5J4 Journal of a trip through Kunawur, fyc. [No. 102. 



pied in the care of their crops ; while those who are poor, and have 

 none, roam about begging a livelihood. 



In the winter, when the severity of the season generally prevents 

 their wandering about, they assemble at Soongnum, and reside toge- 

 ther in a collection of huts near the town, until the return of spring 

 again disperses them. This at least was the account given of them 

 by the natives. 



The Lamas, on the other hand, reside during winter, some in the 

 temples and others in their own private dwellings. 



In some of the temples are large wooden cylinders* or barrels placed 

 on an axis and turned by a stream of water ; they are also seen at 

 Soongnum by the road side, with a shed built over them. The tem- 

 ples are often ornamented with colossal figures of their gods, which are 

 sometimes represented in grossly indecent attitudes. 



The fruits at Soongnum are apricots, apples, neozas, and grapes. 

 The apples are of good size, and are said to be finer here than in any 

 other town of Kunawur, and ripen about the month of October. The 

 finest grapes are produced at the village of Ukpah on the Sutledge. 

 At Soongnum the grapes are neither very abundant nor very good, 

 and do not occur across the Hungrung pass at all. Apricots are seen 

 as far as Leeo, where they also cease to grow ; and in Spiti, as already 

 mentioned there are no fruits at all. Besides these garden fruits, there 

 are gooseberries and currants innumerable on the mountains' sides, 

 but they are not cultivated by the natives, nor held in estimation. 



From Soongnum I made an excursion up the Rushkoolung valley, 

 towards the village of Roopa, near which I heard that veins of copper 

 ore were found in the rocks. 



This glen is certainly much more worthy the name of a valley 

 than any I have yet seen in the Himalayas, with the exception of the 

 beautiful and fertile valley along the banks of the Pubbur river, 

 leading down from the Burrenda pass through Chooara. 



For three miles from Soongnum, the pathway lay through rich fields 

 of barley, beans, and young wheat, studded with numerous apricot 

 trees, so numerous indeed, that the whole appeared like luxuriant 

 vegetations springing up beneath the shelter of a large orchard or forest 



* These are used as the Manees above noted ; written prayers are enclosed in them, 

 and the rotatory motion is supposed to make them acceptable. 



