30(5 



COURSE AND LEVELS 



and get over it as quick as possible. The crumbly and loose nature of 

 the little gravel that covers it with the hardness of the subsoil, makes this 

 place as dangerous as the other, for one false step or slip would precipi- 

 tate one to the bottom. The last piece leads along the edge of a naked 

 and steep precipice, the path being extremely narrow, and strewed as 

 above described with a hard dry gravel. We got safe down however, al- 

 though we had even then little cause for congratulation, for in the bed of the 

 stream it was impossible to think of remaining. The cave in which the Mu- 

 rang people had the last year sheltered themselves, had disappeared, and in- 

 stead of it we beheld the fragments of fallen peaks, the ruinous proofs of 

 the vast power of the avalanche. The whole appearance of the place 

 or ground, was insecure: to look up towards the head of the glen gave no 

 confidence, for there you saw similar masses prepared for a similar de- 

 scent. To ascend the other bank was then our only alternative, and our 

 determination was hastened by the threatening appearance of the weather: 

 a lowering gloom began to envelope the summits of the surrounding peaks, 

 dark clouds collected, and every symptom was discoverable of an approach' 

 in°- fall of snow. We therefore quickly made our determination, and com- 

 menced a climb of about a quarter of a mile in which our hands and feet 

 were equally employed. The path then got a little better, and we soon 

 came to a more open place, where we thought there was less danger of be- 

 in 0- overtaken by falling peaks. The whole distance was twelve miles and 

 a quarter, and we arrived at half past five, having quitted Nissang a little 

 before seven. We had been very nearly ten hours on the road, and eight 

 hours on foot, during which time we ascended and descended not less than 

 7,000 feet. 



Our troubles were not yet at an end ; many of our people were behind ; 

 it was fast getting dark, and we dreaded, lest not knowing the nature of 

 the road, they should attempt to descend to the bottom of the glen, in 

 which case their destruction we knew was inevitable : all night long a con- 

 tinued shouting was kept up from one side of the glen to the other, which 



