CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE SIXTH CROSSING.
The fifth line of crossing gives us an excellent proof of the fact that the ranges in this part of the Central Transhimalaya run from N.W. to S.E. parallel to the course of the Buptsang-tsangpo and forming an angle of about 45° with the great Tsangpo. But west of the fifth crossing follows a region which, in its interior, remains completely unknown. Here therefore the geography must be conjectural. From my sixth crossing, between Nganglaring-tso and Tokchen I got the impression that the direction of the ranges is here almost the same as that of the Lunkar and Lunpo-gangri. It is therefore allowed to be presumed that all the ranges between my fifth and sixth crossings run N.W.—S.E. I gathered some information about these ranges on my journey from Teri-nam-tso to Nganglaring-tso along the northern foot of the system, to which I shall have to return in a special chapter.
To give an idea of the sort of information one gets from the tasam, the way used by Nain Sing and Ryder, I shall here insert the following reports. At Targyaling I met a very large caravan of yaks loaded with salt, and coming from the north. The leaders told me they came direct from a salt lake Tabie-tsaka, some 25 or 3o days north; on the road they had crossed a pass, Kure-la, 12 days from Targyaling. From their description it was hopeless to get an idea of what the country to the north was like. As they asserted that only one pass existed on the road, one would imagine that only one range was situated to the north.
An old Tibetan in Pasa-guk had been many times to a salt lake, Umgangtso, situated to the N.W., 35 days' journey for sheep. He remembered the road in detail, and used to pass the night at the following places, beginning from Pasa-guk: Tegung, Kyang-tsaka, Pempo-lung, Chugar, Tsira or Gyamnak, Kosang, Longma, Dumbö-tugna, Rongser, Longdem, Ri-tari, Rachung jamri, Tasang, Tasang-lukang, Näk-kyam, Taglak, Hakpo, Ri-tari (N:o 2), Chu-sumbuk, Changbuk, Chusän-langdo, Ting-gung, Sabsang, Tingmig, Uri-songa, Yo-or, Saser, Tsung-gung, Chiten, Yorchung, Longa-karmo, Tukto, Tser-tso, Langma, and Umgang-tso. — There were many low passes to cross. On the first day the Chaktak-tsangpo is left behind. The second day from Pasa-guk he crossed a pass called Changdung-la. Between Rachung and Tasang was a high pass, Kanchung-tsa-la, which, however, was avoided by
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