| 10 miles S.W. There is a road the whole way up, and at some places are marks of camps, such as fire-places, bones and skins of sheep, and rubbish. Animal life is represented by rabbits and Arcionzys, wild geese and some kind of big waterfowls. The road is always at some distance from the river. Hard rock was seen only at one little promontory to our right, consisting of pyroxenite, plagioclas-amphibolite, and mica-quartzite, dipping 49° to the S. 8o° E. On our side of the river there is a double erosion terrace, on the right side are three terraces, of which the highest seems to be some 7o m. above the present river. Sometimes these terraces may easily be confounded with moraine-formations. The terraces remain as tests of a very energetic erosive action at an earlier period. Since then the glaciers have retreated farther and farther southwards into the mountains, and the Kubi valley we see is a work of the past. A short distance above Camp 200 the river changes its aspect altogether. It becomes very broad and divided into several branches surrounding flat islands and banks of mud and clay. The current is very slow and there is not a single rapid. Here the river cannot be crossed, as its bottom is said to be treacherous quagmire. The whole bottom of the valley is flat, perfectly horizontal to the eye; the ground is dust and clay ; gravel is seen only in the beds of ravines; only one of them contained some water. Further south the ground becomes swampy and forces us to the top of the lowest terrace. This is pierced by the deep-cut valley of the brook from the Dongdong glacier, situated due west, and south of the glacier which gives rise to the Chema-yundung. At its junction with the Kubi the Dongdong brook had about 21/2 cub. m. and is therefore a comparatively small tributary to the main river. The Dongdong makes a short bend to the south before it empties its green-greyish water into the dark grey Kubi. A round pool, surrounded by moraines, and called "I'sechung-tso, is passed to our left. At rare intervals small erratic blocks of granite are passed. The ground is always comfortable and soft, glacial material. Having crossed a brook with V3 cub. m., we reach an oblong lake, from the northern end of which the Kubi-tsangpo issues. The lake is surrounded by low rolling hills, partly moraines, partly sand dunes, most of them bound by some grass. The water of the lake has the same dark colour as the Kubi, and may in fact be regarded simply as a wide part of the river-course. The outlines are extremely irregular, and there appears between the hills a series of pools with clear water, which therefore are not in connection with the main lake. There are many islands and peninsulas of mud and sand with grass in the lake. On the west the valley is bounded by hills some 500 m. high, here and there with stripes of snow, and ravines; on the east by a rocky ramification from the Kubi-gangri, also with snow. All this snow should disappear within a few weeks. Camp 201 is situated near a brook from the N.W., called Shapke-chu, and carrying about 2 cub. m. a second. The absolute altitude is 4,841 cm. (15,878 feet). One would have | |
IIIFカラー高解像度
