JAMU TO BANIHAL. 19 ' 
to break on the Pass. We therefore waited until nine 
a.m., when, as the weather did not seem incHned 
to show its intentions, we resolved to cross and 
risk a drenching. The top of the Pass is about eight 
miles from Banihal ; the ascent is very steep for 
the last two -thirds of the way, and almost devoid of 
trees ; but there is an extraordinary profusion of wild 
flowers, and I made such a collection that two men 
were required to carry them. But all these speci- 
mens got destroyed by the damp within the next 
few days, and had to be thrown away. Near the top 
of the Pass I was met by a Fakir, who brought me, 
as a present, a large bunch of the beautiful yellow 
Fumatory {Corydalis). In many parts of the Hima- 
layas the people are very fond of wild flowers — 
although they never attempt to cultivate flowers— 
and they have a custom, which I always like to 
see, of decking their head-dresses with those they 
pick up along the road. On the top of the Pass 
there is a beautiful carpet of short green sward, and 
a great deal of dwarf willow jungle. As on most 
passes, there is a small lake, or rather tank, at the 
very highest point. I do not know how it happens 
that almost every pass I have crossed has a small 
lake or tarn near the top. Probably many of 
them have been artificially made by traders to retain 
the rainfall. On most passes one or more Fakirs 
■usually have their abode, and the tanks may have 
been made by them. It is, however, the case that 
two-thirds of the passes I have crossed have this 
small lake or tarn near the summit, and often in the 
most unlikely places for a lake to be found. Some of 
them have no doubt been formed by glacier action. 
c 2 
