280 Captain Gerard's Account of a Survey 



descended opposite to them : one of rock, which spent its force 

 in distance, the smaller fragments just reaching them; the 

 other of snow, but arrested by intervening rocks. 



The rocks in the vicinity of K'iukuche, an enclosure for 

 cattle, on the banks of the Nangalti (where they encamped at 

 an elevation of 12,400 feet, as indicated by the barometer,) 

 were granite, and fine-grained mica slate. 



Four considerable streams were forded, which rise at the 

 back of the Callus, and joining the Nangalt'i, at length mingle 

 their waters with the Tidung river. 



After fording the Nangalti, thyme, and further on juniper, 

 mint, sage, and a variety of odoriferous plants were met with. 

 At K'iukuche there were a few animals of the cross-breed, be- 

 tween the yak (bos grunniens) and common cow. 



On either side, for a few hundred yards, there is a grassy 

 slope, with juniper and other bushes ; and just above it, the 

 dell is inbound by craggy cliffs of horrid forms. A little fur- 

 ther down, the glen becomes more contracted in breadth, and 

 the mountains present mural faces of rock, which continue for 

 two miles, to the union of the Na?igalti with the Tidung. 



Few of the loaded people arrived the same day ; two of them 

 stopped all night at the top of the pass, and tore up their blan- 

 kets to protect their feet. Fortunately it did not snow, and 

 clouds prevented severe frost, or they certainly would not have 

 survived the night. People were despatched to their assist- 

 ance ; and all were up soon after noon next day. 



Recommencing their journey, the travellers followed the 

 course of the Nangalti river to its junction with the Tidung, 

 and explored the valley of this last-mentioned river, ascending 

 to the village of Charang (1 2,000 feet,) amidst mountains 

 18,000 feet high ; and proceeding thence to Thangi, and af- 

 terwards to the confluence of the same river with the Setlej. 

 The principal branch, retaining the name of Tidung, flows 

 from the E.S.E., having its source in Chinese Tartary. 



The valley of the Tidung is very narrow ; in parts so much 

 so, as scarcely to afford a passage for the river. The stream 

 is furiously rapid, the declivity very great, and the rumbling 

 of large stones, carried down with velocity by the force of the 

 water, was incessant. For six or seven miles the fall of the 



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