180 Narrative of a Journey to Cko Lagan, fyc. [Aug, 



I looked in vain for the great snowy mountain, which rises close 

 above the left bank of the Kali between Lipu-Lekh, and the " Manda- 

 rins'* ravine, as marked on the map under the name of " Koonlus," 

 nor could the Bhotias tell me any thing about it. I have seen it, how- 

 ever, from the Deo Dhura, between Lohu-ghat and Almora, and its 

 position must have been fixed by observation from some such distant 

 points of view. The snowy summits, though towering to the height of 

 22,513, and 21,669 feet, are here quite hidden by the nearness of the 

 steep and rocky base. 



Below the " Mandarin's Camp," vegetation began to increase, first 

 Dama and Juniper shrubs, then birch trees, and at last gooseberry 

 bushes and the upper limits of Pine forest. At 3-20 p. m. having walk- 

 ed rather quick down the hill far ahead of the cattle, &c, I reached 

 Yirkha, which is a small hamlet with one house and a few fields, on 

 the right bank of the Kali, just above the confluence of a large stream 

 coming through a deep ravine from the westward. The elevation of this 

 place is near 13,000 feet, (I suppose that is), according to Webb's sur- 

 vey, which makes the Kalapani bridge some way lower down 12,742 ; 

 but the vegetation appeared to me very luxuriant for such an elevation, 

 and the village of Kunti, which I made 13,000 feet, is more cold and 

 sterile than Yirkha, and it must be 10 miles road distance from the 

 top of the pass, though less in a straight horizontal line. Here I 

 found quarters in the vacant cottage which, though low, dark, and 

 dirty, felt absolutely luxurious after the miserable discomfits of my quasi- 

 tent in Hundes ; and the change of climate was no less agreeably 

 marked. 



The pass which we had crossed to-day was a wonderful contrast to 

 all the others that I have seen. A march of 7 or 8 hours had brought 

 us, with nothing beyond a wholesome fatigue, from a passable encamp- 

 ing-place close above a pasture ground on the Hiindes side, into a plea- 

 sant smiling hamlet, green with shrubs and yellow with harvest, in a 

 sheltered Alpine valley, the bottom terraced for cultivation (here and 

 there) along the river bank below. 



Lipu-Lekh must be passable for the next month or two, if no fresh 

 snow should fall in the interim, indeed, I can readily believe the pas- 

 sage might be effected safely even in the middle of winter, if not over- 



