THE LAKOR-TSO AND ITS BEACH-LINES. 163
lower part of this gypsum expanse, though the hollow which forms its continuation can be seen for a long distance. Opposite its mouth lie a couple of small islands composed of the same white gypsum.
On the 2 I st October we had magnificent weather, the wind being less violent than usual, nor did it freshen up until the afternoon. The sky was as always bright and pure and of a deep blue, and the vivid sunshine in which the scene was bathed caused its bold, bizarre, and shattered relief forms to stand out with extraordinary distinctness. From Camp CIX we had a magnificent view of the western fork of the range whose northern foot we were following. Its most northerly culminating peaks were visible to the N. 69° E., its loftiest crags to the S. 83° E., while yet
another great pinnacle towered up to the S. 63° E. These mountains consist in great part of detritus, sloping down evenly and rather steeply, with sharp summits, peaks, and ridges rising above it and boldly cleaving the sky far above, their flanks shrouded in the gloom of the shadows cast by the intense sunlight. To the S. 49° E. we observed a gap, with a transverse glen in it that unites with the main valley in which the river flows. Its termination was visible to the S. 2 7° E. The river is said to bear the same name as the lake, namely Lakor, though some pronounced it Lagor. It is up its slowly ascending valley that the road from Leh to Lhasa is said to run; so that hitherto we had been travelling to the north of it. Two of my Cossacks, who rode a good bit up the valley, thought they saw, from a suitable point of vantage, a smaller lake, and it was from it they assumed that the river originates. This is very probable, especially when it is remembered that the river Lakor, notwithstanding its very small volume, contained fish. The volume which it then bore is no doubt constant during the winter, and is for the greater
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