The threshold proved to be double or rather to form a platform with a very shallow depression in its middle. The bottom of the latter consisted of red clay cracked up in innumerable polygons, but obviously containing some water after rain. At the eastern margin of this depression we reach the end of the threshold, and now the view is free over the next lake, the one which Rawling calls Pool-Iso, though I do not know why, nor in what language. The salt incrustations were called »pool» by my men, but this lake was as nearly fresh as possible and its water perfectly drinkable, though it has no visible outlet. Deasy, Wellby and Rawling had visited the lake, but they had found no opportunity of surveying its outlines. Already from the little threshold above Camp XXIII the lake proved to be oblong from north to south which is rather rare, as most Tibetan lakes are oblong from east to west, which is also the prevailing direction of the mountain ranges.
At Camp XXIII there was a 5 or 6 m. high beach or shore terrace, between which and the water the shore was covered with the remains of rotten lacustrine weeds, lying as a carpet on the sand. The grass was good in the neighbourhood and there were heaps of yak dung. The first wild yak was shot beyond the hills to the south.
The Pan. 37A and 37B, Tab. 7, taken from Camp XXIII, embraces only the eastern half of the horizon, that is to say the whole northern half of the lake and its surrounding mountains. To the N. I° E., where the limestone cliffs just north of the camp fall steeply down to the western shore, the shore-line continues to the northern end of the lake, and in the same direction, at a distance of perhaps 4 or 5 days' march, one sees the contour-line of one of the main Kwen-lun Ranges. To the N. E. are moderate hills, strongly denudated and rounded as usual. To the N. 56° E. are the steep hills which seemed to fall directly down to the edge of the water and upon which we steered the boat the next day. To the E. N. E., there was a low silhouette of distant mountains. From east to S. 69° E. rose the mighty group of Deasy's name with uninterrupted snow-fields on its head. To the S. E. were the mountains bordering the lake on the east. The colour of the water was as pure blue as that of Lake Lighten, both of these lakes being more blue than Yeshil--köl, which indeed had a tint of green in its colour.
In the evening and the whole night a furious storm from the east swept over the desolate land, and the waves were in energetic action, eroding the present shore line. The next morning, when the storm had ceased, there was a good deal of fine dust in the air, so much at any rate that Deasy's Group had vanished. The transport of solid material by the wind could, therefore, be well observed.
On September 28M we crossed this lake, which is at a height of 5,077 m., or 18 m. below Lake Lighten, and 132 m. above Yeshil-köl. The first sounding line was only 2.4 km. to the N. 56° E., the second 5.4 km. to the S. S. E. On the first
IIIFカラー高解像度
