LADAK, 
63 
to come over from Kashmir. Beyond the Drds valley, 
to which this influence extends, until we reach the 
Sdnju pass the hills are almost devoid of vegetation, 
and cultivation is confined to the banks of rivers and 
the streamlets coming from snowy peaks. 
Wherever the mountains rise to about 20,000 feet 
they are covered with perpetual snow, and this snow, in 
melting slowly during the day, gives rise to streams, 
which often become roaring torrents before night but 
are almost dry again before morning. Every drop of 
water in many of these streams is used for irrigation 
up to about 15,000 feet. With the exception of an 
occasional Pencil Cedar (/^(j#zj??(?r2^5 excelsa), which was 
noted as much as thirty feet in height, an Elaeagnus, 
which is rare, and the Sea Buckthorn {Hippo^Jiae 
rhamnoides), which seldom attains a height of twenty 
feet, and is usually under eight feet, almost the only 
trees met with are such as have been planted near 
villages or along streams, and these are chiefly willows 
or poplars. About Kalsi and Nurla, and some other 
villages on the banks of the Indus, there are orchards 
of apple, pear, and apricot trees ; and in other parts 
of Laddk which I have not visited, apricots must be 
very plentiful, for the dried fruit forms an important 
article of food with the Tibetans. 
In the valley of the Indus about Le, and in a few 
other localities, the Buckthorn, Tamarisk, and Myri- 
caria form a pretty dense bushy jungle, and the only 
jungle met with in Ladak. 
As already remarked, wherever water for irrigation 
can be obtained, up to 15,000 feet above the sea, grain 
crops are grown. Wheat ripens up to 12,000 feet, 
and barley up to nearly 15,000 feet. Parched barley 
