RAWLING'S ROUTE.
245 in every respect for long camping than Rio-chung, but obviously the antelopes, of whose flesh the hunters were living, were more numerous at the latter place. Occasionally the hunters seemed to visit this part of the valley as well, for rather fresh footprints of two men were seen at a place where the ground was sandy. We are wandering through a real labyrinth of clay mounds and terraces between which there are patches of grass and sheets of ice. To our left we have a broad and short arena valley from which the largest ice-sheet comes, obviously from springs. On the hills in the background of this arena and at a short distance from our route, three or four stone huts appear. On the hills above them, there are a few cairns, one of which is cubic ; on the little threshold that is bounding the valley on the north, there is also a cairn. This seems to be the place which Rawling calls Rung-ma-lok, and probably identical with one of the gold-mines or both, which had been mentioned to us by the hunters of Rio-chung and called Gälsa-rung- and Bola-rung by them. During the winter, of course, nobody dwells at the gold-mines. In the summer the place must be favourable compared with other gold fields, for here grass, water and fuel is to be had in abundance.
We continue along the base of the hills which bound the gold valley on the east. Immediately to our right is a large ice-sheet formed by a little brook from springs which keeps open a long way. It carried about a quarter of a cub. m. per second and was frozen only along its banks. The water flows very slowly, but at least it proved that this valley, which to the naked eye appeared perfectly horizontal, rises to the S. E. The right terrace of the bed of this brook, on the top of which we marched along the base of the hills, was unusually well developed and nearly i o m. high. Finally we went down into the bed and crossed it at a place where it was again frozen across. Along the part of its course where it is open , springs of a comparatively high temperature come up in the bed and on the right bank. On the left bank, we camp amongst good grass, fuel and on sandy ground. Hares were numerous, and a few ravens followed the caravan as usual.
In this part of the valley, there was nearly no snow at all. Only on slopes looking north, some white strips were still to be seen. At noon the weather changed to the worse. The whole sky being overclouded and a fresh S. W. wind beginning to blow. At 1 o'clock p. m. the temperature was only —3.6°, and had, the previous day, even been at —2.5°.
The living rock at Camp CCCXX VI, was the same dark schist partly rich in mica as before. The pebbles in the bed were dark grey sandstone. The ring of mountains surrounding the camp is represented on Pan. 412A and B, Tab. 74. Of special interest here is the gap in the southern mountains to the S. 7° W., which may be the transverse valley by which Rawling travelled. To the right of it are the mountains along the' southern side of the valley. Between N. 61° W. and the
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