934 Journal of a trip through Kundmur. [Nov. 



my shoes and socks, and proceeded with a handful of snow to rub my 

 feet and ankles, which although somewhat painful at first, soon restor- 

 ed them to a healthy glow, and then by jumping and fast walking 

 backwards and forwards, I was enabled shortly to start again, and 

 proceeded downwards by a path infinitely more dangerous than the 

 snows we had just quitted. 



Junipers and furze were the only signs of vegetation until we again 

 entered a thin forest of pines lower down, through which we continued 

 to descend until we crossed the Kushkolung river below by a capital 

 sangho, and soon after arrived at Soongnum fairly fagged. 



The fatigue of this double march may be readily conceived by those 

 who have scaled the rugged sides of the hoary headed Ben Nevis 

 of our fatherland; the height of that mountain above the sea does 

 not exceed that of Subathoo in the lower hills, or about 4,200 feet, and 

 its ascent and descent, if I recollect aright, occupies from 3^ to 4 hours. 

 Here we ascended from Labrung to the height of 5,212 feet, over 

 snows which were incessantly giving way beneath the feet, and 

 causing us to slip backward many paces, added to which was the glare 

 from the sun, which tended not a little to increase our fatigue and 

 discomfort. From the summit of the pass our descent was 5,168 feet 

 in perpendicular height, but the sinuosities of the road made the actual 

 distance travelled from Labrung to Soongnum at least 15 miles. 



When we recollect also that from the snow to Soongnum we travel- 

 led in a temperature of nearly 90°, the fatigue of the whole march can 

 scarcely be conceived by those who have not experienced it. Our ascent 

 and descent each exceeded that of Ben Nevis by one thousand feet, 

 and there are few who have performed that journey who were not 

 right glad to get a rest and a bit of fresh salmon, (to say nothing of 

 the whisky toddy) at the snug little inn at Fort William. We left 

 Labrung at six o'clock in the morning ; at 10 a. m. we reached the 

 pass ; from thence to the bottom of the snow occupied us till noon, 

 when the thermometer indicated 89°, and from thence we arrived at 

 Soongnum at half-past 2 p. m., making the whole time from Labrung 

 to Soongnum, eight hours and a half ; or allowing at least two hours 

 for resting and looking at the scene, we performed the actual distance 

 in six hours and a half. 



The coolies who had gone round by a lower and somewhat longer 

 road did not arrive until 5 p. m., when they begged for a halt the 

 next day, which I readily granted, as much on my own account as 

 theirs, for the nature of the road from the snow to Soongnum was 

 as if all the sharpest stones in the country had been collected there, 



