REPORT ON A BOTANICAL TOUR IN KASHMIR, 1892 
5 
a man with a fairly good head for giddy heights need not be ashamed 
of, and with an inky black river rushing beneath him at a racing pace, 
there is a considerable amount of physical exertion required. 
I remained at Gilgit for two days, and I gladly take this opportu- 
nity of expressing my obligations to Mr. Robertson, the Officiating 
British Agent, for his kindness and hospitality. I had the pleasure 
also of making the acquaintance of Surgeon-Captain Roberts, the 
Medical Officer attached to the Agency. His knowledge of garden- 
ing does justice to the capabilities of the climate in the production of 
good vegetables and fruit He also takes an interest in botany, and 
through his kindness 1 have since received from him a very interest- 
ing set of specimens collected In the neighbourhood of Gilgit. I am 
also indebted to Captain Younghusband, not only for many acts of 
kindness during my stay at Gilgit, but also for a very interesting 
collection of plants gathered by him during his memorable journey 
across the Pamirs. 
In a dry and rocky country like Gilgit there must always be 
considerable difficulty in arranging for a continuous supply of fodder 
for any large number of transport animals. Along certain sections 
of the Gilgit road beyond the Burzil Pass, the local supply being 
practically nil, a good deal of expense is necessarily incurred 
by carriage. 
With the exception of the village sites, where cultivation is 
carried on by means of irrigation channels, the hill slopes on either 
side of the road, in consequence of the very small amount of annual 
rainfall, are extremely bare of vegetation j and what there is is coarse 
and unpalatable. The most abundant plant on these hill-sides is a 
species of worm-wood {Artemisia maritima) ^ which mules and don- 
keys will eat for lack of anything better. I have seen no record of 
any species of Artemisia^ several of which are .known to occur in 
India and along the north-west frontier, as affording fodder for ponies 
and mules. But two Himalayan species, vis., A. parvi flora and 
A, sacrorum, have been mentioned as being eaten by sheep and goats. 
A certain amount of grass and weed herbage is to be found along 
the edges of irrigated village fields, which even, were it not required 
by the villagers for their own animals, would prove to be but a small 
contribution. 
Large quantities of grass and weeds of sorts had to be procured 
last summer from the nearest margs lying within the more elevated 
moist zone, and accessible from the main valley by certain nullahs. 
The grasses and other plants collected from these localities should 
afford excellent fodder in the form of hay.' The great drawback to 
this source of supply the expense of cutting and the carriage. 
