40 
NARRATIVE. 
and was once supposed to be a cure for " rot " in 
slieep, is very abundant. In many places it grows to 
a heigbt of three feet, and forms the bulk of the 
herbage ; but although dried for winter fodder, it does 
not appear to be a favourite with cattle, except when 
nothing else can be got. 
At Dras there is a wide undulating valley, about 
twenty miles long from east to west, and eight to ten 
wide, with plenty of good pasturage. It is surrounded 
by rugged peaks covered with snow ; and the river, 
which is not usually fordable, flows on the south side 
close under the mountains, and is spanned at several 
points by picturesque rope bridges, made from the 
roots and branches of birch brought from the foot of 
the pass ; for there is scarcely a tree to be seen here, 
with the exception of a small clump of willows and 
poplars near the encamping ground. 
We encamped at the rest-house, where the officials 
of the Drds district have their head-quarters. Close 
by there is a small loopholed masonry fort, surrounded 
by a ditch, and capable of accommodating about 100 
soldiers. At the time of our visit it was garrisoned 
by a dozen men. 
The people now began to exhibit the Tartar type 
of countenance ; and most of them — the Buddhists — 
wore their hair in long pigtails, hanging down their 
backs. Here, for the m.ost part, they understand Hin- 
dustani or Kashmiri, and a great many of them are 
Mahomedans, but no mosques are to be seen. One 
man we questioned said he trusted to the priest, who 
lived at a mosque at Kargil, thirty miles distant, to 
do all the praying for him, and that he never troubled 
himself about it. He maintained, however, that he 
