1849.] Kohistan of the Jullundhur . 393 



vapour baths and icy accompaniments, so I retraced my steps and en- 

 camped on the opposite side of the river near the wooden bridge, which 

 spot I recommend all future travellers to select, without they wish to un- 

 dergo the same severe treatment. The springs are very copious, and issue 

 from the ground in half a dozen different places. They all deposit large 

 quantities of calcareous matter, which is first of a brick red color and 

 afterwards when dried, of a yellowish brown. It resembles in fact cal- 

 careous sinter. The temperature of the water is sufficiently great to 

 enable the pilgrims who annually resort there to cook their rice in it, 

 doing which is considered a holy act, though not so much so as bathing 

 in it, for which purpose some of the water is collected in a tank and 

 covered over with a shed. The village of Mani-karu is without excep- 

 tion the most miserable of all I have ever seen. It consists of about 

 twenty houses in a most wretched condition, and their inhabitants are 

 squalid and poverty-stricken. They appear to do nothing but sit on 

 their haunches on slabs of slate which being placed over a stream of hot 

 water, keeps them warm. Thus huddled together they seem to spend 

 their days in drowsy listlessness.* Unable to proceed any further to 

 the eastward I retraced my steps to Mundi-nuggur, and got over the 

 Tiri pass just in time to escape being blocked in by a heavy fall of snow, 

 which occurred shortly after. 



44. The sloping flanks of the mountains are cultivated with an 

 industry almost incredible wherever there is a sufficiency of soil. The 

 fields on these slopes are generally long narrow strips of ground, which 

 rise one above another in terraces to great elevations, and even up steep 

 acclivities. Each terrace is raised above the one immediately below 

 it from one to twelve feet, according to the abruptness of the slope. 

 They are levelled with great care, and are watered by rills conducted 

 from a distance, which is sometimes considerable. These generally flow 

 into the highest and thence the water runs successively into each of the 

 others. In many places the fields are carried to an extraordinary height, 

 and there the effects of increasing elevation upon the temperature and 

 upon the crops are strikingly observable in the diversity of tints the pro- 

 duce assumes. The highest is in fresh blade, and brilliantly green, 

 while the lowest is sere and ripe. These effects of aspect and elevation 

 upon the cultivation are often very remarkable, for, while on the uplands 

 * Mani-karu is probably about 4,800 feet above the sea. 



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