CHAPTER XXIV. 



Ascent of Bbomtso — View of snowy mountains — Chumulari — Aran river — 

 Kiang-lah mountains — Jigatzi — Lhassa — Dingcham province of Tibet — Mis- 

 application of term " Plain of Tibet " — Sheep, flocks of — Crops — Probable 

 elevation of Jigatzi — Yani-Tsampu river — Tame elephants — Wild horses — 

 Dryness of air — Sunset beams — Rocks of Kinchinjhow — Cholamoo lakes — 

 Limestone — Dip and strike of rocks — Effects of great elevation on party — 

 Ascent of Donkia — Moving piles of debris — Cross Donkia pass — Second Visit to 

 Momay Samdong — Hot springs — Descent to Yeumtong — Lachoong — Retar- 

 dation of vegetation again noticed — Jerked meat — Fish— Lose a thermometer 

 — Lepchalad sleeps in hot spring — Keadom — BucJdandia — Arrive at Choong- 

 tam — Mendicant — Meepo — Lachen - Lachooug river — Wild grape — View 

 from Singtam of Kinchinjunga — Virulent nettle. 



In the afternoon we crossed the vallev, and ascended 

 Bhomtso, fording the river, whose temperature was 48 . 

 Some stupendous boulders of gneiss from Kinchinjhow are 

 deposited in a broad sandy track on the north bank, by 

 ancient glaciers, which once crossed this valley from Kin- 

 chinjhow. 



The ascent was alternately over steep rocky slopes, and 

 broad shelf-like flats ; many more plants grew here than I 

 had expected, in inconspicuous scattered tufts.* The rocks 



* Besides those before mentioned, there were Fescue-grass (Festuca ovina of 

 Scotland), a strong-scented silky wormwood (Artemisia), and round tufts of 

 Ozytropis chiliophylla, a kind of Astragalus that inhabits eastern and western Tibet ; 

 this alone was green : it formed great circles on the ground, the centre decaying, 

 and the annual shoots growing outwards, and thus constantly enlarging the circle. 

 A woolly Leoatopodium, Androsace, and some other plants assumed nearly the 

 same mode of growth. The rest of the vegetation consisted of a Sedum, Nardo- 

 stacJtys Jatamansi, Meconopsis honndula, a slender Androsace, Gnaphaliuui, Stipa, 

 Salvia, Draba, PedictUaris, PotentiUa or Sibbaldia, Gentiana and Erigeron alpinus of 

 Scotland. All these grow nearly up to 18,000 feet. 



