Western Himalaya and Tibet Part 2

CHAPTER II.

Leave Simla -- Mahasu Ridge -- Pine Forest -- Summit of Mahasu -- Vegetation of Northern Slope -- f.a.gu -- Theog -- Mattiana -- Cultivated Valley -- Nagkanda -- Ascent of Hattu -- Forest of Pine and Oak -- Vegetation of Summit -- View from top of Mountain -- Plainward slopes bare of forest, while those facing the interior are well wooded -- Cultivation at 9500 feet -- Descent from Nagkanda towards Sutlej -- Damp shady Ravine densely wooded -- Kotgarh -- Cultivation -- Rapid Descent -- Change of Climate -- Tropical Vegetation -- Rampur -- Swing-bridge -- Diurnal fluctuations in level of River -- Gaora -- Serahan -- Tranda -- Western boundary of Kunawar.

On the 2nd of August, 1847, every necessary preparation having been completed, and the officers of the mission having received the instructions of the Governor-General to proceed to Ladakh, and thence to take severally such direction as they should consider most conducive to the increase of our knowledge of these countries, Major Cunningham, Captain Strachey, and myself left Simla.

[Sidenote: DEPARTURE FROM SIMLA.

_August, 1847._]

The route selected as most eligible, in order to reach Hangarang and Piti, to which we had been instructed in the first place to proceed, lay up the course of the Sutlej river, through Kunawar. The advanced period of the season, at which almost constant rain might be expected, rendered the river route, on which at most stages tolerable shelter is obtainable, preferable to that by the Pabar valley, and the Bruang (or Borendo) pa.s.s, which otherwise we should have preferred, from its pa.s.sing through a more elevated tract of country.

From Simla the first day's journey towards the interior of the mountains is usually to f.a.gu, a distance of fourteen miles. Here, and for several stages farther, as far as the road lies through British territory, there are houses (bungalows, as they are termed in India) provided by Government for the accommodation of travellers, upon the payment of a small fixed sum per diem. Though often in bad repair, and therefore very uncomfortable in rainy weather, these houses (which occur also between Simla and the plains) are a very great convenience, as they enable tourists to dispense with the carriage of tents.

The difficulty of making a start, from the small number of porters procurable for our baggage, was so great that it was some time after dark before I reached the f.a.gu bungalow, in the midst of an extremely heavy fall of rain, which had commenced about sunset, after a fair though lowering day. The road from Simla to f.a.gu follows throughout the course of the main range, not always on the very crest of the ridge, but seldom at any great distance from it. After pa.s.sing round the peak of Jako, it turns northward, and descends abruptly about 500 feet, to a low part of the ridge, elevated about 6800 feet, and quite bare of trees, the micaceous slaty rock being in many places exposed.

The ridge continues in a direction for nearly four miles, varying very little in level, only one short and rather steep ascent occurring to a peak where a spur branches off to the south, beyond which the road again slightly descends. About half-a-mile to the north of this little ridge, on the slope of the hill below the road, there is a small cl.u.s.ter of trees of _Cupressus torulosa_, a species of cypress, one of the rarer conifers of the Himalaya; the most favourite situation of which seems to be on very steep mountains in the interior, at elevations of from seven to nine thousand feet. It was found abundantly by Major Madden[3] on Shali, a peak twenty miles east of Simla, and it appears to extend thence west as far as Simla, where it occurs in several places on hot, dry, and very bare rocky hills, as low as six thousand feet.

About four miles from Simla, a sudden increase in the elevation of the range takes place, and at the same time it turns abruptly towards the south-east. The road ascends the steep face of the ridge, in a series of zigzags, rather steeply, with a deep ravine on either hand, that to the right bare, while on the left there is first a thicket of rose and willow bushes, and further on an oak-wood, of a species (_Quercus floribunda_ of Wallich) different from that common at Simla, and indicative of greater elevation, though here growing with _Rhododendron_ and _Andromeda_, common Simla trees. When near the top of the ascent, the road bends rapidly to the right, keeping on the south face of the ridge, and pa.s.sing under but close to a small house, built on the very crest of the ridge, at an elevation of about 8000 feet. Close to this bungalow, which occupies a most excellent site, forest commences, and the road runs for a mile through fine trees of deodar and spruce (_Abies Smithiana_), generally on the very crest of the ridge, looking down towards the east into a deep and broad valley.

Right across this valley, north-east, rises the remarkable peak of Shali, a bold rocky ma.s.s sloping gently to the south, while to the north, which seems to overhang the Sutlej valley, it is cut off very abruptly. This highly beautiful mountain, the termination of a northerly spur, given off close to Mattiana, is hardly visible from Simla, its top only being seen from some of the more northerly houses.

[Sidenote: MAHASU RIDGE.

_August, 1847._]

From an elevation of about 8000 feet at its north-west end, the Mahasu ridge rises, at first gradually, to at least 9000 feet, and as it is throughout well wooded, the road along it is extremely beautiful. On the earlier part of the ridge, the forest consists chiefly of pine, _P. excelsa_ and _Abies Smithiana_ being abundant, and more especially the deodar, which, on the slope facing the west, may be seen in the greatest profusion, thousands of young trees springing up in dense ma.s.ses, on the slopes which have been bared by the axe, or still more destructively by the fires of the hill-men.

After about five miles of what, in the Himalaya, may be called tolerably level road, another sudden ascent follows, the road inclining rather to the northern slope of the mountain, and entering a dense forest of large ma.s.sive pines, intermixed with two species of sycamore, and a fine cherry, which relieve the otherwise too gloomy foliage of the coniferous trees. A magnificent climbing vine, which attaches itself to the tallest trees, rising in light green coils round their trunks, and falling in graceful festoons from the branches high over head, adds much to the elegance of the scene, and renders it, in the expressive words of Griffith, who was familiar with the rich vegetation of the humid forests of the Eastern Himalaya, the only true Himalayan forest of the western mountains.

[Sidenote: SUMMIT OF MAHASU.

_August, 1847._]

On this ascent the road rises to about 9000 feet, the crest of the Mahasu ridge being, according to Captain Herbert, 9200 feet. The large size and dense shade of the trees, and the abundance of _Abies Smithiana_, of the sycamore, and of the gigantic vine, give the forest a totally different appearance from that of Simla, and the undergrowth presents also a considerable amount of novelty; a species of currant, a fine _Spiraea_, _Indigofera atropurpurea_, and fine species of _Rosa_ and _Rubus_, forming thickets under the tall trees. This forest, indeed, from its dense shade, and great humidity, exhibits a much greater contrast to the ordinary temperate vegetation of the Himalaya, than is usually observed below 9000 feet, at which elevation the upper temperate, or subalpine vegetation, begins fairly to predominate over that which is prevalent from 5000 to 9000 feet.

On reaching the summit of the steep ascent, the road again gains the crest of the ridge, which consists of a succession of rounded knolls, covered with gra.s.s, and quite bare of trees, the forest rising almost, but not quite, to the top. On the very summit of one of the first of these knolls, is a small wooden shrine or temple, of a form common in the hills; the top of a mountain, or the summit of any very steep ascent, being usually selected as a proper spot for the erection of a sacred building by Indian mountaineers, in whose superst.i.tion every hill and grove is tenanted by supernatural beings.

[Sidenote: POTATO CULTIVATION.

_August, 1847._]

The steep ascent on the northern shoulder of Mahasu, from 8000 feet, and even lower, to above 9000 feet, is the great seat of the potato cultivation in the neighbourhood of Simla. The steepest slopes seem to be preferred for this purpose, if they have only a sufficiency of soil, which is very light, loose, and stony. The undergrowth of shrubs is cleared away entirely on the spot where potatoes are planted, but the pine forest is only partially thinned, the tall straight trunks allowing of a free circulation of air below, while the thick branches above afford the amount of shade requisite for the crop. The potatoes are planted in rows in May; and, early in June, when the plants have attained a height of a few inches, the soil is earthed up round their stems in low ridges. The rains commence in the latter part of June, and during their continuance nothing is done to the crop, beyond keeping it clear of weeds. The steepness of the slope seems to afford a sufficient drainage to prevent any injury from the great rain-fall and constant humidity. The growth of the plants is exceedingly luxuriant, the foliage being tall and bushy. By the middle of October, or after the close of the rains, the potatoes are dug and ready for market, supplying not only the station of Simla, but being despatched in great quant.i.ties to the plains of India, where the potato is only cultivated as a winter crop, and where, therefore, during the cold months, none are otherwise procurable.

On the very summit of the Mahasu ridge, there are a few trees of _Quercus semicarpifolia_, the alpine oak of the western Himalaya, an European-looking and partially deciduous species, and of _Picea Webbiana_, or _Pindrow_, the silver fir of the Indian mountains, a dark sombre-looking pine, abundant in the forests of the interior.

These trees may be adopted as the characteristics of the subalpine zone, in every part of which, from 9000 to about 12,000 feet, which is the highest limit of tree vegetation in the Western Himalaya, they abound. On Mahasu they are entirely confined to the crest of the ridge, and form no part of the forest below.

[Sidenote: f.a.gU.

_August, 1847._]

The descent from the top of Mahasu to the f.a.gu bungalow, is at first abrupt, the road leaving the ridge to enter the forest on the northern face, and winding down, after a few hundred yards of bare stony slope, among dense forest, among which it continues for a couple of miles, rising at last rather steeply to the crest of the ridge at the point where it resumes a northerly direction. Here the bungalow of f.a.gu has been built, at an elevation of 8200 feet, at the very base of the steep mountain ridge behind, which rises abruptly, to a height of six or seven hundred feet. The bungalow faces the north-east, and commands a most superb view of the snowy range beyond the Sutlej, with occasional glimpses of the Jumno-Gangetic snows on the right hand.

On my arrival at f.a.gu, in the midst of a pelting fall of rain, I found the bungalow already occupied by my fellow-travellers, and before a bright and comfortable fire I soon forgot the discomfort of my wet ride, which indeed was not to be complained of, as it was only what might fairly have been expected in the middle of the rainy season.

The confusion among our baggage, however, was so great, from its arriving irregularly and being set down hurriedly by the drenched porters, anxious to escape as soon as possible to shelter, that it was not without difficulty I procured the necessary change of clothing.

The morning of the 3rd of August was densely foggy, but without rain, and it was unanimously decided that it would be advisable to push on to the next stage, Mattiana, a distance of fifteen miles. Our antic.i.p.ations of fair weather were unfortunately disappointed, for it began to rain heavily before ten o'clock, and continued to do so with little intermission till nearly two, when it cleared, and the remainder of the day was fine.

[Sidenote: GIRI VALLEY.

_August, 1847._]

The whole day's journey lay along the ridge, which scarcely fell below 7500 feet, and nowhere rose above 9000 feet. f.a.gu is situated immediately above the valley of the river Giri, a large mountain stream, the most western tributary of the Jumna. A road across the Jumnetic valleys to Ma.s.suri descends abruptly towards that river, descending more than 5000 feet in little more than five miles, and crossing the river by a bridge at an elevation of 3000 feet. The mountains to the right, which dip into the valley of the Giri, are bare of forest, with a good deal of cultivation in small terraced fields on the steep sunny slopes, while scattered houses, scarcely collected into villages, are seen here and there among the fields. On the left hand, again, the deep valley which runs towards the Sutlej is full of forest, not rising however to the ridge, which is bare, or lined only with scattered jungle of _Indigofera_, _Desmodium_, _Spiraea_, roses, and brambles. It seems to be a constant rule that the depressions of the ridges are bare and open, while the more elevated portions are covered with forest. Probably the cause of this is the greater humidity of the higher slopes, which attract the rain-clouds, while the lower ranges are dry. The currents of air which sweep up the valleys may also in part be the cause of the bareness of the ridges opposite their summits.

[Sidenote: THEOG.

_August, 1847._]

At Theog, nearly eight miles from f.a.gu, there is a fort belonging to a Rana, or hill chieftain, and a small village, with a good many fields.

The cultivation at this great elevation, for the fields reach to at least 8000 feet, is princ.i.p.ally of barley, which is sown in early spring, and reaped in the beginning or middle of June, according to the season. Beyond Theog the road rises a little, and is covered with brushwood on the left hand, but bare on the right. The highest part of the road is about two miles beyond Theog, and has an elevation of about 9000 feet. The northern face of this hill is prettily wooded with the holly-leaved oak, and covered with numerous large angular boulders, whose origin is rather difficult to explain. After pa.s.sing this little hill the ridge sweeps round to the left in a semicircle, ascending very gradually and gently to a low ridge, from the crest of which the bungalow of Mattiana comes into sight, at a distance of nearly two miles, the whole of which is a gentle descent. The latter part of the road has a direction nearly due north, and the bungalow is situated in a very commanding position on the top of a little eminence, a quarter of a mile from the village, which occupies the slope of the hill facing the south-east, at a considerably lower level. The hills on both sides of the bungalow, which has an elevation of 8200 feet, are extremely steep, and descend at least 2000 feet. The valley on the left, tributary to the Sutlej, is well wooded, but that on the right is rather bare, with only a little wood here and there in the ravines, and on the more shady exposures.

[Sidenote: MATTIANA.

_August, 1847._]

The slopes below Mattiana are covered with numerous scattered houses and a good deal of cultivation. A little rice is grown during the rains, but the princ.i.p.al crops are barley and some wheat, sown in spring and reaped before the commencement of the rains. The opium poppy, also a spring crop, is cultivated to some extent in the lower part of the valley. It is sown in early spring, and the opium is gathered in June.

On the morning of the 4th of August we resumed our journey, proceeding as far as Nagkanda, about thirteen miles. Nagkanda, like Mattiana and f.a.gu, lies exactly on the crest of the main range, south of the Sutlej, and it is possible to proceed to it by a footpath along the ridge. The ascent, however, immediately north of Mattiana, where the ridge rises suddenly to nearly 10,000 feet, is so steep, rocky, and difficult, that it is quite impa.s.sable for horses, and so nearly for loaded men, that a more easy, though somewhat longer road is always preferred. I have more than once walked from Nagkanda to Mattiana by the upper road, and found it quite easy on foot, and so very beautiful as to be well worth a visit. The ascent from Mattiana is exceedingly steep, and facing nearly due south, very bare, stony, and barren; but when the higher portion of the ridge has been gained, the remainder of the road lies through beautiful forest, with much fine scenery--the earlier part steep and rocky, the remainder nearly level, till the last descent, and generally on the north face of the range.

[Sidenote: VALLEY BEFORE MATTIANA.

_August, 1847._]

On our present journey, however, we took the usual road, which descends from Mattiana to the valley immediately on the east, crosses it, and pa.s.ses over a long spur on its eastern side, into another valley, the head of which is immediately below Nagkanda, to which place the road ascends, at last very steeply. The ravine immediately below Mattiana is crossed at an elevation probably a little above 6000 feet, as the trees of the temperate region, such as the holly-leaved and woolly oak, _Andromeda_, and _Rhododendron_, continue to the very bottom of the descent; and _Pinus excelsa_ is common on the eastern slope, a little way above the stream, which descends very abruptly, like all the hill torrents near their sources, along a rocky channel, filled with large boulders. On the banks of the little stream there were a few trees of an _Acacia_, common in the lower forests, which Mr. Bentham considers a hairy variety of the _Albizzia Julibrissin_ of western Asia. I observed also a Laurel, an Olive, _Rhus_, and the common Toon (_Cedrela Toona_), all indicative of the commencement of a subtropical vegetation, which no doubt must be abundant on its banks a very few miles further down. Few of the plants observed in the valley were different from those common around Simla; a species of _Caragana_, a Leguminous genus abundant in Siberia, and in the interior and more dry parts of the Himalaya, was perhaps the most interesting.

The ascent from the ravine was well wooded in its lower part with oak and pine. A few trees of a very handsome poplar (_P. ciliata_), a tall widely-branching large-leaved tree, occurred in its lower part, as did also _Benthamia fragifera_, and a yew, apparently undistinguishable from the common European species. The upper part of the ascent was bare and gra.s.sy. The spur is a steep one, descending rapidly from the main range, and the road winding round its shoulder does not ascend beyond 7000 feet, but as soon as it has gained the eastern face continues nearly level, gradually approaching the centre of the valley, and winding along the hill-sides among numerous villages. The slopes are generally bare; here and there in the hollows or recesses along the lateral streamlets there is some very fine forest.

[Sidenote: CULTIVATED VALLEY.

_August, 1847._]

The appearance of this valley is considerably different from that of any of those nearer to the plains. The population is considerable, and collected into villages, some of which occupy the lower part of the valley, and are surrounded by a good deal of cultivation and numerous walnut and apricot trees, the latter of which are said, in autumn, frequently to tempt the bears from the forest, to indulge in what to them is a grateful feast. The ripening of the apricot in a valley, among forest, at an elevation of 7000 feet, indicates an undoubted diminution of the rain-fall. Very little change, however, is observable in the wild vegetation till the upper part of the last steep ascent, when a number of species make their appearance which are strangers to the more external ranges. A species of hazel, as a tree, and _Lappa_, _Achillea_, _Leonurus_, _Cheiranthus_, and _Rumex acetosa_, as herbaceous plants, may be mentioned as instances, as also a lax-paniculate _Polygonum_, with elegant panicles of white honey-scented flowers.

[Sidenote: NAGKANDA.

_August, 1847._]

Nagkanda bungalow, elevated 9300 feet above the level of the sea, is situated on a depression of the main range, where it has a direction from west to east. The ridge to the west, towards Mattiana, is elevated little more than 10,000 feet, while to the east rises the peak of Hattu to a height of 10,674 feet, by the determination of the trigonometrical survey. Here the range has approached nearer to the Sutlej, now distant only about twelve miles, than at any point since leaving Simla. The valley of the Sutlej being only 3000 feet above the level of the sea, while the mountains directly opposite rise to 12,000 feet, the scenery is of the grandest description. The river itself is nowhere visible, the descent being so abrupt at the bottom that the intervening spurs entirely conceal it.

The northern slope of the ridge on which Nagkanda stands, is occupied by a very deep valley, bounded by two long spurs, which run towards the Sutlej. The whole of this valley is occupied by dense forest, a great part of which is pine, especially on the upper part of the deep receding bay which runs up nearly to the top of Hattu, the sides of which are covered with a dense sombre forest of _Picea Webbiana_ (Pindrow).

[Sidenote: ASCENT OF HATTU.

_August, 1847._]

On the 5th of August, a portion of our baggage, which had been left at f.a.gu two days before, from a deficiency of porters, not having arrived at Nagkanda, it became necessary to halt, in order to give it a chance of reaching us. The day was fortunately fine, and we availed ourselves of the opportunity to ascend Hattu, Captain Strachey taking with him his barometers, to verify their accuracy by the trigonometrically determined height of this mountain, which was one of the stations of the Himalayan survey by Captain Herbert. As the top of the mountain is only about 1500 feet above the Nagkanda bungalow, and the distance is nearly five miles, the ascent is an easy one. The first mile is nearly level, and bare of wood on the ridge, though the forest on both sides rises within a few feet of the crest, which is bordered by brushwood.

As soon as the ascent commences, the ridge becomes covered with forest, at first princ.i.p.ally pine, spruce and silver fir (_Picea_) being the princ.i.p.al species. Yew is also very common, forming a fine tall tree, and the few non-coniferous trees are chiefly the alpine oak, sycamore, and cherry. The road, which at first ascends a western spur, by degrees winds round to the face of the mountain, and finally ascends to the summit from the east. The wood on the upper part is entirely oak, and more open than the pine forest lower down. The top of the mountain is steep and bare towards the east, for about five hundred feet, with precipitous rocks thirty or forty feet high towards the west, below which the slope is exceedingly steep and rocky in that direction.

The continuation of the main range towards the east is at first lower than the peak of Hattu some 600 or 700 feet, but rises again to another peak within a mile. A long spur or ridge to the south-west is, however, for nearly two miles, within a few feet of the same height as the summit of Hattu, and rises at about that distance into a point, which probably rather exceeds it. It then sinks rapidly towards the Giri river, the most easterly branch of which has its source in the ravine on the eastern face.