hibited obscure traces of what might be fossils, but which
were too indistinct to be relied upon. The principal mass
of snow seen was nearly due south of my encampment,
but this was probably owing to the northerly exposure
of the mountains on that side. The vegetation observed
during the day was scanty in the extreme; Eurotia, a
Saussurea with very viscid leaves, Oxytropis chiliophylla,
and Biebersteinia odora being almost the only plants on
the stony slopes and shingle during the first half of the
way. On the gravelly plain there was no vegetation at
all, but on its margins a few scattered plants were occasionally
to be found, a Pyrethrum, and two or three Cru-
cifera being the species noted. The most remarkable
plant observed during the day was a species of Alsine
in dense hemispherical tufts, a foot or more in diameter.
This plant (the moss of Moorcroft’s visit to Garu, and
of other travellers in and on the borders of Tibet) is a
common Tibetan plant at very great elevations, 16,000
feet being perhaps not far from its lowest level*.
On the 17th my road lay entirely along the gravelly
plain in a direction always considerably to the west of
north. The plain gradually narrowed as I advanced,
and came to an end by contracting into a rocky ravine,
just as I halted for the day. The mountains on the left
were still very lofty ; one glacier was seen on that side.
On the right the mountains were lower and quite without
snow, but extremely rugged and rocky. The slope
* Excellent specimens of this singular alpine plant, each tuft of
which must, I think, represent the growth of centuries, may be seen in
the Museum of the Royal Gardens at Kew, collected by Dr. Hooker
in Eastern Tibet.
of the valley was scarcely perceptible, but I found at the
end of my day’s journey, which amounted to twelve
miles, that I had risen above 700 feet, the height of my
encampment being a little more than 16,700 feet. The
day was bright and sunny, and the stream, which, in the
morning was quite insignificant, not three feet wide and
scarcely ankle-deep, had increased much by the afternoon,
and had become of a dirty red colour. It was
twenty feet wide, and a foot and a half deep, where I
crossed it just before halting. The vegetation was still
more scanty than the day before, though most of the
plants then noted were again seen occasionally. Small
tufts of a little Stipa were not uncommon, constituting
almost the only food for cattle, as patches of green grass,
a few feet in diameter, were only seen twice during the
day. Two very small Sausmrem formed dense tufted
masses on the surface of the ground, and a little rose-
coloured Astragalus spread itself prostrate over the
gravel; indeed, this mode of growth seemed to be characteristic
either of the climate or soil, as I found, though
rarely, a species of Myricaria, with short thick wiry
branches lying flat on the ground and spreading into
patches a yard in diameter.
Not far from the point where the direction of the valley
changed so suddenly, the blue or greyish massive but
brittle limestone of the higher mountains gave place to a
rock of a very different appearance. This was also a
limestone, perfectly white, or with a very faint yellowish
or greyish tinge, and either quite amorphous, with a
saccharine texture, and often honeycombed, or composed
of a congeries of very minute crystals. Occasionally,