NATURALIST IN INDIA. 171 



quently embarked in covered boats, and were pulled up the 

 river by natives. The banks of the Jhelum are not above a 

 few feet in height anywhere in its course through the valley 

 of Cashmere, and in many places almost level with the sur- 

 rounding country, which during the inundation is overflowed 

 in many places. The grass was just appearing in the glades, 

 where herds of lean, half-starved sheep, horses, and cattle 

 were pasturing. The fine bald-headed eagle was often seen 

 on the banks, and formed a prominent ornament in the land- 

 scape. We strolled gun in hand along the bank, and by the 

 sides of fens and marshes where the last of the winter visitors 

 yet tarried, such as flocks of mallard, teal, red-headed pochards, 

 and curlews. A large fox, named by the natives " shawul," 

 to distinguish it from the red-mountain fox ( V. montanus), was 

 common among the ravines, and on the kirawas or alluvial flats. 

 The jackal seemed also a larger variety than that of the plains 

 of the Punjaub. A male we shot measured 3 feet 6 inches from 

 snout to tail. The native tradition that the vaUey is the bed 

 of an ancient lake receives corroboration from its geological 

 features. Lines, like the parallel roads of Glen Eoy, but not 

 so well defined, are seen in various situations on the sides 

 of the ranges around the basin. The Mussulman tradition 

 has it that Solomon drained the valley by directing a Jin, 

 called Kashuf, to remove the barrier at Baramala. Time 

 would not allow of careful observations on the intricate study 

 which refers to this portion of the history of the valley. It 

 appears to us, however, that if it has ever been a mountain- 

 lake, the barrier had been originally occasioned by glaciers 

 damming up the current at the western end of the basin. 



The capital, Serinuggur, is, according to Jacquemont, 5246 

 feet above the level of the sea. It is built on the river, over 

 which are thrown several wooden bridges. Direct supplies 



