Southern Tibet : vol.4 / Page 483 (Color Image)

0483	Southern Tibet : vol.4

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We travelled amongst small dunes to the S. S. W. along the base of the hills
which here and there are pierced by transverse valleys. In the mouths of some of
them, the dunes were somewhat higher than on the floor of the valley. In the middle
of the latter, two small isolated hills were seen. To the west the country is bordered
by low hills. So far as may be seen, the *Nagrong* brook turns S. S. W. Whether
it goes to a little lake to our right or continues to some other depression amongst
or beyond the low western hills, could not be made out. Our route then turns S. S. E.
and we cross a larger tributary from the eastern hills, in which there is some snow
and drift sand. Very often the snow is buried under fresh sand, which one notices
only when the pony sinks through. At the base of a third little detached hill were
two sheepfolds and remains of camps. Beyond it, the ground of the plain consisted
of gravel and soft sand with grass, but no dunes. Between the little lake or pool and
the eastern hills, we made *Camp CCCLI*, where the grass was good, dung of kyangs
and snow in abundance. Here, Pan. 432A and B, Tab. 79, was sketched, showing the
ridges to the west and N. W. across which the drift sand is brought by the wind.

On *March 12th*, the direction of the valley changes our route to E. S. E.
We had 10.4 km. to *Camp CCCLII*, where the height was 4,568 m. or 37 m. above
the previous camp. The ground was thus again rising at a rate of only 1 : 281. The
little lake of *Camp CCCLI* is, therefore, the lowest part of the basin of the *Nagrong*
valley. The minimum temperature of the night was —14.0°. Already at 6 o'clock a. m.
the wind was very strong, but the usual storm, with sand dust and darkness, began at
10.15 o'clock a. m. From *Camp CCCLI*, the little lake was seen to the N. 48—88° W.,
at a distance of about 1 km. It had no open water, nor could ice be seen, as it
appeared brownish yellow, nor whether it was its naked bed or dust on the ice. No
doubt it contains water in the summer. To the E. S. E., we now had a large open
latitudinal valley with slightly undulated ground. It would have been impossible to
tell in what direction the floor of this valley fell. But as the erosion furrow of
*Camp CCCLII* seemed to turn eastwards, we probably crossed a very flat and
imperceptible water-parting somewhere before this camp.

The hills on both sides are rather low. The southern are the higher and have
a good deal of snow on their slopes. The soil consisted of hard, fine gravel with
some grass. Some parts are barren. There is very little sand and no dunes. Traces
of nomads were not seen until reaching the camp, where tents had been pitched.
Large herds of kyangs grazed on the plains, one of them numbering 74 individuals.
As a rule, we had found that kyangs were rare in the northern parts of *Chang-tang*
during the winter and became more and more common in the parts we now had
reached. The yaks were rarer here than farther north. The *Pantholops* antelopes
had been seen in greater numbers in the northern regions and seemed to be quite
insensible to the cold.

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