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

THE TRANSHIMALAYAN PASS SAMYE-LA.   319

The section of the road to Camp 38o has about the same character as the

previous one. To avoid swamps and watercourses now covered with and surrounded by great ice-sheets, the road has to keep to the foot of the eastern mountains, where several ravines, with or without water, come down. Only near Camp 380, 4 968 m high, does the road follow the bottom of the valley, where a watercourse is crossed with 2 or 3 cub. m a second.

On the next section the road has a strong ascent to the S.E. amongst gravel and blocks of gray granite. At Camp 381 the height is 5 370 m, on the bank of the branch of Buptsang-tsangpo which comes from Samye-la. Between Camps 380 and 381 the road crosses a secondary threshold.

Samye-la, or as some informants pronounced the name, Sangye-la, has a height

of 5 527 m. From a great valley in the Kanchung-gangri, N.E. of the pass, a brook comes down which should be regarded as the source of this branch of the Buptsangtsangpo. The highest summits of the Lunpo-gangri rise close to the west and S.W. of the pass; to the N.W. the Buptsang valley disappears in the far distance between its two ranges, and to the S.E. descends another, rather deep-cut valley; to the E.S.E. and S. E. are visible the high peaks of Kanchung-gangri and Chomo-uchong. Living rock is not found on the pass, but the detritus is all gray granite. Samye-la is a very flat pass; it even takes some time before one is sure of having reached its culmination. To the north it drains into Tarok-tso on the plateau-land, and southwards it drains into the Tsangpo. It is situated in a valley between two ranges, whereas all the four first passes are situated on the crests of ranges. It is therefore a more convenient and easy pass, especially as it is not very high and as the rise from both sides is comparatively gradual. At Camp 382 the height is 5 366 m.

One brook begins on the Samye-la, another comes from the glaciers west of

the pass; both cut their courses south-eastwards through heaps of old moraines, gravel and blocks of gray granite. The road proceeds between both brooks, up and down amongst the moraines, of which some, consisting of finer material, are covered with moss. A considerable tributary comes out from the north, from Kanchung-gangri, and from the right side, Lunpo-gangri, there come several small valleys, all full of ice. At the foot of the moraines the valley widens out to a plain with grass; at its southern side the mountains consist of sandstone. Here Camp 383 is at a height of 4 945 m. Viewed from this side the high peaks of Lunpo-gangri prove to be very narrow, with steep sides to the N.E. and S.W.; in their south-eastern continuation appear several new peaks.

The brook going southeastwards from Samye-la, is a right tributary to the Chaktak-tsangpo; I heard no special name for it. Below Camp 383 its valley becomes very narrow and deep-cut; the brook now (April I 7) carried II/2 cub. m a second and had ice-sheets two feet thick along the banks. Lower down, the whole river is frozen, as being protected in the still deeper, shadowy valley. Several tributaries enter from both sides; those on the left, coming from Kanchung-gangri, are