TO CASHMEER AND LITTLE TIBET. 



567 



tayen Pass, whicli separates Cashmeer from Ladakh, for the 

 purpose of examining the rock formations to the north of the 

 valley.' I then returned to the city, where I housed myself 

 and party for the winter, during which I was occupied on the 

 collections which I had made, and in gathering general in- 

 formation regarding Cashmeer and the neighbouring coun- 

 tries. Early in December I was seized with the preliminary 

 symptoms of illness, which fi'om the 1 7th assumed an alarm- 

 ing form, and from that date till the middle of January I 

 was reduced to a state of extreme prostration, from which I 

 was long in recovering. Early in March I started on a 

 systematic tour around the valley, occupied on the spring 

 flora, which yielded a rich harvest. On June 3rd a con- 

 fidential servant arrived with a letter from Eajah Ahmud 

 Shah, conveying expressions of friendship and invitmg me to 

 pay a visit to Little Tibet. I had previously, during the 

 winter, received a similar communication, and in anticipa- 

 tion of the ability to visit Iskardoh, had applied for the 

 Maharajah's permission to proceed, which his Highness 

 readily granted. As the botany of this region, which forms 

 a connecting link between the Himalayahs and Eastern 

 Turkistan had never been explored, and the present occasion 

 appeared favourable for the accomplishment of so desirable 

 an object, I determined on taking advantage of the Eajah's 

 invitation. I left plant collectors in Cashmeer, so that none 

 of the summer flora might be lost during my absence. There 

 are two great routes by which Little Tibet may be entered 

 from Cashmeer — the Drass road, which leads cireuitously 

 throiigh the western end of Ladakh, and the Kooeehamoo 

 road, turning north from the great lake across the Kishen 

 Grunga river. I followed the latter. We crossed the Kooee- 

 hamoo Puntsal, and descended upon Goress, on the Kishen 

 Gimga, in two severe marches. The transition takes 

 place here between the productions of Cashmeer and Tibet. 

 The famous ' Prangos ' of Moorcroft, so long and fruitlessly 

 sought after, was seen growing in great abundance. I had 



' ' I have met with a most remarkable 

 Tolcanic tract in Cashmeer, and, so far 

 as my reading goes, without example 

 elsewhere ; a tract of alluvium with the 

 strata elevated at a slight angle, and 

 torrefied up to the surface to the 

 condition of a well-hurnt brick ; but 

 there is no outpouring of lava, and the 

 tract is very circumscribed. Tliirty- 

 three years ago the ground was so hot 

 that the Hindoos of Cashmeer, simply 

 by digging a few inches, were enabled 

 to boil rice by the heat of the under 



strata. There must have been a layer 

 of incandescent fluid igneous matter un- 

 derneath ; but strange, is it not, that it 

 nowhere reached the surface ? ' — Letter 

 from Br. F. to Captain Cautley, dated 

 'Cashmeer, October 12, 1837. 



' Further in Cashmeer I have got from 

 a mountain limestone countless remains 

 of Encrinites, some Corals, and some 

 obscure shells like Tirebratide.' — Letter 

 from Dr. F. to Captain CaidUy, dated 

 Cashmeer, January 11, 1838. — [Ed.] 



