Southern Tibet : vol.4 / Page 302 (Color Image)

0302	Southern Tibet : vol.4

became more quiet and the temperature on the night of December 19th was —22.1°.
But at 10 o'clock a. m. the W. S. W. storm again set in with all its fury. The soil
in the valley of Neka, gave an instructive illustration of the sorting activity of the
wind, for it consists only of gravel and coarse sand, whereas all fine material has
been blown away long ago. Only such material which is too heavy for the wind,
remains. The screes of the surrounding mountains, which begin high up under the
crests of living rock, contain nothing but coarse debris. The fine gravel that can
be moved by the wind, is only rolled along the ground and does not travel any
great distances. Only the fine dust goes with the wind, so far as it continues, which
certainly may be over very extensive areas. At places where the soil is moist or
where grass is growing, the wind has no power to move even the finest dust, though,
of course, corrasion is always active.

On the night of December 20th, the storm continued, and went on the whole
day, though not quite as severe as before; the temperature being —15.9°. We,
therefore, marched 11.2 km. to the E. S. E. rising only 34 m. or to 4,793 m. at
Camp XCI, being at a rate of 1:329. Disregarding small undulations, the ground,
was nearly level.

Proceeding southeastwards we have, to our left, swampy though hard frozen
ground of tussock-grass rising on its earth-cones half a meter above the soil. In
the summer, the wet ground here is very soft and treacherous; farther east, a little
lake is situated in connection with three swamps. Its name was said to be Tar-
martse-tso, the same as that of the lake at Camp LXXXIX. The road follows the
base of the southern mountains, and the distance between us and the northern hills
increases gradually, so much so that a real plain opens out between the latitudinal
ranges. We cross an erosion bed, not far from Camp XC, which certainly is the
principal bed of the latitudinal valley going to the lake. Then a great number of
furrows, from the southern mountains, are crossed; the largest of them being the
Tana valley. All are filled with gravel. Between the furrows the rabbits' holes are
so numerous that one cannot see how there would be space for any more. The
rabbits carry on a ploughing work, reminding one of that of the earth-worms; around
the openings of their holes, are small heaps of sand and red earth. In this way they
assist the wind in its sorting work, for they bring up fine material to the surface
which, by and by, is carried away by the storms.

To the south we have the mighty Ngorcha or Dongying (Dong-yin) Group
with its snow-covered peak. From this mass, some large transverse valleys come down,
breaking through the lower reddish ridges situated N. E. of the culminating group,
and easily recognizable on the panorama from Camp XC. At one place, springs
come out at the base of the mountains, forming large ice-sheets resembling a little
lake. This region is called Seriya. Here the living rock is reddish white limestone,

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