dry from botanising. The early mornings were bright with views
northwards of blue sky and Kinchinjhow, while to the south the lofty
peak of Tukcham, though much nearer, was seldom seen, and black
cumuli and nimbi rolled up the steep valley of the Lachen to be
dissipated in mist over Tallum. The sun's rays were, however,
powerful at intervals during the forenoon, whence the mean maximum
temperature of July occurred at about 10 a.m. The temperature of the
river was always high, varying with the heat of the day from 47
degrees to 52 degrees; the mean being 50 degrees.

These streams do not partake of the diurnal rise and fall, so
characteristic of the Swiss rivers and those of the western Himalaya,
where a powerful sun melts the glaciers by day, and their
head-streams are frozen by night. Here the clouds alike prevent solar
and nocturnal radiation, the temperature is more uniform, and the
corroding power of the damp southerly wind that blows strongly
throughout the day is the great melting agent. One morning I saw a
vivid and very beautiful halo 20 degrees distant from the sun's disc;
it was no doubt caused by snow in the higher regions of the
atmosphere, as a sharp shower of rain fell immediately afterwards:
these are rare phenomena in mountainous countries.

The Singtam Soubah visited me daily, and we enjoyed long friendly
conversations: he still insisted that the Yangchoo (the name he gave
to the Lachen at this place) was the boundary, and that I must not go
any further. His first question was always "How long do you intend to
remain here? have you not got all the plants and stones you want? you
can see the sun much better with those brasses and glasses* [Alluding
to the sextant, etc.] lower down; it is very cold here, and there is
no food:"--to all which I had but one reply, that I should not return