218 Journal of a trip through Kulu and Ldhul, fyc. [March, 



the mountains on both sides, for the mountains were too distant ; be- 

 sides which these hillocks were composed of angular fragments and not 

 of boulders, which had been rounded in rolling from the action of water. 

 They are most probably, as suggested by Moorcroft, " the harder frag- 

 ments of a mass, from which the softer portions, the clay and sand 

 have been removed by gradual decomposition." Here we crossed the 

 river, which was knee- deep and rapid, to Kelang, a shepherd's station, 

 in a sheltered level spot. Large blue hares were numerous on these 

 alluvial flats. They live under the stones in holes scooped out of the 

 clayey sand. The herbage, though scanty, and dry, was eagerly eaten by 

 the cattle. The neighbouring hills were of a reddish brown and pale 

 ochrous colour, tinged here and there with slight patches of olive green 

 and yellow grass. They were generally very low, the nearest not being 

 more than 1000 feet above the river, and the more distant ones, which 

 were more or less covered with snow, did not appear to rise higher than 

 about 3000 feet above the river. We halted on a level spot without 

 name, 14,600 feet above the sea, and 6^ miles from the Yunam lake. 

 In this distance the fall has been only 680 feet, or little more than 100 

 feet per mile, which is a very gentle fall for a mountain stream. 



Monday, 7th September. To mouth of Cherpa river — 6^ miles. 

 Road good, over a long level alluvial plain, in the midst of which was a 

 square block of mica slate thickly imbedded with large crystals of quartz. 

 This stone, which is 8 feet square and 12 feet high above the ground, 

 is called Lingti by the people of Kulu, according to Moorcroft, and 

 Phdlangdanda, by the Ladakis. The only name that we could learn 

 was Phalang-danda, which means the " boundary stone," the stone 

 being a well known boundary mark between the states of Kulu and 

 Ladak. 



Beyond this the road continued over the plain, which became gradu- 

 ally narrower to the bank of the Ser-chu, or Ser rivulet, a stream 

 coming from the S. S. E., of which the source is 10 miles distant. A 

 footpath was visible up its right bank, and the remains of a custom- 

 house on a commanding point looking up the Ser valley, shows that 

 this footpath was formerly used by the smugglers of shawl wool, and 

 probably of borax. Just above the Ser, the Lingti, a large river from 

 the S. W. joins the Yunam on its left bank. The road beyond the 

 Ser laid over a dusty plain to the junction of the Cherpa or Cherep 



