Among other statistics he gave us the height
of Ladak, as 11,000 feet, and that of the recently discovered monarch
of the mountains, now set at rest as belonging to the Himalayan range,
as being 29,003 feet above the level of the sea.[26]
AUGUST 15. -- Employed all the morning in endeavouring to procure
supplies of tea, and after unearthing a queer-looking package
containing seven pounds and a half, we differed about the price,
the proprietor demanding twenty-four shillings, or about twice its
local value.
AUGUST 16. -- There being no tidings of the arrival of expected
caravans, we marched for the monastery of Hemis, crossing the Indus
immediately after leaving Ladak, and following it up towards its
source. Outside the town we passed a mound of the inscribed stones,
which must have been nearly a quarter of a mile in length, and probably
contained as many as 30,000. The left bank of the river, which
thus formed our path, was a continuation of detached huts, forming
no regular villages, and affording very little shade or apparent
prospect of shelter for man or beast.
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