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 WEATHER AND THE ANIMAL LIFE.   365

West of the Lunkar range is the small range of Kapta, though there may be one or two more ranges near Kapta, untouched by my route. Perhaps these mountains should rather be regarded as ramifications from the great neighbouring ranges. Then follows one of the most sharply defined and highest folds of the system, the Surla range, crossed in the Sur-la, near its middle. Its western neighbour is the Pedang range. Still further west are the ranges Lavar-gangri, Ding-la and Surnge-la. There is a great gap of unknown land south of this part of my route, where everything is conjectural. But as I found all the ranges, as far as I could check them, stretching N.W.—S.E., it is very likely that this direction prevails in the unknown country as well.

In this part of Tibet there are some examples of geographical homologies. We have the Buptsang-tsangpo between two ranges and going to the Tarok-tso; we have the Nyapchu-tsangpo between two ranges and going to the Poru-tso; we have the Pedang-tsangpo between two ranges and going to the Shovo-tso. Very likely the Sumdang-tsangpo also flows between two ranges in its upper course, and finally empties itself into the Nganglaring-tso. If I may be allowed to draw preliminary conclusions from analogies, it may be presumed that the configuration between the Lunkar-Lunpo-gangri range and the Kanchung-gangri re-occurs several times further west. Thus the Nyapchu-tsangpo comes from the Men-la, which is a threshold between two ranges, just like the Samye-la, and at the S.E. side of which a river probably descends to Tsa-chu-tsangpo. The Pedang-la is probably a pass between two ranges and with a S.E.-going river belonging to the same Tsa-chu-tsangpo. Very likely the Sumdang-tsangpo and Lavar-tsangpo also come from thresholds between ranges and not from crest passes. The continental, or Indian water-parting seems, therefore, to follow the thresholds between these several folds.

Till the end of May the weather generally remained clear, but the beginning of

June was sometimes very cloudy and cold; on June 3th, 4th and 6th a good deal of snow and snow hail fell, and the sky was dark with clouds. On June 12th the Gyänortsangpo was frozen after — 4,9° in the night. On June 18th southern wind again brought snow and hail. The prevailing wind came from S.S.W., sometimes heavy winds blew from the west. On June 19th again rain and hail. Excepting the 25th,

the weather at the end of June was on the whole perfectly clear. All these dates are from 1908, which year had much more precipitation than 1907.

Animal life was abundant. Wild geese and clucks were seen, especially along the Soma-tsangpo and on the shore of Teri-nam-tso, where hares, too, lived in great numbers. Kyangs and antelopes were general along the lake, especially on the plain west of Teri-nam-tso. At Goalung kyangs, goa-antelopes and partridges were particularly numerous. On the Goa-la we saw several Pantholops antelopes. In the Buptsang valley kyangs, goa-antelopes, foxes and wild geese. In the Lunkar valley the hares were innumerable. In the high regions round Sur-la the wild yak is not

rare. On the   plain u

SeliP   lain there are flocks of kyangs and antelopes, and wolves
are particularly numerous.