, gravel, shingle, or clay. To the south 

 you could not see the soil for its dense parasitic clothing 

 of vegetation, green and blue, stretching to eternity under 

 a deep and sombre canopy. To the north not a scrap of 

 green in the whole landscape — nothing but brilliant crude 

 red and yellow and purple and white, dazzlingly marbled 

 out under a blazing sun. Lastly, to the south lay a region 

 of rivers and torrents, noisy streams and cascades, per- 

 petually roaring and cutting up the soil into an endless 

 network of deep ravines and watercourses, while to the 

 north there lay vast and arid plains where (except from 

 scantily melting snow) no water was to be found ; the 

 beds of streams could be seen but rarely and they were 

 often dry, and what rivers were found flowed gently and 

 with feeble current. 



