1846.] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya. 119 



the grandeur of the rocks, that one is tempted to reverse the Persian 

 proverb and ask what was the purpose of creating heaven while this 

 valley existed ? The Roopin, occasionally bridged and banked by snow- 

 beds, and clear as crystal, dashes on from rock to rock, augmented every 

 half mile by rivulets from the lateral cliffs and glens. These are gene- 

 rally constituted of mica-slate, but at the lowest snow-bed, the rock 

 alters to quartzose strata, with a corresponding change in the scenery. 

 Crossing to the right bank, the path ascends a steep of 800 to 1 ,000 feet, 

 and the silver fir gives place to a dense and lofty forest of koil and 

 pindrow pines, yew, hazel, Rosa webbiana, &c. The glen narrows to a 

 gorge, the left bank presenting a wall of magnificent cliffs, perhaps 

 2,000 feet high, facing WSW., the brow splendidly wooded with pine. 

 These cliffs soften down opposite Jaka into steep declivities, covered 

 with forest and spacious grassy glades. The river raves below, and 

 is no more approached in this stage. On leaving the forest, we 

 reached Jaka by about a mile of more open country, interspersed 

 with thickets of Rosa sericea, Berberis brachybotrys, &c. The pasture 

 is covered with Iris kemaonensis, Inula royleana, the scarlet and orange 

 varieties of Potentilla atrosanguinea, &c. Jaka is but a small village, 

 overhanging some huge crags, and surrounded by great horse -chesnuts, 

 walnuts, peaches, &c. under which we pitched, but found their shade 

 much too chilly. Water boiled at 198, which gives under 8,000 

 feet : but the place is probably higher. We found the people very 

 civil ; a frank, rough, good-humoured set, the Mookheea especially, 

 being a pattern of these excellent adjectives, and like Democritus, meet- 

 ing every difficulty with a laugh or a loud whistle, the Lillibullero of 

 the Himalaya. The people are of small stature and dark complexion, 

 negroes almost compared with the fair faces of the vallies below Simla, 

 which proves, if proof be wanted, that the colour is not entirely depen- 

 dent on climate. 



September 23rd. — To Kooar, nine miles, in four and a quarter hours, 

 an easy stage in this direction. For about a mile and a half the path 

 is execrably bad, rocky, and steep, descending about 1,500 feet to the 

 river, and reaching its bed by a short but rather difficult ledge of rock, 

 known as the Tunkoor Ghat, which reminded us in a small way of the 

 Panwee ka Dhunka. The Roopin seems here to have several names, 

 Sheelwanee, Gosung, Tous, &c. We soon quitted its bed, and re-ascend- 



