1871.] W. T. Blanford — Journey through Si/dim. 399 



12th. It was clear in the early morning, but, about sunrise, 

 clouds came up the valley, and some rain fell. This cleared off in 

 about an hour, but meantime all the hills around, down to 

 within 1000 feet of the valley, had received a light covering of 

 snow. I started up the east side of the valley about 10 o'clock, 

 and after climbing through firs and rhododendrons for about 2000 

 feet, emerged amongst grass and rocks; about 1500 feet more 

 took me to the bottom of a small glacier. The giant rhubarb was 

 scattered here and there about the slope, and on my way down 

 I shot one of the grouse-like snow-partridges, Lerva nivicola, and 

 an accentor, A. Nipalensis. The great glacier which extends nearly 

 to the valley was far beneath me here. At its termination is a 

 peculiar moraine disposed in a terrace. Another glacier which 

 terminates to the northward of the large one, exhibits the same 

 peculiarity in a more striking manner, for lateral moraines, 

 arranged in a double terrace, run for some distance up the side of 

 the valley in which the glacier lies. The cause of the peculiar 

 conformation in the latter case is clear ; it is due to the gradual 

 decrease in size of the glacier, and the filling in of the space left 

 between the ice and the sides of the valley by moraines at two 

 successive different elevations at which the ice has stood, but the 

 terrace at the bottom of the great glacier is less easily accounted for. 



I had a very slight headache from the climbing, but it soon went 

 off, the men with me suffered more, as indeed they usually did, 

 I think. 



13th. A glorious morning. At sunrise there was a little fleecy 

 mist about the peaks, but all above was clear blue sky, and the 

 valley was exposed in all its grandeur. Looking downwards 

 on the west side, a series of crags appeared, of most fantastic shape, 

 terminating in a multitude of pinnacles, here and there set off 

 by the snow which had fallen in the night, and relieved by a few 

 larger snow- covered mountains. Up the valley the huge snow 

 mass of Chang-o-khang rose above all the surrounding peaks, and 

 a big glacier ran down from it which closed the end of one of the 

 forks of the valley. Between the two forks were black rocks with 

 a snowy peak or two rising over them, whilst the eastern slope of 

 the valley was a black mass of fir and rhododendron forest, capped by 



