A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



to my mind, had lost nothing of its extraordinary 

 character for rugged outline and bizarre colouring, 

 and, though I had seen much of this sort of ground 

 since my previous experience of the valley, I was 

 still of opinion that it was the finest and most 

 striking view of the kind that I had come across. 

 On reaching the village of Miru we turned east- 

 wards up the valley that runs down from the range 

 on the west side of the Tubbuh branch of the Gya 

 Nalah ; and here I particularly noticed the curious 

 conglomerate rock of which the cliffs are largely 

 composed, and which sometimes consists of most 

 brilliantly coloured stones and pebbles which are 

 imbedded in the solidified mud. Moorcrafc describes 

 it as " a sort of pudding stone." 



The air was now quite soft and warm, very 

 different to the icy blasts of the higher regions 

 (we had descended to 13,000 feet). This side 

 ravine is a very barren one, and at first very 

 narrow, being shut in on either side by exceedingly 

 steep hills of shale, but about three miles higher up 

 it becomes wider, rocky precipices showing them- 

 selves behind these slopes. At this point I 

 encamped, and the very same evening we dis- 

 covered, through the glasses, a flock of seven shapoo 

 rams, high up on the hills above the camp ; but it 

 was too late to pursue them then. 



The next day I was off after them at an early 

 hour, and during the morning had some really bad 

 climbing along the face of shale slopes some 



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