Southern Tibet : vol.4 / Page 429 (Color Image)

0429	Southern Tibet : vol.4

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On *January 28th,* our course was E. S. E. for 17.5 km. After going 11.4 km.,
we reached a pass of 5,572 m., being, therefore, at 274 m. above the lake. The
rate of ascent was thus as 1:42. From the pass to *Camp CCCXV,* 6 km., we
had to descend 198 m., as this camp is at 5,374 m., the rate being here as 1:31.
The minimum temperature of the night sank to —34.6°. The morning was
clear, but the day, cloudy and windy. We directed our course to the mouth of a
valley opening up from the east. The ground rises slowly and regularly, and con-
sists of brownish red dust, sand and fine gravel. *Yapchan* plants are abundant the
whole way. To our right, we have the snowy group mentioned above. The main
watercourse of the valley, which goes down to the lake, is left just south of our
route. A large herd of antelopes fled westwards. In the same direction, we beheld
a part of the southern basin of the lake, at the southern shore of which, Rawling
had camped. The pass, *Lunguak-la,* situated east of the southern-most part of the
lake, and used by Bower and Rawling, is to be found 15 km. S. W. of the pass
we now were approaching. The mountains to the north of our route are pierced
by some small valleys, in the background of which we see the crest of a rocky range.
The pass is a flat saddle. At its top we had a temperature of —17.2°, a strong S. W.
wind and fine dry snow driven by the wind. The view from this height, was not parti-
cularly encouraging, as the country seemed to be high and mountainous far away,
without comfortable open plains or latitudinal valleys. Just S. E. of the pass, the
mountains seemed to be broken by a narrow gorge, but we preferred to follow the
flat hills eastwards. At the lee sides of terraces, a considerable amount of snow had
been heaped together by the wind. Gradually we came out on a plain surrounded
by mountains. It is difficult to tell in which direction it slopes. To the naked eye,
it seems to fall to the north and N. N. E., though according to Rawling it falls south
and S. W. In its eastern part, there was grass and much snow, the vegetation,
being particularly abundant in the mouth of a little valley from the east. On the
day's march, the living rock consisted of grey and red dense limestone as hitherto.
Pan. 403, Tab. 71, taken from here, gives an idea of the mountains from N. N. E.
to south. To the S. S. E., the country lay comparatively open to our march, but
we had come to a very high part of the Tibetan plateau-land, a barren and deso-
late country.

On *January 29th,* we had 13.4 km. S. S. E. and S. E. rising from 5,374 m.
to 5,480 m. or 106 m., being a rate of 1:126. We continued crossing the plain,
the ground of which was rising in the direction of the road. The march was ex-
tremely monotonous. On both sides we had hills of moderate size. The weather
was bitterly cold, the minimum temperature having been at —31.4° and the wind
blowing like a gale. In the morning the weather was clear, but soon the S. E.
wind began and gradually went over to south and S. S. W. and finally S. W. Only
30. IV.

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