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



through Kulu to Ladak, I presume that the Government would wish 

 to keep it in good order ; and I would suggest that instead of attempt- 

 ing to repair or rather to re-make the road down the Bajaora nullah, it 

 would perhaps be better to take a new line altogether from the Bajaora 

 Pass towards Bhyrkot, keeping the road below the fort. This part I 

 have not examined ; but from the fort downwards to the Byas there is 

 at present an excellent foot-path along the gently sloping side of the 

 hill, passing through villages and corn-fields for above five miles to the 

 bank of the Mawar nullah beyond Sumsi. By taking the road in this 

 direction a saving of about 4 or 5 miles would be effected in the dis- 

 tance between Mundi and Siiltanpur. 



The height of the Bajaora Pass is 6,484 feet. 



Tuesday \Stk August. To Siiltanpur, the capital of Kulu, 9 miles. 

 At two miles crossed the Kokan Khud. Kokan is a large village on a 

 spur of the hill, with a new picturesque Chinese looking temple — chiefly 

 built of wood. Since I was here in June last, the Kokan torrent, owing 

 to the late heavy rains, had destroyed a large tract of well cultivated 

 land 200 yards at base, by 250 yards or more in depth. The whole of 

 this tract, which two months ago I saw smiling with young green rice, 

 is now covered with large blocks of mica slate, in some places about 20 

 feet thick. The only part of the Sikh road now traceable is near a large 

 tree, which is still standing in the midst of the rubbish, with its square 

 stone terrace around the trunk, for the accommodation of travellers to 

 rest beneath its shade. 



The delta of the Mawur nullah is now about 400 yards broad at the 

 base, by five or six hundred yards in depth. Only two months ago it 

 was a well cultivated tract, but it is now strown over with huge blocks 

 of mica slate and thousands of trees, and fragments of trees of all sizes, 

 looking like Nature's timber-yard. 



Just before entering Siiltanpur, we crossed the Serberi nullah by two 

 spars thrown across the stream, the bridge having been carried away by 

 the floods. The bed of the Serberi is also strown Avith trees, but there 

 are no marks which show so sudden and great a rise as must have taken 

 place in the Bajaora and Mawur nullahs. The heavy rains must have 

 been confined to the hills south of the Serberi. Probably the Parbati, 

 Gomati, Synj, and Tirthan also rose very high this year, for the first 

 has carried away all the bridges built by Lena Singh on the road to the 



