Mr. H. T. Colebrooke' s Remarks on the Setlej River. 369 



stream, which we crossed by a wooden bridge, and proceeded upon level 

 soil to Sumdo, a few huts occupied by the shepherds and their flocks. 

 Hence to camp, a distance of two miles, the path was nearly plain, and we 

 passed through a belt of birches at the immense elevation of 14,000 feet. 



" It is so named, after the species of juniper called Pdmd (which is the 

 only wood for fuel found in the vicinity) and is 13,700 feet above the sea. 



" This was a very fatiguing march for loaded persons. Siimdd is the 

 usual stage : and the next does not cross the pass ; but it had been snowing 

 for some days upon the heights around, and our guides preferred crossing 

 the chain on the second day fi-om R6pd for fear of bad weather. 



" Part of the baggage arrived during the night ; and from this time forward 

 the tent, with some other things, were lost sight of. 



" The Ddrbung is here much reduced in size. The cliffs rise from the 

 water's edge in wild disorder ; and every year marks them with decay. 

 Their sharp summits crumble away by frost and snow ; and large portions 

 of rock are precipitated into the bed of the river. 



" The following day we marched to Sopond, a halting place for travellers, 

 distant eight miles and three quarters. i 



" The road lay upon the bank of the Ddrbung, which it crossed thrice by 

 immense arches of snow, covered with heaps of stones that had fallen 

 from above. 



" The mountains are of limestone, and end in peaked summits of many 

 curious forms, inclined to the north at various angles. Not a trace of vege- 

 tation meets nourishment there ; and the snow cannot find a rest, but is 

 hurled down, together with the rock itself, and is exhibited at the bottom in 

 accumulations of a frightful magnitude. 



" We had now come two miles and three quarters, and the dell was 

 terminated, and close round. The Ddrbung is lost among the fields of snow 

 where it is generated ; and the whole space on every side is floored with ice 

 and frozen snow, half hid under stones and rubbish. In some places the 

 snow is of incredible depth, and hes in heaps. Having accumulated for 

 years together, it separates by its gravity, and spreads desolation far and 

 wide. 



" We had never before observed such enormous bodies of snow and ice, 

 nor altogetiier so wonderful a scene. So rapid and incessant is the progress 

 of destruction here, that piles of stone are erected to guide the traveller, 



