Geology.—The general strike of the beds, and of the folds which have affected them, is from N.W. to S.E., parallel to the mountain ranges. Along the S.W. border lies the zone of Tertiary beds which forms the Sub-Himalayas. Next to this is a great belt of Palaeozoic rocks, through which rise the granite, gneiss and schist of the Zanskar and Dhauladhar ranges and of the Pir Panjal. In the midst of the Palaeozoic area lie the alluvium and Pleistocene deposits of the Srinagar valley, and the Mesozoic and Carbonifer ous basin of the upper part of the Sind valley. Beyond the great Palaeozoic belt is a zone of Mesozoic and Tertiary beds which commences at Kargil and extends S.E. past the Kashmir boundary to Spiti and beyond. Finally, in Baltistan and the Ladakh range there is a broad zone composed chiefly of old gneiss and schist.
Climate.—The valley of Kashmir, sheltered from the S.W. monsoon by the Panjal range, has not the periodical rains of India. Its rainfall is irregular, greatest in the spring months. Occasion ally storms in the monsoon pass over the crests of the Panjal and give heavy rain on the elevated plateaus on the Kashmir side. And again clouds pass over the valley and are arrested by the higher N.E. hills. Snow falls on the surrounding hills at intervals from October to March. As a health resort Kashmir, excluding Srina gar, which is insanitary and relaxing, has no rival anywhere in the neighbourhood of India. Its climate is admirably adapted to the European constitution, and in consequence of the varied range of temperature and the facility of moving about the visitor is en abled with ease to select places at elevations most congenial to him. Formerly only 200 passes a year were issued by the govern ment, but now no restriction is placed on visitors, and their num ber increases annually. The railway to Rawalpindi, and a driving road thence to Srinagar make the valley easy of access. When the temperature in Srinagar rises at the beginning of June, there is a general exodus of visitors to Gulmarg, a fashionable hill-station. This great influx of visitors has resulted in a corresponding dim inution of game. Special game preservation rules have been intro duced and nullahs are let out for stated periods with a restriction on the number of head to be shot. The wild animals of the coun try include ibex, markhor, oorial, the Kashmir stag, and black and brown bears. Many sportsmen cross into Ladakh and the Pamirs.
Jammu, and the Buddhists are confined to Ladakh. In Kashmir proper the few Hindus (64,565) (1921) are mostly Brahmans, known as Pundits. Up to recent times flood, fire and epidemics were very serious troubles ; the cultivator lived under a system of begar, which entitled an official to take either labour or commodi ties free of payment from the villages. Having no security of property, the people had no incentive to effort, and with no se curity for life they lost the independence of free men. But the land settlement of 1889 swept many abuses away. Restrictive monopo lies, under which bricks, lime, paper and certain other manufac tures were closed to private enterprise, were abolished. In conse quence of this improvement in their conditions of life and of the influx of wealth into the country brought by visitors, the Kashmiri grows every year in material prosperity and independence of character. The State contributed materially in men and money to the Great War.
The language spoken in Kashmir is akin to that of the Punjab, though marked by many peculiarities. It possesses an ancient literature, which is written in a special character (see KASHMIRI).
Crops.—The staple crop of the valley is rice, which forms the chief food of the people. Indian corn comes next ; wheat, barley and oats are also grown. Every kind of English vegetable thrives well, especially asparagus, artichoke, seakale, broad beans, scarlet runners, beetroot, cauliflower and cabbage. Fruit trees are met with all over the valley, wild but bearing fruit, and the cultivated orchards yield pears, apples, peaches, cherries, etc., equal to the best European produce. The chief trees are deodar, firs and pines, chenar or plane, maple, birch and walnut. A complete list of the flora and fauna of the valley will be found in Sir Walter Law rence's book on Kashmir.
Industries.—The chief industry of Srinagar was formerly the weaving of the celebrated Kashmir shawl, which dates back to the days of the emperor Baber. These shawls first became fashionable in Europe in the reign of Napoleon III., when they fetched from io to f 1 oo ; but the industry received a blow at the time of the Franco-German War, and the famine of 1877 scattered the weavers. The place of the Kashmir shawl has to some extent been taken by the Kashmir carpet, but the most thriving industry now is that of silk-weaving. Srinagar is also celebrated for its silver work, papier macho and wood-carving.