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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia, 1899-1902 : vol.4 |
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Citation Information
516
EXPLORERS' JOURNEYS IN HIGH TIBET.
r
by Capt. H. H. P. Deasy, 16th Lancers, in 1896». To the results of the cartographical labours, not only of Deasy, but also of those travellers from whom I have quoted in the foregoing pages, proper credit will be given in the large general map that will accompany my atlas; consequently I need not linger over their maps here. The best of them all is Deasy's. With regard to the maps of his predecessors, that traveller's experience is the same as mine, namely that they are of very small value, and help you but little. Deasy says on this point: »This pass (Lanak La) was an easy one, but as to the country beyond I now felt some anxiety. We knew that Bower, Dalgleish, Carey and de Rhins, and possibly one or two other Europeans, had been over the ground, but the only maps we possessed were on too small a scale to be of much assistance.»
Deasy's journey took place between the years 1896 and 1899, and extended
also over a large part of East Turkestan. I need not delay long over this traveller, especially as I have already mentioned those parts of his itinerary with which I came into contact in my 1901 journey. Still I will append one or two passages by way of samples of his style of writing. Of the country round the Aru-tso he says: -
»Striking contrasts in scenery are by no means uncommon in Tibet, as for
instance, in the country around Aru Cho. On the western side of this lake, which we ascertained to be of a different size from that marked on the latest map of Tibet, there is a fine range of snow-clad mountains extending beyond the northern and southern shores of the lake, but on the eastern side there are only comparatively low mountains, none of which exceed 19,500 feet in altitude. Not far from the foot of the snow range in the south-west corner of Aru Cho there is an unusually large supply of wild rhubarb, which, though inferior to the cultivated kind, was not despised by us. The quality of the grass in. this neighbourhood is infinitely superior to that of the coarse and very sharp kind, called »lungma» by Ladakis, previously encountered. Here a small, soft, fine grass, known to the Argûns as 'peelee', largely preponderated, much to the benefit of our impoverished animals, who greatly appreciated this more nutritive food.»
Deasy's experience was the same as mine and that of other travellers, that
in western Tibet drinking water is in general rather scarce. Speaking of the district around Camp 5o, he says: — »In this part of the country good water was difficult to find, and day after day we were obliged to content ourselves with such natural solutions of salt and soda, or such muddy mixtures, as the neigh-bourhood supplied. We could think of no method of removing the salt and soda; but by boiling the muddy liquid and adding a mere pinch of powdered alum a fairly clear water could be obtained. The privations of the wilderness, however, have their compensations, and the springs of water, fresh and pure, on which we at length lighted not only relieved our anxiety, but gave such keen enjoyment as only those
who have suffered from similar inconvenience can understand.»
Speaking of the snow-fall in western Tibet he says: The heights are constantly exposed to winds which sweep them clear of snow, so that they usually present some pasture available for the hardy flocks of the country. In these regions there seems to be no great snow-fall; on the heights it is certainly slight. We could discover scarcely any trail of avalanches, and, though we sought to determine the
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