My second trip was towards the north-west, again diagonally across the lake to the extreme point of the blunted rocky promontory which forms the northern boundary of the bay. It belongs to a rather small, free-standing ridge, itself the continuation of a range situated farther to the east. Along this stretch the depth was 6.50 and 7.85 m. After that we crossed the northern bay of the lake towards the west, making for a rocky headland which may be regarded as the westward continuation of the former, and itself forms the extreme eastern end of another range. Generally the shores of the Tschargut-tso are characterised, in respect of their orographical structure, by a great regularity, in that all these moderate-sized ranges stretch from east to west, and, as the map shows, this parallelism is stamped upon the entire basin. The two promontories last mentioned make a natural boundary to the northern bay and round its northern end sweeps a flat, grassy plain. This again is bordered on the north by one of the usual ranges, pierced by a transverse glen, through which a dry watercourse makes its way down to the lake. Through
the gap thus made we beheld yet another range beyond, and somewhat higher than the first one. The eastern side of the bay is inclosed by two other small ranges or spurs, exhibiting reddish tints. The shores of the bay present the same regularly curved lines as the bay at Camp LXXXIV. Between the two headlands I obtained the following soundings — 2I.40, 24.42, 22.65, and 4.25 m. The more distant headland consisted of coarse red conglomerate, dipping towards the north-west. From
that headland we next paddled across to the first rocky island in the south, lying in about the middle of that part of the lake and reaching apparently an altitude of 6o to 7o m. On the way we sounded depths of 27.6o, 29.30, 13.90, and 1.00 m. On the north the island was footed by a relatively flat strip of good grass, and bore signs of being visited in winter; for that is the only season when it can be reached, namely across the ice. From this part of the island a cape projects towards the north-east. From an eminence we saw, close at hand on the west-south-west, a rather long pier-like promontory, jutting out south-eastwards from the northern side of the island and possessing a lagoon. Between it and the next mainland promontory on the east there is yet another of the semicircular bays that are so characteristic of the Tschargut-tso, though in this case there was no strip of flat shore. The conglomerate range which rises on its northern side descends pretty steeply towards the lake. South of it is a very short, detached range, and it is from its eastern end that the pier-like headland just mentioned projects. Finally we returned across the eastern fjord of the lake, and in it sounded the following depths — 36.05, 36.25, and 19.20 m. Thus this little preliminary trip sufficed to show, that the Tschargut-tso possesses depths that may really be called considerable, when we remember that they were sounded in one of these shallow Tibetan lakes.
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