NO MAN'S LAND 163 



bright, intelligent, and clean, and attend school very 

 diligently. 



Smyth inspected the schools and was well pleased. We 

 also interviewed some pundits who were preparing to start 

 for survey work in Tibet under Government authority. 

 Smyth had selected these young men, and sent them to 

 the Engineering College at Roorkee to be trained by the 

 instructions of Colonel Montgomerie, R.E. They were 

 waiting for one of their chronometers, which had gone 

 wrong and had been sent to Roorkee to be regulated. 

 They started shortly after on their eventful journey, and 

 one only succeeded in getting to Lhasa, which city he 

 surveyed surreptitiously ; and had many adventures 

 during several years' travelling, as duly recorded by the 

 Geographical Society. 



There are many villages further down the valley, which 

 is extensive. The celebrated Milam glacier is situated up 

 the main valley above Milam. A great river issues from 

 its base, coming out from under a cavern in the ice, which 

 is some 400 feet thick. This cavern is vast and fearful 

 to look at. The glacier breaks off as it melts in great 

 blocks, which fall at intervals on to the flat 400 feet below. 

 The crash of these falling icebergs is appalling when 

 heard at night. The long space of flat open valley below 

 the cavern shows that the glacier has been receding. If 

 it were to advance it would sweep away Milam and all its 

 inhabitants. One cannot go too near the cavern. 



The Milam glacier derives its source from the great ice- 

 fields which fill up the entire valley lying between the 

 snowy peaks of Nanda Devi, Trisul, and Dunagiri. These 

 summits tower up to the skies to the west and south. At 

 this season they are concealed by the vapour, but occa- 

 sionally there was a break in the clouds, when these giants 

 could be seen. There were on the glacier surface lakes 



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