国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

R. STRACHEY'S JOURNEY TO THE SACRED LAKE.   87

the fact that the Satlej and its tributaries run more in solid rock in the eastern parts of the plain, and more in soft alluvial matter in the western parts.

Beyond the Gunda Yankti some 4 miles more of the plain brought him to Darma Yankti, which was larger but similar in character. For the two last days

to Gyanima the plain was level or gently sloping, covered with shingle. The abrupt rocks around or rising from the level of the plain suggested that he travelled over a dried-up bed of some great lake or inland sea. As his brother Henry, he was told that from the lower end of the Gyanima lake a stream issues and joins the Darma Yankti, which soon afterwards unites with the Gunda Yankti, after which the combined river is called Chu-kar. East of Gyanima he enters a hilly country forming the eastern boundary of the plains of Guge. He thinks the deposits of Guge have been formed by the ocean. The valleys east of that plain show that they have carried much more water in olden times.

The watershed of Rakas-tal was found to be 15,200 feet, or 200 feet above

the lake. Here for a short distance he touched ground where his brother had been in 1846. But Henry Strachey went north, Richard Strachey and Winterbottom south of Rakas-tal. On the way to this lake eruptive rocks were found and on the southern shore hypersthenic rocks predominated. The Tibetan name of the lake was found to be Tso-Lanak. As his brother, he calls Gurla, Momanangli.

His plan was now to go to the north-western corner of the Manasarovar, )'where the point of efflux of that lake was supposed to be. This we were anxious to see, for Moorcroft had denied the existence of any opening there, though my brother had crossed a large stream some miles to the west of Ju, which he was informed came from Manasarowar.»

He had hoped to be able to go along the edge of the lake, but when he came to a little shingly bay, the steep cliffs forced him to ascend again over the hills, where the ground in parts was almost level. On September 16th he proceeded

14 miles from Rakas-tal to the Manasarovar. At the commencement of this day's march hypersthenic trap was still found, after which followed mica schists, and fragments of granite. He is not sure whether any granite in situ was crossed, but Gurla seemed in great part to consist of granite.

He made the following observations on the isthmus:

The ground separating Manasarowar (Mapham) from Rakas-tal rises rather steeply to about 300 or 400 feet above the level of the lakes, being apparently altogether composed of alluvial deposits made up of pebbles, precisely similar to those now found on the beaches of the two lakes, of granite, mica schists, and quartzites, sometimes cemented together and forming conglomerates, but more commonly in the state of loose gravel. The general structure of this alluvial mass is so perfectly identical with that of the deposits of the great plateau that they must all be held to have had a common origin; but it is impossible to offer any opinion as to the probable time at which this particular portion assumed its present position relatively to the rest, whether before, with, or after the general movements that have elevated the whole. `Ve kept for some distance along the top of the separating ridge, till a hollow that nearly