1862.] Notes of a trip from Simla to the Spiti Valley. 495 



reigned here, combined with the subdued light caused by the spread- 

 ing boughs of these majestic trees, (the only sound indicative of life 

 being the melancholy coo of a wood pigeon,) exerted a very solemn 

 influence on the mind, such as all must have experienced who have 

 trodden alone the depths of a pine forest either in India or Europe. 

 One of the largest of these trees measured 36 feet in girth, and at 

 about 10 feet from the ground divided into two trunks, each in itself 

 a tree of superb dimensions. No other tree near the road approached 

 this in size, but numbers of single trees must have measured fully 20 

 feet in girth, and in their growth were as straight as arrows. 



By the time I reached Nachar, the rain was falling in torrents, and 

 I was glad to take shelter in a sort of rest house, in preference to 

 my tent which was dripping wet. The building was open on all 

 sides, being merely a pent roof of massive shingles supported by pil- 

 lars formed of short cedar logs laid cross-ways on each other, and 

 underneath having a sort of kitchen in which the servants found 

 shelter and were enabled to prepare dinner. The houses in Bissahir 

 are usually regular and substantial buidings, built of alternate cours- 

 es of cedar timbers and rubble masonry, and often two or three 

 stories high, with projecting eaves and a balcony running round the 

 upper story, which gives them much the appearance of a Swiss chalet. 

 They have often pent roofs, formed of a double layer of stout cedar 

 planks or shingles, some three inches or more in thickness, rudely 

 dressed with an axe, and ranged at right angles to the ridge pole. 

 These, as may be imagined, form a very inadequate protection from 

 the rain, but have the advantage of giving ready exit to smoke, 

 through the gaping interstices between the planks. Another form 

 of roof equally prevalent is flat topped and formed of beaten clay. 

 On these roofs grain and fruit are spread out to dry, as opportunities 

 offer for so doing between the showers during the rainy season. 



21st, Chargaon. — Quitting Nachar the road descends to the Sutlej 

 at Wangtu (or, as it is pronounced, Oangtu) where there is a handsome 

 wooden bridge. The river here rushes through a narrow rocky chan- 

 nel not more than sixty feet broad. On either side two square tow- 

 ers are erected of alternate courses of cedar beams and large stones. 

 Prom beneath these, three tiers of pine trees project over the river, 

 having a considerable upward slant, and each tier consisting of four 

 large trees a little advanced beyond the one supporting it, the whole 



