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CHAPTER II. Leave Simla Mahasu Eidge Pine Forest Summit of Mahasu Vegetation of Northern Slope Fagu Theog Mattiana Cultivated Valley Nagkanda Ascent of Hattu Forest of Pine and Oak Vegetation of Summit View from top of Mountain Plain- ward 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 Eapid Descent Change of Climate Tropical Vegetation Rain- pur Swing-bridge Diurnal fluctuations in level of Kiver 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. 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, 30 DEPARTURE FROM SIMLA. (August, rendered the river route, oti which at most stages tolerable shelter is obtainable, preferable to that by the Pabar valley, and the Bruang (or Borendo) pass, which otherwise we should have preferred, from its passing through a more elevated tract of country. From Simla the first day's journey towards the interior of the mountains is usually to Fagu, a distance of fourteen miles. Here, and for several stages farther, asfar as the road lies through British territory, there are houses (bungalows, as...
