100 
o 
The progress of the Kashmir Series. [No. 
Several points in China have been fixed, and amongst others the 
well known Gya peak is supposed to he included. The height of 
this peak which I saw last year appears to he from 23 to 24,000 feet 
above the sea. Further observations have been taken to the group of 
peaks that I saw at the same time in the Shayok direction : the peaks 
average considerably over 26,000 feet in height. Some progress has 
been made with the triangulation of Zanskar. In this work a very 
rugged and confined piece of ground has been crossed between the 
valley of the Indus and the more open valley of Zanskar. 
On the upper course of the Shayok river (in the Nubra district) 
the triangulation has been commenced and a good many peaks fixed. 
The topographical work was first taken up in the Kishengunga 
valley, which although drained by a large river is really, for the 
greater part, little better than a chasm in the mountains. Through- 
out it is very precipitous, and Ahmed Khan the chieftain of Kurna 
said to me, in reference to its rocky surface, “ A traveller must put 
on grass shoes if he wishes to visit the Kishengunga valley.” It is 
indeed all but impossible for even the best pedestrians without loads 
to follow the river from Kurna to Gurais, and any one wishing to do 
so would prefer going actually along the northern ridge of the 
Kashmir valley. 
The Kishengunga valley, so difficult a piece of country at the 
best time of the year, had to be taken up when the snow was heavy, 
even at 9,000 feet. This added very much to the difficulties of 
the work, but as the Maha Raja’s troops were shortly to cross the 
valley en route to Gilgit, it was necessary to finish early. The work 
was fortunately completed in very good time, and the whole of the 
surveyors were then transferred to fresh ground in Little Thibet and 
Ladak. 
During the season topographical sketches were made of the whole 
of the valley of the Indus, from Skardo the capital of Little Thibet 
or Baltistan to Leh the capital of Ladak, as well as the whole of the 
Sooroo and Dras valleys, the plains of Deosai, and a large part of the 
Shigar valley north of Skardo with a portion of the Nubra or Shayok 
valley. This large tract of country, in all an area of about 12,000 
square miles,— had been triangulated in previous seasons. It embraces 
all sorts of ground from an altitude of 27,000 feet down in a few 
