Dec. 1848. SUMMIT OF CHOONJERMA PASS. 2G5 



or the salt-water lochs of the west of Scotland ; whilst 

 islets tailed off from the promontories, rising here and 

 there out of the deceptive elements. I was so high above 

 this mist, that it had not the billowy appearance I saw 

 before, but was a calm unruffled ocean, boundless to 

 the south and west, where the horizon over-arched it. A 

 little to the north of west I discerned the most lofty 

 group of mountains in Nepal* (mentioned at p. 185), 

 beyond Kinchinjunga, which I believe are on the west 

 flank of the great valley through which the Arun 

 river enters Nepal from Tibet : they were very distant, 

 and subtended so small an angle, that I could not 

 measure them with the sextant and artificial horizon : 

 their height, judging from the quantity of snow, must be 

 prodigious. 



From 4 to 5 p.m. the temperature was 24°, with a very 

 cold wind ; the elevation by the barometer was 15,260 feet, 

 and the dew-point 10-3r°, giving the humidity 0*610, and 

 the amount of vapour 1*09 grains in a cubic foot of air; 

 the same elements at Calcutta, at the same hour, being 

 thermometer 66^°, dew-point 60^°, humidity 0'840, and 

 weight of vapour 5*9 grains. 



I waited for an hour, examining the rocks about the pass, 

 till the coolies should come up, but saw nothing worthy of 

 remark, the natural history and geology being identical 

 with those of Kambachen pass : I then bade adieu to the 

 sublime and majestic peak of Junnoo. Thence we con- 

 tinued at nearly the same level for about four miles, dipping 

 into the broad head of a snowy valley, and ascending to the 

 second pass, which lay to the south-east. 



On the left I passed a very curious isolated pillar of rock, 



* Called Tsungau by the Bhoteeas. Junnoo is called Kuniuo Kurma by the 

 Hill-men of Nepal. 



