INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 235 



entered except by Moorcroft : it is wholly under Chinese in- 

 fluence. 



6. Ladak. — This province, as restricted by us, extends from 

 Nari to Balti, a distance of 230 miles, in which the Indus 

 descends from 14,000 feet at Demchok, to 10,500 below Le, 

 and at 8500 enters Balti. 



From Hanle, the most elevated portion of this province, to 

 its lower end, the increase of vegetation is very gradual along 

 the valley of the Indus. The town of Hanle {14,300 feet 

 above the level of the sea) is situated in a very open, undu- 

 lating, barren, saline plain, six to eight miles in diameter, 

 covered with bog-soil, and bearing plants characteristic of 

 such localities. Bushes of Myricaria become common at 

 14,000 feet, and these attain the character of small trees at 

 13,000 ; below this. Poplars, Hippophae, Rosa, etc. commence, 

 and form a low brushwood. Le, the capital of the province 

 (and of "West Tibet), is 11,800 feet above the sea. 



7. Balti is a Mohamedan province, and extends from 

 Ladak to the great bend of the Indus ; it also includes the 

 lower course of the Shayuk river, up to 10,000 feet. It is 

 conterminous on the south with Dras and Hasora, and bound- 

 ed on the north by the Kouenlun, or Mustagh. The axis of 

 the latter is probably not less elevated than it is further east ; 

 but little is known of its slopes north of Balti, except that, 

 owing to the damp winds finding free access by the Indus val- 

 ley, they are more snowy than anywhere to the eastward. 



The bed of the Indus at Tolti is elevated about 7500 feet ; 

 at Iskardo, the capital of the province, 7000; at Rondu, 

 6200 ; and at the great bend about 5000. 



Throughout Balti the course of the Indus is in many places 

 quite impracticable, from the narrowness of its defile and its 

 rugged bounding mountains. Except in the presence of the 

 subtropical genera mentioned at page 218, the vegetation of 

 Balti presents little of interest. Vines abound, climbing over 

 the poplars, and there is much cultivation in available situa- 

 tions. 



2ff 



