[Sidenote: VALLEY BEFORE MATTIANA. _August, 1847._]
On our present journey, however, we took the usual road, which descends from Mattiana to the valley immediately on the east, crosses it, and passes over a long spur on its eastern side, into another valley, the head of which is immediately below Nagkanda, to which place the road ascends, at last very steeply. The ravine immediately below Mattiana is crossed at an elevation probably a little above 6000 feet, as the trees of the temperate region, such as the holly-leaved and woolly oak, _Andromeda_, and _Rhododendron_, continue to the very bottom of the descent; and _Pinus excelsa_ is common on the eastern slope, a little way above the stream, which descends very abruptly, like all the hill torrents near their sources, along a rocky channel, filled with large boulders. On the banks of the little stream there were a few trees of an _Acacia_, common in the lower forests, which Mr. Bentham considers a hairy variety of the _Albizzia Julibrissin_ of western Asia. I observed also a Laurel, an Olive, _Rhus_, and the common Toon (_Cedrela Toona_), all indicative of the commencement of a subtropical vegetation, which no doubt must be abundant on its banks a very few miles further down. Few of the plants observed in the valley were different from those common around Simla; a species of _Caragana_, a Leguminous genus abundant in Siberia, and in the interior and more dry parts of the Himalaya, was perhaps the most interesting.
The ascent from the ravine was well wooded in its lower part with oak and pine. A few trees of a very handsome poplar (_P. ciliata_), a tall widely-branching large-leaved tree, occurred in its lower part, as did also _Benthamia fragifera_, and a yew, apparently undistinguishable from the common European species. The upper part of the ascent was bare and grassy. The spur is a steep one, descending rapidly from the main range, and the road winding round its shoulder does not ascend beyond 7000 feet, but as soon as it has gained the eastern face continues nearly level, gradually approaching the centre of the valley, and winding along the hill-sides among numerous villages. The slopes are generally bare; here and there in the hollows or recesses along the lateral streamlets there is some very fine forest.
