Saffron is used as a pigment for the sectarian marks on the forehead of the orthodox Hindu and also as a condiment. The little floating vegetable gardens on the Dal lake are a very curious feature. The "_demb_" lands on the borders of the same lake are a rich field for the market gardener's art. He fences a bit of land with willows, and deposits on it weeds and mud from the lake bed. He is of the boatman or Hanz caste, whose reputation is by no means high, and can himself convey by water his vegetables and fruits to the Srinagar market. The production of fruit in Kashmir is very large, and the extension of the railway to Srinagar should lead to much improvement in the quality and in the extent of the trade. It may also improve the prospects of sericulture. [Illustration: Fig. 140. Takht i Suliman in Winter.] (_b_) _Jhelam Gorge and Valley of Kishnganga._ The Jhelam gorge below Baramula is narrow and the cultivation is usually terraced. The Kishnganga joins the Jhelam near Muzaffarabad. The Muzaffarabad district includes the Jhelam gorge and the lower part of the valley of the Kishnganga. The upper part is in the Uttarmachhipura _tahsil_ of the district of North Kashmir. ~Indus Valley.~--(_a_) _Ladakh including Zanskar and Rupshu._ Some description of Ladakh and its scenery has already been given in Chapter II. It may be divided into Rupshu, Zanskar, and Ladakh proper with Leh as its centre. Rupshu in the south-east is a country of great brackish lakes in no part less than 13,500 feet above sea level. At such a height cultivation must be very difficult, but a little beardless Tibetan barley is raised. The scanty population consists mainly of nomad shepherds. In Ladakh the people are divided into shepherds or _champas_, who roam over the Alpine pastures, and Ladakhis, who till laboriously every available patch of culturable land in the river valleys. Though both are Buddhists they rarely intermarry. Zanskar to the N.W. of Rupshu is drained by the river of the same name, which flows northwards to join the Indus below Leh. It forms part of the Kargil _tahsil_. Zanskar is a bleak inaccessible region where the people and cattle remain indoors for six months of the year. Its breed of ponies is famous. In Ladakh proper cultivation ranges from 9000 to 15,000 feet. The sandy soil must be manured and irrigated, and is often refreshed by top-dressings of fresh earth from the hill sides. The crops are wheat and barley, rape, lucerne, peas and beans, in spring, and buckwheat, millets, and turnips, in autumn. There is a great lack of wood for building and for fuel, and the deficiency in the latter case has to be supplied by cow-dung cakes. Notwithstanding their hard life the people are cheerful and fairly well off, for polyandry has prevented overcrowding. [Illustration: Fig. 141. Ladakh Hills.]