490 Notes of a trip from Simla to the Spiti Valley. [No. 5, 



menced a nost in the verandah, but did not appear to prey on the 

 flies which swarmed in the rooms, though it may have been timidity 

 which prevented their entering. Along the road, one or two species of 

 flower-eating beetles were common, and exhibited considerable agility 

 and powers of perception, flying away readily on any attempt to capture 

 them. Towards dusk, numbers of a beetle having the heavy flight of 

 our English melolontha made their appearance, but it was too dark 

 to capture many, though flying round the bungalow in considerable 

 numbers. 



10th, Matidna, 7700 ft.* — A rather pretty march, the road winding 

 round the head of the deep valley beneath Theog. Pheasants are 

 plentiful, and in the glens I heard the bark of the kakar {styloceros), 

 but the vegetation was too thick to afford much chance of sport to a 

 single gun. Musk deer are found near Matiana, and in winter time 

 bears. 



1 1 th, Narkanda, 8796 ft.* — A longish march, but along a very pretty 

 road : indeed no part of the hills I think prettier than the country 

 round Narkanda. The bungalow is situated on the ridge separating 

 the drainage of the Sutlej and Jumna, and close to the verge of a 

 magnificent forest. From the verandah a fine view is obtained of the 

 lower slopes of the hills, leading down to the Sutlej and the village 

 of Kotgurh at which is a resident Missionary (recently deceased), 

 who has a tolerably attended school near the dak bungalow. The 

 mission house is a neat building with vines trained over the verandah 

 and the native catechist is also provided with a very neat cottage 

 close by. Narkanda being the last place at which potatoes are pro- 

 curable, the traveller should lay in a supply there, as no sort of vege- 

 table is procurable in the higher hills, except the green leaves of the 

 batu which form tolerable spinage, and the young shoots of fern 

 which are not unpalatable. About Narkanda many rous trees are 

 found, which make capital walking sticks, the wood being hard and 

 straight grained. Hazel trees are also plentiful, the nuts ripening 

 about the end of August. 



12th, Kotgurh. — After leaving Narkanda, the road winds through 

 fine forest, many of the pines and cedars being truly magnificent 

 trees. Kotgurh is situated on the old road at an elevation, I should 

 think, of less than 6000 ft., and about four miles from the Sutlej. The 

 first half of the march is along the new road to a spot where a small 



