THE ADDAN-TSO. COMMENTS ON THIS LACUSTRINE GROUP — THE DAGTSE-TSO. I05
beings and domestic live-stock animal life was fairly abundant beside the lake; kulans and antelopes were especially numerous, and there were also hares, partridges, and gulls.
Of the transverse glens that come out of the mountains on the south, several are of pretty fair size. Upon reaching the largest of these, we turned north-west, for we were now approaching the western part of the oval-shaped Dagtse-tso. Generally the surface was level and good for travelling, except that the gullies which issue out of the mountains to the south were deeply excavated. Of these only one at that time carried water, a mere trickle issuing out of a spring situated just above our track. In three places we crossed over old beach-lines, all wonderfully distinct and sharply outlined. They resembled rounded terraces with steep slopes next the lake. The first of the three was however more like a wall, and at its southern foot a lagoon is sometimes formed by a temporary brook, judging at least from the cracked, yellow deposit of clay which we found there. In the neighbourhood of the recently mentioned watercourse that did carry water, seven strand-ramparts were to be counted, smaller than those mentioned before, but all the same distinctly marked and arranged amphitheatrically and concentrically. Strand-ramparts like these accompany faithfully the shores of every salt lake in Central and Western Tibet. We have already encountered them beside the Selling-tso, and we shall come across even more beautiful examples later on. The peculiar conformation of the surface which now came into view on our left hand also bears witness to the desiccation of the Dagtse-tso. The foothills on the south consist of a somewhat detached, reddish range, and they descend by an abrupt, step-like terrace towards the north-east, and finally thrust out, still in the same direction, an offshoot shaped like a pier or wall, which forms the dividing-line between two sheets of water not directly connected with the Dagtse-tso. South-west of this »wall» there stretches a long, but small, lake, which is fed by a stream that comes from the south-west and possesses no visible emissary into the lake. Its water had a slightly saline flavour; around it are marshes and pools, and on these were thousands of gulls and a couple of hundred of wild-geese. On the north-east of the same dividing-line there is a long, narrow sheet of water, which in places bears a striking resemblance to an old river-bed. The water in it was fresh and bright, and it contained an abundance of grass and of wild-geese. On its northern shore stand some low hills of barren, yellow clay. This sheet of water is also connected with extensive marshes, which reach all the way down to the shore of the principal lake, though, so far as we were able to see, they do not communicate with it directly. On the surface of this long stretch of water we observed current movements here and there setting in different directions, the inference being that they have their origin in springs. Amongst the marshes, as also along the whole of the southern shore of the lake, the grazing was relatively good; but along our line of march the ground was practically barren. At the foot of the pier-like dividing-wall there was not a trace of vegetation to be seen; the ground there is sometimes overflowed by rain-water charged with sediment, and is as level as a floor. Later on, as we drew near to the embouchure of the Bogtsang-tsangpo, the grazing increased a little in quantity, but still continued poor in quality. Camp XC (4549 m.) was pitched on the
Hedin, Journey in Central Asia. IV. 14
IIIF Color HighRes
