1848.] Miscellaneous. 579 



frightful winds that blow there, of which we had most freezing exam- 

 ples. I never felt any thing like the wind (excepting at sea) either for 

 cold or intensity ; it was absolutely frightful. On the 17th we returned 

 from Manasarowar ; on the 19th, we crossed over into the valley of the 

 Karnali, up which we came, passing Lama Choktan on the 23rd, and 

 arrived at the foot of the passes at Chirchun on the 24th. The next 

 day we came over the passes, three in number, of which Unta Dhura is 

 the lowest. The highest ridge crossed will probably be upwards of 

 18,500 feet above the sea. 



From the accident to my barometer, I can't give even any approxi- 

 mation to heights yet — i. e. until I make comparisons with the baro- 

 meters left here, which I hope to do in a day or so. 



The main results of our visit to Tibet are to see that the plains are 

 very evidently produced by Lakes or Sea. The great mass of them 

 being perfect gravel to a depth of 800 or 1000 feet, to which extent the 

 great ravines cut into them. 



The part of the country towards the long lake of Gyanima, seems 

 to have been much more recently under water than the other, and in 

 tact appears to be in many places even now imperfectly drained and 

 subject to flood. The whole of the country from the lake of Gyani- 

 ma to Rakas Tal, and along almost the whole of the southern edge of 

 the latter, is a great eruption of volcanic rock, and the bar between the 

 lakes is probably also caused by this trap eruption, as it consists of 

 gravel (exactly such as now exists in the lakes) to a height of 6 or 800 

 feet above the present level of the water. 



With some difficulty I got an observation of the elevations of Kylas 

 and Gurla, from which I hope to get a decent approximation to their 

 height. The dreadful wind almost stopped me altogether — blew away 

 both ends of the tape used for measuring a base for me to work upon, 

 and prevented any thing like real accuracy. 



The valley of the Karnala, Pruang, &c. is also certainly part of the 

 same great deposit of gravel as the rest of the plain to the westward. 



The country generally is more hilly than I had anticipated. The 

 plain more flat, in fact perfectly so, with hills rising abruptly from it. 

 The plain seems to run along the northern foot of the Himalaya, the 

 Sutlej apparently having hills along its southern bank all down its 

 course as far as we saw. 



4 G 



