Proceeding up the Kharta Valley in the beginning of September we found that most of the roses and rhododendrons had gone to seed, but some of the gentians, particularly _Gentiana ornata_, were at their best. Near our camp at 17,000 feet, along the edges of streams, a very handsome gentian (_G. nubigena_) with half a dozen flowers growing on a single stem was very conspicuous, and growing with it was an aromatic little purple and yellow aster (_A. heterochaeta_); in the same place was a bright yellow senecio (_S. arnicoides_) with shining, glossy leaves. A curious dark blue dead-nettle (_Dracocephalum speciosum_) was found on dry ground at the same altitude. In the stony places grew up to 19,000 feet the dwarf blue meconopsis mentioned above, and many saxifrages, notably a very small white one (_S. umbellulata_). On the steeper rocks from 16,000 feet to the snow-line (roughly 20,000 feet) were found edelweiss (_Leontopodium_) of three species. Very noticeable at these altitudes are the curious saussureas, large composites packed with cotton wool; if you open one of them on the coldest day, even when it is covered with snow, you find it quite warm inside, and often a bumble bee will come buzzing out. Another very interesting plant at 17,000 to 18,000 feet is a dwarf blue hairy delphinium (_D. brunnoneanum_) with a strong smell. The Tibetans dry the flowers of this plant and use them as a preventive against lice. This has its disadvantages, for when a Tibetan dies his body is undertaken by the professional butcher, who cuts it up and exposes it on the hills to be disposed of by the vultures and wolves. A body tainted with the delphinium flowers is unpalatable to the scavengers, and it is known that a man must have been wicked in life whose body is rejected by the vultures and wolves. The smallest rhododendrons (_R. setosum_ and _R. lepidotum_) disappear before 19,000 feet, after which vegetation is almost non-existent. A few grasses and mosses are still found to 20,000 feet, and the highest plant we found was a small arenaria (_A. musciformis_), which grows in flat cushions a few inches wide up to 20,100 feet. Mammals in the upper Kharta Valley are not numerous. A pika of a new species (_Ochotona wollastoni_) is found from 15,000 to 20,000 feet, and a new vole (_Phaiomys everesti_) was found at 17,000 feet. The small black rat previously seen was here too, and an unseen mouse entered our tents and ate our food at 20,000 feet. Fox and hare were both seen above 18,000 feet, and undoubted tracks of them on the Kharta Glacier at 21,000 feet. Wolves were seen about 19,000 feet, and those tracks seen in snow at 21,500 feet, which gave rise to so much discussion, were almost certainly those of a wolf. Burhel were fairly common between 17,000 and 19,000 feet, and we found their droppings on stones at 20,000 feet.