[Sidenote: ASCENT TOWARDS SACH PASS. _June, 1848._]
On the 12th of June, I crossed the snowy range into the valley of the Chenab. At starting, the road lay through forest, which covered the precipitous face of the rocky hill overhanging the deep ravine above which I had encamped. After crossing the ravine, which was full of snow, the road ascended a bare steep slope, which was swampy and covered with _Caltha_ and _Primulæ_. Every other part of the face of the hill was occupied by a dense jungle of shrubs, almost impenetrable from the prostrate position which their branches had taken from the pressure of the winter's snow. Very stunted bushes of _Quercus semecarpifolia_ constituted the greater part of this shrubby jungle. With it grew _Rhododendron campanulatum_, a cherry, and a birch, whose silvery trunks rose conspicuous above all the others. This dense covering of shrubs being confined to the lower part of the slope, the road soon rose above its level, and continued obliquely along the face of the bare grassy hill, rising very gently, and by degrees approaching the line of snow. I observed that the line of the highest level of trees varied much according to the exposure, being more elevated on the shady side than on slopes exposed to the sun. The snow level, as might have been expected, was extremely indefinite, varying with the degree of inclination of the surface, with the absence or presence of trees, and especially with the exposure. On the slope facing the south, it was about 12,000 feet, while on that opposite it descended among the trees several hundred feet lower. Close to the snow, among rocks and in swampy places, the alpine vegetation was extremely luxuriant and beautiful.
After skirting the snow for perhaps half a mile, I descended a little to cross a ravine, and immediately after began to ascend rapidly over snow, which was hard and firm, so that it was traversed without difficulty. Throughout the whole ascent, there were at intervals steep slopes and masses of rock bare of snow, and even on the smallest of these spots vegetation was making rapid progress, under the encouragement of a powerful sun and abundant moisture. The plants observed were all alpine: among the number were several _Primulæ_, and species of _Draba_, _Potentilla_, _Sibbaldia_, _Ranunculus_, and _Pedicularis_. The ascent continued steady to the top of the pass, which was a mass of bare rock, quite free of snow, and elevated 14,800 feet. The pass (the name of which is _Sach Joth_) was a deep depression in the crest of the range, which rose on both sides to a considerable height. The ridge was a mass of black slate rock, in highly inclined strata, on which no snow lay, and which absorbed so much heat from the sun, that a number of minute plants were not only vegetating but in full flower. _Primula minutissima_ and a yellow _Draba_ were common, and a little _Ranunculus_ and _Potentilla_, with one moss and a species of lichen, also occurred more sparingly. The view from the pass was extensive to the southward, but to the north entirely intercepted by lofty precipitous ridges, distant not more than a mile. The morning had been beautiful, but before I reached the summit, a high wind had sprung up from the south, drifting heavy watery clouds over the crest, from which there were slight showers of hail.
