| further west began to break up, causing a very slow and hardly observable rise of the river, which was said to continue to more regular rise at the beginning of the rainy season. In July the river is very high, and it is then impossible to travel down to Shigatse on hide-boats on account of the strong current which easily carries the boats against the rocks. In September and October the Tsangpo begins to fall. In cold winters the river freezes so hard that one can walk over on the ice; in other years, as 1907, only quiet and protected places are covered with thin ice for a short time. At Ta-nak, on February 8th, I obtained the following information. The winter is always very windy and west winds prevail. Usually the valley is filled with dust and drifting sand. In the evening the mountains to the south and north were visible as through a fog, but to the east everything disappeared in the haze; tho following morning the weather was nearly clear. The natives still expected some three months' hard wind. The winter of 1907 was said to be warmer than usual; .otherwise the river used to be frozen at this time of the season, beginning in February, and getting free from ice only at the end of March. In 1906-1907 it had not been frozen at all. At Ta-nak the Tsangpo was expected to go on sinking for another two months; from the beginning of May it should rise slowly, and from the beginning of June it should rise rapidly. During July, August and September it is at its highest. During the rainy season the whole valley below the terrace is filled by the river. Even during the melting of the ice after a cold winter no particular rise of the river could be observed at Ta-nak, a piece of information that seems to be less reliable than the one given at Karu. For even the Tarim has a very considerable high-water in the spring, and in the upper Tsangpo an enormous quantity of water must be bound in form of ice, and move down as a spring-flood as soon as the temperature becomes sufficiently high. At Sadung, on March 27th, I was told that the hard western wind used to continue until the middle of May. In the middle of June the new grass comes up, though not yet sufficient for the flocks. The river was expected to remain as it was for another 1 o or 15 days, after which it should sink very slowly, a statement that seems to corroborate what I heard at Ta-nak. Only from the end of May was it said to rise; and in July it is at its highest; at the end of September it begins to fall, and at the end of October it should be as low as at present, or at the end of March. Some years the river freezes at Sadung during the night, but breaks up during the day, and it never occurs that it can be crossed on the ice. | | |
IIIFカラー高解像度
