472 Journal of a trip in the SikJcim Himalaya. [No. 5, 



angular, and free from gravel. The loose manner in which these were 

 massed together, rendered walking both difficult and dangerous, par- 

 ticularly to parties in the rear, from the tendency of the stones to 

 roll down tbe steep sides. Proceeding onwards, the glacier presented 

 a perfect wilderness of blocks of ice invariably covered with the 

 stones and debris brought down from the mountain above by ava- 

 lanches, with deep crevasses through which the sound of running water 

 was heard, the whole presenting a stony and undulating mass about 

 one and a half miles long and a half to one quarter of a mile broad. 

 In order to ascertain as nearly as possible what might be the thick- 

 ness of the glacier, we ascended by a separate spur of Pundeem to a 

 level with the top of the glacier, and measuring the height by boiling 

 water found it to be 16,060 feet, and again measuring the height at 

 the foot found it 13,760 feet, thus giving a difference between the 

 summit and the base of 2,300 feet. I was able to make a rapid 

 sketch of a vertical section of a precipice on the western shoulder 

 of Pundeem, shewing its formation to be of gneiss, similar to that 

 found on the glacier of which I brought away some good specimens. 

 Although the surrounding hills were literally covered with glaciers 

 of sizes, and the valleys overhung with masses of ice and snow, 

 we observed only one avalancbe, but frequent loud cracking of the ice 

 during the hottest part of the day. 



A little way up the valley, beyond where the glaciers meet, we 

 observed a small lake. Only one small stream falls into it, and this 

 must be considered the source of the Ratong during the winter 

 months. Dr. Simpson here took some interesting photographic 

 views. We returned to our hut late in the evening. To-day our 

 Lepcha cook whom we brought from Darjeeling failing to give satis- 

 faction was removed from office. Thus the cooking operations devolved 

 upon ourselves ; but this was not felt to be irksome, as we had from 

 the beginning taken turn about to look after the messing for the 

 day, knead the flour for making chupattees, or unleavened cakes, 

 assist in cooking, &c., our ci-devant cook knowing nothing of the 

 mysteries of his profession beyond lighting a fire, boiling water, 

 washing plates and so forth. In fact he was an impostor. 



Another cloudless morning after an intensely cold night. Ther. 

 mometer at sunrise 1 1° . The coolies having laid in a good store of 

 wood over night, next day we were enabled to cook an early breakfast' 



