VOL. LXXIX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 547 



natives say, a direct exposure to these winds occasions the loss of their fore-teeth; 

 and our faithful guide ascribed that defect in himself to this cause. We escaped 

 with loss of the skin from the greatest part of our faces. 



Road to Seluh, Sept. 18. Near our road to-day found a hot- well, much fre- 

 quented by people with venereal complaints, rheumatism, and all cutaneous 

 diseases. They do not drink the water, but use it as a bath. The thermometer, 

 when immersed in the water, rose from 40° to 88°. It has a strong sulphureous 

 smell, and contains a portion of hepar sulphuris. Exposure to air deprives it, 

 as most other mineral wells, of much of its property. 



Road to Takui, Sept. IQ. Pass some fields of barley and pease, and get into 

 a milder climate. Find to-day a great variety of stone and rock, some con- 

 taining copper, and others, a very pure rock crystal, regularly crystallized, with 

 6 unequal sides. The rock crystal is of different sizes and degrees of purity, 

 but of one form. Find some flint and granite, several springs of water impreg- 

 nated with iron, and nearly of the same temperature with the atmosphere. See 

 a few ill thriving willows planted near the habitations, and which are the only 

 trees to be met with. 



Road to Tissoolumboo, Sept. 20, 21, and 22. The remaining part of our 

 journey is over a more fertile soil, enjoying a milder climate. Some very good 

 fields of wheat, barley, and pease; many pleasant villages and distant houses, 

 less sand and more rock, part slaty, and much of it a very good sort of flint. 

 The soil in the valley a light coloured clay and sand. They are every where em- 

 ployed in cutting down their crop. What a happy climate ! The sky serene and 

 clear, without a cloud; and so confident are they of the continuance of this 

 weather, that their crop is thrown together in a convenient part of the field, 

 without any cover, to remain till they can find time to thresh it out. Before we 

 reached Tissoolumboo found some elms and ash trees. 



The hills in Thibet have, from their general appearance, strong marks of con- 

 taining those fossils that are inimical to vegation ; such are most of the ores of 

 metal and pyritical matter. The country, properly explored, promises better 

 than any I have seen to gratify the curiosity of a philosopher, and reward the 

 labours of a mineralist. Accident, more than a spirit of enterprise and inquiry, 

 has already discovered the presence of many valuable ores and minerals in Thibet. 

 The first in this list is deservedly gold. They find it in large quantities, and 

 frequently Very pure. In the form of gold-dust it is found in the beds of rivers, 

 and at their several bendings, generally attached to small pieces of stone, with 

 every appearance of its having been part of a larger mass. They find it some- 

 times in large masses, lumps, and irregular veins; the adhering stone is gene- 

 rally flint or quartz, and I have sometimes seen a half-formed, impure sort of 

 precious stone in the mass. By a common process for the purification of gold, 



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