THE GOROSCHO GLACIER. 311 



Kalde-Tshalai. The scenery of tlie lateral glen, wliicli 

 runs due north, towards the base of the snowj chain, is 

 verj grand, the torrent flowing in a deep channel between 

 precipitous walls of rock. At one spot a bridge leaps 

 boldly from side to side ; at another, two sti'eams fall in 

 showers of spraj into the bottom of the cleft. 



Our men did not take us across the bridge to Agran, a 

 village on the opposite slope, probably to avoid any chance 

 of a disagreeable encounter ; for they asked Paul not to 

 mention where they came from if we met any villagers, as 

 the relations of Davkar and Agran were not friendl3\ We 

 kept up along an ill-marked track until, above the gorge, 

 the remains of a winter avalanche bridged the torrent, 

 and enabled us to join the more beaten path on the 

 opposite side of the valley. The glen widens out near its 

 head, and the pasturages are strewn with granite boulders, 

 transported by ice or water from the central chain. A 

 small ruined tower appeared before us, and was pointed 

 out as our resting-place for the night, and a recess in the 

 hillside on the east marked the course by which a pass 

 practicable for horses leads directly to Jibiani. The large 

 Goroscho glacier pushed its terminal moraine far down into 

 the head of the valley, and we could see thi'ough the clouds 

 that the mountain -wall rose precipitously above it. The 

 tower housed our men ; we preferred to pitch our tent under 

 the shelter of a low stone wall by which it was surrounded. 

 July 20th. — The morning was fine, and only a few fleecy 

 vapours hung upon the range at the head of the valley. 

 The Clio's above the Goroscho glacier are very similar in 

 character to those which overhang its next neighbour on 

 the east, the Nuamquam, but the shapes of the peaks 

 which crown them are even more varied and pictm-esque. 

 The lower portion of the glacier is level, but its upj)er 

 snows descend in torn and tangled networks of towers and 



