National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

( 238 )

One Pundit and his assistant accompanied the head-quarters camp and were kindly looked after by Captain Chapman, who himself took some astronomical observations along the road. They ran a route survey from Leh, via' the Khardung Pass, up the Nubra Valley to Changlung, thence by the Saser Pass to Sâser, from which place the Pundit proceeded by the winter route up the Shyok River and by the Remo glacier to Daulat Beguldi, while his assistant took the summer route by Murghi and the Dipsang plains to the same spot. Thence they proceeded by the regular road over the Karakorum Pass to Aktggh, from which place they carried their traverse down the Yarkand River for three marches to Kirghiz Jangal, returning thence to Shahidûla by the Kirghiz Pass.

Kishen Sing, the Pundit, accompanying the advanced party commenced his route survey at Chimray, two marches east of Leh. At Zingrâl, the next halting place, his assistant diverged from the main road, going over the Kay La (Pass) and joined us again at Tankse. The Pundit went with the main camp over the Chang-la * From Tankse we all proceeded to Gogra, whence the Pundit was detached to accompany Captain Biddulph, who went over " Cayley'st Pass" and the Ling-zi-thung plains, considerably to the east of the road by which the former Mission returned from Yarkand in 1870, which road, however, he rejoined at Kizil-Jilga, thence following the Karakash in all its bends down to Shahidûla. Captain Biddulph took numerous observations for height on his line of march, generally using one of the mercurial barometers for that purpose. The Pundit kept up a continuous route survey the whole way and took frequent astronomical observations for latitude. Both Captain Biddulph's and Pundit Kishen Sing's observations will be found in the Appendix to this Chapter.

This Pundit's assistant, aided by the Mûnshi (as soon as I became convinced that a theodolite traverse was impracticable), carried a route survey along the road I myself followed, i.e., the one by which the former Mission returned from Yarkand, by the Changlung-Pangtung Pass. This road skirts the west edge of the Ling-zi-thung plains and striking the K4râkgsh River near its head, follows the course of that river until it turns off suddenly to the north-west, a point a little beyond Khush Maidan ; thence the road passes yid the Karâtâgh Pass and Lake to Aktâgh. From Aktâgh it goes over the Sugét Pass from which place I sent the Route Surveyors up in a north-west direction to cross the hills in front and stike the path passing from the Khirghiz Pass to Shahidûla. My object in detaching them by that road was to enable the Mûnshi to fix himself in position by some of the survey peaks on the Kârâkorum away to the west. He had one fine day and succeeded in doing so, but at the cost of frost-bitten fingers, from which it took him a considerable time to recover.

Throughout the march I made astronomical observations with my theodolite which have been reduced (in duplicate) in the head-quarters office of the Great Trigonometrical Survey since my return to India. They, together with my fixings by the plane-table, as well as my astronomical work on the return journey, and the Pundit's own observations, form the basis on which the whole of the Pundit's traverses have been built up. To this frame I have added such material as is available from the maps of the Trigonometrical Survey and of Messrs. Johnson, Shaw, and Hayward. The whole combined form a map more accurate and complete than anything yet published, and should, for geographical purposes, as far as the actual lines of road are concerned, leave but little more to be desired.

Descriptions of the routes traversed by various members of the Mission will be found in the Appendix, Section, Routes.

As regards this early portion of our journey the only new contributions I can give to science and geography are the results of a boating expedition on the Pangong Lake, and an account of the excursion, already referred to, which I made from the neighbourhood of Shahidûla to try and discover an alternative road on to the Karatagh plain.

The Pangong Lake district has been described at considerable length by Captain Godwin Austen in the Royal Geographical Society's Journal for 1867, and the additional

* 17,590 feet.

t 19,280 feet.