1842.] to Shipke, in Chinese Tar tart/. 371 



depth, and although we had a heaving lead for the purpose, of no less 

 than ten pounds weight, we could not effect it, for the force of the 

 current was. so great as to sweep it down long ere it reached the bottom. 

 We found the bed of the river 8,200 feet above the sea. 



11M October. — Marched to Numgeea nine miles. The footpath 

 was good and even, lying upon the left bank of the Sutlej. To-day we 

 made a circuit to look at the conflux of the Lee with the Sutlej. The 

 Lee is a river of considerable breadth, coming from Ludak on the 

 northward, but it is not very deep, and flows in a clear stream with a 

 moderate current, whilst the Sutlej is muddy, and rushes with great 

 velocity and a stunning noise. 



Since leaving Pooaree, the trees had gradually become more scanty ; 

 in the vicinity of Numgeea there is little vegetation, grass and thyme 

 are but thinly scattered in small tufts, and a solitary dwarf pine ap- 

 pears here and there. 



12^ October. — Marched to Shipke nine miles. The road ascended a 

 little, and then there was a steep descent into the bed of the Oopsung. 

 Here the rocks are more rugged than any we had yet seen, they are 

 rent in every direction, piled upon one another in wild disorder, in a 

 most extraordinary manner not to be described, overhanging the path, 

 and threatening destruction to the traveller. From the Oopsung, the road 

 was a tiresome and rocky ascent to the pass which separates Koonawur 

 from the Chinese dominions, 13,518 feet above the level of the sea; here 

 the scene was entirely changed, a more marked difference can scarcely 

 exist. The mountains to the eastward were quite of another nature 

 from those we before met with, they are of granite broken into gravel, 

 forming regular slopes, and neither abrupt nor rocky. The country in 

 that direction has a most desolate and dreary aspect, not a single tree 

 or blade of green grass was distinguishable for near 30 miles, the 

 ground being covered with a very prickly plant, which greatly resembled 

 furze in its withered state ; this shrub was almost black, seeming as if 

 burnt, and the leaves were so much parched from the arid wind of Tar- 

 tary, that they might be ground to powder by rubbing them between 

 the hands. 



The brownish tint of the furze, together with the bleakness of the 

 country, have the appearance of an extensive heath, and would strongly 

 remind a Scotch Highlander of his native land. Our course from 



3 D 



