118 MOM AY. Chap. XXII. 



The valley remains almost level for several miles, the 

 road continuing along the east bank of the Lachen. Shoots 

 of stones descend from the ravines, all of a white fine- 

 grained granite, stained red with a minute conferva, which 

 has been taken by Himalayan travellers for red snow ; * a 

 phenomenon I never saw in Sikkim. 



At a fork of the valley several miles above Yeumtong, 

 and below the great glacier of Chango Khang, the ancient 

 moraines are prodigious, much exceeding any I have else- 

 where seen, both in extent, in the size of the boulders, 

 and in the height to which the latter are piled on one 

 another. Many boulders I measured were twenty yards 

 across, and some even forty ; and the chaotic scene they 

 presented baffles all description : they were scantily clothed 

 with stunted silver firs. 



Beyond this, the path crosses the river, and ascends 

 rapidly over a mile of steeply sloping landslip, composed of 

 angular fragments of granite, that are constantly falling from 

 above, and are extremely dangerous. At 14,000 feet, trees 

 and shrubs cease, willow and honeysuckle being the last ; 

 and thence onward the valley is bleak, open, and stony, 

 with lofty rocky mountains on either side. The south wind 

 brought a cold drizzling rain, which numbed us, and two 

 of the lads who had last come up from Dorjiling were 

 seized with a remittent fever, originally contracted in the 

 hot valleys ; luckily we found some cattle-sheds, in which 

 I left them, with two men to attend on them. 



Momay Samdong is situated in a broad part of the 

 Lachoong valley, where three streams meet ; it is on the 

 west of Chango Khang, and is six miles south-east of Kin- 



Red snow was never found in the Antarctic regions during Sir James Ross's 

 tSouth Polar voyage ; nor do I know any authentic record of its having been seen 

 in the Himalaya. 



