AMONG THE DESICCATED LAKES OF WESTERN TIBET. 239
On 14th November we travelled up the Raga-tsangpo, keeping between its bank and the left-hand erosion terrace, this a witness to far more imposing floods during the wet season of the year. There is a similar terrace on the right side of the river; the distance between the two being probably a couple of hundred meters. Down the middle of this space the little stream winds backwards and forwards from terrace to terrace. The hills ascend gradually from the edge of the escarpment or terrace to the mountain-range behind, which appears to form a tolerably definite and independent system. The bottom of the valley rises slowly; it is very rarely that there are any small cataracts. In spite of the constant and copious watering they were receiving, the banks were almost barren.
Then turning our backs upon the river, and taking with us a couple of
sacks of ice, we travelled towards the north-north-west and north, making for the outlet of a transverse glen. The big latitudinal valley stretches on the contrary towards the N. 72° W.; here too the usual parallelism still holds. On both sides, but more especially on the south, the latitudinal valley is fenced in by lofty mountain-ranges. At the foot of that on the south we perceived a couple of tents and herds of yaks, at the distance of about 8 to 1 o km. Kulans were quite common in this region. At Camp CXXVIII, at an altitude of 4843 m., the grazing was wretched. The cold was keen, but the west wind blew not quite so hard as usual, indeed at times it was quite calm. In the transverse glen, from the afternoon onwards and all the night, there was a wind from the north.
November 17th. We pushed on farther up the gently rising glen, which grew increasingly narrower as we proceeded, and was inclosed between rocks that exhibited yellow tints. From the east it is joined by three important side-glens, two of them passing one on each side of a peculiar table-shaped bluff, with a flat top, but virtually vertical sides. The glen still continued to contract; the bordering cliffs are not particularly high, but are rugged, wild, and denticulated. Its bottom is narrow and filled with sharp-edged gravel; though there is a belt of soft ground at intervals, as well as moss and a little grass on the ridges and elevations, making the ground uneven. At first the thalweg was energetically modelled, but afterwards it grew more shallow. Seen in profile, this glen not seldom presents the appearance shown in fig. 135. The view up the watercourse of this »corridor» thalweg is peculiar, and the perspective picturesque. The bare, rugged cliffs on both sides ap-
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