260 WANDERINGS OF A 



perhaps Primula elliptica. The short-stemmed rhubarb, with 

 rough leaves (Eheum moorcrofti'i) was common ; also the B. 

 emodi and another species. The mountains were mostly com- 

 posed of schistose rocks and a gray limestone. The boulders 

 of the latter, which had fallen down on the banks of the Dras, 

 had a polished or glazed appearance like trap, but doubtless 

 this was owing to the action of the weather. It was evident we 

 had now fairly passed the limits of the monsoon, for not a cloud 

 was visible, and the sky was of that deep impenetrable blue 

 characteristic of this region and high elevations. The village 

 of Pandras is situate on a rocky eminence near the river, and 

 is composed'of small flat-roofed hovels scarcely distinguishable 

 from the heaps of stones on the mountain-sides. The Cau- 

 casian type of countenance had now disappeared, and given 

 place to a coarse Tartar visage. The women were in general 

 very ugly, their dress consisting of a round pork-pie cap of 

 black material, fitting close to the head, a thick woollen gown 

 reaching midway beyond their knees, with their legs wrapped 

 in bandages of cloth, and boots, reaching above the ankles, of 

 the same material, with under-surfaces covered with leather. 

 The females muffle up in piles of clothing, and both sexes fre- 

 quently clad themselves in sheep and goat skins with the 

 woolly side inwards. The little fort of Dras is situate on the 

 river, and is the only respectable-looking building in the 

 valley ; the native dwellings being, as already stated, small 

 square-roofed hovels, with only a door, and not above 8 feet 

 in height. They are built of stone, and crowded together on 

 ridges and wherever there is security from avalanches, which 

 occasionally overwhelm the valleys during winter and at the 

 melting of the snow in spring. The raven of Ladakh is 

 a larger bird than that of the Northern Punjaub, owing most 

 likely to the climate being better adapted to its habits and 



