NATURALIST IN INDIA. 2l7 



jewar is not found in these situations. One night we were 

 disturhed by the barking of a fox, and at daybreak on the fol- 

 lowing morning I shot a female and cub of the silver fox 

 ( Vulpes flavescens), both within a few yards of my resting- 

 place, where they had been devouring the refuse of my pre- 

 vious night's dinner. This species differs in a well-marked 

 degree from the red species of the hUls, which was likewise 

 seen on the Peer PinjaL The silver fox, as we shall see, is 

 also a native of Ladakh and Tibet, where it is said to be 

 cpmmon. 



To return to the original narrative. On the 21st of 

 May we left Shupeyon during a very heavy fall of rain. 

 I fear, with aU the veneration one entertains for the 

 unparalleled grandeur and beauty of Cashmere, there is 

 no escaping the fact that for rain few countries surpass 

 it. About the beginning of May the monsoon clouds 

 collect on the tops of the Pinjal, and continue depositing 

 their contents for the three succeeding months. I could not 

 ascertain an approximation to the annual amount, which, 

 however, must be great It often rains for weeks continu- 

 ously ; the valley becoming overwhelmed in cloudy vapour, 

 and producing a moist and relaxing climate which is anything 

 but comfortable. At that season agues and bowel-complaints 

 are common ; and yet a few days' march northwards, and 

 you enter on the rainless country of Ladakh. So abrupt is 

 the division between the two regions, that while the southern 

 slopes of a mountain may be covered with luxuriant vege- 

 tation and clouds, the northern portion is bare, barren, and 

 sunburnt. The S.W. monsoon becomes expended by the time 

 it has emptied its contents on the northern Pinjal,* which 



* " There they drop more of their moisture in the shape of snow and 

 rain, and then pass over into the thirsty lands beyond, with scarcely enough 



