were ever and anon precipitated into the torrent, with a
roar that repeatedly spread consternation amongst us.
During rains especially, and at night, when the chilled
atmospheric currents of air descended, and the sound
was not dissipated as in the day-time, the noise of these
falls was sufficiently alarming. My tent was pitched near
the hase of the cliff, and so high above the river, that
I had thought it beyond the reach of danger ; hut one
morning I found that a large fragment of granite had
been hurled during the night to my very door, my
dog having had a most narrow escape. I have seen few
finer sights than the fall of these stupendous blocks
into the furious torrent, along which they were carried
amid feathery foam for many yards before settling.
Across the Thlonok to the southwards, rose the
magnificent mountain of Tukcham, hut I only once
caught a glimpse of its summit, which even then
clouded over before I could get my instruments
adjusted for ascertaining its height. Its top is a sharp
cone, surrounded by rocky shoulders, that rise from a
mass of snow.
Glaciers in the north-west Himalaya descend to
11,000 feet; but I could not discover any in these
valleys even so low as 14,000 feet, though at this
season extensive snow-heds remain unmelted at hut
little above 10,000 feet. The foot of the stupendous
glacier filling the broad head of the Thlonok is certainly
not below 14,000 feet; though being continuous
with the perpetual snow (or névé) of the summit of
Kinchinjunga, it must have 14,000 feet of ice, in
perpendicular height, to urge it forwards.
All my attempts to advance up the Zemu were fruitless,
and a snow bridge by which I had hoped to cross
to the opposite bank was carried away by the daily
swelling river, while the continued bad weather prevented
any excursions for days together. Botany was
my ouly resource, and as vegetation was advancing
rapidly under the influence of the southerly winds, I
made a rich harvest: for though some of the finest
Himalayan plants flower later, June is still the most
glorious month for show.
Rhododendrons occupied the most prominent place,
clothing the mountain slopes with a deep green mantle
glowing with bells of hrilhant colours; of the eight or
ten species growing here, every bush was loaded with
as great a profusion of blossoms as are their northern
congeners in our English gardens. Primroses were next,
both in beauty and abundance ; and they were accompanied
by yellow cowslips, three feet high, purple
polyanthus, and pink large - flowered dwarf kinds
nestling in the rocks, and an exquisitely beautiful blue
miniature species, whose blossoms sparkled like sapphires
on the turf. Gentians began to unfold their
deep azure bells, aconites to rear their tall blue spikes,
and fritillaries to burst into flower. On the black rocks
the gigantic rhubarb formed pale pyramidal towers a
yard high, of inflated reflexed bracts, that conceal the
flowers, and over-lapping one another like tiles, protect
them from the wind and rain ; a whorl of broad green
leaves edged with red spreads on the ground at the
base of the plant, contrasting in colour with the
transparent bracts, which are yellow, margined with