Southern Tibet : vol.4 / Page 164 (Color Image)

0164	Southern Tibet : vol.4

18th of October we had a temperature of — 28.2°, and as a rule the temperature of
the day did not rise above freezing point.

From *Camp XLII* we continue S. E. on the soft slopes at the western side of
the principal watercourse of the valley. The latter is broad and open as a plain,
where antelopes and yaks were grazing. The animal life was otherwise represented
only by a few ravens and one eagle. As usual, the ground was perforated by
rabbits' holes, though the animals themselves at this season already were living under
ground. The valley plain is surrounded by low, rounded hills on all sides. From
them small shallow tributaries come down to the principal watercourse. Most of
them were dry. To the east there was obviously a pass, a little higher than the
one we crossed. It would perhaps have brought us to a more easy region than
the one in which we lost ourselves.

The pass, 5,357 m. high, was flat, and grass grew all the way up. The view
was not encouraging. To the N. W., from where we came, the country looked very
favourable, it was like a sea of small red and violet ranges, but generally at a
distance from each other and leaving plains between. The *Kwen-lun* Mountains had
now disappeared completely. To the S. E., in the direction of our march, there was
not a bit of level ground, everything was mountains, which, although not high, were
a great hindrance to us. On the peaks of some of them, there was snow, though
probably not eternal.

From the pass a valley goes slowly down to the S. S. E., receiving tributaries
from both sides and with a little, partly open, brook. This valley seems to continue
in the same direction until it flows into a little lake beyond the southern hills. From
our route this lake was not visible, but it was seen by my scouts, who every day
had to look out for a favourable passage. Now we left the valley and crossed a
quite insignificant threshold, where Pan. 57, Tab. 9, was taken and which shows
comparatively high mountains in the direction of our route. To the S. 12° E. and
S. 19° E. were snow-covered peaks. The rock at *Camp XLIII,* quite near the thre-
shold, was dark blueish grey calcareous schist.

On *October 19th* we proceeded 7 km. eastwards, rising 54 m. or as 1 : 130, for
*Camp XLIV* was at 5,346 m. Halfway, we, however, crossed a valley with an elevation
of only 5,187 m. The landscape continued to be difficult. From the camp we had
to cross a series of ridges with small deep-cut valleys between. Finally we left them
and went very steeply down into a main valley coming from the north and bound
directly south to the lake, which from here became visible as a blue line. It seemed
to be oblong from N. N. E. to S. S. W. and occupied the lowest part of a basin.
To the south and east the latter was bounded by the dark, comparatively high, range
we had seen from the pass of October 18th. From some of the thresholds east of
*Camp XLIII* we had, however, been able to see that beyond and east of that range

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