Southern Tibet : vol.4 / Page 409 (Color Image)

0409	Southern Tibet : vol.4

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S. E. down the valley until we reached a threshold of only a few meters height, con-
sisting of reddish dense limestone. The view from this little ridge was most interesting
and encouraging. To the east extended the typical plateau-land plain far away, and
the mountains in this direction were not high and had rounded forms. Only to the
north, snow-covered mountains were visible. To the E. S. E., the plain or rather
latitudinal valley, continued to the horizon which disappeared in the haze of the far
distance, and to the S. E., I believed I could recognize the promontory at the base
of which we had had our *Camp VIII*. Between us and this corner, the great plain
expands its surface. Now we had left the drainage area of *Kara-kash* behind us,
and to the east and S. E. we had the *Chang-tang* proper. The difficult, accentuated
country had been crossed with the loss of only six animals, and the country would
now be more even and comfortable than hitherto.

The animal life was still very rare. Only one lonely wild yak had been seen,
and near *Camp CCXCIX*, a fox and four *Pantholops* antelopes. But the country
is very desolate, the water scarce and the height enormous.

However, from the little threshold we turned more and more N. N. E. with hills
to our left and the great plain to our right. Water was now the most important
question. After a while we saw in front of us an extensive sheet of ice. A shallow
erosion bed was directed towards the ice which seemed to occupy a part of a very
large alluvial depression. At the edge of the ice-sheet, a fresh spring of +0.6° came
forth, forming a little frozen pool, north of which the big ice-sheet obviously was
formed by other springs. *Camp CCC* at a height of 4,977 m., was pitched below
the terrace of the watercourse. Some grass and fuel was found in a little valley to
the east. Tracks of antelopes and kyangs, but no animals, were seen. A strong
S. W. wind was blowing until noon, after which the air became foggy and a few
snowflakes fell.

The panorama sketched from *Camp CCC* was less instructive than the view
from the little ridge. It is, however, shown on Pan. 389A and B, Tab. 68. The mountains
to the N. W., north, N. E. and east are readily visible. The distant perspective
of the latitudinal valley to the S. E. and E. S. E., is hidden by the very flat con-
vexity of the nearest part of the great plain, above the horizontal line of which,
only flat mountains show their cupola-shaped heads. The mountains to the S. W.
are hidden by the small hills in the immediate vicinity of the camp.

On *January 10th*, we travelled 24.8 km E. S. E. and S. E., descending 61 m.
or to 4,916 m., which was the height at *Camp CCCI*, the rate of fall was 1 : 407.
The minimum temperature was —23.1°; during the night it snowed, but only the
hills were white in the morning. The wind came from the south but early, before
noon, it turned to S. W., as usual, and remained so the whole day. We cross the
great plain diagonally, and the march is very monotonous. To the naked eye it seems

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