the latitudinal valley which we crossed over last. Not all of these chains of hills are like miniature ranges; they resemble rather offshoots and ramifications of the higher mountainous parts that rose west of our line of march.
At length we reached the top of the pass (alt. 5203 m.), a very flat col, in the new main range, which was just as irregular, rugged, and broken as the last. There was nothing to indicate the position of the actual pass except a watercourse running north-westwards to the next large latitudinal valley. Due north of the water-divide rises a short, but craggy, ridge of a blood-red colour, and with a couple of streaks of snow braiding its loftiest eminences. From the divide small glens branch off to both the north-east and the north-west so as to avoid that lofty spur, which cuts off entirely the view of the next latitudinal valley. In these elevated regions there was not one trace of either vegetable or animal life. Our next camp was made at an altitude of 51 I I m. above the sea.
Immediately north of the first minor col of the day we came upon red porphyry, forming a small protuberance. At the western bay of the lake there was an extremely hard greenstone, dipping 41° towards the S. 42° E., and shortly after that a very hard sandstone dipping 67° towards the S. 3 I° W. North of the lake, on the west side of a pool, a hard crystalline schist appeared with a dip of 36° N. On the top of a hill near the elongated pool we found a rather fine-grained conglomerate. Farther north the crystalline schist again made its appearance, dipping 87° towards the N. 5° E. and 47° S. Finally, in the vicinity of Camp LX we had quartzite, but like all the preceding varieties cropping up in small protuberances only out of the all pervading soft disintegrated material.
September 28th. The brook beside which we had encamped turns towards the north-west and bursts through the craggy spur in a rather narrow defile, choked with gravel and blocks of stone. On both sides the defile is hemmed in by dome-shaped granite summits, and in between them plunges the stream as if entering a narrow portal. The little crest continues a short distance towards the west. The volume of the brook was at that time somewhat swollen, after a fall of snow which took place during the night, followed by a very warm sun in the morning. It was frozen to the bottom underneath, and the gravel below was covered with cakes of ice, which had clearly formed during the night.
After emerging from this narrow defile, the brook turns to the north and northeast, no doubt making for the nearer of two lakes which we saw farther east in this same latitudinal valley. We continued towards the north-west, travelling along the flat slopes and having on our left still other dome-shaped elevations, belonging to the distinctly marked range that rises immediately north of the water-divide in the main range. The watercourses that we crossed all ran towards the north-east, and consequently did not appear to belong to the medium-sized lake which we were approaching from the south, but probably belonged to the lake-basin lying next to it on the east. At that time only one of these watercourses contained water. All the brooks beyond the left bank of this particular one ran down north-west to join the lake. Although they were all dry, one of them contained a little natural spring. On the southern shore of the lake we again found grass, but it was of wretched quality. Here we pitched Camp LXI, which we were to visit again on a later excursion; its altitude was 4948 m.
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