REPORT ON A BOTANICAL TOUR IN KASHMIR, 1892. 
3 
days^ halt we proceeded, via the Trdghal toBandipur on the vVoolar 
Lake and thence by boat to Srinagar. 
I shall now give a rather more detailed account of this journey. 
After traversing the Woolar Lake the usual course for boats pro- 
ceeding to Srinagar is by the Noru Canal, which joins the main Jhe- 
lum River a little below the village of Shidipur, so called from the 
junction of the Sind River with the Jhelum, A large portion of the 
Woolar Lake during the month ot June is a perfect garden of water- 
lilies and other aquatic flowering plants, including the 4-spined 
Singhara {Trapa natans) which is very abundant here. The water 
of the Sind is beautifully clear by comparison. This river winds 
for miles through some fine pasture-land and water-meadows filled 
with tall handsome sedges, whilst the surface of the water is covered 
with innumerable flowers of white water-lilies. 
The river ceases to be navigable beyond Gandarbal. From 
Gandarbal the Sind Valley extends some 58 miles up to the Zoji Ld, a 
pass leading into Baltistan, The total rise is about 6,000 feet. 
The lower part of the valley is extensively cultivated, rice being 
the principal crop. Fruit-trees are also largely grown near the 
villages, which have an appearance of prosperity. Higher up the 
valley cultivation becomes more limited, and the villages contain a 
poorer class of people. 
The vegetation of the valley from a botanical point of view is 
rich and varied. There is plenty of water brought down by numer- 
ous snow-fed streams ; and the hill-sides, especially such as face the 
north, are thickly clothed with fine forests. As the elevation 
increases the sub-montane character of the vegetation gradually gives 
way to more temperate forms until, after passing the gorge below 
Sonamarg, a distinctly alpine element is observed, as at Gulmarg, 
♦he elevation of which place is about the same. 
The village of Sonamarg consists of a few miserable-looking huts 
uninhabited during the winter months. It boasts, however, of a Post 
Office and Telegraph Office. After crossing the river at Sonamarg 
the road passes over undulating pasture ground, and here and there 
through patches of forest composed chiefly of Pinus excelsa^ mixed 
with willow and Himalayan poplar. 
The two principal feeders of the Sind River join near Baltal ; 
thj^larg^ one from the south rises in the neighbourhood of the 
famous Amarnath Cave, whilst the other, a small narrow torrent, 
comes in from the direction of the pass. 
Baltal is a little over 9,000 feet. There is no village here ; only one 
or two huts occupied by the d&k runners between Kashmir and 
Lch. On the day following my arrival at Baltal 1 explored for some 
