98 Diary of an Excursion to the Shatool [No. 170. 



universal in these mountains, where we observe a bush or tree on each 

 more eminent pass, ornamented with votive rags of all colours, precisely- 

 similar to those about holy wells, &c, in Ireland. With respect to 

 vegetation, the Primula purpurea and Sibbaldia purpurea grow very- 

 high upon the south side of the Pass ; the two Saussureas, a large 

 Sedum (probably S. asiaticum,) a Rumex, and a pretty pink Corydalis 

 (either hamiltonii or meifolia) reach the crest ; and above that of the 

 Roopin, I found patches of Potentilla inglesii ; so far are these elevated 

 ridges from being entirely forsaken by Flora ! 



The right or eastern portal of the Shatool Pass is formed by the pin- 

 nacle of rock, 1,500 feet high, and 17,000 above the sea, visible from 

 Doodach ; it is called Dhuneer ka Thooa (the Dunerko of Gerard,) from 

 the Mookheea of Rol, who bribed a bold adventurer with a hundred 

 rupees to scale it, and erect a pile of stones in honour of the Deotahs and 

 himself. Moore tells us, that the schoolmen used to debate how many 

 angels could dance on the point of a needle without jostling each other ; 

 and some of these Himalayan needles are so sharp, that the same ques- 

 tion naturally suggests itself with respect to the thirty million of gods 

 which the Hindoo Mythology has peopled them with. The Dhuneer 

 ka Thooa sends down to the north a broken serrated spur, which falls 

 to the west in a lofty and most superb escarpment of naked rock, which 

 lay on our right as we descended. Looking down to the north, through 

 the long vista of the glen, we had a glorious though somewhat limited 

 view of the lofty peaks of the snowy range beyond the Sutluj, separating 

 the Busehur district of Wangpo, north of the Wangtoo bridge, from the 

 districts of Manes and Dunkur, in Speetee, and crossed by the Taree 

 Pass, 16,400 feet above the sea. In some of our maps this range, or its 

 outliers behind Kanum and Cheenee, is called the Damak Shoo, proba- 

 bly from the prevalence of the Damak, or various species of Astragalus, 

 Caragana, &c. which grow there, and which our travellers in Upper 

 Kunawur call Furze. 



The Shatool Pass is 15,550 feet above the sea level, nearly 100 feet 

 below the top of Mont Blanc: and was first crossed in June 1816 by 

 General Hodgson. It is distinctly visible about E. 24° north from the 

 top of Jaka at Simla, a degree or two to the left of Colonel Chadwick's 

 house on the Muhasoo ridge, lying between two of those conspicuous 

 inclined peaks of which the rocky planes slope down to the east and 



