IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia, 1899-1902 : vol.4 |
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Citation Information
510
EXPLORERS' JOURNEYS IN IIIGH TIBET.
I+~
to-south journeys that I have dwelt upon above does not tell us very much that is new about the character of the general geography of the country. But his map, although destitute of detail, is nevertheless valuable. About the Ajagh-kum-köl and its environs he gives us the following information: —
»We crossed the Chiman Tagh range of mountains by the Amban Achkan Pass. The view to the south from the top of the pass showed us a wide plain with a good deal of water about it, and another formidable range of snowy mountains beyond in the distance. A big lake called the Chong Kum Kul stretched away to the west farther than we could see, and a large river flowed down the plain from east to west, emptying itself into the lake. On descending we found that the plain was a huge morass which could not possibly be crossed by our baggage-animals, and we therefore had to follow the right bank of the river for some forty miles to the east before a place for crossing could be found. The Kalmaks, who usually leave Abdal in May and return from Lhasa in February or March, are able to cross this plain when homeward-bound in the winter, but are obliged in summer to make a circuit to avoid the morass.»
Interest attaches further to his mapping of the Bokalik valley and its stream, which he calls »a very considerable stream». It was June when he was travelling through this region, and he says of the weather that »hail or snow fell almost every day.»*
We have also five great latitudinal journeys across the Tibetan highlands, three from west to east, namely those by Nain Singh, Bower, and Wellby, and two from east to west, namely Littledale's and my own. To three of these I have already alluded above, namely my own, Wellby's, and Littledale's, and I have, further, on several occasions compared my own observations with those macle by Nain Singh and Littledale. All that now remains therefore is to recall some of the physicogeographical features which Trotter succeded in deducing from the itinerary and observations of the famous and able pundit, whose results far surpass in point of value those of many European travellers. In the year 1873 Nain Singh travelled from Leh to India via the Tengri-nor and Lhasa. The most interesting part of his journey is that which led to his discovery of the great central Tibetan lacustrine region south-west of the Tschargut-tso. From the purely scientific point of view his journey can only be looked upon as a pioneer effort, but in that character it affords clear and distinct indications of the plentiful harvest which a modern explorer would be able to reap in those regions. Of the road from Noh to Thok Dauråkpa he gives the following general descriptions: — »From Noh the Pundit toiled on for many weary marches over this Tibetan plateau ; his road lay eastward along a wide, open, grassy valley, varying in width from 6 to Lo miles, bounded on the north and south by low grasscovered hills, through which occasional openings gave a view of extensive plains stretching away as far as the eye could reach. Beyond the hills sometimes appeared snow-capped mountains, while an occasional shepherd's tent in the foreground, and the frequent appearance of large herds of wild asses, antelope, and gigantic wild sheep, helped to relieve the monotony of the journey. In almost every day's
* A Journey round Chinese Turkistan and along the Northern Frontier of Tibet, by A. D. Carey, in Proc. of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. Ix (i887) pp. 731 ff.
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