236 EAST NEPAL. Chap. X. 



of amulets. In the centre of the book-case was a recess, 

 containing a genuine Jos or Fo, graced with his Chinese 

 attribute of very long pendulous moustaches and beard, 

 and totally wanting that air of contemplative repose 

 which the Tibetan Lamas give to their idols. Banners 

 were suspended around, with paintings of Lhassa, 

 Teshoo Loombo, and various incarnations of Boodh. 

 The books were of the usual Tibetan form, oblong 

 squares of separate block-printed leaves of paper, made 

 in Nepal or Bhotan from the bark of a Daphne, bound 

 together by silk cords, and placed between ornamented 

 wooden boards. On our way up the valley, we had passed 

 some mendongs and chaits, the latter very pretty stone 

 structures, consisting of a cube, pyramid, hemisphere, and 

 cone placed on the top of one another, forming together 

 the tasteful combination which appears on the cover of 

 these volumes. 



Beyond the convents the valley again contracted, and on 

 crossing a third, but much lower, moraine, a lake opened 

 to view, surrounded by flat terraces, and a broad gravelly 

 shore, part of the lake being dry. To the west, the cliffs were 

 high, black and steep : to the east a large lateral valley, 

 filled at about 1500 feet up with blue glaciers, led (as 

 did the other lateral valleys) to the gleaming snows of Nango; 

 the moraine, too, here abutted on the east flank of the 

 Yangma valley, below the mouth of the lateral one. Much 

 snow (from the October fall) lay on the ground, and the 

 cold was pinching in the shade ; still I could not help 

 attempting to sketch this wonderfully grand scene, especially 

 as lakes in the Himalaya are extremely rare : the present 

 one was about a mile long, very shallow, but broad, and as 

 smooth as glass : it reminded me of the tarn in Glencoe. 

 The reflected lofty peak of Nango appeared as if frozen 



