ticable, we preferred the more mountainous road, and,
therefore, on leaving our encampment at Pugha, on the
morning of the 23rd of September, we continued to
ascend the valley of the little stream, on the banks of
which we had been encamped. For the first two miles
the plain was nearly level, and similar in character to
what has just been described, hot springs being observed
at intervals.
Two miles from our encampment, we stopped and examined
the spot whence sulphur is obtained, at the base
of the mountain slope on the north side of the valley.
Ascending a few feet over a loose talus of shingle, which
skirted the bottom of the hill, we found two narrow
caverns in the slaty rock, apparently natural, or only a
little widened by art, roughly circular, and less than three
feet in diameter at the mouth. One of these caverns
continued a long way inwards, nearly horizontally, but
it contracted considerably in diameter, and was so dark
that we could not penetrate far. The rock was principally
gypsum, interstratified with very friable mica-
slate. Sometimes the gypsum was amorphous and powdery,
at other times in needles two or three inches long,
perpendicular to the strata of slate. The sulphur was
in small quantities, scattered among the gypsum, and
was more abundant in the lower beds. It was frequently
in very perfect crystals, not, however, of any
great size.
The air which issued from these funnel-shaped apertures
was very sensibly warm, and had a strongly sulphurous
odour. Unfortunately, we had not anticipated
the necessity for observing the temperature, which was
not by any means oppressive, and was only remarkable
in.contrast with the extreme cold of the external air.
In the neighbourhood of the sulphur-pits, the hot
springs along the course of the stream were very numerous,
evolving much gas. A little higher they ceased
altogether, and the upper part of the plain was without
any springs, as was evident from the quantity of ice by
which it was covered. For more than a mile it was a
dead level, and very swampy; but afterwards the valley
became gently sloping and gravelly, the little stream
being often hidden under the pebbles. Large boulders
of the same granite which we had observed the day
before, were scattered over the surface. The vegetation
in this valley was extremely scanty, a few scattered tufts
of Dama, and some shrubby Artemisice, were occasionally
seen, but the herbaceous vegetation had been almost
entirely destroyed by the intense morning frosts, which
had for some time been of daily occurrence. On the
latter part of the day’s journey the rock on the mountain
side changed from mica-slate to gneiss, of which
very lofty scarped cliffs rose abruptly on the right hand.
We encamped on a level spot, after ten miles of almost
imperceptible ascent.
Next morning we continued to ascend the valley, which
was now very rugged, from masses of boulders, which
were heaped one on another to a very great thickness.
The stream had cut for itself a narrow channel, nearly
a hundred feet in depth, the walls of which were entirely
composed of huge incoherent masses of rock, all
more or less angular. A walk of three miles brought
us to the crest of the pass, which was nearly level and