Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 296 (Color Image)

0296	Among the Celestials : vol.1

250 AMONG THE CELESTIALS. [CHAP. IX.

descending the southern side the aspect of the

mountains suddenly changed. Hitherto, from

far away at their rise from the Yarkand plains,

the mountains had been barren and destitute

of any trace of forest. Occasionally in some

favoured sheltered spot a dwarfed tree or two

might be seen, but as a whole it was only in

the valley bottoms and on cultivated lands that

any trees were met with. Now the trans-

formation was complete. We had reached the

southern-facing slopes of the outward ridge of

the Himalayas, and upon these slopes all the

rains of the monsoon are expended. Con-

sequently while on the northern side are bare

sun-baked rocks only, on the southern side the

mountain slopes are densely packed with forest.

We passed rapidly down the beautifully

wooded Sind valley, with its meadows and pine

forests, its rushing torrents and snow-clad

mountain summits, and at last reached the

open valley of Kashmir itself. Some seven

or eight miles' march brought us to Srinagar,

that most picturesquely situated but dirtiest

of all towns, and then for the first time I

realised how very dirty I myself was, and how

rough I had become. Dressed in a Yarkand

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