[19]A species of vine was very common in the forests, climbing to a great height on the trees, which very closely resembled the common cultivated vine, from which it is not, I think, specifically distinct. At the same time, my specimens are scarcely distinguishable from Vitis Indica, L., a species of the plains of India, not uncommon in hot jungles, even at a considerable distance from the foot of the mountains.
[20]Travels, vol. ii. p. 11.
[21]Written, I believe, Snurla, as Le is written Sle, and Nimo, Snimo, the initial letter being in all three mute. Many similar instances might be given, silent initial letters occurring very commonly in the written language of Tibet. It admits of much doubt whether the best mode of spelling be according to the pronunciation, or as the words are written: I have preferred the former, as less likely to mislead.
[22]I do not know whether or not to attribute to this plant a remarkable disease which, on my return down the Indus in September, I found in the village of Saspola. At least thirty people in that village, of all ages from a full-grown man to an infant, and of both sexes indifferently, had been attacked with paralysis within the last two years. The palsy was confined to the lower extremities, and differed much in degree. The sufferers were in other respects the most healthy and good-looking portion of the inhabitants. The people themselves were quite at a loss to assign a cause for this extraordinary affection, and, except in some article of diet, I was unable to think of any.
[23]This view has been suggested to me by Dr. R. D. Thomson, who has paid much attention to the chemical contents of springs, and is at present engaged in examining the saline matters which I brought with me from Tibet.
[24]Two months later, Captain Strachey ascended the Nubra valley till stopped by this glacier, which appears to be on a still more gigantic scale than those of the Shayuk to the eastward.
[25]Excellent specimens of this singular alpine plant, each tuft of which must, I think, represent the growth of centuries, may be seen in the Museum of the Royal Gardens at Kew, collected by Dr. Hooker in Eastern Tibet.
[26]I have no conjecture to offer regarding the age or nature of this very remarkable rock.
[27]The itinerary of Mir Izzet Ullah shows that at the time of his journey from Le to Yarkand the direct road up the Shayuk was still open.
[28]Asie Centrale, vol. i. p. 14.