3. Indus Valley (_a_) Ladakh including Zanskar and Rupshu. (_b_) Baltistan. (_c_) Astor and Gilgit. ~Chenab Valley.~--(_a_) _Plain and Kandi._ This tract extends from Mirpur on the Jhelam to Kathua near the Ravi and close to the head-works of the Upper Bari Doab Canal at Madhopur. It is coterminous with the Panjab districts of Jhelam, Gujrat, Sialkot, and Gurdaspur, and comprises four of the five districts of the Jammu Province, Mirpur, Riasi, Jammu, and Jasrota, and a part of the fifth, Udhampur. The plain is moist and unhealthy. The rough country behind with a stony and thirsty red soil covered in its natural state with _garna_ (Carissa spinarum), _sanatan_ (Dodonaea viscosa), and _bhekar_ (Adhatoda vasica) does not suffer in this respect. The chief crops of the Kandi are wheat, barley, and rape in the spring, and maize and _bajra_ in the autumn, harvest. Behind the Kandi is a higher and better tract, including Naoshera, with wide valleys, in which maize replaces _bajra_. (_b_) _Uplands._ The greater part of the Upper Chenab Valley is occupied by Kishtwar and _Jagir_ Bhadrawah. The rainfall is heavy and there is copious irrigation from _kuhls_ (page 142), but elevation and rapid drainage make the climate healthy. In the upper parts snow and cold winds sometimes prevent the ripening of the crops. The poppy is grown in Kishtwar and Bhadrawah. Kishtwar is a part of the Udhampur district. ~Jhelam Valley.~--(_a_) _Vale of Kashmir with adjoining glens and mountains._ This first division of the Jhelam Valley extends from the source above Vernag to Baramula, and embraces not only the Vale of Kashmir, over 80 miles long and from 20 to 25 miles in breadth, but the glens which drain into it and the mountains that surround it. It therefore includes cultivation of all sorts from rich irrigated rice fields to narrow plots terraced up mountain slopes on which buckwheat and the beardless Tibetan barley are grown. The administrative divisions are the _wazarat_ or district of South Kashmir and the southern part of North Kashmir. The central valley has an elevation of 6000 feet. It was undoubtedly once a lake bed. Shelving fan-shaped "_karewas_" spread out into it from the bases of the hills. The object of the Kashmiri is to raise as much rice as he possibly can on the alluvium of his valley and on the rich soil deposited on the banks of mountain streams. Manure and facilities for irrigation exist in abundance, and full use is made of them in the cultivation of the favourite crop. _Kangni_ takes the place of rice in many fields if there is any deficiency of water. On reclaimed swamps near the Jhelam heavy crops of maize are raised. The tillage for wheat and barley is as careless as that for rice is careful. The cultivation of saffron (Crocus sativus) on _karewas_ is famous, but the area is now limited, as the starving people ate up the bulbs in the great famine of 1877 and recovery is slow.