SIKHIM AND BHUTAN
lateral moraines, of which the valley presented some excellent examples. Directly opposite I counted four distinct moraine terraces, one above the other, forming gigantic spur works which keep the present river within bounds. At the same time, so far from the moraines being barren, stony walls, they were luxuriantly covered by virgin forest right up to the parent ridge. Our night was not a very comfortable one, as it snowed all afternoon and most of the evening. The road from Rinchengong was capable of being made into a good one without any great difficulty, and Ugyen Kazi has since greatly improved it. There were no insuperable obstacles, and the streams were already well bridged, but we experienced considerable difficulty, owing to the surface having been injured by recent frosts and snows. The surrounding country is beautiful and well worth visiting; game is plentiful, as a bag of four Blood pheasant, two Monal pheasant, and one burhel, without really leaving the road, clearly evidenced; and it would make an ideal place to spend a holiday in.
The night before crossing the pass was the coldest we had experienced, the thermometer registering 18° of frost, and my breath actually congealed and formed a coating of ice on my blanket. With no knowledge of what might be before us, as no European or even properly qualified native explorer had crossed the passes of the Massong-chung-dong range, I had the camp roused at 4 A.M., and the main body well on the way by 5.45 in fine bright weather. We soon entered a fairly level amphitheatre, which, however, contained no lake, and where high up on the northern slopes we saw a large flock of burhel, and Rennick bagged a fine female. It was quite possible to ride to the foot of the last ascent to what we thought was the pass, an ascent very deep in snow, which luckily was hard frozen; and as a matter of fact my cook, a Mugh from Chittagong, and a great character, rode the whole way from camp to camp without dismounting, a feat that even the hardy
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