of the Valley of the Setlej River. 279 



The dell leading to the pass is very much contracted ; and 

 the ridges on each side are almost bare. The rock is gene- 

 rally a sort of slaty gneiss, sometimes in large masses, but more 

 commonly tumbling in pieces, with little soil, and less vege- 

 tation. 



Here, as at Shdtul, Captain Gerard noticed the circum- 

 stance of the mercury appearing quite pure [perfectly fluid ?] 

 when they left camp ; but, at the pass (when used for filling 

 a barometer) it had lost its lustre, and adhered to the fingers 

 and cup as if it were amalgamated. 



The descent from the pass, for half a mile, was at an angle 

 of 33°, upon gravel and snow, with a sharp-pointed rock oc- 

 casionally projecting through it. Some of the loaded people 

 slid down this declivity at the greatest risk. Travelling was 

 rendered laborious on the easier slope of snow, from its sink- 

 ing one and a-half to two feet. The fissures were beginning 

 to appear, and the guides picked their steps with much cau- 

 tion, leaping over whatever had the least appearance of a rent. 

 The snow fell fast ; and a piercing wind blew with fury down 

 the dell. 



The principal branch of the Nangdlti has its source much 

 further to the west ; a rivulet joins it from the pass. The 

 mountainous range having a N.W. aspect, is very rugged ; 

 and the snow (often of a reddish colour) presents enormous 

 banks of sixty or eighty feet thick, as shown by the part to- 

 wards the dell having fallen down where it cracked. This is 

 always the case on the precipitous sides of the vallies, because 

 the ridges, for a considerable way down, are too abrupt for 

 the snow to rest upon them : it therefore accumulates in large 

 quantities, where the inclination is more gentle ; it then cracks, 

 and tumbles down by its own weight, during the rainy season, 

 and leaves a perpendicular wall of eighty to a hundred feet in 

 depth. The mountains on the other side were less steep, and 

 the snow lies in continuous fields. 



The travellers proceeded over heaps of loose stones, snow, 

 and slush, at the point of congelation. They passed by seve- 

 ral deep blue lakes, with their banks of frozen snow : these are 

 always to be dreaded ; and they made a circuit by a seemingly 

 more arduous road, to avoid the danger. Two avalanches 



