CLIMATE AND VEGETATION OF THE HIMALAYAS. 
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YANGMA YALLEY. 
has accumulated its drift-deposits. (1000 feet thick, by actual measurement, in western Thibet), the 
waters, which stood at a height of 15,000 feet in the Yangma valley, have left parallel roads or banks, on 
the flanks of this valley, which are as fine as those of Glen Roy, in Scotland. Lateral ravines have washed 
out masses of rock into the valley, which have been piled up into mountains, and perfectly bridged it 
over, so that, on the subsidence of the waters, they formed dams. 
The terraces are perfectly parallel on the two sides of the valley, 
above the lake beds ; they ascend like steps, along the steep declivities, 
and are everywhere strewed with vast blocks of rock. In the side 
valleys, one sees now only small patches of glacier ice, which have 
deposited drift and debris, just in the same manner as the vast beds 
twenty yards long, have been deposited by the greater ice. 
I have here sketched a plan of the valley, and shown, that 
these bridges across the valley, a mile long, one 800 feet high, and 
all composed of masses of rock, heaped up too irregularly to allow 
of a vegetation extending to them, are a real effect of mountain ice> 
which has been flooded out from the side valleys. 
These astonishing records of the power of glacier ice, admit of no 
other explanation; and many particulars so vividly remind me of 
the shores of the Antarctic Ocean, that I cannot have any doubt of 
the correctness of my conclusions. 
The village of Yangma, at the fork of the terraced valley, lies above 
the limit of shrubby plants, and stands on the flanks of a level terrace 
of drift and rocks, rising 300 feet above the bottom of the valley, and 
two miles long. The village is 13,700 feet above the sea, (according 
to the reading of two barometers, and the determination of the boiling 
point), at which' height, Wheat, Peas, and Radishes were cultivated, 
the harvest falling in the month of September. 
From hence I turned in the north-western direction, toward the 
Kanglach Pass, which leads to Thibet; but, on account of the deep 
snow, had great difficulty to attain the height of 16,000 feet. Three 
dry lake-beds in this valley, (eight in all,) were of exactly the 
same origin as those below the village. The uppermost, at 16,000 
feet was quite filled with snow, and surrounded by glacier moun¬ 
tains. 
I examined the phenomena as well as I could in deep Winter, 
and as was allowed by our scanty store of provisions, and then turned 
back doAvn the valley; not, however, to the Tambur river—for 
opposition still prevailed—but I resolved to return to Sikkim over 
three intermediate shoulders of the Kanchain; I was only able to obtain 
fifteen people, and this we carried on our backs. 
From Yangma valley we set out S. W. over the Nango shoulder of Kanchain, at a height of 15,760 
feet, but again had great difficulty on account of the snow. My coolies trembled at the frost. We 
were overtaken by night, and thus compelled to pitch our camp under the opposite peaks. This 
branch chain runs in the Nango mountains, to a height of about 21,000 feet. We crossed it quite 
close to this mountain, and descended to the Kambach valley, a terrible ravine, and to a little village, 
by the Bhothia inhabitants of which we were received kindly, although they were unable to spare us 
food, since they expected daily to be snowed up (height about 12,500 feet). The winter fall often 
amounts to 15 feet here, and yet Wheat, Peas, and Radishes are cultivated. I found a Larix and ten 
species of Rhododendron in this valley. I have now twenty Sikkim species of the latter genus. The 
glacier chains were here as splendid as in the Yangma valley. 
Here w T e turned off to cross another shoulder of the Kanchain, named Choonjerma, which cost us 
three days. Jummo, the highest peak of this chain, is 25,311 feet above the sea. We passed over its 
shoulder at 15,300 feet, and 8 miles from its summit. The pass was doubly heavy with snow, and 
very bad; w 7 e were again benighted on the crest, but by the light of the moon’s first quarter we got 
out of the snow, and camped below it. 
We now descended to the Walloong valley, with the intention of proceeding down it to the village 
of the same name, and from thence to cross over the great south-east of the Kanchain (called 
Singalelah) to Sikkim. As bad luck would have it, we had but one day’s provision left; we found 
a. Yangma River. 
b. Boulder Deposits. 
c. Lofty Terraces. 
d. Mountains. 
e. Village and Terrace. 
f. Terraces on Flanks of Valley. 
g. Glacier Valley. 
h. Lake bed. 
seven days’ provision for my 
