Southern Tibet : vol.2 / Page 453 (Color Image)

0453	Southern Tibet : vol.2

further west began to break up, causing a very slow and hardly observable rise of
the river, which was said to continue to more regular rise at the beginning of the
rainy season. In July the river is very high, and it is then impossible to travel
down to Shigatse on hide-boats on account of the strong current which easily
carries the boats against the rocks. In September and October the Tsangpo begins
to fall. In cold winters the river freezes so hard that one can walk over on the
ice; in other years, as 1907, only quiet and protected places are covered with thin
ice for a short time.

At Ta-nak, on February 8th, I obtained the following information. The
winter is always very windy and west winds prevail. Usually the valley is filled with
dust and drifting sand. In the evening the mountains to the south and north were
visible as through a fog, but to the east everything disappeared in the haze; the
following morning the weather was nearly clear. The natives still expected some
three months' hard wind. The winter of 1907 was said to be warmer than usual;
otherwise the river used to be frozen at this time of the season, beginning in February,
and getting free from ice only at the end of March. In 1906—1907 it had not
been frozen at all. At Ta-nak the Tsangpo was expected to go on sinking for
another two months; from the beginning of May it should rise slowly, and from the
beginning of June it should rise rapidly. During July, August and September it is
at its highest. During the rainy season the whole valley below the terrace is filled
by the river. Even during the melting of the ice after a cold winter no particular
rise of the river could be observed at Ta-nak, a piece of information that seems to
be less reliable than the one given at Karu. For even the Tarim has a very con-
siderable high-water in the spring, and in the upper Tsangpo an enormous quantity
of water must be bound in form of ice, and move down as a spring-flood as soon
as the temperature becomes sufficiently high.

At Sadung, on March 27th, I was told that the hard western wind used to
continue until the middle of May. In the middle of June the new grass comes
up, though not yet sufficient for the flocks. The river was expected to remain as
it was for another 10 or 15 days, after which it should sink very slowly, a state-
ment that seems to corroborate what I heard at Ta-nak. Only from the end of
May was it said to rise; and in July it is at its highest; at the end of September
it begins to fall, and at the end of October it should be as low as at present, or
at the end of March. Some years the river freezes at Sadung during the night, but
breaks up during the day, and it never occurs that it can be crossed on the ice.

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

Citation Information

OCR Text

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

Citation Information

OCR Text

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