Aug. 184!) TUNKRA PASS. 109 



plants were all fully a month behind those of the Lachcn 

 valley at the same elevation. Heavy rain fell in the 

 afternoon, and we halted under some rocks : as I had 

 brought no tent, my bed was placed beneath the shelter of 

 one, near which the rest of the party burrowed. I supped 

 off half a yak's kidney, an enormous organ in this animal. 



On the following morning we proceeded up the valley, 

 towards a very steep rocky barrier, through which the river 

 cut a narrow gorge, and beyond which rose lofty snowy 

 mountains : the peak of Tunkra being to our left hand 

 (north). Saxifrages grew here in profuse tufts of golden 

 blossoms, and C/uysosjjleniiwi, rushes, mountain-sorrel 

 (Ocvz/ria), and the bladder-headed Saussurea, whose flowers 

 are enclosed in inflated membranous bracts, and smell like 

 putrid meat : there w r ere also splendid primroses, the 

 spikenard valerian, and golden Potentillas. 



The ascent was steep and difficult, up a stony valley 

 bounded by precipices ; in this the river flowed in a 

 north-west direction, and we were obliged to wade along 

 it, though its waters were bitterly cold, the temperature 

 being 39°. At 15,000 feet we passed from great snow- 

 beds to the surface of a glacier, partly an accumulation of 

 snow, increased by lateral glaciers : its slope was very 

 gentle for several miles ; the surface was eroded by rain, 

 and very rough, whilst those of the lateral glaciers w T ere 

 ribboned, crevassed, and often conspicuously marked with 

 dirt-bands. 



A gently sloping saddle, bare of snow, which succeeds 

 the glacier, forms the top of the Tunkra pass ; it unites 

 two snowy mountains, and opens on the great valley of the 

 Machoo, which flows in a part of Tibet between Sikkim 

 and Bhotan ; its height is 1G,083 feet above the sea by 

 barometer, and 10,137 feet by boiling-point. Nothing can 



