224 EAST NEPAL. Chap. IX. 



I could not tell ; the guide declared it to be perpetual 

 henceforward, though now deepened by the very heavy 

 October fall ; the path was cut some three feet through it. 

 Enormous boulders of gneiss cumbered the bottom of the 

 gorge, which gradually widened as we approached its 

 summit ; and rugged masses of black and red gneiss and 

 mica schist pierced the snow, and stood out in dismal relief. 

 For four miles continuously we proceeded over snow ; which 

 was much honey-combed on the surface, and treacherous 

 from the icy streams it covered, into which we every now 

 and then stumbled; there was scarcely a trace of vegetation, 

 and the cold was excessive, except in the sun. 



Towards the summit of the pass the snow lay very deep, 

 and we followed the course of a small stream which cut 

 through it, the walls of snow being breast-high on each side ; 

 the path was still frequented by yaks, of which we overtook 

 a small party going to Tibet, laden with planks. All the 

 party appeared alike overcome by lassitude, shortness and 

 difficulty of breathing, a sense of weight on the stomach, 

 giddiness and headache, with tightness across the temples. 



Just below the summit was a complete bay of snow, 

 girdled with two sharp peaks of red baked schists and 

 gneiss, strangely contorted, and thrown up at all angles 

 with no prevalent dip or strike, and permeated with veins 

 of granite. The top itself, or boundary between Nepal 

 and Tibet, is a low saddle between two rugged ridges of 

 rock, with a cairn built on it, adorned with bits of stick 

 and rag covered with Tibetan inscriptions. The view into 

 Tibet was not at all distant, and was entirely of snowy 

 mountains, piled ridge over ridge ; three of these spurs 

 must, it is said, be crossed before any descent can be 

 made to the Chomachoo river (as the Arun is called in 

 Tibet), on which is the frontier fort of the Tibetans, and 



