340 



QU ETTA II. 



Equisetoides, etc. ; of mosses, Weissia Terapletonii, and Tortula, so 

 that in these there is very little variety ; the debris of one Hepatica 

 occurred. 



At the foot of the mountains, the only place out of the valley 

 where any vegetation is to be found, Asphodelus, radicibus luteis, 

 foliis triangularibus, a fine plant coming into flower, Cytisus, Cara- 

 gana, Narcissus ? Cruciferae, among them a small Draba, Cerasus 

 pygmeeus, Peganum, Salsoloid of Mumzil, Trichonema, Myosotis, 

 Gentiana of Chiltera, Buddlsea, Carex ; indeed the vegetation is pre- 

 cisely the same as at Chiltera. The only novelty was Bardana in 

 flower, and it proves to be a cruciferous plant of large size. 



On the stony slopes, a shrubby spinous Centauroid, foliis pinnati- 

 fidis glaucis, Cytisus, Caragana, Asphodelus and Cheiranthus are the 

 prevailing plants. No Santonica is found about here. 



A new Iris occurs in abundance : near this in wettish parts of the 

 valley a Vicia, Muscari, Hyacinthus and others as before. The chief 

 cultivation is wheat, irrigated in plots : the soil when saturated with 

 water, forming a clayish, adhesive, finely pulverulent mass, which 

 cakes on drying. A watermill for flour, having a horizontal wheel 

 acted on by the stream as in Bootan occurs ; the grain drops in from a 

 pyramidal cone fixed over the two horizontal stones, in the upper of 

 which there is a hole. The apparatus is very rude. 



The height attained by me on the eastern ridge being about 8,300 

 feet ; that of the 2nd range, will be 9,300 feet at least, and the 

 height of the peak or highest ridge, cannot be less than 1 1,000 feet. 



30th. — Continue to halt. There is a good deal of cultivation about 

 this place, but the crops will not be ripe before August : it is princi- 

 pally wheat ; munjit is also cultivated on trenched ground : the 

 young sprouts have a good salad-like flavour. The Suddozye Lora 

 runs through the valley, about two miles from the town : it is a small 

 stream, crowded here and there with bulrushes, sedges, etc. To- 

 wards its banks there is a good deal of Santonica, but elsewhere there 

 is no good fodder, and wherever this is the case the camels eat Iris, 

 and destroy themselves. The valley is sprinkled over with villages and 

 orchards, and is picturesque enough. In one spot, where water runs 

 over the surface, it is delightfully green and velvety, covered with 

 short grass and trefoil, Carex, etc. 



In cornfields in this direction, Berberidea ranunculiflora is very 

 common, Muscari, Hyacinthus, Taraxacum, Plantago. Of animals 

 the Jerboa, sent to Macleod by Mr. Mackenzie, of the Artillery, se- 



