42 Captain Gerard's Account of a Survey 



extend higher than 12,000 feet above the sea. The grains 

 ■were almost ripe, and there were a few poplars in the vicinity.''* 



After a halt of a day at Manes, where the temperature va- 

 ried (1st September) from 52° at sunrise to 81° at the hottest 

 time of the day, Messrs Gerard proceeded to Tengdi> a small 

 village in the district of Pinu, comprised in the province of 

 Spiti. They kept along the right bank of the river, a little 

 above the stream, and then descended into the bed of the 

 Spiti river, to the village of Solak. The dell is frequently a 

 mile across, and the river winds through it in many channels, 

 among islands of sand and pebbles, which are covered with 

 barberry and other bushes. The fort of Dankar, opposite 

 this, is a considerable place, containing about forty houses, 

 which, as at Stiidlkhar, are inside. The walls are partly stone, 

 partly mud, and the position is among rugged projections of 

 gravel. Its altitude is not less than 13,000 feet above the sea. 

 Above the fort two rivers unite; the largest, which has a 

 bridge of ropes over it, rises in the Pdrdldsd range on the 

 N. W., and is called either Spiti or Kunjom ; the other, also a 

 large stream, is named Pinu ; its principal branches have their 

 sources near Tari pass, on the S. W. 



Near Solak, where a meridian altitude of the sun was taken, 

 is the highest latitude Messrs Gerard reached in this journey, 

 viz. m° 5' 34". 



The best road crosses the Pinu at this place, and proceeds 

 on the other side ; but the stream was not fordable. It was 

 attempted, but the current was found to be much too rapid. 

 They had no choice but to encounter the difficulty of a most 

 frightful descent. In one place is a notched tree from rock 

 to rock, for the passage of a chasm : beyond this, a line of 

 rocky ledges excavated for the toes to enter : above the crags 

 overhang, and beneath is a precipice more than 100 feet deep. 

 Unloaded people get over with the utmost difficulty ; the hag- 

 gage therefore was lowered by ropes. Immediately beyond 

 this they came to an inclined rock, 100 feet high, which they 

 had to climb over : it was nearly smooth, and could scarcely 

 be ascended barefooted. The path continued dangerous for 

 a mile and a half farther, upon hard gravel sloping steeply to 

 the river. The dell is from a quarter to half a mile wide, 



