| i. ~.. | | | | towards the south-east, and eventually the river became hidden from our sight by an isolated group of hills. Between this and the chain of larger hills which we then had on our left there gradually appeared a flat glen with a brook flowing down it, divided into several arms. It was no easy task to get across it, for its bottom, which was strewn with fine, white gravel, resting upon the treacherous wet, yellow clay, was exceptionally marshy. We pitched Camp No. XXIX on its right bank at an altitude of 4,907 m. Hard rock still continued to be very rare. It was only in the steep escarpment of the stream that the red sandstone cropped out, and its dip was the same as at the preceding camp. At the point where we left the stream the green crystalline schist shows, but only just shows, above the surface; it dips 54° S. and is excessively weathered, while its exterior is blackened and glazed, and coated as it were with bark. We again saw the same phenomenon in a few other places later on, though fragments of this rock are common everywhere. We saw here orongo antelopes and wolves, and traces of bears and kulans, these last quite numerous; while close to the glaciated mass the tracks of wild yaks were very abundant. The dung (argol) of the last-named is the only fuel to be obtained in these regions, unless by rare good fortune one stumbles across some of the hard scrubby plants of the jaftkak or jer-baghri. The downfall still continued copious, though the wind now blew from the north-west, whereas the day before it was the south wind which brought the clouds and the rain. Thus the direction of the wind appears to be of minor importance; but then it may be subject to local deviations. During the afternoon the rain was extraordinarily heavy as well as violent, and was accompanied by thunder and lightning. In these high altitudes the thunder crashes with a deafening noise. It is not the usual hollow rumble that we are accustomed to hear, but is more like the clanking of gigantic iron plates being hurled one against the other. The collision involuntarily awakens a feeling of disquietude in the mind. We seldom or never heard the thunder during the night. The greater part of the rain used also to fall during the day, although on this occasion it rained on without a break from 8 p. m. to 6 a. m. the next morning. Frequently clouds of an exceptionally dark and threatening character would drive across the earth without discharging any of their contents. On such occasions it would at noon sometimes be as dark as it ordinarily is just after sunset. | |
IIIFカラー高解像度
