cross the Yu j'cha valley. The ground is uncomfortable, uneven due to tussock-grass, pierced by rabbits' holes and crossed by many small , dry watercourses from the northern range. Sometimes heaps of débris are accumulated at the base of these red, pink or yellow mountains. On the eastern side of the transverse valley the ground rises in steep slopes to the Pike-la. To the south the pass valley is bounded by a wild and rugged, rocky range, resembling the wall of a fortress. In the rocks, eagles had their nests. Camp LXXXVIII, just west of the pass, had the rather considerable altitude of 5,169 m. To the S. W., a plain could be seen, the ground of which was said to be very soft and treacherous in the summer. Dangra yumiso was not visible, only some of the snow peaks in its neighbourhood. One of them, to the S. 2 8° W., was called A'elung; another, to the S. 50° W., Takia-iumsing. The latter name is doubtful, at least I heard from other nomads farther south, of a Takla-iomsing (or -iumsing) situated west of our Cant XCVII. Ko-la and Dung yin were other mountains somewhere near the southern lakes, but impossible to identify. Targo-gangri and Targo-isangpo were well known, though the name was pronounced like Taruf, and the river, which was said to be larger than Bogtsang-isangpo, like Targui-clin. The region around our camp was called Rara, and the mountain south of it, containing the pass, Pike-gongni. Nyungdok is a red conical peak, without snow, to the S. 58° W., Lakor-deja a peak to the S. 72° W., and Nagmo-ri a flat mountain to the S. 66° W. The Takla-tumsing and Kelung seem to belong to the same, nearly meridional, range.
Regarding the climate, the severe cold would continue for another two months or to the middle of February, after which the winter becomes milder. Usually there is very little snow in the winter, which remains dry; if snow falls, it does so only on the higher mountains.
A little herd of Ovis amnion was seen in the high regions of the Pike-gongni. The distance accomplished on December 16th was II km. We had only
0.6 km. to the pass Pike-la, with a height of 5,200 m. The next camp, LXXXIX, 10.4 km beyond the pass, at 4,867 m., was thus 333 m. below the pass, and the slope down to it as i :31. The general direction was E. S. E. The pass is very flat, and is rather a threshold in a latitudinal valley. The valley going down from the pass to the east, soon turns to the S. E., and there is, therefore, no distant view. Nor did the weather allow any observation of the surroundings. After a stormy night, with a temperature of —15.1°, the W. S. W. wind blew furiously during the whole day and some snow fell. Otherwise the view to the S. W. would have been very valuable, if not from the pass, at least from some of the heights in its neighbourhood. The road follows the valley to the east where two steep rocky teeth of the usual limestone, form a beautiful and regular gate by which the pass-brook and the road go down, turning to the S. I. This gate is only about i o m. broad. The valley is
IIIFカラー高解像度
