1839.] Journal of a trip through Kunawur, 911 



is situated in a beautifully wooded recess or amphitheatre formed by 

 the hills advancing round it in a semicircle behind ; while in front they 

 slope down in the direction of the Sutledge, from which again on the 

 opposite bank rise the dark and usually barren hills of Kooloo. 



The heights all round were in the month of May still deeply 

 covered with snow, which however does not remain, but melts away 

 as the rainy season sets in. 



The village of Sarahun, for it cannot be called a town, has a 

 shabby and ruinous appearance, and except at the season when the 

 Rajah honors it with his presence, is nearly deserted. It boasts of 

 no manufactures. At the time of my arrival the Rajah had gone to 

 Simla to wait upon the Governor General, and having on this occa- 

 sion drawn around him his retainers, the place was left with scarcely 

 an inhabitant, except a few old women and children. 



Journeying onwards from Sarahun, the road was at first tolerably 

 level and easy, but after a mile or two it changed to a steep ascent 

 over stones of all sizes, and sometimes overhanging the khud at places 

 where the weight of snows had caused the whole to slip down, and 

 where a plank or the trunk of a tree had been thrown across the gap 

 to supply the deficiency. 



The whole way was however very pretty and well wooded, and we 

 crossed two or three streams which came rushing down from the 

 snows on the heights, to join the Sutledge below us. One of these 

 streams at eleven a. m. had a temperature of 45°, while the air at the 

 same time was at 89°. From the ridge of the hill we descended for 

 some way through a beautiful forest, in which at last, after a walk of 

 eight good miles, we encamped at noon, surrounded by oaks, rhododen- 

 dra, walnuts, horse chesnuts, apricots and mulberries ; many of the 

 horse chesnuts were magnificent trees, and covered with their conical 

 bunches of flowers, which with the scarlet blossoms of the rhododen- 

 dron arboreum, gave a pleasing effect to the surrounding scenery. In 

 one part of the forest we found vast beds of a large flag iris in full 

 bloom, and quite distinct from the small species which I saw on 

 my way to the Burrenda pass in 1836. It is not perhaps generally 

 known that the fruit of the horse chesnut produces a beautiful and per- 

 manent dye, and as it may be procured in some abundance in the hills, 

 the following recipe, taken from the Saturday Magazine, may not be 

 unacceptable to those who residing in the hills, may wish to avail 

 themselves of the produce of the country. 



" The whole fruit of the horse chesnut cut in pieces when about the 

 size of a small gooseberry, and steeped in cold soft water, with as much 



