474 CLIMATE OF 



plains, and scarcely inferior in point of size and quality/ to that which is pro- 

 duced in China ; two kinds of bhang or hemp in a limited quantity, tobacco, 

 lahsan or garlick, haldf, a til, b sero or sarson, chillies or red pepper, with a 

 few others including some common vegetables, hardly necessary to notice 

 and differing little from those cultivated in the plains of Hindustan. Besides, 

 there are apricots, d peaches, walnuts e exported in great quantities, a few 

 apples, wild pears, raspberries of two kinds, yellow and pale white, straw- 

 berries, small and insipid having no taste or flavour, phut, f a large and ob- 

 long kind of melon, barberries of a purple colour, large and plentiful ; darus, 

 a small species of pomegranate, which is gathered, split or broken in pieces, 

 the fruit taken out, and the shells, s in a dry state exported to the plains in 

 great quantities as an article of commerce, and kaephal," with some other 

 wild fruits. 1 



Kotgerh,j a small village and military outpost occupied by a detach- 

 ment of the 1st Nasiri Battalion in Latitude 31° 19' and Longitude 77° 

 30' is situate on the left bank of the Setlej on the slope of a range which 

 rises to the height of 10,656 feet above the level of the sea crowned by 

 Wartu or Haltu fort now dismantled and in ruins, separating the dell 



a Turmeric (Curcumalonga.) b The seed of tbe Sesamum from which oil is expressed. c A spe- 

 cies of mustard (Sinapis dichotoma) of the seed of which oil is made ; the leaves of this plant, "when 

 3 autig, are eaten by the natives as a vegetable. 



d Smaller, not so good, and less abundant than in the interior, 

 c The Kernel of which is often made into oil. 

 f Cucumis momordica of Roxburgh. 



g Used for dying- a yellow colour and when mixed with other ingredients produces a blue die. 

 h Amyris heptapbylla. 



i The indigenous fruits, generally speaking, especially in the interior, are large and upon the whole 

 pretty good and might be greatly improved by ingrafting. 



j On the site of the present house occupied by the Officer commanding the post formerly stood the 

 village of Danthat. The cantonment itself is about 150 yards off adjoining the small village of Lipta- 

 ri and the village of Kotgerh, a little above which was the residence of the Rana or chief, is about 1Q0 

 or 150 yards beyond and below the sipahis huts. 



