OF THE RIVER SETLEJ. 389 



From Skalkar, Lio was represented to be a very long march, and the road 

 extremely bad in places, but as I thought I should most probably find the 

 encampment there, 1 set out early, intending, if possible, to reach it by night 

 fall. The path gradually ascends, for five and three quarter miles, to Che- 

 jang Kanka, a pass over one of the lateral ridges which shut in the numer- 

 ous streams that feed the river. These ridges are all of great height, or rather 

 the beds of the streams aie of great depth, and to cross even one of them is 

 nearly the labour of a day; the summit of this pass is a level piece of some 

 extent, and we found some huts and an attempt at cultivation. As it was now 

 noon, 1 halted to allow the people to take advantage of the spring we found, 

 and make a meal before they attempted the arduous task in front; the descent 

 to, and ascent from, the Yulling river. The steepness of the opposite bank, 

 and great height, seemed to defy all access to it, but the rear of my com- 

 panion's line of march, which was now perceived slowly ascending it, 

 proved that it was to be surmounted, and gave us hopes of overtaking them 

 before evening. At half past one we proceeded down a most steep and dif- 

 ficult declivity, in which the beds of loose fragments lying at a considera- 

 ble declivity, afforded a footing as insecure as it was tiresome. A little 

 above the bed of the stream, we passed through some more even ground, 

 which appeared to be cultivated, though at this time there were no crops. 

 The stream is rather large, and occasioned a little delay in fording it: it 

 has its source to the westward from some lofty peaks that were partially 

 seen, looking up the valley. At the place we crossed, a small rivulet 

 joins it, which issues from a rocky cavern in a very picturesque cascade. 

 The waters of this fountain are so strongly impregnated with calcareous 

 matter, as to deposit it on every thing it touches, and the cave is orna- 

 mented with stalactites, something similarly to that in the Dun called 

 Sansar Bhara, though it yields to this latter in the number, size, and beauty 

 of them. The rocks in the bed of the river are limestone, and the steep 

 scarp which we had now to ascend appeared to be composed of calcareous 

 earth, of that description found in the plains, called Ko.nkar. Notwith- 

 standing the evidence I had had of this pass being surmountable, when I 



