definite limits, and do not seem referable to any present
valley system.
We encamped at Pok, a large village nearly nine miles
from Lari. Here we found again an extensive alluvial
platform, covered with much cultivation; and on the
mountain ravine above the village there was a considerable
grove of young juniper-trees. A week or two before,
I should have considered them as scattered trees; now
they had quite the appearance of a forest, so bare had
the country been since crossing Hangarang.
West of Pok, our journey of the 2nd of September
was over the alluvial platform, which continued for two
miles beyond the cultivation of the village, gradually
contracting in width by the encroachment of successive
spurs, which at last advanced close to the river. The
road now ascended by a short steep path on the mountain
side, to a higher level. At the base of this ascent
there were a great many angular masses of limestone,
evidently transported from the valleys behind. These
fragments were very numerous, and many of them of
great size. They continued abundant during a great
part of the day, but no limestone was seen in situ. I
have not preserved any record of the exact position of
these angular fragments with regard to the valleys behind,
but I have little doubt that they will be found to
be of glacial origin, such being certainly the case in many
other similar instances. The limestone was very compact,
of a blue or grey colour, and many of the fragments
were almost full of coralline remains. I collected
many fossiliferous specimens, which were afterwards despatched
from Hanle to Simla by a messenger, on whom
we thought we could rely, but they never reached their
destination*.
We encamped at Dankar, after travelling ten miles.
This place is the principal village of the Piti valley, and
is 13,000 feet above the level of the sea. The valley of
the Piti is here very wide, and divided into numerous
channels, which are separated by low gravelly islands,
the whole width of the river being not less than half a
mile. Here the alluvium is very highly developed, lying
in patches on the face of the steep hills. The village of
Dankar, though 1000 feet above the river, occupies both
sides of a steep ridge entirely composed of alluvium.
Nor is this its utmost limit; for several hundred feet
above the houses, similar alluvial masses occur. These
beds are not, however, continuous from these great elevations,
down to the level of the river: they rest, on
the contrary, on the ancient rocks, which are here very
steep, and the clay may be seen in isolated projecting
masses, capping the most prominent ridges j\
The village of Dankar is built on arid barren soil, but
the cultivated lands stretch from about the level of the
village almost to the river, on a very steep slope. Thickets
of Hippophae were scattered among the cultivation,
where the ground was swampy; and notwithstanding the
great altitude, the exposure being favourable, the crops
seemed good, and the wild plants were more luxuriant
* This limestone will, I believe, turn out to be the counterpart of the
limestones of Silurian age, which form one of the most interesting
results of the labours of Captain It. Strachey, in Kumaon and Grarhwal.
f A very excellent sketch of the fort and village of Dankar, by Mr.
Trebeck, is given in Moorcroft’s Travels, in which the appearance and
position of the alluvial masses is well represented.