Southern Tibet : vol.4 / Page 247 (Color Image)

0247	Southern Tibet : vol.4

from *Camp LXXI* and gives an idea of their rocky, rugged forms. To the N. 46° E.,
the country appears very low; here is the opening of the broad large valley which
seems to continue in a north-easterly direction. To the E. N. E., east and S. E. are
the more rounded and moderate hills situated on the eastern side of the lake.

All the mountains visible from *Camp LXXI* were of different red nuances,
some of them being nearly violet or pink. At sunset these red colours were in-
tensified in an almost fantastic way. They had been red as brick or blood, but
when the sun was near the horizon, they appeared like volcanoes with glowing lava.
The reflexion from these red mountains even tinted the otherwise snow-white lake
to a light pink colour. The more distant mountains to the N. E. showed them-
selves in a very fine and light colour, but everything in sight was red or pink,
a landscape of the most brilliant and fascinating colouring I have ever seen. Above
it the sky was as blue as a turquoise. The silence, the absence of life of any kind,
gave the impression of a dream rather than of reality. At *Camp LXXI*, on the
night to *November 26th*, we had a temperature of —33.2° which was the lowest
temperature hitherto. It is curious that this should take place at the lowest point
we had camped at, on the *Chang-tang*.

Before leaving *Camp LXXI*, I sent one of my men on a reconnoitring trip across
the southern part of the lake. On his return, he reported that the ice-sheets visible
here and there from the western shore, were simply formed on pools from springs,
of which he had seen eleven. Some of them were salt; others nearly fresh. The
rest of the bed was dry and consisted of white salt and gypsum deposits. At
*Camp LXXI*, calcareous sinter had formed in the bed of the lake. It would, of course,
be most interesting to execute a careful and detailed survey and geological research
of such a basin as that of *Rinek-chutsan*. The lake bed and its surrounding moun-
tains should be mapped on a large scale and the desiccation terraces marked out.
Such a monographic study of one basin would serve as a prototype of all other
formations of the same kind on the *Chang-tang* plateau-land and also give an idea
of desiccation. I made an attempt of that kind at *Lakor-tso*¹ in 1901. The diffi-
culties of such an undertaking are, however, great, for usually, one is depending
too much on a dying caravan, the endurance of which does not suffice for a longer
stay. When reaching such a place as *Rinek-chutsan*, the chief interest of a caravan
is to try to save itself until it reaches lower regions. First the pioneer work has to
be done. The next stage of scientific exploration will be the detailed research.

On *November 26th*, we proceeded only 4.8 km. S. S. E., rising from 4,706 to
4,819 m. or 113 m., *i. e.* at a rate of 1:42. Already from *Camp LXXI*, we could
see that we had to cross a new pass to the south, and decided to approach it a

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

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