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

several tributaries from the snow and ice mountains in the south, of which many
appear in the form of springs. One of these comes from a considerable glacier,
visible between its black mountain spurs not far off, another from the mountain
group of Tünjom. The whole valley is a typical moraine landscape. Heaps and
labyrinths of moraines are visible the whole way to the hard rock in the south. The
material is granite, gneiss, black crystalline schist etc. Where Tage-tsangpo breaks
through the moraine walls, it forms rapids, otherwise it is streaming quietly.
The most prominent mountains visible from Tag-ramoche are: to the S. 65° E.
the Memo-gangri, S. 52° E. Ganglung-gangri, S. 38° E. Hlalung, S. 25° E. Dunjum-pu,
S. 10° E. Panglung with a glacier and snow-fields in the background, and south,
Panglung-chonga. To the S.W. the mountains of Dogri or Dugri are situated, and
to the north Membar-chunga.
The narrow valley of the Tage-tsangpo is called Tage-bup. Here the moraines
have sometimes been swept away and the ground is covered with light sand, some-
times forming rudimentary dunes, sometimes bound by grass. For a certain distance
the river is swollen as a long narrow lake with an extremely slow current, after
which the Tage-tsangpo again becomes narrow and rich in rapids. The mountains
are steep on both sides and the valley energetically cut out. One gets the impression
that a considerable river must once have eroded this valley, and, before having made
any measurements or read any Chinese accounts, I wrote in my diary: »The Tage-
tsangpo must be the genetic source of the Satlej, even if the diminished precipita-
tion of a later period has cut it off from the present Satlej.» Another proof was
found when passing the two springs Langchen-kamba and Chako, the thermometer
registering 3.5° and 4.6° C. resp. of their water. When writing down these names I
had not yet heard that Langchen-kamba or The Elephant's river was the Tibetan
name for Satlej. The mountain at the foot of which the two sources are situated
is called Chumik-ri, or the »mountain of the source«.
The rocks on both sides of the valley consist of serpentine, crystalline and
ordinary limestone and sandstone. A little below the point where the Tage-tsangpo
goes out into the open basin of the Manasarovar the valley of Tagdung, coming
from S. 25° E. and surrounded by considerable mountains, joins the Tage-tsangpo.
Sinchen and Sinchung are two smaller valleys to the S.W., and Laptsa is a valley
from S. 50° W. coming from Gurla-mandata or Memo-nani, which is visible in S. 75°
W. At Camp 209 there is a pool called Tso-nyak. From the road between Tam-
lung-la and this place one gets a very insufficient view of the complicated mountains
farther south. This region promises very interesting discoveries to future travellers.
Between Camps 209 and 210 the country is again rich in moraines. The bed
of the Tage-tsangpo is also full of blocks and gravel. The river, where our road
crosses it, is divided in two branches, which at high water become united. On July
22nd their dimensions were: breadth 20.00 m., average depth 0.27 m., average
velocity 0.71 m. and volume 3.89 cub. m. a second; and the second branch: breadth