ROAD TO TA ROK-'I'SO. 369
(a great river), Chükiin-tso (Tsikut-tso), Kyäring-tsoma (Kyäring-tso), Kyäkya-rapka, Mabjän-gukchen, Mabjän-gukchung, Shansa-dsong, Tsepta-marmu, Kepa-chomden, Tari-nyasong, Hle-ngomo, Bontsema, Bo-choning, Shenker-takpa, Dam-tüshika, Tokarjablung, Ngüring-la (Littledale's Guring-la?), Lungpe-kiba, Yompachen, Somba-ka, Lukbin-kontsi, Deching-dsong, Shing-dunga, Sera-shika, and Lhasa.
If one did not possess a general knowledge of the country traversed by this road, one would feel lost when reading these names.
When, in 1908, I was separated from half my caravan for nearly two months, I had given orders to my caravan-bashi to annotate all he could along the road he had to take and which was, partly, another than my own. We separated at the tent of Kamba Tsenam, N.E. of Saka-dsong; the first part of his road was the same as I had taken over Samye-la and along the Buptsang-tsangpo. At the lower course of this river he left the Buptsang-valley, turning north over the easy Kyangring-la, then went N.W. to Tinge near Tarok-tso. The next camp was Kurtak, which was Goya Parvang's Camp on the eastern or N.E. shore of Tarok-tso. The next camps were Kongka, Chu-nake, and Boklung, — all on the northern shore of Tarok-tso — Sermo at the western end of the lake, Tsobuk a short distance west of Lunkargompa, and then the same road I took over Lunkar-la, etc. But it was impossible to obtain from this man, who was a Mohamedan from Leh, whether he had seen any channel between Tarok-tso and Tabie-tsaka or any other account of the country.
I relate this to show how difficult it is to make geographical discoveries in Tibet by help of native information. One has to see the county oneself, and what I have seen on my travels in all directions across and along the Central Transhimalaya, I have told in the preceding chapters. To fill in the details will be the work of future exploration.
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