Leaving Islamabad, I crossed immediately one branch of the Jelam, which descends from the west. It had already lost the tranquil character of the stream lower down. There were pebbles in its bed, and it had a more rapid current. After crossing this stream, the country was for some distance quite flat, and entirely covered with rice-fields, now bare; some of them had been ploughed, but most were still just as they had been left after harvest. They were traversed by numerous ditches or canals for irrigation, in all of which a proportion of fresh-water shells, chiefly _Lymnææ_, were seen. Further on, the appearance of the country began to change: there were still plenty of rice-fields, but they rose in steps one above another, and the water in the irrigation canals flowed rapidly over pebbly beds. Crossing another branch of the Jelam, which had a broad channel full of large boulders, but shallow and easily fordable, the road began gradually to ascend a low range of hills covered with grass and bushes where it was dry, but still laid out in rice-fields wherever water was procurable. These hills, which are the termination of a long range which descends from the snow-clad mountains at the east end of the valley, are composed of a very hard limestone, the strata of which are much bent, sinuated, and fractured. On the south side of this ridge is the valley of Shahabad, which is watered by the principal branch of the Jelam. It contains numerous villages, surrounded with fine orchards, and its rice-fields are arranged in terraces. Water being plentiful, the whole valley is cultivated with rice, and the district appears to be one of the richest in Kashmir.
The general character of the vegetation continues the same as further west, and the more advanced season enabled me to recognize a few common Himalayan plants. The scandent white rose (_R. Brunonis_) was one of these, also _Lonicera diversifolia_ and a shrubby _Indigofera_. I also observed _Viola serpens_, _Thymus Serpyllum_, _Lactuca dissecta_, and _Fragaria Indica_. Among the rice-fields several plains plants occurred, such as _Potentilla supina_, _Convolvulus arvensis_, _Mazus rugosus_, _Salvia plebeia_, and _Marsilea quadrifolia_. Nor were the plants of a Tibetan climate altogether wanting, for _Rosa Webbiana_ was everywhere common, and a species of _Myricaria_ grew plentifully among the boulders on the banks of all the streams.