KASHMIR AND ASSAM 271 
demands are granted, it will give in return sound 
fragrant wood of great strength, that will float 
buoyantly on the waterways that lead to its 
destination. 
We went up the Lolab Valley when the deodar 
pollen was ripe, and found Nature was taking no 
chances in the fructification of the tiny cones that 
lay nestled on the outer branchlets of the deodar ; 
the air was full of golden dust, and, as the wind 
blew in fitful gusts, great billows of pollen were 
wafted across the forest, so that the trees were 
hidden in mist, to emerge gaily decorated with 
colour, while the roads, the fences, the houses, were 
covered with the yellow film. Then from this 
sunny valley, where the black bears watch the 
ripening maize, we turned towards the Sinthan 
Pass, and climbed its foot through the “sable, silent, 
solemn forest ” of fir. Here were mighty trees that 
only stood on sufferance and because they had no 
present value, for the pulp-maker had not yet 
reached these parts; and here we camped for two 
days in blinding snow and sleet till the mountains 
above bore no trace of road and no footstep of man. 
When we reached the summit, on the one side lay 
the forest of birch, fir, pine, and deodar, extending 
in their appointed order till they joined with the 
deciduous trees in the valley below, where the 
muddy Jhelam River masqueraded as a silver thread ; 
on the other side stretched the bare hills and rocks 
of the Chendb Valley, dotted with the melancholy 
remnants of forests secure in their impenetrable 
precipices. 
We visited Kishtwar, and saw the ancient polo- 
