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0565 Southern Tibet : vol.7
Southern Tibet : vol.7 / Page 565 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000263
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CHAPTER XLIII.

NOVITSKIY, NEVE AND STEIN.

For our purpose it would be utterly superfluous to mention every European
traveller who has crossed the Kara-korum Pass in recent years. This road is now
a well beaten track, one of the highroads of Asia. I will only mention Captain
H. Bower who in A trip to Turkistan¹ describes the journey he undertook with
Major Cumberland and in company with the already mentioned Dauvergne.
They crossed the Kardong-la, found the Saser-la to be 17,800 feet, and the Kara-
korum Pass 18,550 feet. From Shahidullah they went down the Kara-kash River,
which had to be forded twice, while the tributary Togri-su was crossed only once.
Then they took the road over the Kilian-davan. Near Ak-masjid they met Piev-
tsoff's expedition. Farther on they proceeded to Kotal-i-Kandahar, Taghdumbash and
the Hunserab Pass. On his journey Bower met Grombtchevskiy and his com-
panion Conrad, as well as Younghusband.

I will also mention the journey of Colonel V. F. Novitskiy who in 1898 on
his way from India to Fergana crossed our mountains.² He took the ordinary road
from Srinagar over Kargil to Leh and thence turned north on well-known roads.
His narrative does not contain anything that is of geographical importance, but some
of his observations are not without interest, and he describes the road in detail.

June 24th (old st.) he left Leh and took the Kardung Pass or Laoychi, which
he gives an altitude of 17,570 feet. Then he passed Nubra, Changlung and the
Lasket Pass (15,200 feet). He does not make any clear distinction between the
different ranges of these high regions, as he says:³ »I shall call this vast mountainous
country the Karakoram Highland, after the name of the highest pass, which crosses