JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY 



Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool and Boorun Passes over the Hima- 

 laya, in September, 1845. By Captain Madden, Bengal Artillery. 



The writer of the following notes has been induced to commit them 

 to paper, in the hope of their proving interesting, from the fact that 

 a portion of the route traversed is comparatively little known, and so far 

 as published information is concerned, is nearly new ground in botany ; 

 though of ornithological and entomological tours, several have appeared 

 from the pens of Captains Hay, Hutton, &c. The tract in question is 

 scarcely ever quoted for plants in ' Royle's Illustrations/ and the writer is 

 therefore induced to believe that the new habitats here given, may not be 

 without their use to some of the many travellers, who now annually 

 cross the Himalaya, from Simla to Kunawur. To those amongst them 

 who are novices in the mountains, he would recommend attention to the 

 following particulars, as tending considerably to remove the difficulties, 

 and enhance the pleasures of the trip. 



1st. Avoid forming a party of more than three, in consequence of the 

 difficulty, increasing in a geometrical ratio, of obtaining supplies and 

 porters for a greater number. 



2nd. Change the latter daily ; one may thus halt at pleasure without 

 expense, when desirable ; the rate of payment is only three annas per 

 diem instead of four, as near Simla, and the difficulty, often a serious 

 one near the snowy range, is obviated of procuring large supplies, and 

 of adjusting the fair rate to be paid for them ; a frequent source of angry 



No. 170. No. 86, New Series. m 



