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0085	Southern Tibet : vol.4
南チベット : vol.4

37

only 3 m. higher than now. It may easily have had an effluent to the lake in the
west, or, if it has been in connection with it, to some now dried up depression
farther west. It partakes, of course, in the general desiccation of all Tibetan lakes.

The panorama 24A and 24B, Tab. 5, taken from *Camp IX*, again gives a quite
different view from the previous ones, and introduces two new characteristic features
in the Tibetan plateau-landscape. One is the Lake of *Aksai-chin* which dominates
half the foreground with its brilliant blue sheet of water. The other is the opening
of the great latitudinal valley. Between a few degrees north of west and N. 59° W.,
there are no mountains visible, only the gradual slope or very flattened scree at the
northern foot of the limestone mountains we had passed along from *Camp VIII*.
Between N. 89° E. and S. 86° E. one only suspects, because of a low blue rim above
the horizon, that mountains, or perhaps only a flat threshold will be met with some-
where very far to the east. The mountains north and south of the lake appear in
all their details. Of the great *Kwen-lun* Range nearly nothing is visible as the
standpoint is too low.

On *September 11th* we continue E. S. E. a distance of 25 km. The ground
is nearly level, for *Camp X* has a height of 4,894, or only 20 m. below *Camp IX*.

Leaving the small swamps around the spring of *Camp IX*, we march along the
edge of an old beach-line of the lake. For a short distance the ground is pierced
by narrow furrows about one foot deep, which rather seemed to have been formed
in connection with the desiccation than by erosion. The soil consists of the same
kind of clay as we had found on the shore of the lake, which indicates that we are
riding a few kilometers on old lake bed. The clay is here very soft, and the ponies
sink 1 dm. or more in it. The tract is absolutely barren and salt. In a small
depression some salt water stood. Other depressions were dry, and dry water-
courses were directed to them. The ground seems to be like that the whole way
to the foot of the scree at the base of the northern mountains; its colour in that
direction is generally greyish, sometimes turning into dirty blue or yellow. All this
proves that the lake in bygone time must have been much bigger than nowadays.

To the right or south a considerable transverse valley is opening. The mountains
to the north were mostly hidden by clouds and hail. Sometimes slightly convex
areas covered with gravel, 1 cm. in diameter, are crossed. Belts of clay are still
passed, and we cross four beach-lines, mostly of hard, fine gravel, and of the same
kind as the one nearest the lake shore. After having left all these old remains
from the earlier extension of the lake, we enter a plain of hard sand and gravel
with sparse yapkak plants. Through a broad valley between comparatively low
mountains to the south, a considerable snow-covered group is seen. Other parts
of it appear later on, indicating a range south of and parallel with our latitudinal
valley. The distance to this range seems to be about 10 km. Its colour is light

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国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト 『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

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国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
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