LI'l l'LEDALE, CAREY, NAIN SINGH, BOWER, ANI) DEASY. 51I
march large sheets of water were passed, generally salt, but occasionally fed by fresh-water springs. At the latter the Pundit and his companions would fill their water-skins, as they rarely knew from day to clay whether or no they would be able to obtain a fresh supply on the road ... For the first thirty marches from Noh the heights of the camping-grounds varied between 13,700 and 15,000 feet, and for the rest of the journey to Namcho the ground was somewhat higher, but there was no considerable rise or fall throughout this portion of the Pundit's route. The large, flat, open valleys traversed by the Pundit, locally termed Sangs, appear to be much of the same nature as the Pdnzirs between Eastern and Western Turkistan and the _7ilgas of Northern Ladakh. These sangs of Tibet, however, would seem to have more of plain and less of precipitous mountains than either the Pamirs or the Jilgas.»
Nain Singh gives the following information about two small salt lakes east of the Tso-ngombo and south of the valley of the Tsanger-schar down which I travelled: »The Pundit passed en route the salt marshes of Khai Chåkå and Dakdong Chåkå, from which the people of the surrounding country collect large quantities of salt, which they carry for sale to Ladakh. He states that the salt forms a crust, lying like a sheet of ice on the surface of the mud. The salt-seekers sink through this crust up to their loins in mud and water and remove the salt, which they subsequently wash, clean and dry in the sun.»
»For ten marches from Chabuk Zinga to Hissik Chåkå the country was uninhabited; the road lay over a plain similar to what had already been traversed between Noh and Chabuk.»
»From Kezing eastward for a distance of 8o miles, up to Thok Daurdkpa, the country was uninhabited when the Pundit passed through it; but it is occupied by the Khåmpas of Garché at certain seasons of the year. There is capital grazing, and an abundant supply of water and fuel (argols) throughout. The road lies the whole way in one of the broad open sangs before described, lying between ranges of hills running east and west. South of the Tashi Bhup Cho, the southern range runs off in a south-east direction, rising rapidly in height, and forming a massive group of snow-covered peaks, known as the Shyalchi Kdng Jång, the positions of several of which were fixed by the Pundit, although at a distance of from 3o to 40 miles south of his road. From this snowy group flows northwards a very considerable stream, the Shyal-chu, which was crossed by the Pundit in three separate branches, nowhere more than a foot in depth, but said to be passable only with very great difficulty during the floods caused by the melting of the snow in the summer months.»
With respect to the road from Thok to Lhasa we read inter alia: »His route lay over precisely the same kind of country that he had previously traversed; it crossed several streams, all flowing to the north ... Although the plain he was now traversing was more than 16,000 feet above the level of the sea, the Pundit does not appear to have suffered very much from the great elevation; the weather was mild, and he speaks of the whole of the journey over the plains of Tibet as a delightful pleasure excursion, when compared with his experiences over the KaraKorum and other passes on the road from Leh to Yarkand.»
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