1839] Journal of a trip through Kunawur. 949 



by the noisy arrival of some of the people with my tent and baggage, 

 and proceeding in search of water, we now first ascertained to our 

 dismay that the stream was dry ; fuel, too, another most essential 

 necessary, was likewise wanting ; so bestowing a few hearty growls on 

 the Tartar for his stupidity, we once more proceeded in search of a 

 snow stream and some bushes. 



Luckily we soon came to a spot which furnished the latter, but as 

 there was no stream near we were obliged to content ourselves with 

 the water of the muddy river. 



Here then we encamped once more on the hill side, without having 

 seen the vestige of a habitation throughout this second day of our 

 wanderings in Spiti. Around us, however, were plenty of rocks to 

 afford shelter to my people in case of a storm or bad weather, and as 

 the day was fine and warm, we managed to make ourselves tolerably 

 comfortable in spite of muddy water, and a scarcity of fuel, which 

 latter consisted solely of the dried stalks and roots of a small shrub 

 growing among the rocks near us. 



During the day's march we had passed over many level tracts of 

 alluvial soils which seemed so well adapted for cultivation and 

 villages, that I remarked to the guide my surprise that so much level 

 land should remain neglected, while so much trouble was expended 

 in Kunawur on strips on the hill side. He replied that many a long- 

 ing eye had often been directed to these plains, but the difficulty or 

 rather impossibility of conveying water to them, had deterred all from 

 settling there. 



These broad alluvial deposits are now all high above the river's 

 course, and from the precipitous nature of the rocky banks within 

 which it is confined, no aid could be derived from it. 



Rain is here almost unknown, falling only like angel's visits, and 

 even then so sparingly as to be of no use except to allay the clouds 

 of dust for a few hours. 



The only season, then, in which much moisture is obtained, is pre- 

 cisely that in which no vegetation can be produced, namely in the 

 winter months, when falls of snow are both heavy and frequent, and 

 continue often, more or less, from August till the end of April. 



Of these broad flats the people would gladly avail themselves could 

 water be procured to irrigate them, and smiling fields and prosperous 

 villages would soon appear where all is now barren and desolate. On 

 similar deposits are the villages of Leeo, Chango, Soomra, and Larree, 

 built where streams flow down from the surrounding heights to 

 fertilize the soil. They are, however, almost all subject to a great 



6p 



