1871.] W. T. Blanford— Journey through Sihkim, 401 



until at last I found it was Horeites brunneifrons of Hodgson. Its 

 actions are singularly wren-like, and I at first thought it must be 

 a Testa, to the neighbourhood of which genus it was also referred 

 by Blyth. 



There was a great paucity of Eaptores ; the common sparrow 

 hawk and kestrils being more frequently seen than any others. 

 Kites (Ililvus govinda) were common, crows and choughs were 

 abundant as usual. A piping hare or Pika {Lagomys Roylei) 

 abounded in the fir forests, but as usual there were very few 

 Mammalia. 



September 15th. We marched up the valley to MomaySamdong 

 at above 15000 feet, the highest spot in the Lachung valley at 

 which there are houses. The road leads through forest for some 

 miles, then ascends over the large moraines at a fork of the valley, 

 where the stream joins from the Chang-o-Khang glacier, and, 

 turning up the eastern fork, rapidly rises above the forest. For 

 4 or 5 miles more the ascent is very gentle, through rhododendron 

 scrub, but finally all vegetation except grass and very small shrubs 

 is left behind. The eastern slope of the valley is grassy and less 

 precipitous than the western, but on each side, here and there, 

 there are glimpses of snow fields and glaciers upon the heights. 

 We traversed more than one fine ancient moraine stretching partly 

 across the valley ; and all the projecting rocks at the sides, with many 

 in the bottom of the glen, were rounded by old glacier action. 

 The romnding is most conspicuous just below Momay, but, although 

 I hunted carefully for it, both here and amongst the blocks of stone 

 in the moraines, I could never detect any polished or striated 

 surfaces, such as are so common in Europe. Hooker has also 

 noticed this, and my friend, Mr. Medlicott, tells me that he could 

 never find any of these fine surface markings in the western 

 Himalayas. I do not know whether the erosion of the surface of 

 rocks, to which the disappearance of glacial scratches is due, should 

 be attributed to their mineral character, or to the climate, but the 

 former differs so little from that of many of the best marked rocks 

 in Europe that I suppose the climate must be credited with the 

 alteration. 



The dip of the gneiss foliation in the low Tista valley is very 



51 



