but rarely, rolled pebbles were seen in it. No traces of
stratification were anywhere discoverable, in which respect
it differed very strikingly from the limestone of the
previous day, in which lines of stratification, much contorted,
were well seen in many sections exposed at different
heights. This remarkable limestone formed the
rock on both sides of the gravelly plain during the
greater part of the day s journey. In one place only
metamorphic slate was seen below it, dipping at a high
angle to the north-east. The limestone was extremely
brittle, and the cliffs terminated above in sharp pinnacles
of the most fantastic shapes, while at the base they were
covered with heaps of angular debris*. A coarse conglomerate
replaced the limestone during the last mile previous
to my encamping.
On the 18th of August, after following for a few hundred
yards the course of the stream through a narrow
rocky gorge, the road turned abruptly to the right, up
a dry stony ravine, ascending rather rapidly. The coarse
conglomerate of the lower part of this ravine was succeeded
by a coarse sandstone, and that again by an incoherent
alluvial conglomerate with a clayey matrix. After
a short distance, the ravine widened out into a narrow,
gravelly, moderately steep valley, with low rounded hills
on either side. By degrees, as I increased my elevation,
superb snowy mountains came in sight to the south-west,
and on attaining the top of the ascent an open, gravelly,
somewhat undulating plain lay before me, while behind
a grand snowy range was seen in perfection, forming
* I have no conjecture to offer regarding the age or nature of this
very remarkable rock.
apparently a continuous chain, with a direction from
south-east to north-west. The snow was to the eye perfectly
continuous in both directions as far as the mountains
were visible, and appeared everywhere to lie on the
mountain-sides to three and four thousand feet below
their tops. As I had passed through this apparent chain
of mountains without rising above 16,000 feet, the continuity
of the snowy mass was of course a deception.
Many very lofty peaks rose above the others at intervals.
The height of the more distant ones I could not venture
to estimate, but I felt at the time fully convinced that a
very high peak, just opposite to me, and distant, according
to bearings taken afterwards, about ten miles (in a
direct line) from the edge of the plain, was 6000 or 7000
feet higher than the ground on which I stood, or at least
24,000 feet above the level of the sea. I do not wish
that any great degree of confidence should be placed on
this estimate, but I think it right that I should state
my impression at the time, formed without any wish to
exaggerate.
The stream along which I had ascended during the two
last days lay in a deep ravine far below the level of the
plain. Its source was evidently not far distant, and it
issued no doubt from a large glacier at- the head of the
gorge, though the slight upward slope of the plain to the
west prevented me from seeing its precise origin. In a
northerly direction the plain appeared to extend for six
or seven miles, and beyond it lay several ranges of mountains
running from east to west, but only very moderately
patched with snow. . Eastward the plain diminished
slightly in elevation for four or five miles, at which dis