THE NITI PASS. 317 



in and left yawning holes disclosing the dark gurgling water 

 tearing along below. We stopped for that day at the head 

 of the defile, where the stony ground was clear of snow, and 

 the cold blast that blew down the gorge as if through a 

 funnel raised the dust in clouds and made it difficult to 

 keep our tents standing. Beyond this, for the ten or twelve 

 miles before reaching the summit of the pass, there is no 

 difficulty to speak of, and the scenery is grand though 

 somewhat dreary and monotonous. Across the river, on the 

 south side, several flocks of burrell containing some good 

 rams were seen on the steep slopes. We camped just below 

 the short but pretty stiff final ascent to the top of the ghat, 

 in order to get over it in the early morning before the snow 

 became softened by the heat of the sun. 



Starting very early, the crest was reached soon after sun- 

 rise. The view you get from it of Hundes is more striking 

 than beautiful. In the glaring picture before you there is 

 an absence of what a painter would call chiaro-oscuro ; not 

 in its literal sense by any means, for there is certainly no 

 want of light and shade, but in the harmonious blending of 

 these effects, which is, I think, the technical acceptation of 

 the term. The aerial perspective, too, looks almost un- 

 natural in its clearness. That mighty object of Hindoo 

 veneration, the Kailas peak, rising 22,000 odd feet, about a 

 hundred miles away eastward, close above the great holy 

 lake of Mansorawar which latter, though invisible from 

 the pass, I knew to be quite that distance as the crow flies 

 did not seem more than half as far off. In vain do you 

 here look for the beautiful sunrise or sunset effects of more 

 dense and humid atmospheres, for the sun shines through 

 the thin air of these high Tibetan regions with the same 

 garish-white glare when on the horizon as when on the 

 meridian. Perhaps I might have viewed the prospect 

 before me in a different light under more agreeable circum- 

 stances, but the high wind that blew the dry drifting snow 

 off the neighbouring mountain-tops in long pennon-like 



