through the Himalaya Mountains. £9^ 
violence over the rocks interspersed in its channel. As you ad- 
vance, the dell in which the Pubur flows becomes gradually 
more contracted, the mountains assume a more naked and abrupt 
appearance, and the rapidity and turbulence of the river in- 
crease. 
From Jangleeg I proceeded 10 miles to a halting place, called 
Moondar, within 2 miles of the Brooang Pass over the great 
snowy range : the road was good, and lay in a broad grassy glen, 
between two spurs of the Himalayas, with the Pubur running 
through it. The soil of this valley is composed of black vege- 
table mould, which produces endless varieties of alpine plants 
to the height of 13,000 feet. Belts of birch and pine reach al- 
most the same elevation ; beyond which scarcely any thing is 
seen but patches of brown grass. 
The height of my camp, which was pitched beneath an im- 
mense projecting granite rock, was 12,800 feet. We left the 
last cluster of birch trees 3 miles behind us, so that we had to 
send back all that distance for firewood. The thermometer was 
38<i at night, and water froze hard. 
Next day^ 2d October . — We pitched our tent on the crest of 
the pass, 15,095 feet above the level of the sea. The road was 
of the worst description, crossing the Pubur, which has its source 
near this, by an arch of snow of some extent, and then leading 
over huge detached masses of granite hurled from the peaks 
above, and piled upon one another in dreadful confusion, with 
here and there some snow. The ascent was steep the whole 
way, and almost the only vegetation we noticed was grass in 
small tufts, which grew more scanty as we advanced to the pass, 
where it almost disappeared : It was still seen above, thinly scat- 
tered and Intermixed with a few mosses. Here I met my bro- 
ther, who had left Soobathoo some time before me, and travel- 
led by a much more circuitous route. 
We sent most of our servants down about 5 miles to a more 
congenial climate, where wood could be procured. The peaks im- 
mediately on either side of us were not more than 1000 feet 
above us, but there are several not very far distant which we 
could not now see, 18,000 feet high. We were lucky in getting 
the altitudes and bearings of the principal mountains across the 
3 
