Part 27 (1/2)
[Sidenote: SUMMIT OF Pa.s.s.
_August, 1848._]
From this halting-place the remainder of the ascent was less abrupt, though still steep and extremely stony. There was, however, a little more vegetation than on the lower part, where the barren rocks, except at the very base, produced scarcely anything but _Ephedra_, a dwarf species of _Rhamnus_, and tufts of the hardy _Statice_. Higher up, several species of _Astragalus_ and _Artemisia_ were plentiful, with _Lithospermum euchromon_, _Dracocephalum heterophyllum_, and several _Chenopodiaceae_ and gra.s.ses. The top of the ridge had an elevation of 15,300 feet, but from its extreme aridity and rockiness, and its consequent elevated temperature, no alpine plants occurred. On reaching the top I was able to see something of the road before me, regarding which I had previously had little information, except in accounts of its extreme difficulty. These I had been inclined to consider exaggerated, but the prospect before me was undoubtedly far from tempting. Immediately below lay a narrow stony valley, to which, from the spot on which I stood, the descent was almost perpendicular.
Opposite to me there was a range of mountains higher than that on which I stood, with here and there a patch of snow. The valley below me was partly occupied by a ma.s.s of loose alluvial conglomerate, through which the stream had excavated a deep ravine; its direction was south-south-west, and there could be no doubt that the stream which I had crossed the day before, about half-way, was that which drained the valley upon which I now looked down. On the top of the alluvial platform, on the opposite side, there was a narrow strip of green, indicating a small patch of cultivation, without, however, any habitation, the crop being apparently left to its fate till ready for the reaper. In every other direction, stones and snow were alone visible.
[Sidenote: BARREN VALLEY.
_August, 1848._]
I descended obliquely into the valley, so as to reach it about a mile and a half higher up than the spot from which it was first visible.
The descent was very laborious, a great part of it being covered with loose gravel or coa.r.s.e sand, produced by the disintegration of the granite rocks. There was rather more vegetation than on the opposite face, and I collected a number of plants which I had not recently met with; a _Nepeta_, _Scrophularia_, _Cicer_, and _Heracleum_, and two shrubby _Potentillae_, were the commonest species. One of the species of _Potentilla_ (_P. discolor_ of Jacquemont) was remarkable for exciting violent sneezing when touched or shaken; this curious property seemed to be owing to a very fine dust which covered the under surface of the leaves.
After reaching the surface of the alluvial platform overhanging the stream, about half a mile of gentle ascent among large stones brought me, after a journey of ten miles, to my encamping ground. This was a level spot, close to a lateral torrent, which had its source in a snow-bed in the mountains on the left, and was rus.h.i.+ng in a most impetuous milk-white torrent over immense boulders, to unite itself to the main stream. The elevation of my camp was about 14,000 feet.
On the morning of the 11th, at starting, I crossed the torrent close to camp. Although much less considerable than it had been the previous afternoon, still, from its great rapidity and the number of boulders in its bed, the crossing was not accomplished without difficulty by the laden animals, who carried the greater part of my baggage. I crossed it myself by leaping from boulder to boulder, which would have been quite impossible in the afternoon of the previous day, when it was swollen by the action of the sun upon the snow. The road lay up the valley parallel to the river, among a most extraordinary acc.u.mulation of granite boulders of all sizes, from one to ten feet in diameter, piled upon one another in vast heaps, and evidently transported by a former glacier. After about half a mile, I crossed the river by a wooden bridge of two or three beams, which must have been brought from Nubra for the purpose, as no timber of any sort grows in the valley. The stream was very rapid and muddy. A mile further, a torrent descending from the mountains on the right was crossed, and soon after I got upon the bank of the main stream, now more tranquil and fordable. The road for the remainder of the march lay along its left bank, over boulders and gravel, ascending now and then a little way on steep sloping banks, entirely composed of transported materials. I encamped on a level, somewhat gra.s.sy spot of ground, which was evidently commonly used as a halting-place, having travelled only four and a half miles, an unnecessarily short day's work. I had throughout my journey had considerable difficulty in fixing the marches at proper lengths, the inhabitants having no measure of distance but the day's journey. In the present instance, my tent was pitched, and most of the party had commenced to cook, or were dispersed to collect fuel, long before my arrival, so that I was obliged to rest content for the day.
[Sidenote: GLACIER.
_August, 1848._]
The course travelled during the day had been north-north-east, but I had evidently arrived nearly as far as was practicable in that direction, for about half a mile in front was the bluff end of a very large glacier, filling up the continuation of the valley. This glacier, which was nearly half a mile wide, was covered almost entirely with stones and earth, very little of its surface being visible, and the dirty black colour of its terminating cliff showing how much soil had been mixed up with it in its progress. The elevation of my tent was about 14,500 feet, and the termination of the glacier may have been 250 feet higher. All around the mountains were very lofty, their tops covered with snow, which nowhere came within 2000 feet at least of the valley, even on northern exposures. Granite was everywhere the prevailing rock, but on the higher mountain slopes, which were often precipitous, it was much intermixed with a dark rock, probably clay-slate.
[Sidenote: ALPINE NETTLE.
_August, 1848._]
During the day I had scarcely seen any vegetation, except when close to the edge of the stream. Among the boulders and on the bare stony ground there was frequently not a vestige of herbage. Near one of the ravines I found the white shrubby _Potentilla_, along with an exceedingly pretty prostrate plant, with bright rose-coloured flowers, belonging to the order of _Compositae_: it was a species of the genus _Allardia_, described by M. Decaisne from the collections of Jacquemont, by whom it was found in Piti. One of the very few alpine plants which I saw during the day was a little gentian, common among the turf close to my tent. Round camp a species of nettle was plentiful, seemingly, like others of the genus, attracted by the nitrogenous nature of the soil of an encamping ground much frequented by shepherds with their flocks. The sting of this nettle, though rather faint, was quite perceptible. It was decidedly an alpine plant, which is rather uncommon, not only in the genus, but the order to which it belongs.
The journey of the 12th of August commenced by a steep ascent into a lateral valley descending from the eastward. The hill-side up which I climbed (apparently the bluff termination of an ancient moraine) was very stony and dry. When a sufficient elevation above my encampment had been gained, I obtained a commanding view of the glacier which occupied the continuation of the main valley. It was nearly straight, and, as I believe, at least five or six miles long; distances, however, are so difficult to estimate on snow, that this must be regarded as a mere guess. The inclination of its surface was considerable; but, while the distance remained doubtful, no just estimate of the height of the ridge from which it descended could be made. On each side, two or three lateral glaciers, descending from the mountains by which it was enclosed, contributed to increase its size, all loaded with heaps of stones, which had at the lower end of the central glacier so acc.u.mulated as completely to cover its whole surface.
[Sidenote: MORAINES.
_August, 1848._]
After 800 or 1000 feet of ascent I found that I had attained the level of the lateral valley, along which the road ran, and that the remainder of the way was much more gentle, but exceedingly fatiguing, from its excessive roughness, and from the great elevation, which made the slightest exertion difficult. On both sides were high ranges of mountains, which had much snow on their summits, and in one or two ravines there was a small snow-bed or incipient glacier, but the distance from the crest of the ridge not being great, no glacier of any length was formed. On the left hand, the mountains were steeper and higher than those on the right, and several bulky glaciers on very steep slopes occupied their ravines. None of these entered the valley along which my road lay, but their moraines often projected to its very centre, forming immense piles of angular fragments of rocks, which attained, in more than one place, a height of several hundred feet, and indicated that the glaciers had at some former period advanced much further than they now do. The main valley was itself everywhere covered with boulders; in some places large blocks, ten to twenty feet in diameter, were arranged at moderate distances from one another, but more frequently the fragments were all small.
[Sidenote: Sa.s.sAR Pa.s.s.
_August, 1848._]
After the first steep ascent, the slope of the valley was uniformly gentle, except when a steep-sided moraine had to be pa.s.sed. Latterly a few small patches of snow occurred in the valley. I encamped at 16,600 feet, on a level gra.s.sy spot of ground close to a small circular plain resembling the bed of a lake, and still partially covered with snow.
The snow level on the mountains to the south had approached within less than one hundred feet of the level of the plain. Though the distance travelled during the day was only six miles, I felt a good deal fatigued, and suffered much from headache, caused by the rarefaction of the air.
From the great quant.i.ty of snow on the mountains all around, there had been throughout the day an abundance of moisture, and vegetation was in consequence much more plentiful than usual. The plants were all alpine, and being mostly diminutive, had to be sought in the crevices of rocks, and among the stones which everywhere abounded. The banks of the stream were frequently gra.s.sy, and there was a great deal of marshy ground. Most of the plants obtained were in full flower, and the colours were in general very bright, and sufficiently varied. By far the greater part belonged to the same genera which prevail on European mountains, such as _Draba_, _Saxifraga_, _Sibbaldia_, _Potentilla_, _Ranunculus_, _Papaver_, _Pedicularis_, _Cerastium_, _Leontopodium_, and _Saussurea_. The most remarkable forms were three species of _Allardia_, several _Astragali_, a one-flowered _Lychnis_, _Delphinium Brunonianum_, and a _Ligularia_. The alpine nettle was common on many parts of the road, chiefly near places frequented by the shepherds as halting-places.
Next day at starting I proceeded along the edge of the small plain close to which I had been encamped. On the right hand was an ancient moraine, which prevented me from seeing the road in advance. At the upper end of the plain I found a small streamlet running parallel to the moraine; and about a mile from camp I reached the end of a small glacier, from which the streamlet had its origin. Crossing the latter, which was still partially frozen, I ascended in a deep hollow between the left side of the glacier and the moraine. The icy ma.s.s had not yet begun to thaw, the temperature being still below freezing. After half a mile I ascended on the surface of the ice, and as soon as I did so, was enabled to see that the glacier had its origin in a ravine on the south, and entered the main valley almost opposite to me. The great body of the ice took a westerly direction, forming the glacier along which I had been travelling; but a portion formed a cliff to the eastward, which dipped abruptly into a small, apparently deep lake. At the distance of perhaps five hundred yards there was another glacier, which descended from a valley in the northern range of mountains, and, like the one on which I stood, presented a perpendicular wall to the little lake. Right and left of the lake were enormous piles of boulders, occupying the interval between its margin and the mountains, or rather filling up a portion of the s.p.a.ce which it would otherwise have occupied. Into this very singular hollow I descended, on a steep icy slope, and pa.s.sing along the northern margin of the lake, ascended on the glacier beyond; as before, between the ice and moraine.
On reaching the surface of the second glacier, I found that a similar but smaller depression lay beyond it to the east, in which also there was a small lake, with another ma.s.s of ice beyond it. This third glacier also came from the north, and was a much more formidable ma.s.s than those which had already been crossed. It was very steep, and was covered with snow, which was beginning to thaw more than was convenient. When at the highest part, I found that though apparently nearly level, it sloped downwards sensibly, though very slightly for nearly half a mile, in an easterly direction. It was evident that I had now reached the highest part of the ascent, and that the crest of the pa.s.s was covered by this glacier. I did not make any observation to determine its alt.i.tude, but the ascent from camp was very moderate, not, I think, exceeding a thousand feet. a.s.suming this estimate to be correct, the height of the pa.s.s would be about 17,600 feet, which I believe will prove not far from the truth.
On so icy an ascent vegetation could not be expected to be plentiful; still, even in the depressions between the glaciers, the crevices among the boulders produced a few plants, mostly the same as those observed the day before, but three species of _Saussurea_ were the most common of all. Before arriving at the first glacier, the beautiful _Primula_ collected on the pa.s.s above Le was met with in great abundance.
[Sidenote: Sa.s.sAR.
_August, 1848._]
For about half a mile, as I have said, the slope of the glacier was just perceptible; beyond that distance the descent was abrupt. On reaching the end of the level portion, I obtained an excellent view to the eastward, in which direction a wide valley was seen at a distance of several miles. Through this valley, from left to right, ran a considerable river, which proved to be the Shayuk. Beyond the river, rocky mountains were seen, apparently nearly as high as those near at hand, and perfectly barren. In descending from the pa.s.s, I soon left the surface of the ice, which, as soon as the slope became abrupt, was too rugged to be walked over. I then got upon the moraine; about half-way down, the glacier, which had latterly been almost entirely covered with debris, came to an end, but a moraine continued a long way down, and the remainder of the descent was very stony. I encamped at about 15,400 feet on a dry gravelly plain, close to the broad valley of the Shayuk, but at least 500 feet above it. To the right, in a very deep ravine, was a small stream, on the banks of which were patches of snow. The name of the ground on which I encamped, which is a usual halting-place, was Sa.s.sar, and the Turki merchants call the pa.s.s also by the same name.