been investigated by Dr. Royle’s collectors,) were all previously
described species.
Prom tbe pass the descent was pretty steep all the
way to Hango, a small village, elevated 11,500 feet.
The road lay on the side of a ravine, keeping the hills
on the left hand, and the channel of the stream on the
right. The Dama, which had disappeared at the summit,
was again plentiful on the northern slope; and a
shrubby species of Potentilla, quite new to me, was exceedingly
common. Otherwise, little change was visible.
The road was good, but the hills were dry and stony.
The village of Hango, notwithstanding its great elevation,
has a considerable extent of cultivation, though I
think the corn was less luxuriant than at lower levels.
The wheat was still green, and rather scanty, a good deal
of a wild oat (perhaps Avena fatua) being mixed with
i t ; but the barley was stronger and more productive.
There was also a number of fields of Hordeum AEgiceras,
that curious awnless monstrous barley, which seems peculiar
to the higher regions of Tibet, where it is very
frequently cultivated. This grain was much further
advanced than the wheat, being nearly ripe. The arable
lands of Hango are nearly destitute of trees, a few willows
being the only arboreous vegetation. They are abundantly
supplied with water, circulating in copious rills among
the different fields, which are disposed in terraces one
above another, faced by walls about three feet in height.
On the margins of the cultivation, stimulated by the
moisture derived from the irrigation, there was a very
abundant growth of shrubs, and of luxuriant herbaceous
plants. The gooseberry, Hippophae, and rose, were the
shrubs, and several large Umbelliferoe, one of which was
closely allied to the Assafcetida, a tall Thalictrum, a yellow
flowered Medicago, Verbascum Thapsus, two species of
thistle, the common henbane, dock, mint, Plantago, and
various species of Artemisia, were the most common herbaceous
plants.
On the 24th of August we proceeded to Lio, a village
on the right or west bank of the Piti river. The road
crosses the small stream which runs past Hango, a little
below the village, and gradually ascends the slope of the
hill on its left bank. Close to the stream there is a
bank of clayey alluvium, with stones, and traces of it may
be seen at intervals for some distance down the valley,
but it is nowhere of any great thickness. The hill along
which the road lay was composed of a cherty sandstone
of a light-blue colour, often nearly white ; in fragments,
and especially when pulverized, it was quite so ; and
being extremely brittle, the slopes were covered with fine
white dust, the glare of which, in the bright sunshine,
was very unpleasant. On this gravelly ascent the vegetation
was equally scanty, and much the same in character
as at moderate elevations on the two previous days ;
a large thistle, species of Artemisia, Chenopodiaceoe, and
a spinous Astragalus, being the most abundant plants.
The road continued to ascend gently for about half
a mile, rapidly increasing its height above the stream,
which had a considerable slope. The next two miles
were tolerably level, over a good but stony road, at an
elevation a little under 12,000 feet. A species of Crarnbe,
with a long fusiform root, smelling somewhat like a
turnip, was common along this part of the road. Thé