470 Journal of a trip in tlie Silckim Himalaya. [No. 5, 



stew of yak's heart and kidneys which we discussed with a hunter's 

 keen appetite. 



Another superb morning : the night was intensely cold, and the 

 thermometer a little after sunrise stood at 11 1° . Having made all 

 the necessary arrangements for an absence of four days, and leaving 

 all heavy baggage behind, at 10.30 a. m. we started for a place situ- 

 ated near the base of the Pundeem mountain, on the left bank of 

 the Ratong river, several miles further up the valley, called Aluhtong, 

 where there is a yak-grazing post. After proceeding about three 

 miles along yak tracks over grass and low rhododendrons, we com- 

 menced a steep descent through rhododendron forest, and after- 

 wards through firs, and reached the banks of the Ratong about 

 noon. The river here is broad and rapid, but as we ascended 

 the valley, it became less rapid and of smaller dimensions. It 

 was not without difficulty that we found our way along the broad 

 valley, over masses of loose stone and broken ground, by following 

 the course indicated by small piles of stones erected by the yak 

 herdsmen. We increased the number and size of these useful guides 

 for the benefit of our friends in the rear, and after two or three times 

 losing our way, reached our destination at 2.30 p. M., and some of 

 the party an hour later ; and the baggage coolies late in the evening, 

 looking half frozen. We brought on a tent for the latter ; and before 

 turning into our own hovel, we satisfied ourselves that these were 

 well supplied with fuel, yak's flesh, and rice for their evening's re- 

 past. The grandeur of the surrounding snow-clad mountains, and 

 the wildness of the scenery of the valley of the Ratong, surpass- 

 es any thing of the kind I have elsewhere witnessed in the Hima- 

 layas. On looking directly north up the valley, Kanchunjingah 

 rose majestically above everything else. Between us and it, thrown 

 completely across the valley, and only two miles distant, was seen a 

 stupendous morain a thousand feet in height, which forms the con- 

 spicuous object seen from Darjeeling. Immediately on our right, out 

 of a long range of perpetually snow-clad mountains running parallel 

 with the valley, rose the formidable peak of Pundeem, 22,015 feet in 

 height, at the base of which rests the glacier above alluded to, and 

 many other masses of debris washed down from above in wild con- 

 fusion. To our rear, winding its course down the broad valley, the 

 hills on either side being covered with dense fir forest often down to 



