nvenience to traders. Hitherto, if
the traders used mules or other animals of this magnitude, they could
cross the river with them only by making them swim; or, if sheep were
their beasts of burden, by driving them over a twig bridge, through
the meshes of which many fell into the river. I crossed the twig
bridge myself; and I found it about the most difficult job I ever
attempted. The new bridge will be completed in a few weeks. This road,
however, useful though it will doubtless be when improved, leads
through Ladak, and the merchandise transported along it becomes
subject to the exactions of the ruler of Cashmere. The desideratum
would be a road which would be clear of his territory altogether.

The people in these regions seem good-humoured and merry-hearted,
producing for themselves all that they want; growing their own food,
making their own clothes; not much given to exchanges, and extremely
averse to labour. I asked a manager of a tea plantation the other day
how he was off for labour. He said that he contrived to induce
labourers to come to his plantation for a few days at a time, chiefly
for the purpose of earning money enough to pay the Government
assessment of their land; but his opinion was that, if there were no
assessment, no labour would be procurable. We have not yet come across
much tea. The plantations we have seen are on a very small scale, and
in a nascent condition; but they are promising. There seems no reason
to doubt that the climate and a certain portion at least of the soil
in this district are suited to the growth of tea. The climate, too,
does very well for the European constitution, though it is hardly as
healthy as I expected to find it. Both natives and Europeans are
subject to fever at certain seasons, especially in the valleys; but I
have no doubt that the latter may do well as employers of labour. This
place (Sultanpore) is only about 4,000 feet above the level of the
sea, and I have little doubt that, were the state of cultivation and
trade to justify the outlay, a cart road might be made to it without
great difficulty from the plain. This would greatly develop both its
natural resources and its capabilities as a commercial route.

The state of the forests which we have encountered during our route
has also engaged my attention. It is sad to see how th