498 A Journey through Sikim. [No. 6. 



found it 10 feet deep at 20 feet from the shore. Small pieces of blue 

 slate numerous on the east bank only, and a white tasteless substance 

 on the grassy banks — Pen. or Carb. of soda. There were large flocks 

 of the Brahminy duck, with a few grey geese, and widgeon on the 

 water. Not an insect to be seen : but large flocks of grey " stone 

 chats" flew about the rocky places. Holes of the " goomchen," or 

 tailless rat, were very numerous about our tent at Yeumtso, as well as 

 burrows of the marmot called Kadiapen.* 



Thermometer at noon 52°, wet bulb do. 37°, a fine breeze with a 

 delightful feeling of elasticity and dryness in the air. The brightness 

 of the sun is incomparable, the sky is of the clearest blue. The great 

 mountain ranges of Kambajong, and far to the northward and west- 

 ward, of brown and reddish hue tipped with sapphire blue, and with 

 perpetual snow, with the intervening plateaux of Cholamoo and 

 Geree in yellow grass and fading herbage, all united make this coun- 

 try to my taste a most attractive one at this season, notwithstanding 

 the excessive cold, its utter barrenness, and total want of population. 



In the afternoon we crossed the valley of the Lachen from Yeumtso 

 due north ; it is a bed of white and bare sand, a mile and a half wide, 

 the stream running tortuously, very slowly, and not a foot deep to- 

 wards the west. Ascended the rocky range immediately bounding the 

 valley to the north ; it is 500 to 800 feet above the river, and com- 

 posed chiefly of a close white and pink quartz, -j- with large rounded 

 masses of gneiss and gneiss rubble. Crossing this ridge, but without 



* During our short stay in Thibet we fell in with the Goa antelope, another 

 antelope larger than it, but smaller than the Chiru, a very handsome large fox, 

 reddish brown with a bushy grey tail, a hare or rabbit frequenting rocky places, 

 light grey, with white scut and a patch of dark bluish grey over the croup. This 

 animal was abundant ; it always ran with its ears erect, and lastly, we saw the 

 Kiang, or wild ass, on the open downs between Yeumtso and Geree. The country 

 about Chumulai is always indicated as the favourite ground of the Kiang, and I 

 was told that it did not visit this part of Thibet except at the warmer seasons. In 

 November it would be too cold for it hereabouts. The long ears, scanty mane, 

 scanty and short tail, give this creature an entirely asinine appearance, and not at 

 all the appearance of a horse. Dr. Hooker and I have forwarded complete skins of 

 the male, female, and young colt to the Museum of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, 

 through Dr. O'Shaughnessy. 



t Hares very abundant here. 



