rocky gorge. After seven miles and a half, I found that
I had reached the point at which the road followed by
the merchants in travelling from Le to Yarkand leaves
the valley of Nubra. It was too late in the day to attempt
the ascent of the ridge to the right j I therefore encamped
in a grove of willows, which formed a belt along the margin
of a stream whose bed was now quite dry, its scanty
supply of water having been diverted into an artificial
channel for the irrigation of a couple of fields of indifferent
barley not far off.
In the valley of Nubra, beyond this encamping ground,
which is known by the name of Changlung, there are, I
believe, only three small villages, the most distant of which
appeared to be not more than five or six miles off. In
the direction of the valley, which was still north-north-west,
very lofty mountains were visible at no great distance,
all with snowy tops, and generally with heavy snow-beds
and glaciers in their hollows; and according to the statement
of my guides, the river at the distance of less than
two days’ journey issues from beneath a glacier, by which
all passage is stopped*.
On the 10th of August I started at daybreak, immediately
commencing the ascent of the mountain range
which enclosed the valley on the east. The mountain was
exceedingly steep, indeed almost precipitous, and the road
proceeded in a zigzag direction over bare granite rock,
with scarce a vestige of vegetation. During the ascent
I had a good view of the valley, and of the mountain
* Two months later, Captain Straehey ascended the Nubra valley
till stopped by this glacier, which appears to be on a still more gigantic
scale than those of the Shayuk to the eastward.