ridges, whence the whole snowy face is—as it were—
crimped in perpendicular, closely-set, zig-zag lines,
doubtless caused by the melting process, which furrows
the surface of the snow into channels by which the
water is carried off; the effect is very beautiful, but
impossible to represent on paper, from the extreme
delicacy of the shadows, and at the same time the
perfect definition and precision of the outlines,
In the afternoon I reached the village of Yangma,
a miserable collection of 200 to 300 stone huts, nestling
under the steep flank of a lofty, flat-topped terrace,
laden with gigantic boulders, and projecting southward
from a snowy mountain which divides the valley.
Near my camp (of which the elevation was 13,500
feet), radishes, barley, wheat, potatos, and turnips,
were cultivated as summer crops, and I even saw
some on the terrace, 400 feet above ; these were
grown in small fields cleared of stones, and protected
by dykes.
The scenery, though dismal (no juniper ever attaining
this elevation), was full of interest and grandeur,
from the number and variety of snowy peaks and
glaciers all around the elevated horizon ; the ancient
lake-beds, now green or brown with scanty vegetation ;
the vast moraines'; the ridges of glacial débris; the flat
terraces, marking, as it were with parallel roads, the
bluff sides of the mountains ; the enormous boulders
perched upon them, and strewed everywhere around ;
the little Booddhist monuments of quaint, picturesque
shapes, decorated with poles and banners ; the many-
coloured dresses of the people.; the brilliant blue of the
cloudless heaven by day; the depth of its blackness by
night, heightened by the light of the stars, that blaze
and twinkle with a lustre unknown in less lofty
regions; all these were objects for contemplation,
rendered more impressive by the silence that reigned
around. The village seemed buried in repose: the
inhabitants had already begun to hybernate; their crops
were stored, the curd made and dried, the passes
closed, the soil frozen, th e . winter’s stock of fuel
housed, and the people had retired into the caverns of
their, half-subterranean houses, to sleep, spin wool, and
think of Booddh, if of anything at all, the dead, long
winter through. The yaks alone find anything to do f
so long as any vegetation remains they roam and eat
it, still yielding milk, which the women take morning
and evening, when their shrill whistle and cries are
heard for a few minutes as they call the grunting
animals. No other sounds, save the harsh roar and
hollow echo of the falling rock, glacier, or snow-bed,
disturbed the perfect silence of the day and night.*
I had taken three days’ food to Yangma, and stayed
there as long as it lasted : the rest of my provisions I
had left below the first moraine, where a lateral valley
leads east over the Nango pass to the Kambachen
valley, which lay on the route back to Sikkim.
I. was premature in complaining of my Wallanchoon
tents, those provided for me at Yangma being infinitely
worse; mere rags, around which I piled sods as a
defence from the piercing night-wind that descended
* Saow covers the ground at Yangma from December till April, and the
falls are said to be very heavy, at times amounting to 12 feet in depth.