CHAPTER XIII.
THE OMAN-TSO, THE DADAP-TSO, AND THE PERUTSE-TSO.
The Tibetan escort which joined us here was more communicative and trustworthy than its predecessors, at all events the new men seemed to be less and less chary of speech in proportion as the distance from Lhasa increased. I take the opportunity to subjoin some of the information that they gave me. Between the Luma-ring-tso, a lake which we should reach in a few days' time, and another lake called Tschag-tsaga there exist seven similar /sagas, or »small saltwater pools», namely Jagtschin, Nagbo-schuksa, an unnamed pool, Marvo-dagsa, Nodba-lantsa, Op-tso, and finally one the name of which they did not know. The locality in which these pools are situated is very sparsely inhabited; generally there are no nomads there at all.
With regard to the climate, they said that in this locality and in the whole region to the west considerable quantities of snow would fall within about two months, that is in the end of December, and after that the route which we were then about to attempt would be quite impassable. At that season officials, when they have to travel between Lhasa and Rudok, as well as merchants with their yak caravans, choose the route viii Tok-dschalung, that is they keep south of our route. But the quantity of snow is very variable. The year before ( i 900) it had been exceedingly copious, and consequently it was expected that that year (1901) the fall would be somewhat less in amount; which would seem to indicate that my informants were not wont to experience two snowy winters immediately following one another. In these regions the rainy season occurs at the same time as at Lhasa, although the precipitation in summer and autumn is very variable, and according to what my Tibetans declared, in any case smaller in amount than in the neighbourhood of Lhasa. Such statements must of course be accepted with caution. Such as they are, they amount however to this, that the precipitation, which falls in the shape of rain during the rainy season, appears to increase from west to east, whereas the opposite is the case with regard to the snow, which decreases from west to east.
At a little distance from Camp CXV there was a nomad encampment, as indeed was evident when a couple of nomad boys brought us both fresh and sour milk.
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