398 Professor J. W. Gregory — 



moraines appear to be the lowest known in Sikkim. Moraines are 

 reported to occur in most of the high-level valleys of northern 

 Sikkim. Thus Hooker remarked (1854, vol. i, p. 380), "I have 

 described meeting with ancient moraines in every Himalayan valley 

 I ascended, at or about 7,000 or 8,000 feet elevation, proving that at 

 one period the glaciers descended fully so much below the position 

 they now occupy." 



Bose records abundant moraines, which were deposited by glaciers 

 from Pandim, in the upper Jongri Valley about Thangme, 12,900 feet 

 (Bose, 1891, pp. 55-9); but further down the valley at Yoksun, 

 5,500 feet, he failed (ibid., p. 61) "to find any evidence of glacial 

 erosion". In his subsequent memoir on Sikkim Bose describes the 

 moraines in the Lachen and Lachung valleys ; he refers to the great 

 terminal moraine in the Lachen Valley at the height of 8,790 feet as 

 the lowest unmistakable evidence of former glacial action in Sikkim, 

 though he remarks that the valley has " a glacial look about it" to 

 the level of 7,000 feet (Bose, 1891, p. 219). 



Professor Garwood's evidence is similar. During Mr. D. W. 

 Freshfield's expedition around Kinchinjunga he crossed the Lachen 

 moraines and confirmed their character and altitude (Garwood, 1893, 

 p. 298 and map opp. p. 306). 



2. Absence of Striated Surfaces. 



Though moraines are abundant in the higher Himalayan valleys, 

 striated rock surfaces appear very scarce. Their absence from 

 Sikkim has been especially remarked by Blanford (1871, p. 401), 

 who saw rounded rock^at about 15,000 feet near the Chang-o-Khang 

 glacier, in the Lachung Yalley ; but he remarks, "I could never 

 detect any polished or striated surfaces, such as are so common in 

 Europe. Hooker has also noticed this" ; and he adds that Medlicott 

 failed to find them in the Western Himalaya. 



Mr. P. N. Bose (1891, p. 57) repeats that ice-scratchings " are 

 either indistinct or absent in the Himalayas" ; he attributes the 

 rapid destruction of moraines and removal of all traces of glacial 

 action to the heavy rainfall (Bose, 1891, p. 219). 



3. The Boche Moutonnee at Chakung. 



Owing to the extreme wetness of the climate in Sikkim glacial 

 striae are doubtless soon obliterated when exposed to the weather. 

 The glaciated surface at Chakung had been recently cleared during 

 the reconstruction of the bridle-path owing to part of it having been 

 carried away by a landslip. The locality (Fig. 1) is 8 miles north of 

 Darjeeling, from which it is 22 miles distant by road ; it is on the 

 path from Chakung to Binchenpong, on the steep descent from the 

 Chakung bungalow to the Katho Biver. The track passes some 

 rounded surfaces of fresh rock, which are sharply separated from the 

 overlying soil and are suggestive of glacial action. Pour minutes 

 before reaching the ninth mile post from Singla Bazar is a newly 

 bared rock surface which shows typical glacial grooves and striae. 

 The rock is a dark phyllite : its strike is to 170° and its dip about 

 60° to south of west. 



