| THE HIGH PASS EAST OF ARPORT-TSO. 233 On 7anuary 28th, our course was E. S. E. for 17.5 km. After going I 1.4 km., we reached a pass of 5,572 m., being, therefore, at 274 m. above the lake. The rate of ascent was thus as 1 : 42. From the pass to Camp CCCX V 6 km., we had to descend 198 m., as this camp is at 5,374 m., the rate being here as I : 31. The minimum temperature of the night sank to —34.6°. The morning was clear, but the day, cloudy and windy. We directed our course to the mouth of a valley opening up from the east. The ground rises slowly and regularly, and consists of brownish red dust, sand and fine gravel. Yaftchan plants are abundant the whole way. To our right, we have the snowy group mentioned above. The main watercourse of the valley, which goes down to the lake, is left just south of our route. A large herd of antelopes fled westwards. In the same direction, we beheld a part of the southern basin of the lake, at the southern shore of which, Rawling had camped. The pass, Lung-izak-la, situated east of the southern-most part of the lake, and used by Bower and Rawling, is to be found 15 km. S. W. of the pass we now were approaching. The mountains to the north of our route are pierced by some small valleys, in the background of which we see the crest of a rocky range. The pass is a flat saddle. At its top we had a temperature of —17.2°, a strong S. W. wind and fine dry snow driven by the wind. The view from this height, was not particularly encouraging, as the country seemed to be high and mountainous far away, without comfortable open plains or latitudinal valleys. Just S. E. of the pass, the mountains seemed to be broken by a narrow gorge, but we preferred to follow the flat hills eastwards. At the lee sides of terraces, a considerable amount of snow had been heaped together by the wind. Gradually we came out on a plain surrounded by mountains. It is difficult to tell in which direction it slopes. To the naked eye, it seems to fall to the north and N. N. E., though according to Rawling it falls south and S. W. In its eastern part, there was grass and much snow, the vegetation, being particularly abundant in the mouth of a little valley from the east. On the day's march, the living rock consisted of grey and red dense limestone as hitherto. Pan. 403, Tab. 71, taken from here, gives an idea of the mountains from N. N. E. to south. To the S. S. E., the country lay comparatively open to our march, but we had come to a very high part of the Tibetan plateau-land, a barren and desolate country. On 7anuary 29th, we had 13.4 km. S. S. E. and S. E. rising from 5,374 m. to 5,48o m. or 106 m., being a rate of 1 : 126. We continued crossing the plain, the ground of which was rising in the direction of the road. The march was extremely monotonous. On both sides we had hills of moderate size. The weather was bitterly cold, the minimum temperature having been at —31.4° and the wind blowing like a gale. In the morning the weather was clear, but soon the S. E. wind began and gradually went over to south and S. S. W. and finally S. W. Only 30. IV. | | |
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