CHAPTER XXXVIII.
DAN GRA-YU M-TSO.
I could not approach this lake any nearer than to Camp i 50, from where the lake was visible to the north. The height of the Camp was 4 708 m. Both at the
Targo-tsangpo and Ngangtse-tso I was told that the Dangra-yum-tso only partly freezes, some parts of the lake remaining open the whole year round. The Ngangtsetso on the other hand freezes thick all over, its ice being as a rule one foot thick,
and even, at some places so much as o.5r m; in spite of this difference both lakes are said to break up at about the same time, at the end of April or beginning of May.
The water of Dangra-yum-tso is said to be brackish but drinkable, and to contain fish. On the western slope of a hill straight north of Camp i 50 there are very sharply marked and well preserved old beach-lines, proving a great rate of desiccation. On the road to Shuru-tso these beach-lines are visible at several places; at the eastern foot of Targo-gangri they could sometimes be followed, though not so sharply drawn as on the eastern side of the Targo valley. As a rule, the beach-lines and shore-walls are more strongly developed on the eastern shores of Tibetan salt lakes, as these shores have been more exposed to the waves driven by the prevailing west-winds. The highest beach-line on the hill north of Camp i 50 was 88.95 m above the surface of the Targo-tsangpo at the foot of the hill. The height of Camp i 50 above the surface of Dangra-yum-tso is unknown, but the desiccation may have proceeded about z oo m in this region.
To judge from the description I got from natives, the form Nain Sing has given the lake must be nearly or, at any rate, approximately correct, though the Pundit seems to have exaggerated its size. The nomads of Ngangtse-tso asserted their lake was greater than Dangra-yum-tso. The latter was said to be about one mile across in its centre. Following the shore on foot a pilgrim is supposed to need 5 days for performing a kore, or wandering round the lake. The pilgrims are accustomed to camp at the following places: the first day they go from the mouth of Targo-tsangpo to a place called Gyamar; the direction is shown as being to the S.W., indicating a S.W.—N.E. direction of the southern shore; the road goes over a plain, crossing only some hills and undulations from Targo-gangri. The second
IIIFカラー高解像度
