report on a botanical tour in kashmir, 1893. 
27 
viz.^ the wholesale destruction of birch trees for the sake of the 
foliage, on which the shepherds feed their sheep and goats. I have 
seen similar results of this practice in other localities, but nothing 
to equal in extent the wholesale destruction of trees which has 
been taking place .on the Iiill sides above Kainmal. The forest officer 
is fully aware of the fact, and I notice from his report on the 
Kashmir forests for 1891-92 that steps are being taken to prevent 
any further destruction. 
I returned to Pdlgam on the 22nd of July, and after halting 
there for one day I made a short tour in the direction of Amarn^th. 
Ascending from the right bank of the Shisha Nig branch of the 
Liddar, I had my camp pitched near some gujar huts, a short dis- 
tance below the Chatponsil ridge, at an elevation of about 10,000 feet. 
There are some fine clumps of maple (Acer coesium) at this spot ; 
otherwise, owing to its southern aspect, there is very little forest 
growth on this side of the Liddar valley. 
The next day I crosed over into the Masjid valley, the stream 
from which joins the western branch of the Liddar near the village 
of Aro. A large number of very interesting plants were collected up 
to 13,000 feet, 1 was encamped that night just below the pass at 
the head of the Masjid valley. A shrubby kind of juniper, which is 
plentiful at this spot, is the only kind of fuel. 
I went over the pass on the following day by a path which is 
rather difficult in places. The summit is about 13,500 feet. The de- 
scent on the further side is into the Sangam valley, near the head 
of which is a large lake ; the stream from this lake joins the Amar- 
nith branch of the Sind river a little to the south of Bdital. 
Leaving the Sangam valley on the southern side I had to cross 
another pass over 14,000 feet, intending to reach Astdn marg ; but bad 
weather came on, and we missed the path. We had therefore to 
make the best of our way dovyn a steep valley until we reached a 
possible camping ground. When the mist cleared, I found that we 
had got into a nkla immediately above Tanln in the Liddar valley. 
Both sides of this n^la are thickly clothed with what might have 
been fine forests of birch, but the leaf-bearing branches had all 
been lopped for sheep fodder, and only the bare white trunks 
remain. 
A short march through beautiful scenery brought us to Tan in 
the next day. After passing Harvvat, a gujar camping ground, 
where the stream from the Ast^n marg valley comes in, the path 
