of June, 1862, in wet weather, as the monsoon had broken, but was fortunate in obtaining a very fine view from the top of the pass (12,500 feet). He joined Mr. Smithe, the Superintendent of the Chenab and Ravi Forests, at Agralli on the Chamba side, elevation 8000 feet.

The Ravi is the smallest and most rapid of the Punjab rivers. It rises in the British pargannah of Bara Banghal, and continues its intramontane course for 150 miles, debouching at Shahpur. General A. Cunningham was the first European to visit its source. In Bara Banghal the river is called the Rawa, and is formed by several impetuous streams issuing from large glaciers of 14,000 feet on the south side of the MidHimalaya, and hence the floods come down earlier than in the other Punjab rivers and subside sooner. The bed was at this period obstructed by rocks for many miles during its passage through the districts of Bara Banghal and Bara Bansu into Chamba. About forty miles below its source the Ravi proper is joined by two large tributaries, the Budhil and the Nai or Duna.

There was not, Cleghorn records, a large supply of deodar at the head of the Ravi, either in the territory of the Rajah of Chamba, or in the British district of Bara Banghal. The mature trees adjacent to the river had been felled to a great extent, and those remaining were generally immature or high on the banks.

The District of Bara Banghal is shut in with high hills on every side, the Ravi flowing through a cleft in the rocks, and is comparatively rainless. The drainage basin of the river in this part is therefore comparatively narrow. The great floods in the Lower Ravi are from the Seul, which flows through a wide open valley; from the Siawa, and from other streams below Chamba where the high hills recede and the periodical rains fall in abundance.

The Budhil Stream, rising in the Lahul Range, issues in part from the sacred lake at Rani-Mahes, a mountain much frequented by Hindu pilgrims. Barmawar, the ancient capital of the Barma family, is beautifully situated over the stream, and the carved temples are shaded by lofty deodar trees. The Rajahs of Chamba for long carefully preserved the forests fringing the holy Budhil, but felling was commenced here by the then Rajah in 1858, in order to supply the British Government, and when granting permission to carry on forest operations in 1860 the district of Barmawar was specially named

by the Rajah as being considered suitable for the work; the forest within a certain distance from the temples being reserved. This forms a striking, if somewhat sad, illustration of how the tempting offer of great profits from a source hitherto held sacred, for this particular deodar forest must have been revered by many for a long period, overcame the Rajah's religious feelings. And incidentally afforded evidence of how strong even then the craze for this particular timber animated one and all.

Felling had been carried out by a contractor in 1860-1 on the Nai River, which rises in the Kalidebi Pass, and has a course of thirty miles to its confluence with the Ravi. Cleghorn considered that it was very desirable that this small valley should be examined with a view to forest operations, as a fair portion of the annual supply might be obtained from it.

The Seul, coming from the north, drains a considerable basin between Chamba and Badrawar, joining the Ravi below the capital. Rising near the Sach Pass the Seul receives several long impetuous tributaries, at the heads of which clumps of deodar occurred; but owing to their configuration they were difficult for floating purposes: for instance, the sides of the Tisa nullah were only 20 feet apart and 162 feet above the water. Longden, in 1851, reported that 5000 logs might be expected annually from the valley, and Cleghorn and Smithe considered this estimate a probable one in 1861; but it would entail a considerable labour force and adequate supervision, as the forests were scattered and separated from each other by deep ravines. The Seul Valley is open and fertile, and was termed the "Garden of Chamba," supplying the capital and Dalhousie with grain. No good road existed, and Cleghorn recommended that the existing track should be improved, as it would be useful alike to the Forest Department in proceeding to and from Pangi, to the local inhabitants and to travellers.

The Siawa falls into the Ravi above Bissoli. It was by this stream that deodar timber had been, and could still be, brought down from the territories of Jummu. The Maharajah of Kashmir had kept the felling of timber in his own hands apparently, and only sold to merchants when it had been brought to the river banks, following the plan adopted years previously by the Rajah of Nilumbur in Madras, as has been narrated. "By this wise policy," says the Doctor,

"contractors not having ingress into the forests, the wooded tracts of Jummu are almost uninjured."

The species of timber and other trees seen on the Ravi were similar to those already described in the other valleys.

Pinus longifolia first occurred between Guriah and Chatrari, and was abundant between Chamba and Shahpur. Allusion is made to the Paper Shrub (Desmodium), which was very plentiful in the districts of Chota and Bara Banghal and in the Ravi Valley; "the plant having a wider range, and the bark being more easily stripped off, the fibre will be available in the plains at a less cost than that of Daphne papyracea.

At Chamba a new residence was being built for the Rajah at this date, and a large wooden bridge rebuilt across the Ravi. Except for the road to Dalhousie, twenty-four miles in length and passable for horses, the only riding path from the capital led towards Seul. Moving about the district was, therefore, very difficult. "The tracks could scarcely be worse, in many places they are steep zigzag paths, exceedingly rugged and dangerous, affording an insecure footing, and from a false step there is no recovery." But it was believed that improvements in the communications were imminent. Communications at that period were undoubtedly almost nonexistent (save the zigzag footpaths, which exist in plenty throughout the Himalaya at the present day), but Cleghorn, with his Madras experience only, would naturally be unprepared for the tracks to which the Himalayan traveller or official soon becomes accustomed.

The commencement of the timber transactions between the British and the Chamba State in 1854 has been already glanced at in Chapter XV. They had proved a failure, as the Chamba Authorities failed to keep their agreement. Repeated remonstrances had been addressed to them. In May, 1858, we find the Authorities pleading that the chief difficulties occurred from the obstructions in the bed of the river near Chun, thirty-five miles above Shahpur. The Chief Commissioner, therefore, directed that the Rajah's timber should be taken over above that point. But the excuse was only a method of Oriental evasion. For three years the new arrangement was carried out, without, however, any improvement in the supplies of timber coming down the river. Several representations were addressed to the Rajah by Lake, the Commissioner of the Trans-Sutlej States, and the latter consented in December, 1860, to an arrangement whereby the