CHAPTER IV.
Hangarang ridge separates Kunawar from Piti—Ascent to Hangarang
Pass—Alluvial deposit—Steep ascent—View of valley—-Limestone
rocks— Oaragana versicolor, or Dama—Camp at 14,000 feet—Top
of pass—View from pass—Vegetation of summit—Descent to Hango
—Cultivation round the village— Luxuriant wild plants—Road to
Lio— Oram.be—Ravine of Piti river—Lio—Bridge over Piti river—
Ascent to Nako— Nako— Cultivation of the village -§§ Buddhist
temple—Transported blocks—Chango—Changar—Stopped by villagers
on Chinese frontier—Natural bridge— Kyuri—Alluvium—
Clay deposit with shells—Lari—Ramifications of mountain ranges—
Alluvial platforms—Pok—Dankar—Lara—Rangrig—Upper part of
Piti—Climate—Saline exudations
T h e Hangarang ridge, as we may conveniently call that
mountain range on which the pass of Hangarang is
situated, forms the boundary between the districts of
Kunawar and Hangarang. As this range terminates at
or close to the point where the Sutlej is joined by the
Piti river, this division is geographically convenient. It
has also a marked physical signification, forming the
absolute limit of the deodar and Gerard’s pine; and indeed,
if we except the juniper, of all tree vegetation.
On the 22nd of August, our party left Sungnam to
ascend towards the Hangarang pass, encamping, as on
the two previous occasions, on the upper part of the
ascent, so as to get to the summit of the pass at an early
hour next day. Our road lay up a narrow ravine,
through which a small stream descended from the vicinity
of the Hangarang pass, to join the Ruskalan immediately
below Sungnam. We followed for a long time
the course of this rivulet, so that the ascent was by no
means fatiguing. A very few stunted deodars, and a
single tree of Finns Gerardiana, were the only trees met
with. A little shrubby vegetation was now and then
seen, consisting of an ash, rose, Colutea, Lonicera, and
Spiraea. The banks of the ravine were everywhere composed
of a conglomerate of angular stones, in general
imbedded in soft clay, though the matrix was not unfre-
quently calcareous, and in several places even composed
of crystalline carbonate of lime.
The hard calcareous conglomerates are, I think, of different
origin from the clayey ones. Indeed, I was induced
to believe from what I saw in the neighbourhood of
Sungnam, and occasionally in other districts (as I shall
have again occasion to notice), that the calcareous conglomerates,
which only occur in the neighbourhood of
the limestone formation, and therefore where calcareous
springs' are common, are formed by the infiltration of
water containing lime among beds of loose shingle which
have accumulated along the base of the steep hills.
These calcareous conglomerates are quite local, never
very extensive, and are often covered with an incrustation
of lime, showing the continued existence of the calcareous
springs, by the action of which I suppose them
to have been formed.
The clay beds, on the other hand, are continuous and
H