58 NARRATIVE. 
medicines a quantity of chlorate of potash, and gave 
a strong solution of it more as a placebo than with 
any belief that it would relieve the symptoms. How- 
ever, it seemed to have a very good effect, but on 
what principle it acted I will not venture to conjec- 
ture. I have no doubt that the unpleasant effects 
experienced at great altitudes are very temporary, 
and, as in the case of sea-sickness, are overcome by 
practice. They are also most severe on rapidly ascend- 
ing to a great height. 
On the 1 1 th July we marched twelve miles, to Durgu, 
which is 2000 feet lower than the lake at which we 
had encamped overnight, and about 500 feet lower 
than the top of the pass. Here all the headaches 
and nausea rapidly passed off. 
At Durgu we entered a well-cultivated valley, which 
we followed for two marches (twenty-seven miles) to 
the Pangong lake. A large stream, fordable with 
difficulty at this season, flows down the valley and 
empties itself into the Shyok river, a few miles below 
Durgu. This stream swarms with fish. 
On the 12th July we marched up the valley fifteen 
miles to Muglib, passing the village of Tankse about 
half-way, where cultivation for a time ceases. At 
Muglib there is good pasturage, but no cultivation. 
On the 13th July we marched up the valley twelve 
miles, passing two small lakes of sweet water, and 
encamped at Lukung — where there are a few huts and 
some acres of barley-cultivation — half a mile from 
the western end of the Pangong lake. 
From Le to Muglib the rocks were chiefly granite, 
and in many of the valleys there were deposits of clay 
and gravel of enormous depth, often 300 feet at least. 
