country being of an uniform grey colour; and coarse
gravel, with scattered stones of larger size, everywhere
covered the surface. The ascent was very inconsiderable
till towards the end of the day’s journey. The distance
travelled was about ten miles, and we encamped at about
15,800 feet, on the left bank of a small stream which
• descended from the north, the borders of which were
swampy and covered with green turf, in which the common
plants of the country occurred, such as little gentians,
Ranunculi, Parnassia, several Polygona and Potentates,
Carices, and grasses. On the west bank of the
stream was a low ridge of clay-slate rocks, while on the
right and in the valley was a heap of granite boulders.;
no doubt an ancient moraine, for the fragments were
piled on one another to a great height, and rose far
above the stream as well as the ordinary level of the
plain.
On the 18th of September we crossed the Lanak pass,
which lay before us at a distance of about five miles.
From our encampment the mountains appeared easy of
access and rounded in outline, and we commenced the
ascent by a nearly level walk across the gravelly plain.
After a mile and a half we rejoined the stream, and
kept along it for a little way. Its banks were green
with a narrow belt of turf; and the bed was often rocky,
the rock being still clay-slate, notwithstanding the granite
boulders everywhere scattered about. The edges of the
stream were frozen, spiculse of thin ice adhering to the
herbage. The vegetation was quite alpine, the elevation
being certainly above 16,000 feet. A Delphinium, which
seemed the same as the D. Bnmonianum of the Hangarang
pass, a little yellow saxifrage, and a white-flowered
species of the same genus, which 1 believe to be the Scottish
alpine* S. cernua, an entire-leaved yellow Ranunculus,
a Pedicularis with purple flowers, and some grasses, were
the most remarkable plants observed.
After a mile, we left the ravine and ascended to the
open gently-sloping ground on its left, still rising sensibly
as we advanced. The surface was, as usual, dry and
gravelly, and Oxytropis chiliophylla and a little Stipa
were almost the only plants. We continued nearly parallel
to the ravine, and crossed it again a little further on.
It was now dry, and its steep stony banks were covered
with bushes of Dama. Still gradually ascending, we
crossed the same ravine a third time, where its bed was
upwards of 17,000 feet. There was again no water visible,
but the ground was still moist, the streamlet probably,
as is very general in these arid regions, trickling
under the surface among the loose gravel. The little
alpine nettle, which I had first found on the northern
spurs of Porgyul, near Changar, and again on the southern
face of the Parang pass, was here common, as were
two species of Alsine, which formed dense tufts. A
little saxifrage and the Delphinium were also still observed,
but all the other plants had disappeared.
Leaving the ravine for the last time, we continued
the ascent, which became steeper as we advanced. A
rounded ridge lay to our right hand, and we rose nearer
and nearer to its crest. Fragments of granite, piled on one
another in increasing numbers, covered the steep slopes.
Rock in situ was only to be seen in one place; it was
still clay-slate, containing a good deal of mica. The top