66 
NARRATIVE. 
attract and store up moisture in the form of snow, and 
furnish during the summer months a small but constant 
supply of water, Ladak vvo^ld be an absolute desert. 
V. TifE DESERT. 
Leaving Chagra on the 1 5th July, we marched 
seventeen miles to Pang Lung, crossing the Masimik 
pass, which is 18,800 feet high. The ascent to the 
top is long and moderately steep, over undulating 
ground with loose stones on the surface, and near 
the top some rugged peaks project above the 
debris of which the surface of the country is here 
composed. At several points along the road, where a 
little grass existed, I saw marks of old Tibetan 
camps, and at these spots the tailless rat, Lagomys 
Ciirzonia of Hodgson, was very abundant. Traces of it 
were afterwards met with almost every clay, as long as 
we were at lower elevations than 18,000 feet, until we 
reached the Karakash river. Near the top of the pass 
I saw in the distance a large bird, probably a Lam- 
mergeyer. This was the only large bhd I saw in the 
desert. 
The top of the pass was quite free from snow ; but 
some neighbouring peaks, which rose 500 to 1000 
feet higher, were white with snow. After crossing 
the ridge we passed Eimdi, the usual encamping 
ground, and went on to a place called Pang Lung, 
where a few sheds had lately been erected to give 
shelter to traders. Between Eimdi and Pang Lung 
we entered a narrow valley, the slope of the hills 
being very steep, and consisting, as in many other 
parts of Laddk, of loose angular stones, some of which 
are as much as a cubic yard in size. These seem to 
