Dec. 1848. KAMBACHEN MORAINES. 201 



Between the moraines, near my tent, the soil was 

 perfectly level, and consisted of little lake-beds strewn 

 with gigantic boulders, and covered with hard turf of 

 grass and sedge, and little bushes of dwarf rhododen- 

 dron and prostrate juniper, as trim as if they had been 

 clipped. Altogether these formed the most picturesque 

 little nooks it was possible to conceive ; and they exhi- 

 bited the withered remains of so many kinds of primrose, 

 gentian, anemone, potentilla, orchis, saxifrage, parnassia, 

 campanula, and pedicularis, that in summer they must 

 be perfect gardens of wild flowers. Around each plot 

 of a few acres was the grand ice-transported girdle of 

 stupendous rocks, many from 50 to 100 feet long, crested 

 with black tabular-branched silver firs, conical deep green 

 tree-junipers, and feathery larches ; whilst amongst the 

 blocks grew a profusion of round masses of evergreen 

 rhododendron bushes. Beyond were stupendous frowning 

 cliffs, beneath which the river roared like thunder; and 

 looking up the glacial valley, the setting sun was bathing 

 the expanse of snow in the most delicate changing tints, 

 pink, amber, and gold. 



The boulders forming the moraine were so enormous 

 and angular, that I had great difficulty in ascending it. 

 I saw some pheasants feeding on the black berries of the 

 juniper, bat where the large rhododendrons grew amongst 

 the rocks I found it impossible to penetrate. The 

 largest of the moraines is piled to upwards of 1000 

 feet against the south flank of the lateral valley, and 

 stretched far up it beyond my camp, which was in a 

 grove of silver firs. A large flock of sheep and goats, 

 laden with salt, overtook us here on their route from 

 Wallanchoon to Yalloong. The sheep I observed to 

 feed on the Bhododendron Thomson and campylocarpum. 



