THE WEATHER ON THE PLATEAU-LAND. 25
To the S. 3o° E.—S. 8o° E. a range of high, solid mountains now begins to become visible. From Canis III only their highest peaks had been slightly visible, as is seen on Pan. 14, Tab. 3, to the S. 54° E. They no doubt belong to the water-parting Kara-korum.
We leave the main brook at some distance to the right, and cross a little tributary brook, which disappears in the reddish brown gravel of the slope before it reaches the main brook. In the morning it was covered with ice. To our left we have low irregular hills. The ground consists of fine, red dust, which near Camp III was arranged in square, circular or polygonal figures separated from each other by belts of gravel up to one decimeter in diameter. These as well as numerous fissures in the barren dust soil, appeared to be due to the same phenomena of gravity and pressure in the soil which give rise to mud-flow. Fine gravel up to 1 cm. in diameter and rounded by water, also covered certain parts of the ground. East of some small hills the ground is covered by innumerable yapkak plants which now become common the whole way to lake Aksai-chin.
The weather in these high regions is strange. At 9 a. m. a rather heavy snowfall hindered the view all around and made the ground white. It lasted for an hour and changed the landscape into perfect winter. After another hour there was no sign of snow left on the ground, which in the very dry air quickly dries up. The heavens, however, continued to be covered by extremely thick and picturesque clouds, blue, grey, and nearly black. To the S. E. the Kara-koruin peaks appeared again. One would have expected to find their slopes quite white after the fresh snowfall , but they were as black as before, and the lower edges of the eternal snow-fields had not noticeably changed their outlines. The wind came from the S. W. and the cloud masses sailed to the east.
The valley of the brook is wide and open. From the south it receives a little tributary from a transverse valley on the N. E. side of the Kara-korum. There are no human signs, and no cairns are seen, since we, near Camp III, had seen a 3 m. high wooden pole still standing upright from a cairn, and probably being a mark of some surveying party. The ground is dry, but very soft, and the track of our caravan, therefore, visible for long distances. At three places we crossed antelope tracks, and once saw the animals themselves, the first wild life met with on the plateau-land.
Having crossed the slightly undulating plain, we entered a series of small hills, and partly marched on low ridges, from which the view was free both to the north and south. The living rock was greyish brown, dense limestone as before and obviously predominating in the region. Far to the north rather considerable mountains were seen, no doubt belonging to the alpine regions where the Kara-kaslz and Yurung-kash have their sources. The yapkak plants continued during the whole day's
4. IV.
IIIFカラー高解像度
