1846.] Mnd Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 105 



the torrent, which 'here forms a pretty cascade, as does that under 

 Melum, about a mile short of the village. The vegetation here consists 

 of rank grass, reeds, &c. Hence there is a considerable ascent to a 

 point affording an interesting view of the Sutluj, and its picturesque 

 rocky gorge where spanned by the Wangtoo bridge. Our path then led 

 us down to the left bank of that river, now rolling along an impetuous 

 torrent of milky water. A long ascent succeeds, with the river from 

 300 to 1,500 feet right below; and above us to the right hand long 

 craggy facades, bristling with cedar which abounds hereabout. The 

 road to Cheenee lies down on the opposite bank of the river. From the 

 brow of the last ascent our path turned to the right up the glen of Me- 

 lum, and met the Shatool Pass torrent in about two miles, where it has 

 deposited an immense accumulation of drift timber, the spoils of the 

 forests above. The trees on its banks here are chiefly Alnus obtusifolia, 

 Rhus buckiamela, and Spiraea lindleyana. A gentle ascent of about a 

 mile and a half brought us to Melum, also called Ramne, a small but 

 well built village, about 7,000 feet above the sea, standing on a plateau, 

 closely backed by steep woody mountains. By avoiding the last steep 

 ascent to-day, and keeping direct on to the mouth of the Melum river, 

 we might perhaps have reached Keelba ; but the gentlemen and ladies 

 who carried our baggage assured us, we should repent if we tried the 

 very bad ascent from that stream. 



September 16th. — To Keelba, about nine miles, which from the 

 excessive ruggedness and difficulty of the worst path in the world, and 

 its manifold steep dips and rises, we only accomplished in five and a half 

 hours. First we descended to, and crossed a torrent below Melum, 

 and then mounted by Yana or Janee village, till we came abreast of 

 Chegaon or Toling, and on a level with it, 7,225 feet above the sea. It 

 consists of a group of villages, with several large temples and extensive 

 cultivation. On the crags at this point, I noticed the Incarvillea diffusa 

 of Royle, an elegant plant which is also found on the Wangtoo rocks. 

 Hence the path falls to the Sutluj, and leaving Poonung above to the 

 right, continues along its brink for a few miles over boulders, gravel, 

 and sand, overrun by a shrubby, silvery, and very aromatic Artemisia ; 

 the river is fringed by the " Wee," a species of olive, probably Olea 

 ferruginea. The toom or ash, Fraxinus xanthoxylloides, is common, 

 but of no great size. It is frequently met with in the higher parts ot 



