A BOTANICAL TOUR IN KASHMIR. 7l 



to Gudhai on the road from Bandipur to Gilgit. The rest of the journey to 

 Gilgit was made along the new road via Astor and Bunji. 



From Gilgit I made a short expedition to the Naltar Valley via Nomal in 

 the Hunza Valley. 



Keturning from Gilgit on-.the 10th of August we took the same route as far as 

 Gurikot below Astor. Here leaving the main Gilgit road, we kept up the 

 Astor Valley crossing the stream from the Rupal nullah, and thence into the 

 Kamri Valley, and over the pass of that name, to Gurais in the Kishenganga 

 Valley. After a few days' halt we proceeded, via the Traghal, to Bandipur 

 on the Woolar Lake, and thence by boat to Srinagar. 



I shall now give a rather more detailed account of this journey. 



After traversing the Woolar Lake, the usual course for boats proceeding to 

 Srinagar is by the Noru Canal, which joins the main Jhelum River a little 

 below the village Shadipur, so called from the junction of the Sind River with 

 the Jhelum, A large portion of the Woolar Lake during the month of June 

 is a perfect garden of water-lilies and other aquatic flowering plants, including 

 the four-spined Singhara {Trapa Natans), which is very abundant here. The 

 water of the Sind is beautifully clear by comparison. This river winds for 

 miles through some fine pasture-land and water-meadows filled with tall hand- 

 some sedges, whilst the surface qf the water is covered with innumerable 

 flowers of white water-lilies. 



The river ceases to be navigable beyond Gandarbal. From Gandarbal the 

 Sind Valley extends some 58 miles up to the Zoji La, a pass leading into 

 Baltistan. The total rise is about 6,000 feet. 



The lower part of the valley is extensively cultivated, rice being the princi- 

 pal crop. Fruit-trees are also largely grown near the villages, which have an 

 appearance of prosperity. Higher up the valley cultivation becomes more 

 limited, and the villages contain a poorer class of people. 



The vegetation of the valley from a botanical point of view is rich and 

 varied. There is plenty of water brought down by numerous snow-fed 

 streams ; and the hill-sides, especially such as face the north, are thickly clothed 

 with fine forests. As the elevation increases the submontane character of the 

 vegetation gradually gives way to more temperate forms until, after passing 

 the gorge below Sonamarg, a distinctly alpine element is observed, as at 

 Gulmarg, the elevation of which place is about the same. 



The village of Sonamarg consists of a few miserable-looking huts uninhabited 

 during the winter months. It boasts, however, of a Post Office and Telegraph 

 Office. After crossing the river at Sonamarg the road passes over undulating 

 pasture-ground, and here and there through patches of forest composed chiefly 

 of Pinus excelsa, mixed with willow and Himalayan poplar. 



The two principal feeders of the Sind River join near Baltal ; the larger one 

 from the south rises in the neighbourhood of the famous Amarnath Cave, 

 whilst the other, a small narrow torrent, comes in from the direction of the pass. 



