308 WESTWARDS TO LADAK.
the different stations. The measured line starts at the river-bank and proceeds S. 3o° E. The first terrace lies at an altitude of i 3 m., the second at 21.5 m., and the third or highest at not less than 54 m. Notwithstanding that it must date from a very distant period, and thus must have been the longest exposed to the atmospheric influences, this last terrace is the most distinct, incomparably better defined than either of the other two lower terraces. It must consequently point to a lengthy period during which the long, united lake was maintained at the same level. The circumstances are an exact repetition of those which we found at the Lakor-tso, where the highest terraces were also the most distinctly marked. The absence in this place of the 19.5 m. terrace of the Tso-ngombo, and the absence
beside the Tso-ngombo of the three terraces which we measured in this place, are purely fortuitous. If the lake was formerly 54 m. higher than it is now — and why not higher still, although we did not observe any strand-terrace ? — then the lake in the course of its steady shrinkage ought to have left behind it a great number of other beach-lines, and these would be developed in varying degrees on the different capes, in consequence partly of the material upon which the waves would expand their force and partly upon the situation of the slopes relatively to the broad, open expanse of the water-surface and the direction of the prevailing wind. When the lake was 54 m. higher than it is now, its area would of course be considerably greater than it is at present, yet not altogether so great as the difference of level would lead one to expect, for the valley is narrow and its slopes steep. But at that time the lake would send out numerous fjords, penetrating relatively deep into the lower parts of the transverse glens in the adjacent mountains, as, for instance, into the glen of Niagzu, into that at Bal, and into many others. In the extreme east a large proportion of the plain of Noh would also be under
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