DESCRIPTION OF COUNTRY. II 



surrounded by a circle of mountains and watered by the river Jhelum, which, having taken 

 its rise in the north-eastern corner of the valley, flows through the city of S'rinugger, and, 

 after having had its waters augmented by many tributaries, leaves the valley at the south- 

 western corner. The mountains do not rise abruptly from the edges of the plain, but irregular 

 spurs from the chief snowy range run down to the valley, and these, having again their 

 offshoots, form an extensive ramification of ridge and valley, the drainage from which goes 

 to swell the waters of the Jhelum. The height at which game may be found here depends 

 entirely upon the season. In the winter everything is driven down by the snow, and as this 

 melts the animals usually ascend. The lower valleys are covered with dense jungle of various 

 trees and shrubs, where the ground has not been cleared for cultivation, and amongst this 

 forest the Black Bear abounds, living in the neighbourhood of the villages, so that it may 

 plunder the crops and fruit trees. A little higher up one frequently meets with green and 

 beautifully wooded slopes, where the forest is diversified by open glades, reminding one of an 

 English park ; the likeness may be rendered still more striking by the appearance of a herd 

 of deer on one of the open spots. A Snow Bear may occasionally be found as low down, but 

 it is not till the verge of the snow is reached that there is much certainty of finding one. As 

 one ascends through the pine forest, a Musk Deer or two may be met with, if there is also 

 some undergrowth. Above the pines the forest becomes much thinner, and with more 

 frequent open spaces ; one side of a ravine may be clothed with a thicket of birch trees, while 

 the other is nearly bare ; patches of snow lie in the more sheltered hollows (1 am supposing 

 that it is the end of May or beginning of June), and where the snow has recently melted, 

 bright colored flowers are in profusion. Tender sprouts of grass are coming up through 

 the decayed stalks of last year's growth which strew the surface of the ground, and frequent 

 uprootings of the soil show that Snow Bears have been at work. Here, too, in the soft soil, 

 the marks of a deeply cleft hoof may be found ; it is the track of an Ibex, which has been 

 feeding here in the morning, but has now doubtless betaken itself with the rest of the herd 

 to the crags which surmount the hill. These slopes are not always mere gentle inclines ; they 

 may be nearly perpendicular and diversified with rocky and precipitous ground, rendering a 

 slip extremely dangerous. Some of the ravines on a steep slope will be filled with hard 

 snow, and in order to cross them, it may be necessary to cut every footstep. 



The walking is not, however, as a rule, nearly so dangerous as that on the southern 

 slopes of the Pir Punjal, where the Markhoor is hunted ; there the ground is frequently most 

 difficult, being far steeper and more slippery than most of the Ibex ground. 



The hills become gradually lower and tamer looking as one approaches the plains, until 

 the lowest ranges are hardly deserving of the name of mountains, being merely a succession 

 of ridges covered with dense thorny jungle. Among these the Pig and the Barking Deer, 

 with an occasional Tiger or Panther, are the only large game. 



The Kashmiris are a lazy, lying race ; the men are generally large and powerful, but 

 they are sadly deficient in pluck, and are often most troublesome as coolies. There are some 

 very good Shikaris among them, but for one good one there are at least forty useless wretches 

 who know nothing about the country, and care nothing about sport, but endeavour to obtain 



