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success, that he has completed the accurate triangulation, as well as 
the topographical surveying, of 40,000 square miles of country in 
four years. The whole of that extent, too,< lay in a very difficult 
region, abounding in snowy peaks ; one of which, a newly dis- 
covered point on the Kara-Koran, is probably the second highest 
mountain in the world ; the measured height, subject only to a 
small probable correction, to be determined by an extensive level- 
ling operation now in progress, being 28,278 feet. 
The most important part, however, socially of the whole region 
visited, was the world-famous valley of Kashmir, where the splen- 
did climate, traces of an ancient civilization, and considerable present 
wealth, skill, and industry, combined to add their influence to the 
beauties of mountain scenery. 
Of the leading features in the physical geography of Kashmir 
Captain Montgomerie’s panorama seems to give a very accurate 
idea ; for, before the skill of the artist was called in to represent 
light and shade, the vertical and horizontal angles between all im- 
portant points were laid down with a theodolite. In length, he 
describes the valley to measure one hundred and ten miles, in a S.E. 
and N.W. direction, with a breadth of about seventeen miles, and a 
mean elevation above the sea of 5200 feet. A considerable portion, 
or about ninety miles in length, is so nearly flat, that the river 
Yedusta (Jhelum), which flows through it, is navigable for that 
extent in large boats. The flat ground is, however, in two terraces, 
the upper one consisting of remains of an ancient clayey stratum, 
some two to three hundred feet thick. It is found often in isolated 
patches, several miles long and broad, with steep cliff-like edges. 
The higher level thus formed was once artificially irrigated, but 
is now sadly neglected, while the greater part of the lower level is 
subject to inundation, and is more or less in a marshy condition, or 
absolute lake, as in the immediate neighbourhood of the capital city. 
The country, however, including the surrounding mountains, still 
contains no less than 4606 villages, spread over an extent of 8100 
square miles. 
On the slopes of the hills cultivated tracts are again met with 
alternating with grazing grounds, and forests of cedars, pines, and 
firs. At 7000 and 9000 feet these predominate; while above that 
level, and extending to 12,000 feet, there are grassy regions visited 
VOL. iy. 2 Y 
