• NATURALIST IN INDIA. 193 



could scarcely confine my observation to any particular spot 

 for three consecutive minutes. In these glens nature appears 

 in all its wildness : the noble pines scattered here and there, 

 or assembled in woods or forests, adorn the hiU-sides, whilst 

 the openings are clad in a rich grassy covering ; at the bottom 

 dashes a stream, fed and nourished by the melting snow above, 

 its banks are clad in luxuriant vegetation, and fertilised by 

 the debris of the flood ; when — 



Along this narrow valley you might see 



The wild deer sporting on the meadow ground, 



And here and there a solitary tree, 



Or mossy stone, or rock with woodbine crowned. 



Oft did the cliffs reverherate the sound 



Of parted fragments tnmhling from on high ; 



And from the summit of that craggy mound 



The perching eagle oft was heard to cry. 



Or on resounding wings to shoot athwart the sky. 



Bbattib's Minstrel. 



As we ascended the Duchinpara the climate and scenery kept 

 constantly changing ; it seemed to be retrograding from spring 

 to winter, as the mountains were half-clad with snow, and 

 the temperature and vegetation decreased as we advanced. 

 The fine broad valley was gradually narrowing into a glen 

 with steep and rugged sides. On the 2d of May we reached 

 Pilgam, where the mountain barometer gave an elevation of 

 8000 feet above Ihe level of the sea. The ascent had been 

 almost imperceptible, and yet we had risen several hundred feet 

 since leaving Sipoor, and except a slight tinge of green on 

 the hiU-sides, there was no sign of spring even at that ad- 

 vanced time of the year. We explored the slopes below 

 this village, where my companions killed a bara-singa and 

 black bear. I saw a few hill-foxes ( Vulpes montanvs) and a 







