192 WESTWARDS TO LADAK.
these mountainous regions, for one would naturally expect to find it in abundance. For considerable distances these western valleys of the Tibetan highlands are very ill provided in this respect, and the mountains sometimes give the impression of being true desert mountains like the Kuruk-tagh. The supply of water varies however with the season. Just that period, the beginning of winter, is without doubt the driest part of the year. In the latter half of the winter snow at any rate falls. During the rainy season water will doubtless be found everywhere; sometimes there will then be hardly a single torrent dry. The fact of so many of the mountains, lakes, and transverse glens in this region bearing names is a proof that the nomads do sometimes visit it, and other witnesses to the same fact are the stone sheepfolds which we saw. In the summer therefore the pasture must be relatively good, or at all events better than in the country which we had last travelled through. The explanation lies in the fall in absolute altitude down towards the depression of Dadap-tso, and the somewhat sheltered position which the locality consequently enjoys.
On the right of our route, that is towards the north-east, the surface of the latitudinal valley slopes down towards its middle, though we failed to observe any main watercourse; but no doubt there is one, however faintly it may be indicated, and it will run north-westwards towards the Dadap-tso. The bottom of the latitudinal valley is in general hard, strewn with gravel, and but slightly undulating. After traversing the district of Na-ngamba, we passed an obo, constructed in a way with which we were not familiar: for it resembled a stone chest, 4 m. long, i m. broad, and i I/3 m. high; round its sides were propped engraved stones, and yak and sheep horns, and on the top of all was a little peg bearing a red flag or streamer. A little bit farther on we passed two similar obos as well as a sheepfold built of stone. As we learned subsequently, this is the usual form given to the
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