110 0)1 the Glaciers of the Ilimalai/a. 



source of the river, and which seems to be a continuation of 

 the plateau I before mentioned. 



The first appearance is remarkable : it seems to be a vast 

 rounded mass of rocks and ground, utterly devoid of any sign 

 of vegetation, standing up out of a grassy valley. From the 

 foot of its nearer extremity, the river, even here unfordable, 

 rushes in a turbid torrent out of a sort of cave, the top of 

 which, when I saw it, was but a few feet above the surface 

 of the water. The end immediately over the source of the 

 river is very steep, and of a dull black colour. It is considei'- 

 ably fissured, the rents appearing to arise from the lower 

 parts tearing themselves from the upper by their own weight. 

 On a closer examination, this abrupt end proves to be a sur- 

 face of ice, covered with sand and gravel, and curiously striped 

 by the channel made by the water that runs down it as it 

 melts. Behind this, the glacier I'ises less steeply, like a bare 

 gravel hill, to its full height, which is probably about 500 feet 

 above the water of the river, when it leaves the cave ; in 

 some places, however, ai'e seen great fissures both vertical 

 and horizontal, the latter evidently made by the sepai'ation 

 of regulai'ly stratified layers. The last thing that might be 

 expected of such a dismal coloured and monotonously rounded 

 hill is, that it should be composed within of the purest ice. 



The cliff's that form the immediate bounds of the valley 

 where the glacier lies are of no gi*eat height ; but the moun- 

 tains of which they are the foot, rise many thousand feet above 

 them, though with much monotony of appearance. Many 

 grassy slopes are still seen considerably above the glacier ; 

 but bare rock and snow much predominate, and are soon left 

 in sole possession of these inhospitable regions. Two peaks* 

 which rise, one to the north-east and the other to the north- 



* The peak on the north-west is the most easterly of the three smaller peaks 

 which are seen from Alinorah, below NunJa Devee. That on the north-east is 

 the point at the end of the range that descends from Nunda Kot to the north> 

 and appears on its left from Almorah. Between these peaks is the pass called' 

 after Mr Traill, over which he went into Joohar, or the valley of the Goree. 

 It is, perhaps, rather gratuitous to call this passage a pass, as no one has gone 

 over it since, and certainly never will go, unless from Quriosity. To the right 

 of the north-east peak is another depression in the range, over which, I was 

 told, Mr Traill attempted to go, hut failed. 



