34 ^ 
THROUGH ASIA 
round the western foot of the mountain. I wanted to 
see the Yam-bulak glacier-stream at the spot where it 
received its contributaries. Where we crossed it, it was 
33| feet broad, i3f inches deep (maximum), and had a 
velocity of ’]\ feet in the second, and a temperature of 
42°3 Fahr. (5°7 C.). On both sides of it there were 
gigantic moraines of gneiss and crystalline schist, in 
pieces varying from 5000 cubic feet to small fragments, 
with binding material of glacial clay, though without any 
signs of stratification. Along the path of the stream, the 
soil was washed away from between the big blocks so 
that they encumbered its bed, causing waterfalls and 
cataracts. It was therefore no easy matter to get across 
the stream with the yaks, as the water was so muddy they 
could not see where to put their feet ; and often I felt 
my animal disappearing, so to speak, from under me, 
when it stepped between two deceptive boulders, round 
which the current was foaming and eddying. It w'as a 
decided relief to find myself riding up the opposite bank. 
A magnificent view unfolded itself to the east, where the 
white glacier-tongue lay embedded between its gigantic 
moraines at the foot of the mountain. 
W e rode from the tongue of the glacier, up along the 
left lateral moraine, to the place where the ice issued from 
its rock-bound cradle. The marginal moraine consisted 
entirely of huge gneiss boulders, most of them measuring 
about 3500 cubic feet each ; while the rock itself was 
a hard, dark crystalline schist, falling at an angle of 
twenty-one degrees towards the north-north-west. The 
moraine, then, received its material from higher regions. 
It was evident from other circumstances that the lower 
rocks could not contribute to its formation ; for between 
them and it there were a bergschrtmd or fissure and a 
gravel - strewn declivity, which prevented the ice from 
coming into contact with the wall of rock. 
It was no easy matter to make our way through this 
labyrinth of gneiss boulders. They were too big for the 
yaks to clamber over ; hence there was nothing for it but 
to dismount, and let Mollah Islam go round with the 
