940 Journal of a trip through Kunawur. [Nov. 



ject to, and constituted with the Spiti district an integral part of 

 Chinese Tartary. 



The change in the nature of the country is most sudden ; looking 

 from the summit of the range in a northerly direction over Hungrung, 

 the country is seen to wear a sad and sombre air of cheerless deso- 

 lation ; not a tree is to be seen, and the black and crumbling hills are 

 either wholly barren, or clothed with nothing of larger growth than 

 the dwarf willow and the dog-rose. The hills are chiefly of the 

 secondary class, and being more rounded in their outline, want the 

 grand and almost terrific beauty of the towering granitic peaks which 

 so strongly characterises the scenery of Kunawur, Villages are situ- 

 ated at wide intervals from each other, and cultivation is wholly con- 

 fined to the immediate vicinity of them, and usually upon a confined 

 patch of alluvial soils, evidently the deposits of some former lakes. 

 The practice of cultivating in steps upon the mountain's sides, appears 

 indeed to be almost universally neglected, which however is most 

 probably owing to the nature of the hills themselves. 



On the southern side of this range lies the thickly wooded district 

 of Kunawur, where cultivation is often carried in steps nearly to the 

 summit of the mountains, and presenting a rich and cheerful picture 

 which delights the eye, and imparts a feeling of joyousness and 

 security to the traveller, as he wanders on through forests of majestic 

 pines. 



From this difference in the appearance of the two districts and their 

 inhabitants, it would seem as if nature had elevated or interposed 

 the Hungrung range as a barrier between two countries, destined, for 

 some purpose, to remain distinct ; and furnishes to the inquisitive a 

 source of speculative thoughts, from which it is difficult to draw any 

 satisfactory conclusions, for the mind is almost involuntarily lead to 

 ask while contemplating this marked contrast, why, on the one side 

 the forests should be allowed to advance actually to the mountain's 

 base, while on the other not a single tree should be allowed to grow. 



From Hungo, on the morning of the 9th of June, I proceeded to 

 Leeo, which is a small village situated on the right bank of the Sing 

 Pho or Lee river, in a basin or valley entirely surrounded by high 

 granitic rocks. The spot has evidently formed part of the bed of a 

 deep lake, the different elevations of the water being still apparent in 

 the lines of rolled stones, which are seen on the hill-side, far above the 

 level of the river. 



The bottom of the lake, now furnishes a broad and level tract of 

 land which is well cultivated, and from its warm and sheltered situa- 



