396 A NEW JOURNEY SOUTHWARDS.
of rounded, water-worn fragments of granite. On both sides it is overhung by stupendous cliffs of the most capricious and eccentric shapes. In a word the scenery is that which is typically characteristic of a transverse glen cleft through granite, that is to say at once rugged, fantastic, and grand. Every now and again we passed a little expansion where vegetation grows, ideal spots for a camp. The glen was wreathed in a slight mist, enhancing in some respects its mystical and majestic attributes. All the way up the prevailing rock was coarse-grained grey granite, occurring in several varieties, and shot through with veins of pegmatite of greater or less thickness. Black schists also occurred. The mountains that shut in the glen frequently shoot vertically down into it, or where they are directly exposed to the erosive action of the Tscharklik-su actually overhang it. We pitched Camp III in an expansion known as Mätschit-saj, or the Glen of the Mosque, a peculiar but appropriately selected name. The entire scene did in fact suggest the interior of a temple or a Roman Catholic cathedral, and the resemblance was rather heightened by the mist, which put me in mind of the blue-grey clouds of vapour that gather under the roof of a temple.
May 2 I st. Above Mätschit-saj the main glen of the Tscharklik-su is impassable, being completely filled with stones. Accordingly we turned out of it — here too it appeared to come from the south-east — and struck up a side-glen which just there joins it. This was dry, and also thickly littered with stones and gravel, as well as fenced in by steep walls of rock. It winds to only a very slight extent, but is beset on both sides by several fissures and side-glens. Even in its lower part the ascent was distinctly noticeable, and was made more difficult by the gravel and stones with which it was littered. Higher up the blocks of stone are of gigantic size and water-worn, though with a rough and weathered surface. Occasionally we
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