250 OBSERVATIONS ON THE 



united together in a single precipice. Cultivation is here solely indebted 

 for its existence to irrigation, and this nutritious impulse in so dry a 

 climate is far more powerful than the spontaneous efforts of the soil, in 

 quarters where the effect of atmospheric heat and humidity is combined. 

 To the climate, vegetation (such as it is) owes nothing, but rather succeeds 

 in spite of it. The few traces which are sprinkled over the dead sides 

 of the cliffs shoot out of the rock as if impelled by their own vitality, 

 but in the loftier zones, where the soil is better and the solar warmth 

 mitigated, there occur upon the slope of the strata extensive tracts of a 

 thick set prickly bush, which in appearance resembles the surface of a 

 Highland heath. 



The villages in the valley itself are planted upon an alluvial slip on 

 each side of the river at long distances, and are indicated in summer by 

 their verdant environs, and in winter by their black appearance in the waste 

 of surrounding snow. The crops of this region are dense, but have little 

 variety. The staple grain is Ooa Jdo, or beardless barley, peas, turnips, 

 and in a few spots Phapra and mustard, the seed of which last is expressed 

 for oil. The fields are sown in April and May, the seasons varying with 

 the level, and in the elevated belts by the hollows of tributary streams ; 

 where the winter is protracted, the soil is cleared of snow by sprinkling 

 black earth over it. 



Notwithstanding the almost perennial night frosts at those extreme 

 limits, and the severity of the climate during the sun's southern declination, 

 the crops are even denser here than in the dell below. 



As the cultivation of farinaceous grains chiefly depends upon a cer- 

 tain degree and duration of heat (which, in these regions, is found quite 

 sufficient in July and August, without relation to the rigors of the previ- 



