One flowering plant ascends to the summit; the alsinaceous one mentioned at chapter xxi. The Fescue grass, a little fern (_Woodsia_), and a _Saussurea_* [A pink-flowered woolly _Saussurea,_ and _Delphinium qlaciale,_ are two of the most lofty plants; both being commonly found from 17,500 to 18,000 feet.] ascend very near the summit, and several lichens grow on the top, as _Cladonia vermicularis,_ the yellow _Lecidea geographica,_ and the orange _L. miniata_;* [This is one of the most Arctic, Antarctic, and universally diffused plants. The other lichens were _Lecidea atro-alba, oreina, elegans,_ and _chlorophana,_ all alpine European and Arctic species. At 17,000 feet occur _Lecanora ventosa, physodes, candelaria, sordida, atra,_ and the beautiful Swiss _L. chrysoleuca,_ also European species.] also some barren mosses. At 18,300 feet, I found on one stone only a fine Scotch lichen, a species of _Gyrophora,_ the _"tripe de roche"_ of Arctic voyagers, and the food of the Canadian hunters; it is also abundant on the Scotch alps. Before leaving, I took one more long look at the boundless prospect; and, now that its important details were secured, I had leisure to reflect on the impression it produced. There is no loftier country on the globe than that embraced by this view, and no more howling wilderness; well might the Singtam Soubah and every Tibetan describe it as the loftiest, coldest, windiest, and most barren country in the world. Were it buried in everlasting snows, or burnt by a tropical sun, it might still be as utterly sterile; but with such sterility I had long been familiar. Here the colourings are those of the fiery desert or volcanic island, while the climate is that of the poles. Never, in the course of all my wanderings, had my eye rested on a scene so dreary and inhospitable. The "cities of the plain" lie sunk in no more death-like sea than Cholamoo lake, nor are the tombs of Petra hewn in more desolate cliffs than those which flank the valley of the Tibetan Arun.