394 Journal of a trip through the [April, 



the produce is green, it has been reaped and carried at the base of the 

 valley ! Perhaps these are no where so extraordinarily exemplified 

 as in the Kangra valley, where, on the Chumba range, the vegetation of 

 temperate regions predominates, whilst but 3,000 feet lower in the 

 valley the majority of the fruits and vegetables belong to the tropical. 

 The hamlets in Kooloo seldom contain more than from fifteen to twenty 

 houses, but generally not so many. Single houses are numerous, and, 

 from their being scattered amongst the fields, give an agreeable variety 

 to the bold landscape. This distribution of houses arises, however, 

 more from necessity than choice, because the lands available for cultiva- 

 tion are usually of small extent and widely separated, and consequently 

 could not support large communities. It is also imperatively necessary 

 for the husbandman not to place a ravine or any other impediment 

 between his hut and his fields, as all communication with them would 

 probably be cut off during the greater part of the rains which, as every- 

 body knows, is an important season of the year in India. The case is 

 somewhat altered, however, on the left bank of the Parba, where there 

 is more than the usual quantity of arable land, and consequently the 

 villages are large, thriving, and numerous. On the right bank of that 

 river the slope is much more precipitous and has been left in conse- 

 quence almost entirely unoccupied.* In those districts near Simla 

 which border on the plains the dwellings have flat mud roofs, but here 

 where snow falls in winter the houses have pent roofs, which are covered 

 with slabs of either sandstone or clay-slate. Wood is seldom, if ever, 

 employed, and very little attention is paid to the splitting of the slabs, 

 which consequently are of every size, and thickness. From that circum- 

 stance the majority of the scattered huts have a very untidy appearance. 

 They are generally two-storied, the lower being invariably used for cat- 

 tle and the upper occupied by the family. The upper one is generally 

 surrounded by a low covered gallery, in which the inhabitants usually sit 

 when at leisure. Some of the houses, however, are nothing less than 

 four-storied, quadrangular towers. Their average height is about twen- 

 ty-five feet, each story being seldom more than five feet high and ten 

 feet square. Many of these larger houses and all the temples, have 



* This prosperous portion of Kulu lies within the jaghir belonging to the petty 

 Rajah of Sultanpoor ; whose ancestor possessed the whole of Kulu until deposed by 

 the Sikhs. 



