1842.] to Shipke, in Chinese Tartary. 365 



gerous, at one time many hundred feet above the river, with a horrid 

 precipice on the right, at another dipping down to the stream which 

 rushes with violence over the rocks interspersed in its channel; as 

 you advance, the dell in which the Pabur flows becomes gradually more 

 contracted, the mountains assume a more naked and abrupt appear- 

 ance, and the rapidity and turbulence of the river increases. From 

 Jangleeg proceeded ten miles to a halting place called Moondoor, within 

 two miles of the Brooang Pass over the great snowy range. The road 

 was good, and lay in a broad grassy glen, between two spurs of the 

 Himalayas, with the Pabur running through it. The soil of this valley 

 is composed of black vegetable mould, which produces endless varieties 

 of Alpine plants to the height of 13,000 feet. Belts of birch and pine 

 reach nearly the same elevation, beyond which, scarcely any thing is 

 seen but patches of brown grass. 



The height of my camp, which was pitched beneath an immense pro- 

 jecting granitic rock, was 12,807 feet. We left the last cluster of birch 

 trees 3 miles behind us, so had to send back that distance for firewood. 

 The thermometer was 38° at night, and water froze hard. 



Next day, 2d October, we pitched our tent on the crest of the pass, 

 15,095 feet above the level of the sea ; the road was of the worst 

 description, crossing the Pabur, which has its source near this, by an 

 arch of snow of some extent, and then leading over huge detached 

 masses of granite, hurled from the peaks above, and piled upon one 

 another in the utmost disorder, with here and there some snow. The 

 ascent was steep the whole way, and almost the only vegetation we 

 noticed was grass in small tufts, which grew more scanty as we advanced 

 to the pass, where it almost disappeared ; above it was still seen thinly 

 scattered, and interspersed with a few mosses. 



Here I met my brother, who had left Soobathoo some time before me 

 and travelled by a much more circuitous route. 



We sent most of our servants down about five miles to a more genial 

 climate, where wood was procurable, and remained ourselves at the top. 

 The peaks immediately on either side of us were not more than 1,000 

 feet above us, but there were several not very far distant, which we 

 could not then see, 18,000 feet high. We were lucky in getting the 

 altitudes and bearings of the principal mountains across the Sutlej, 

 which rear their white heads to the height of 20,000 feet and upwards. 



