174 Notes on Moor croft's Travels in Ladakh, [No. 147. 



of the south, that grapes are produced in abundance. Here during the 

 summer and autumn, the air is cool and the scenery pleasing. The 

 winters too are comparatively mild, and had nature expanded the basis 

 of the Sutlej, so as to allow of plains and brooks, instead of steeps and 

 torrents, the district would have rivalled the most favoured valleys 

 of the Himalayas. 



In all countries the spring and summer are welcome, but in this 

 land of snow the reviving vegetation, the tender shoots of each well- 

 known tree, and the coming buds of each simple flower impart to man 

 some of the cheerfulness of the birds which flutter and twitter around 

 him. The scanty and laborious cultivation of each solitary hamlet 

 appears as a gem of price amid the wilderness of hills and rocks, the 

 slight and occasional tinge of green gives a beauty to the desert ; it is 

 the evidence of renewed life, and the heart of the peasant expands with 

 joy. He may well remember the season gone by, for in Upper 

 Kunawar and in Tibet, the winter is long and rigorous. Snow may be 

 expected by the middle of November, and it continues to fall until the 

 end of February, accompanied by a strong and piercing wind ; the 

 mercury descends below zero, "the air burns frore," and man almost 

 envies the torpidity of the less perfect animals. Hills of snow are 

 heaped high upon hills, range retires far beyond range, and naught re- 

 lieves the drear and hoary waste or interferes with the awful stillness of 

 the scene, save perhaps a dark and frowning precipice, or the voice of 

 the blue river below, struggling with its fetters of rocks and ice. In 

 contemplating these vast solitudes, illumined by the setting sun, the 

 mind of man is for a moment raised, and he feels and admires their 

 sublimity. He stands majestic, the sole living being on the circum. 

 ference of a world, but of a world half-formed or in ruin, or not fitted 

 for him. The broad expanse of desolation wearies and appals; the 

 fatal cold and the waning day recal other thoughts, and he turns silent 

 and subdued to seek relief and sympathy among his fellow-mortals, 

 and in the ordinary occupations of life. 



In Kunawar, thunder and lightning are rare; but they sometimes 

 occur at short intervals during the summer months. In these lofty 

 regions, however, the flash is dim, and the sound is unheeded by the 

 beasts of the field. Light showers occur in April, June, and Septem- 

 ber, and sometimes in other months ; but they are not sufficient for 



