TRAVELLING BESIDE THE BOGTSANG-TSANGPO. III
intricate and involved that it was difficult to form any idea as to where it came from or whither it went to; but after advancing a little bit farther, we ascertained that it came from the west-south-west, and then trended towards the south-east, at the same time forcing its way by a more open glen through the southern range, which just there is relatively low, and then, as we have seen, it turns towards the east and north-east. It is joined by several side-glens, especially from the south, but all without water; still it is possible that some of them which originate on the peak N2, visible to the south, and on the range of moderate elevation to which it belongs, do carry water. Thus the orographical and hydrographical conformation is here rather peculiar and unusual: the bottom of the latitudinal valley forms such a vast swelling, rising up to the pass just mentioned, that the river prefers to force its way twice through the range on the south, a range, it is true, of no great magnitude, before it finally turns towards the salt lake into which it empties.
The country above the first breach is also of a more unusual character. The river there winds backwards and forwards across an almost level region, or if not level it inclines exceedingly slightly towards the east, and consists exclusively of soft, finely divided material, originally alluvial, and now abundantly overgrown with grass, and in places marshy and boggy. The current was moving very slowly, the water was not quite clear, and I was amazed to find, that a little lower down the stream
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