1837.] Journal of a Trip to the Burenda Pass in 1836. 923 



Proofs of this occurred to us more than once when we had occasion 

 to demand supplies for two or three days, for, hy offering an 

 advanced price very little difficulty occurred in furnishing the ne- 

 cessary quantum. 



In the valley of the Pabbar the standard grain is rice, which is 

 cither sold or bartered in Kandwar and Nawur for salt and iron. The 

 khets are well irrigated by the numerous rills and mountain streams 

 which flow down to join the Pabbar, thus causing little, or none of 

 that hard labour, which falls upon this class of cultivators in the 

 plains of India. In lands which are warmly situated and where two 

 crops are produced, the principal grains are barley and several species 

 of millet ; the former is sown in March and April, and gathered in 

 July, when the land is again made ready for the reception of the other 

 grains, which are reaped in the autumn. In higher and less favour- 

 ed situations and where only one crop can be perfected, the celestial 

 and common barley, wheat and millet are sown in spring and reaped in 

 September and October. Many other grains are also extensively 

 cultivated, such as bhattu (a species of amaranth), cheena and kodak, 

 (panicum miliaceum and paspalum scrobiculatum.J Besides these, vari- 

 ous garden vegetables are cultivated in small quantities for home con- 

 sumption. 



The fruits are walnuts, apricots, wild quinces, peaches, and plums, 

 none of which however are of any value owing to neglect and want of 

 pruning and seldom ripen in the higher tracts. In a country where 

 such endless varieties and gradations of climate and soils are at com- 

 mand, these and many other fruits might with little trouble be suc- 

 cessfully cultivated and yield both a useful and profitable addition to 

 their diet and exports. 



The valley of the Pabbar, downwards from Janglig is so level and 

 presents so few difficulties, that, were encouragement given to the 

 project, a line of road might possibly be traced out, through the valleys 

 of the lower hills and made to debouche upon the plains. This if once 

 effected would enable hackeries and other wheeled-carriages to pene- 

 trate to within two marches of the Burenda Pass, or as far as the 

 village of PiM, and offer a readier and cheaper means of conveying 

 the products of the interior to the plains, than the present slow and 

 expensive mode of carrying every thing on men's backs. So also 

 the produce and luxuries of the plains would contribute in no small 

 degree to the refinement and pecuniary advantage of the rude moun- 

 taineers, and by giving them a more extended field for speculation, 

 encourage them to throw aside their idle habits and turn the mineral 



