Southern Tibet : vol.4 / Page 241 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

0241	Southern Tibet : vol.4

But even such circumstances could easily be read from a map containing all necessary
information. The yaks we had bought from the nomads saved the situation, and it
may be a question of whether the best plan would not be, for a thorough explora-
tion of High Tibet, to use yaks, flesh-eating Tibetan ponies and Tibetan nomads as
guides. An expedition of this kind would move very slowly, but it would be nearly
independent of the climate and other hardships of the journey.

From *Camp LXX* we proceed S. S. E. through the very narrow, wild and
picturesque valley that has cut its gorge through the sometimes nearly perpendicular,
limestone rocks. The erosion bed in its bottom is meandering and filled with gravel,
but on its sides, the left or the right, there is always space enough for the road,
which here is only one single path. The ice of *Camp LXX* soon ceases and no
more appears lower down. The rock, grey dense limestone as before, projects from
both sides and presents a picturesque scenery of a kind that is rather rare on these
great levelled altitudes. Very often fireplaces are passed, which mark the camps of
gold-diggers and salt-caravans and other people and date from seasons of the year
when water is to be had everywhere in the gorge. The valley opens up gradually
and becomes broader; at its right side there are now soft rounded hills, between
which a spring was found. At a short distance from there, the country was quite
open and we had an excellent view of the region. From a little hill, I sketched
Pan. 76a and 76b, Tab. 12. It shows to the N. 24° W. the opening of the narrow
valley in which we had come down. To the north and N. E. it shows the mountain
group that had separated the first half of the day's march from the great valley we
had followed for three days. From E. N. E. to S. E. we see a new lake larger than
the previous ones ever since *Gomo-tsaka*. East of the lake bed and the whole way
around to S. W. there were moderate, rounded mountains. Already here one got
the impression of having a large tectonic valley to the S. E., a valley stretching
S. W.—N. E., and joining the large valley we had followed, just at the place where
the new lake was situated. To the E. N. E. the country was open and low, and in
this direction the new large valley seemed to continue. All the mountains in the
neighbourhood were coloured in different red and pink tints. The lake dominates
the landscape with its dazzling white surface. Only where the shore was nearest
to us, a little bit of open water could be seen. At the shore, terraces and ridges
of fine white dust or gypsum were seen. It was easy to see that it was a dying
lake of the same kind as I have described in western Tibet, for instance: *Lakor-tso*.

From the observation point we continued down a desiccation terrace, on the
slope of which we found a *mani-rigmo* of the kind which are so common in *Ladak*,
though only 3 m. in length and 1 m. broad and 0.2 m. high. Most of the stones
were round or flat and only a few were slabs of schist. The usual inscription was
well and carefully carried out and painted in red and green. It was surprising to

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

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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