204 Journal of a trip through Kulu and Ldhul, fyc. [March, 



traceable along the steep banks where the river has washed away every 

 particle of earth and every trace of vegetation, and left the rocky 

 strata bare for about 25 feet in height. The rocks look exactly as if 

 blasted with fire along the course of the river, which is the more re- 

 markable now from the green freshness of the foliage about. At 4 

 miles the road turns to the east, and ascends very gradually to the top 

 of the Pachind Pass. 



The Pachind Pass is 4,900 feet above the sea, and the level ground 

 on each side of the Pass partly under cultivation, is 5000 feet high. 

 This Pass commands the high road into Kulu. From the round topped 

 hills right and left of the Pass, distant less than a mile, can be seen the 

 fort of Bhyrkot in Kulu, the Jinetri Devi temple and the peak of Shali 

 near Simla. As a military position I consider Pachind as the most 

 eligible that I have yet seen for the location of native troops. The 

 height, 5000 feet, is sufficient for coolness. There are good slate 

 quarries immediately below the Pass to the west, and a considerable 

 supply of water, only 150 feet below the pass on the eastward, partly 

 preserved in a well constructed Baori, but chiefly running down the 

 face of the hill. This is a never-failing spring, and I observed no 

 difference in the supply of water before and after the rains. I crossed 

 the Pass on the 16th of June, first, and again on the 16th of August. 



The iron mines of Kuman lie only 4 miles to the eastward ; there is 

 plenty of good building stone at the top of the hill ; and there is wood 

 procurable below the Pass in the neighbourhood of the slate quarries. 



The position is 6 miles N. E. of Mundi, and it commands the high 

 road, and only horse road which leads from the Kangra and Mundi 

 districts into Kulu, and if it should be found necessary to locate troops 

 in or near Kulu I would strongly recommend Pachind for the canton- 

 ment. Two companies might be stationed in Bhyrkot, and the commu- 

 nication be kept up with Pachind by signals of guns, both day and 

 night. 



From Pachind the road descends rapidly to the bed of the Ohl river, 

 a large torrent unfordable at all seasons. At the foot of the descent 

 there was formerly a spar bridge across the Ohl, but the horizontal 

 spars were burnt during the insurrection against the Sikhs a few years 

 ago. The piers and sloping spars are however still perfect, and as they 

 have withstood the extraordinary flood of this year, they are likely to 



