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Notes on Moorcrofi s Travels in Ladakk, and on Gerard's Account of 

 Kunawar, including a general description of the latter district. By 

 Lieutenant J. D. Cunningham, of the Engineers, 1843. Com- 

 municated by the Government of India. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KUNAWAR. 



Situation, $c. — The Sutlej rises in central Tibet among the ravines 

 of the holy hill of Grangi, and after a north-westerly course of 150 

 miles, it is enabled to turn at right angles, and to thread its way among 

 the steeps of the Himalayas to the plains of India. The Himalayas are 

 about fifty leagues in breadth, and the upper but smaller half of the 

 basin of the river within them, may be considered as the district of 

 Kunawar. When about to quit Tibet, the Sutlej receives a considerable 

 accession of water from the north-west, but on its way through the 

 mountains, it has no tributary of a greater length than thirty-five miles, 

 and Kunawar may be said to be about seventy miles long by forty 

 and twenty broad at its northern and southern extremities respec- 

 tively. 



The hydrographical basin of the Sutlej no where opens into a 

 broad plain, and Kunawar consists of a series of rocky and precipitous 

 ravines descending rapidly to the bed of the principal river. The 

 greater part of the district lies to the north of the main ridge of the 

 mountains, and the moderate rains which aid in covering their 

 southern and central off-shoots with forests, are unfelt towards the 

 Tibet border. Vegetation thus loses its great encourager, and the 

 natural disintegration of the granite, gneiss, slate and other ancient 

 rocks scarcely anywhere affords a sufficient substratum of soil. Trees 

 which are numerous in Lower Kunawar, disappear towards the north ; 

 and where the district bounds with Ladakh and Garo, scarcely one is 

 to be seen that has not been planted by the hand of man. 



Scenery, fyc. — The scenery is indeed grand, but its vastness and 

 barrenness in Upper Kunawar are fatiguing. Steep rises above steep, 

 and the lofty summits of the hill, the fancied abode of spirits, are lost 

 in clouds ; while far below the broad and foaming river is only distin- 

 guishable as a silver-like line. Torrents da9h swiftly from rock to 

 rock, turning and writhing in yawning gulphs amid the ruins of 



