THE SELLING-TSO ANI) THE JAGJU-RAPGA. 27
stone butte formed steep craggy islands, similar to those which we subsequently encountered in the Tschargut-tso. The elliptical hollow that I have spoken of will formerly have been filled by a small disconnected lake. I shall discuss the hydro-graphical importance of the Selling-tso when I deal with its neighbour lakes. Its water was bright as crystal, although salt, the sp. gr. being 1.0263 at a temperature of 7.2°, though during the course of the day its temperature rose to 17° along the shores.
During the course of the morning it hailed twice so violently that we had to halt, and from I p. m. until evening it rained incessantly; yet so fine and spray-like was the rain that the ground was not appreciably softened, though this was rather the consequence of its firmer consistency.
Fig. Iq. TIBETANS AT JAGJU-RAPGA.
On the 8th September we continued towards the west, travelling along the shore, for the ground there was hard and level, and afforded excellent going. Unfortunately the violence of the wind and the roughness of the water prevented me from rowing across the lake as I had wished. Between the west shore of the great peninsula and the northern shore of the lake there was a bay, which we had to go round. After that the lake-shore was particularly even, having only a few insignificant headlands. The scenery continued to be on the whole monotonous, although to the south the view was of such a character that I never grew tired of studying it, namely the beautiful lake with its waters now tinged with green, and in fact the Selling-tso is one of the very largest lakes in Tibet. I only touched its northern and western sides, but according to Littledale's map the main body of the lake must reach a good long way towards the east and there form a vast basin. In shape it is more circular than the majority of the lakes of Central Tibet, for by reason of the orographical conditions most of them extend from east to west. As
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