1 VIQNl i°
2 JOURNEY TO LADAKH.
3 213
4 the melting of the snows on the principal
5 mountain, and the want of a sufficient vent
6 for the water, was the cause of the rapid
7 decay of the mountains which surrounded it;
8 for the water which in the summer lodges in
9 the fissures and clefts of the latter, becomes
10 frozen again in winter, and in its expansion
11 tears to pieces the surrounding and superin¬
12 cumbent rock. Again, melting in the summer
13 it percolates through the loosened soil, and
14 undermining projecting portions of the rock,
15 precipitates them into the valley. As, how
16 ever, rubbish accumulates on the face and at
17 the foot of the mountain, a fresh barrier and
18 buttress are formed, and the work of destruc¬
19 tion is arrested for a season.
20 A sanga across the Dar-cha river placed
21 us on its left bank, along which the road lay.
22 The lower and middle parts of the rocks were
23 clothed with a scanty vegetation, but the
24 summits were bare, or were covered with
25 snow. Occasionally the path lay over beds
26 of snow; occasionally small plains of herb¬
27 age occurred, the usual halting-places of the
28 shepherds. Many small streams, some steal¬
29 ing from beneath the snow, and some burst-