1848.] Narrative of a Journey to Cho Lagan y fyc. 137 



the Bhotias managed some how or other to get the cattle through the 

 deep snow which had promised to stop them altogether ; they came up 

 to us at 2\ p. m. and we proceeded again towards the top. This stage 

 of the ascent fortunately proved easier than the preceding, or we should 

 never have got over it in the day. Though the acclivity was steeper 

 (and for that reason, I suppose) the snow decreased, and occasionally 

 patches of bare rock afforded much relief, which was the more needed 

 as the rarefaction of the air became more decided ; the Zhobus, Bhotias, 

 and Bhauna were not much exhausted, but Anand, the young Kumaoni, 

 a novice at this work, was quite ill. I felt passing heavy in the head, 

 as though a mun weight were hung over my neck, and the ponies were 

 grunting and groaning in sore distress ; I again attempted to relieve 

 myself by riding, but one of the beasts staggered back under my 

 weight absolutely unable to carry me one step upwards, and I found 

 the struggles of the other more intolerable than my own exertions, so 

 I was fain to dismount again and get on the best way I could on my 

 own legs. We reached the top of the pass, at length, by 4^ p. m. 

 Two thousand feet is I think sufficient allowance for the vertical 

 ascent from our last encampment, Phiamangbu, at the bottom of the 

 pass, and the horizontal distance is only 4 miles, which has taken 

 us seven hours, however, the time and trouble being doubled I suppose, 

 by the depth of new snow ; absolute elevation of Lankpya Dhiira, 

 according to this estimate, 17,750 feet, and it seemed tome something 

 inferior to Unta Dhiira and Jainti of the Jwar pass, in the ascent of 

 which, last June, I felt still more exhaustion from want of air, and 

 when those ghauts had not half so much snow on them as now covered 

 Lankpya. The afternoon had brought with it the usual clouds which 

 obscured the prospect from the top of the pass, if ever there is any ; 

 beyond a dull monotonous chaos of snow on all sides, I could see no- 

 thing worth notice in any direction. The imagination of the novice in 

 these scenes usually anticipates wonderful prospects from the lofty 

 summits of the Himalayan passes, the natural and political barrier-wall 

 dividing two great kingdoms, from which the eye hopes to range one 

 way over terraces of mountains descending to the plains of India, the 

 other over vast expanses of Tartarian table-lands. Such views are 

 hardly to be realized from the passable gorges of the Himalayan crest 

 whence the prospect is intercepted by obtruding shoulders of higher 



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