| FROM THE LAKOR-TSO TO THE BONDSCHING-TSO. 189 asked them to point out in which direction it lay, they pointed due west, and declared that the old monastery lay to the left, that is to the south, of my route. But their statement, that it has not been inhabited during the time of the existing Grand Lama or during the lifetime of any of his four immediate predecessors, is of course not to be relied upon. If Littledale's own map is correct, and if the information which the Tibetans gave me about the position of the monastery is likewise true, then the conclusion we reach, and this is the main thing, is that from Bondsching-tso Littledale really did follow a more southerly latitudinal valley than that which I travelled up. Possibly his valley is to be identified with that from which Amlung receives a couple of tributaries, as I have already said. And in that case that latitudinal valley will presumably open out towards the west into the expansion in which lies the Kungdur-tso, a lake I did not touch at all. That I am right in this would appear to follow also from the circumstance, that from Bondsching-tso Littledale kept on due west, while I held to the west-north-west and north-west. The range which, according to my supposition, ought to separate Littledale's route from mine is called by the Tibetans Ovre. For the future we shall not come any further into contact with Littledale's route, for he kept to the south of me all the way to Ladak. When travelling along the southern shore of the Perutse-tso we were however at no great distance from him, because he saw that lake to the north, and has entered it on his map. He calls it the Peroktse-Tso, and at that point his itinerary, which passed about 4 miles south of the lake, ran for a short distance towards the west-south-west, whereas from the western shore of that lake I proceeded towards the west-north-west. I have therefore no further need to concern myself about the relations between Littledale's route and my own. The work which he accomplished, even though deficient in details, is in a high degree meritorious, especially when the inconceivable difficulties are remembered under which a European travels in those regions. During the course of my further journey towards the west and north-west I only once or twice came into contact with Nain Singh's route, although from my own route-plotting it is impossible to say where I crossed his line of march. The general map which is intended to accompany my atlas, and on which are entered the points that I determined astronomically, will, I hope, enable me to settle this point. Nain Singh's map is executed on an even smaller scale than Littledale's, and on it the orographical details and indications of the surface features are entirely sacrificed to the broad features of the general relief. | | | | | |
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