506 JOURNEY ACROSS THE 



or JBoga Panl. The road lay over broken fragments, or rather huge 

 masses of rock, along the bank. Crossed over a bridge made of a few- 

 sticks tied together, the water dashing among the rocks beneath ; the 

 river at present is about a hundred feet wide, but after rain it swells pro- 

 digiously ; the bed of this river is four thousand eight hundred and seventy- 

 seven feet above the level of the sea, by barometer. The water is quite 

 white, as if mixed with fine white sand, though when taken up it appears 

 perfectly clear. The water of the other river, at the same time, appears 

 quite black, from its rocky bed. Ascended a long, steep, difficult and 

 fatiguing hill by regular stone steps, some of them loose, and at half- 

 past two arrived at Moiplong, after a very hard day's march— distance 

 about fourteen miles. Moiplong is five thousand nine hundred and forty- 

 two feet high, and is the highest range in the journey. The rock is 

 a blue slate; there are no trees, except about the Boga or Safed Pdni, 

 where I observed the first firs, small and stunted. The ground is 

 covered with flowers and shrubs, strawberries, raspberries, dandelions, 

 thistles, &c. 



Friday 31st. — At day-break, thermometer 50. Started at five a. m. — • 

 road, hill and dale, with one steep descent, and little streams here and 

 there, the vallies stiff and white with hoarfrost! the first I have seen since 

 leaving England fifteen years ago. There is always a difference of at least 

 ten degrees between the plains and the tops of the hills. In November 1827, 

 the thermometer stood at twenty-one, in one of these vallies. Crossed a 

 good sized plain with cultivation, and then a steep ascent brought me to the 

 summit of the hill, which overlooks the plain Siang. Passed several beds 

 of quartz, and collected some specimens; no trees to be seen, but fine pas- 

 ture, and numerous flowers— fine plains and high round hills, some conical. 

 Left the village of Siang on the right, on the top of a ravine, with trees, at 

 about a quarter after eight. This is not a friendly village. Tolerable road 

 with soft black soil, and occasional bogs. Arrived at a stream, and 



