SUBATHU AND KOTGERH. 477 



after the rainy season has fairly set in, the consequence of which is that 

 many of the crops never ripen, and the natives from necessity are obliged 

 to reap them while partially in a green and immature state, (the ear being 

 full,) for the sake of preserving the whole from injury and destruction. 



The natives seem to be perfectly aware that snow contains properties 

 which increase the value of the crops. 



The following are the grains and other productions at Kotgerh and in 

 its neighbourhood. Several kinds of rice chiefly of the coarser sort, jow, 

 (barley,) uwa jow, a wheat (kanak,) phaphara or phaphar, b ugal, c cha- 

 beri or jaberi, d opium in great quantities for export trade, e three species 

 -of bathu/ black, red, and white, kachalu or pinalu, and gagti or gan- 



a Hordeum cocleste. b Panicum Tartaricum. c Panicum Emarginaturrj. d The grain 



of this differs little in appearance from that of the phaphar and ugal. e From the seed of the 



poppy the natives express oil, which, being sweet and pleasant to the taste and an excellent substi- 

 tute for ghee, (melted butter) is mixed with their food and eaten ; the oil is also used for burning. 

 The quality and inebriating properties of the hill opium are greater than that produced in the 

 Sikh states below; it is consequently considered superior and is in great demand in the Punjab. It 

 fetches an enhanced price at the different marts in the plains to which it is taken, and is produc- 

 ed at less expense and with less labour ; that in the plains requires irrigation which is never ap- 

 plied to it in the interior of the hills, owing to the constant moist state of the soil. It may in some 

 few places on the banks of the Setlej and other rivers where the heat is intense. The pernicious 

 effects of this drug so much in repute amongst the native population in India are well known. The 

 natives of these mountains, especially the females, on the most trifling occurrences apparently which 

 thwart their views and inclinations not unfrequently commit suicide by swallowing a piece of this 

 drug. It may not be out of place here to mention, since the cultivation of the poppy seems to begin 

 to attract the attention of a few individuals in Britain, that the seed at the elevation of Kotgerh and 

 even at greater heights is sown in October, and the young plant after arriving at the height of a few 

 inches is buried in snow during the winter months. Previous to this, it is well weeded and cleaned, 

 and, when the snow is all melted and winter terminated, it sprouts up rapidly and comes to perfection 

 in April and May according to the nature of the season, when the natives are busily occupied in in- 

 cising it with a small iron instrument called nehirna and collecting the milky substance which oozes 

 out. If the incisions are made in the afternoon, the substance is frequently collected the following 

 morning and sometimes not till the second day. The process appears to be very tedious and trouble- 

 some from the inefficiency of the instrument employed which differs somewhat from that in use in the 

 plains, and seems less applicable to the purpose for which it is intended. f Amaranthus Anardhana; 

 the leaves of these when very young and tender or about a few inches high are used as a vegetable by 

 the inhabitants. At this height and even higher, in appearance, they exactly resemble the lal and 



green sag (culinary herbs) of Hindustan, 



