BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 151 
all the ravines beyond. I shall not attempt to describe these grand 
rivers of ice, for it is impossible to do satisfactorily, and you having, I 
believe, seen many glaciers, can conceive what they must have been. 
The present road to Yarkund crosses the Shayok, and ascends a smaller 
branch which joins it. The lower part of this tributary stream is rocky 
and difficult, but after a few miles it becomes open, and for two days 
I marched, without interruption, along its gravelly bed, rising from 
below 16,000 to very near 17,000 feet. On the third day I left it, 
and making a short abrupt ascent up a ravine, emerged suddenly on a 
bare, stony plain,—a table-land of eight or ten miles in width, ele- 
vated from 17,500 to 18,000 feet above the level of the sea. When 
a 
dently passed during the two days that I followed the bed of the 
stream ; and I at once recollected that on both these days all the 
ravines on my left hand, and some on my right, had been occupied by 
glaciers, which did not, however, descend very low. The range of 
snowy mountains extended as far as eye could reach on both sides, 
and, though I am avery bad hand at estimating height at a distance, I 
think I am within the truth in stating the peaks to have risen to at 
least 24,000 feet. My road lay nearly due north across the plain, at 
the end of which a gradual descent led to a small stream flowing from 
east to west through an open valley. This, I was informed, joined the 
Shayok, and along it ran the old road, now stopped by glaciers. From 
the open ient the only snowy range visible, was that to the 
untains to the north were not very elevated, and were 
Eus ii with snow. The plain itself was almost quite free of 
snow, and the two or three small patches which existed were evidently 
fast melting away. Crossing the stream, the bed of which was upwards 
of 17,000 feet in elevation, I found that the road took a northerly 
direction for about two miles, and then turned to the west up a wide 
valley, rising very gently. At the commencement of this I encamped, 
and leaving my tent, went on to visit the pass of the Karakoram, be- 
yond which I did not intend to proceed. Following the valley for 
about eight miles, I then turned suddenly to the right or north, and a 
short steep ascent brought me to the top of the pass, which from the 
boiling point of water (by which only my heights are determined), I 
found to be 18,600 feet. It was quite free from snow, but on the slopes 
