IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Southern Tibet : vol.7 |
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Citation Information
584
THE RANGES OF CENTRAL AND NORTHERN TIBET.
the stretching becomes easterly. In the region where the Yurun-kash has its sources on the northern slopes of this range, CAREY and DALGLEISH, GROMBTCHEVSKIY, members of PIEVTSOFF's expedition, DE RHINS, DEASY and STEIN have travelled.
In the eastern part of this Southern Kwen-lun Range there are peaks of 692o, 6352, 641o, and 6085 m. Two of them are called Chong - mus - tagh and Koramlik-tupe. East of this region is terra incognita, and the largest unknown space still remaining on the map of Tibet, 390 km. in length, where the great plateau has not been crossed by a single traveller's route. However , I feel persuaded that the main axis of the Kwen-lun system, or the highest range of the system which we have called the Southern Kwen-lun , continues through the whole space, and is in uninterrupted connection with the Arka-tagh. For west of the unknown space we have the mighty Southern Kwen-lun system, and east of it are the no less powerful ranges of Arka-tagh, both systems with the same characteristic features; with eternal snows and glaciers. It may therefore be regarded as extremely unlikely that there should not be a connection of the same kind between the two. This system of crustal folds stretching through the whole of Tibet from west to east is one of the most magnificent orographical features of the whole country, and plays the same part in the north as the Great Himalaya in the south. As the Yurun-kash and Keriyadarya have their sources on the northern side of the Southern Kwen-lun, and the Cherchen - darya , Chul ak - akkan and rivers going to Achik - kul and Ayagh - kum - kul take their origin from the northern slopes of the Arka-tagh, it may be regarded as nearly certain that the sources of the Tolan-khoja, Bostan-tograk, Mölja, and Kara-muran are situated on the northern slopes of that part of the range which is still unknown.
The Arka-tagh I found to consist of four parallel ranges with the following average altitudes from north to south : 5 0 2 I m., 5 I 93 m., 5 2 I o m., and 5 2 6 2 M. They consequently increase in altitude to the south. Along the southern base of the system runs the great latitudinal valley which I followed in 1896, and which probably continues the whole way westwards to Lighten Lake and the Lake of Aksaichin, as described in Chapter LX above.
The Southern Kwen-lun is double and it obviously expands on its way eastwards where four ranges are easily discernible. The great unknown patch in Northern Tibet is bordered to the east by my route from Kara-muran to Arka-tagh in 1896, and, north of Lac de l'Antilope, by the routes of DE RHINS and LITTLEDALE. On their meridional routes the two latter explorers have crossed a series of Arka-tagh passes, viz., a pass west of Ulug - sai, 5230 m. high , two passes in the Kosh - tagh Range north of the upper Kara-muran (Mong. muren) having the altitudes of 525o m. (de Rhins) and 5370 m. (Littledale). In the next range follows a pass called North Kara - muren - davan, 5436 m. high, where Littledale notes to the east »Large Snow-fields and Glaciers», which obviously is the mighty mass of Ulug-mus-tagh, 7360 m.
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