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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
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| LITTLEDALE, CAREY. NAIN SINGH, BOWER, AND DEASY. | 515 | ||||||||
| over the country there are patches of saline efflorescence, and the sides of the stream beds coming down from the hills, dry at this time of year, were covered with it.» Bower often speaks also of westerly storms and rain during the latter part of the summer. I have already touched upon his description of the Tschargut-tso, Selling-tso, and Naktsong-tso. Towards the end of his book he summarizes the experiences of his journey through the plateau region proper of Tibet in the following words: — »The whole of Central and Northern Tibet, and almost the whole of Western Tibet, is called the Chang; it consists of a high table-land, with hills mostly of a rounded character, with broad open valleys between, but here and there sharply-defined massy ranges are met with. The mountains have a general east and west tendency, but no defined watershed exists, and all the rivers terminate in salt lakes, which appear to be gradually drying up, as unmistakable signs, that at one time they occupied much more extended areas than they do at present, are to be seen. The whole of the Chang itself, however, forms a most distinct watershed: the rivers rising on the east find their way to Burma and China, while those rising on the south and west, penetrating the barrier of the Himalayas, emerge on the plains of India. An idea of the general configuration of the country may be gathered from the fact that from the end of June until the middle of November the average altitude of our camps was over i 6,000 feet, the lowest being 14,621 feet, and the highest 18,315 feet, while the highest pass crossed was 18,760 feet. All the enormous stretch of country crossed in that time contained not a single tree, and only two species of shrub, and these rarely exceeded 6 inches in height; flowering plants and grasses however were found, and Dr. Thorold collected 115 species, one of which was found at an altitude of 19,000 feet, probably the greatest height at which any flowering plant has been collected. Great stretches of this Chang afford excellent grazing in summer, but are too far from suitable winter quarters to be made use of by the nomads, so they are left to the wild yak, antelope, and gazelle, which are never disturbed, except by some wandering bands of Chukpas (brigands), who find these wastes an excellent asylum whence to swoop down on the tents of the nomads living on the border, or to retire to when pursued.»* This brief summary of the physical geography by Bower agrees in every respect with my descriptions and those of other travellers. Deasy, like Bower, devotes the greater part of his book to a detailed description of what happened during his journey, while a relatively insignificant part of it deals with geography. On the whole you derive from it a certain conception of the niggardly nature of Tibet; and on the other hand you look in vain for detailed geographical information. Notwithstanding this, Deasy's three years' journey is one of great importance; and its most important part is that which deals with western Tibet. Of that region he brought home with him an especially beautiful and valuable map, which was published in two sheets by the Surveyor General of India, and this was, through the kindness of Lord Curzon, placed at my disposal during my visit in India. The map bears the title »Map of Portion of Tibet, explored | |||||||||
| Diary of a journey across Tibet, by Captain Hamilton Bower. | |||||||||
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