1 RESIDENCE IN LADAKH. [PART II.
2 glittering and transparent points of rock crys¬
3 tal . Farther on they were scooped out into deep
4 furrows, divided by parallel projections, look¬
5 ing like low walls, running from the level of the
6 water to the summit of the rock, and forming,
7 as it were, avenues artificially constructed, de¬
8 scending to the brink of the river. These, of
9 course, are the harder parts of the rock, from
10 betwixt which the softer portions have been
11 washed down by the snow. Even the harder
12 parts, however, seem to be readily affected by
13 the weather; for, although on blocks recently
14 detached, or on surfaces sheltered from snow,
15 the pebbly matter was left projecting, offer¬
16 ing a rugged and uneven face, yet blocks that
17 had been long separated had their exposed
18 superficies, when it was either perpendicular
19 or sloping, so as to afford no lodgment to
20 wet, as smooth and uniform as if it had been
21 polished by a mason. At the town of Uk-shi,
22 the rivulet of Giali fell into a deep river, about
23 fifty yards in breadth. This was the river of
24 Le, the Yuma, or Sinh Kha bab, which may be
25 considered as the main branch of the Indus,
26 flowing from the province of Gardokh. Uk
27 shi consists of not more than ten or a dozen