

Dec. 1848. ORIGIN OF TERRACES. 247 



and observations ; the height of this spot, called Pabuk, is 

 16,038 feet, whence the pass is probably considerably over 

 17,000 feet, for there was a steep ascent beyond our 

 position. The sun sank at 3 p.m., and the thermometer 

 immediately fell from 35° to 30f.* 



After fixing in my note and sketch books the principal 

 features of this sublime scene, we returned down the valley : 

 the distance to our camp being fully eight miles, night 

 overtook us before we got half-way, but a two days' old 

 moon guided us perfectly, a remarkable instance of the 

 clearness of the atmosphere at these great elevations. Las- 

 situde, giddiness, and headache came on as our exertions 

 increased, and took away the pleasure I should otherwise 

 have felt in contemplating by moonlight the varied pheno- 

 mena, which seemed to crowd upon the restless imagination, 

 in the different forms of mountain, glacier, moraine, lake, 

 boulder and terrace. Happily I had noted everything on 

 my way up, and left nothing intentionally to be done on 

 returning. In making such excursions as this, it is above 

 all things desirable to seize and book every object worth 

 noticing on the way out : I always carried my note-book 

 and pencil tied to my jacket pocket, and generally walked 

 with them in my hand. It is impossible to begin observing 

 too soon, or to observe too much : if the excursion is long, 

 little is ever done on the way home; the bodily powers being 

 mechanically exerted, the mind seeks repose, and being 

 fevered through over-exertion, it can endure no train of 

 thought, or be brought to bear on a subject. 



During my stay at Yangma, the thermometer never rose 

 to 50°, it fell to 14f° at night ; the ground was frozen for 

 several inches below the surface, but at two feet depth its 



* At 4 o'clock, to 29°'5, the average dew-point was 16°-3, and dryness 055 ; 

 weight of vapour in a cubic foot, 133 grains. 



