278 THE COLONIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



dance of strawberries, thyme, nettles, thistles, and other European plants 

 were noticed, and the houses were shaded by apricot, walnut, and horse- 

 chesnut trees. The ascent of the Yusu pass (15,877 feet), at the head of 

 the Sapan river, was performed with the greatest difficulty ; the glen 

 through which the Sapan forces its passage becomes more and more con- 

 tracted, until it is at last bounded by mural rocks of granite, between 

 which the river flows in impenetrable obscurity under immense heaps of 

 undestructible ice, running in lofty ridges, and studded with gigariitc 

 mounds of snow. The source of the Pabar is in a lake called Charamai 

 (15,000 feet high), above a mile in circuit, when the river rushes forth 

 over a perpendicular rock, forming a fine cascade, the appearance of which 

 is heightened by the enormous banks of snow, 100 feet high above it, some 

 of which have cracked and fallen outwards into the lake. The nights were 

 calm, but the dreary solitude of the place was now and then broken by 

 the tremendous crashing sounds of falling rocks or mountain avalanches. 

 Messrs. Gerard descended into the romantic valley of the noble Baspa 

 river, by sliding down the snowy declivities seated on a blanket (a mode 

 invariably practised by the mountaineers where there are no rocks or pre- 

 cipices). Rakham village, in the Baspa valley (11,400 feet high), situate 

 in the western corner of the glen, here three furlongs wide, half of which is 

 laid out in thriving crops of wheat and barley, and the rest occupied by 

 sandbeds or small islands, with the Baspa river winding among them. 

 Just above the village high steeples of black mica rock rise abruptly 

 9,000 feet. 



" The Kimlia pass was attempted, but only 15,500 feet could be attained, 

 when the snow became impassable. Here the Rusu river, at 13,300 feet, 

 foams along in dreadful turbulence and rapidity, the noise of the torrent 

 being astounding. Deep blue lakes were passed, along the precipices 

 skirting which notches had to be cut with a hatchet, to enable the travellers 

 to wend their weary, dangerous route. Vast fields of soft snow, at 17,000 

 feet elevation, and heavy rain and sleet prevented their further progress in 

 the direction of the Kimlia pass ; but the Charang pass was crossed, at 

 17,318 feet elevation, to the valley of the Nalgalti river. The snow crossed 

 was often of a reddish colour, eighty feet thick, with terrific fissures, and 

 the descent for half a mile often at an angle of from 33 deg. to 37 deg. over 

 gravel and snow, with here and there a sharp pointed rock projecting 

 through it. At Kiukuche, on the banks of the Nangalti (12,400 feet high), 

 there was an enclosure for cattle, and there were a few cross breed between 

 the Yak (Tartar bull) and common cow, feeding in the glen on a few hun- 

 dred yards of grassy slope of odoriferous herbs and juniper bushes, sur- 

 rounded by craggy cliffs of horrid forms. 



" The Tidung, at its junction with the Nangalti, when visited, presented 

 a furious rapid stream of great declivity, for six or seven miles, the fall 

 being 300 feet per mile, and in some places double; huge rocks were 

 whirled along with frightful velocity, nothing visible but an entire sheet of 

 foam and spray, thrown up and showered upon the surrounding rocks with 

 loud concussion, and re-echoed from bank to bank with the noise of the 

 loudest thunder ; around the blue slate mountains tower 18,000 feet in 

 sharp detached groups or pinnacles, covered neither with vegetation nor 

 with snow, and exhibiting decay and barrenness in its most frightful aspect. 

 (A Tartar village was found here, called Huns). Where the dell was nar- 

 rowest, there was so little space for the river, that the road continued but 

 for a small distance on the same side, and over this frightful torrent the 

 English travellers had repeatedly to cross on ropes, or sangas, loosely hung 

 from rock to rock on either side ; one of these sangas was inclined at an 

 angle of 15 deg. Messrs. Gerard one while picked their way upon smooth 

 surfaces of granite, sloping to the raging torrent ; at another time the route 

 led among huge masses and angular blocks of rock, forming spacious caves 



