Southern Tibet : vol.4 / Page 236 (Color Image)

0236	Southern Tibet : vol.4

On *November 23rd* the march goes 12.2 km. S. S. E. The first 3.2 km. took
us up to a little pass of 5,103 m., being a rise of 100 m. or as 1:32. From the
pass to *Camp LXIX* was 9 km. with a fall of 104 m., or as 1:86, as the camp
had a height of 4,999 m. *Camp LXIX* was thus only 4 m. below *Camp LXVIII.*
The temperature again was comparatively high or —20.4° in the night, in
connection with a very strong wind. The season was extremely windy and stormy,
and it usually blew from the S. W. The sky was clear blue, but the air was full
of fine dust, making a distant view impossible. On account of the strong wind,
the cold was terrible and the march very hard.
Leaving the little valley and its ice-sheets, we ride up to the S. E. through a
tributary valley with two series of rocky teeth to our left called *Kebe,* and a moderate
range to our right. It leads up to a little pass, 5,103 m. high, after which the
ground is undulating, and the road goes up and down along the hills, crossing
several dry watercourses and miniature valleys, often with fireplaces either isolated
or in groups. In a deeper erosion bed, the fireplaces were particularly numerous
and near it was erected a stone cairn. Several such *»teur»* had been seen previously,
indicating the road, and on the pass of 5,103 m. a cairn was also built. The
road had now a less worn appearance than hitherto. This may perhaps be due
to the configuration of the ground which allows travellers to march anywhere they
like. Far to our left we had during the whole day, a plain or large open valley
stretching, as the mountain ranges of this region, from north to south, which is
exceptional and rather rare in Tibet. For several days, or nearly the whole way to
*Bogtsang-tsangpo,* we had very level and open ground with a few exceptions, though
our direction was meridional. On the plain there were several broad and shallow
erosion furrows appearing as dark or violet belts. Some of them seemed to be a
series of temporary pools and swamps now completely dry. To the east, the open
valley is bounded by a mountain range of moderate size with two or three protu-
berances without snow. The whole country is very dry; water, snow and ice being
rare everywhere. Since *Gomo-tsaka,* we had seen no lakes worth speaking of. The
fact that the road goes on the slopes of the hills instead of following the open plain
valley, is due to the scarcity of water lower down. In the winter water is rare both
on the plain and in the hills. At *Camp LXIX* there was no water at all, but in
a transverse valley in the range farther south, an ice-sheet was seen from where a
little provision of ice was brought to camp.
From this camp one could see that the country became lower to the south.
The whole country in this direction seemed to roll in waves, three different flat
ranges or protuberances being seen one above and beyond the other. Still the
general direction of the ranges was nearly N.-S. The S. W. storm increased in the
afternoon, making the surrounding mountains more and more diffused. The sky was

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