Southern Tibet : vol.4 / Page 189 (Color Image)

0189	Southern Tibet : vol.4

plain. One of them was considerable and was, at the southern side of its mouth,
bounded by a red ridge. The rock was fine-grained greenish chlorit-glaucophan-
albite schist. Beyond this place we continued south amongst red, soft, sandy hills covered
with grass. On the right side of a deep-cut valley, *Camp LI* was pitched amongst
flat hills. The region was now visited by wild yaks. A little panorama, 61, Tab. 10,
was drawn from N. E. to S. E. as the rest was hidden by hills in the immediate
vicinity. The grass was good on the soft, sandy ground; fuel is plentiful, and running
water was to be had from the last-mentioned valley. At three points near the lake,
fireplaces were found, which my men supposed to be only two months old, as a
part of the ashes was still left. A yak that was killed here had two Tibetan bullets
in its body. Horns of tame Tibetan sheep were seen at one place. We were
moving in a region which, at a less cold season, is visited by native hunters. In
the night of *November 2d* we had a temperature of —29° at this camp, where we
remained four days for a rest.

To *Camp LII* we had, *November 3d*, 18.5 km. to the S. E. along the western
margin of the basin. *Camp LII* had a height of 5,019 m., 21 m. below *Camp LI*.
On the way between the two, we once crossed a tributary valley of 4,986 m. height,
indicating that the lake must be some meters below that altitude, and a little pro-
tuberance with a height of 5,082 m. We were in a season of continual S. W. and
W. S. W. wind, or rather storm, which more than anything else contributed to kill
our animals and to weaken all the men, even the hardy Ladakis. Every morning
I got new proofs of the transporting power of this wind, for my bed and every-
thing inside my tent was covered with a layer of yellow dust that partly enters
through the meshes of the tent-cloth itself. Until noon the sky was absolutely clear
and blue in the zenith, but along the ground impenetrable clouds of dust and sand
were sweeping, giving everything a grey or yellow appearance and hiding the
view. In the afternoon the sky became covered with dark, compact clouds. The
caravan, both animals and men, has a ghastly appearance, as they are perfectly
covered with dust.

On undulating, soft ground covered with grass, we follow the base of the hills and
cross an erosion furrow from the south. From there the ground is slowly rising to
a little threshold between the hills we have to our right, and a little detached ridge.
On its other side we again go down, crossing several small watercourses, all dry
and without ice. We are approaching the lake which seems to be oblong from
N. W. to S. E. At its northern shore there was a belt of open water. Some of
my men who had been there, insisted that the water was fresh, which would indeed
be surprising. The fact that the lake was partly open seemed to indicate salinity,
though of course the constant S. W. wind also may delay the freezing of even a
fresh-water lake.

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