The elevation of Wandla is only 11,000 feet, and the
heat of the sun was very oppressive. On the latter
part of the march, many plants of the Indus valley
which were familiar to me from my journey of the year
before, but which I had not seen during my present
visit to Tibet, made their appearance. Fchinops and
Nepeta floccosa, Mulgedium Tataricum, a large and handsome
yellow Corydalis, Capparis, and numerous Cheno-
podiacea were abundant. The leaves of Tussilago
Farfara were common along the water-courses; in the
corn-fields a little viscid Cerastium (Lepyrodiclis) was
only too plentiful. By far the most conspicuous plant
was the rose (Ii. Webbiana), which, in the rich and well-
watered soil of the cultivated plain, grew most luxuriantly,
forming dense almost spherical bushes, many of which
were at least fifteen feet high, as much in diameter, and
bushy down to the ground. They were now in full
bloom, and the foliage was almost entirely concealed by
the profusion of bright red flowers.
I was obliged to remain a day at Wandla, owing to
the serious illness of one of my servants, who, though a
native of a moimtainous country, had suffered much more
on the high passes than any of the inhabitants of the
plains of India, and was now so much exhausted as to
be unable to move. On the 7th, however, I proceeded
towards the Indus, not a little glad to be at last within a
day’s journey of that river, as I was considerably later
than I had originally calculated, not having made allowance
for the very rugged nature of the country between
Zanskar and Le.
The valley of Wandla, I was informed, contracted
again into a rocky ravine a very little way below the village.
This ravine was not qnite impracticable, but the
stream had to be forded very frequently; and as it was
at least four feet deep, I was recommended to follow another
route, a little more circuitous, but free of difficulty.
For the first mile I proceeded up an open valley, which
joined at a right angle from the west that which I had
descended on the 5th. I then turned to the right up a
very sterile ravine, with much saline efflorescence; in
a few places a small streamlet trickled among the stones,
but for the first part the channel was quite dry, the water
filtering underneath the gravel. The sides of the ravine
were bare and shingly and without vegetation, except
at the entrance, where a Corydalis, thistle, and one or
two other plants occurred sparingly. On the most stony
parts Giildenstadtia cuneata, Benth., was common, and
here and there in the gravelly channel was a bush of
Myricaria (not M. elegans, but a smaller and much less
handsome species). After a gentle ascent of about two
miles, I gained the head of the ravine, and crossing a
stony ridge not high enough for alpine plants, descended
another valley on its north side, which, though at first if
possible more barren than the ascent, soon became somewhat
green with willow-bushes and the ordinary plants.
After descending perhaps a thousand feet, I reached
an extensive tract of cultivation, just above which, in
another ravine, lay the village and monastery of Lama-
yuru, of which a circumstantial account has been
given by Moorcroft*. At this place, I joined the road
* Travels, vol. ii. p. 11.
2 C 2