sticks, and resembling a diminutive bird's nest with eggs in it.]
grew amongst the grass.

Illustration--TUNGU VILLAGE.

Tungu occupies a very broad valley, at the junction of the Tungu-choo
from the east, and the Lachen from the north. The hills slope gently
upwards to 16,000 feet, at an average angle of 15 degrees; they are
flat and grassy at the base, and no snow is anywhere to be seen.* [In
the wood-cut the summit of Chomiomo is introduced, as it appears from
a few hundred feet above the point of view.] A stupendous rock, about
fifty feet high, lay in the middle of the valley, broken in two: it
may have been detached from a cliff, or have been transported thither
as part of an ancient moraine which extends from the mouth of the
Tungu-choo valley across that of the Lachen. The appearance and
position of this great block, and of the smaller piece lying beside
it, rather suggest the idea of the whole mass having fallen
perpendicularly from a great height through a crevasse in a glacier,
than of its having been hurled from so considerable a distance as
from the cliffs on the flanks of the valley: it is faithfully
represented in the accompanying woodcut. A few wooden houses were
collected near this rock, and several black tents were scattered
about. I encamped at an elevation of 12,750 feet, and was waited on
by the Lachen Phipun with presents of milk, butter, yak-flesh, and
curds; and we were not long before we drowned old enmity in buttered
and salted tea.

On my arrival I found the villagers in a meadow, all squatted
cross-legged in a circle, smoking their brass and iron pipes,
drinking tea, and listening to a letter from the Rajah, concerning