EXPEDITIONS AND EXPLORATIONS
with here and there magnificent rhododendrons and silver pines, though the latter were still stunted at that elevation.
Beautiful as the vegetation is, it makes travelling both arduous and difficult. There was no track of any kind, the bottom of the valley was a mass of rocks strewn in every direction and densely covered with dwarf rhododendron, which necessitated cutting every foot of the way, and progress was in consequence extremely slow, sometimes not three miles in a day. To add to our discomfort the fine weather broke and a constant drizzle set in.
I knew my way out lay down the stream, but whether it was feasible was another matter. We struggled on for several days till we came to a gorge running down from the 17,000 feet gap which lies between the magnificent snow peaks Siniolchu and Simvoo, and which at this point had cut into a water-worn chasm 300 feet to 400 feet deep, and some 40 feet to 50 feet wide, with absolutely perpendicular sides as slippery as glass.
Here we were obliged to wait till we could find a way across. There was no camping ground, not even room to pitch a tent, only some narrow ledges of rock, but here perforce I had to stay, and with luck I managed to throw the outer fly of my tent over some boulders and get my bed inside, and fortunately the night was fine. The next day we spent searching for a means of crossing, and after some hours we came upon a natural bridge formed by two gigantic rocks which had jammed in the gorge and thus formed a somewhat hazardous bridge. We set to work, and with great difficulty succeeded in letting down the baggage with the aid of ropes and jungle creepers, and at last succeeded in getting everything across safely.
From the bridge I had a splendid view into the chasm some hundreds of feet below, where the raging torrent could be heard grinding the boulders together with a noise like thunder, and faintly seen in the dim light, but I was not sorry to have safely accomplished the crossing of
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