Western Himalaya and Tibet

Borax lakes of Eastern Tibet-Sulphur mine-Pulokanka Pass-Salt lake-Lacustrine clays with shells-Ancient water-mark-Rupchu-Tunglung Pass-Fall of snow

el, and its slope imperceptible. On the left lay a low range of hills, an irregular mass increasing much in width, as well as in height, as we proceeded northwards, the Hanle extremity being the termination where it slope

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the range on the left. The range on this side was principally clay-slate, with occasional outbreaks of trap, which had in many places converted the stratified rock

ncus, Cyperace?, and grasses were common. Glaux maritima also occurred abundantly. Two other European plants were found in the swamps along the course of the river, which were very interesting as a proof of the extremely European nature of the flora: these were Hippuris vulgaris and Limosella lacustris. Towards the end of the day's journey, Caragana versicolor (Dama) became very common, covering a large extent of su

ed and very sandy, more or less full of rounded stones, and often passing into pure sand, which was interstratified with the coarser beds. The day was very cloudy and threatening, and a few drops of rain fe

the mountains on the left, which projected far into the plain, making the river bend much to the right, were crossed as we proceeded. About ten miles from our morning's camp, we left the course of the river, which turned to the right and entered a rocky mountain gorge, while our road kept its northerly direction. An open valley led us to the crest of a low ridge of trap and slate, from which a very long stony monotonous valley descended to an extensive plain covered with fine mud and saline exudation, on which t

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ere very unwilling to be convinced that we had really arrived at the great river, to which we had so long looked forward as one of the most interesting objects of our journey. The island in the centre of the channel was a bank of very fine sand or mud, on which large flocks of wild-fowl were resting; it was very

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s north of the lakes of Mansarawer and Rawan Rhad, and runs in general towards the north-east. Moorcroft has described its appearance at Garu or Gartop, where it is a very insignificant stream; but the intervening country is so little known, except by native report, that we can scarcely be said to h

pen and level plain which we found in this portion of the river's course was of limited extent, and quite an exceptional feature in the character of the country through which the Indus flows. From the great elevation and abrupt slope of the range which runs parallel to the Hanle river on the east, there can be no doubt that the spurs which it sends down on its north-east slope, towards the Indus, must be bold and rocky; and thou

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a saline incrustation, quite dry, and without any brushwood or tall herbaceous vegetation, skirted the river, the course of which we followed very closely. Indeed, notwithstanding the considerable diminution of altitude, the aspect of the valley of the Indus was more dreary and barren than we had for some days been accustomed to. The rocky spurs were quite bare; and even on the level tract

d; more rarely it was a coarse sand, crumbling to pieces. This conglomerate was everywhere stratified, the beds dipping to the south-west, at an angle of about forty-five degrees. During the day the river varied much in width, being seldom less than twent

rds in width. Banks of alluvial clayey conglomerate were usually interposed between the mountains and the river, forming cliffs which attained not unfrequently an elevation of fifty feet. These were separated by projecting spurs, over which the road passed wherever they advanced so close to the centre of the valley as to prevent a passage along the level plain. Some small streamlets were crossed

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t the same time that it revealed the nature of the higher strata, which would otherwise have been inaccessible. Red and green jaspery rocks, very hard and brittle, were abundant, with various forms of greenstone, at times closely resembling syenite. These were evidently the sa

ffs rose precipitously on both sides, and generally approached so close to one another that their tops could not be seen. The channel of the stream was at first stony and quite bare, but after a mile bushes of the Myricaria became common, fringing the stream, but nowhere growing at

iate vicinity of the water; elsewhere, all was as desolate as ever. Some of these trees were not less than a foot in diameter; the trunk was generally very short, often branching within a foot of the base. At intervals there was a good deal of alluvium, partly in the shape of coarse conglomerate, partly a fine micaceous sand, filling up the recesses at the bends of the ravine. After three miles, the

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se had a temperature of 174°. From these springs gas was copiously evolved, smelling strongly of sulphur; and in their immediate neighbourhood the water of the little river had a faintly sulphurous taste, though elsewhere it was quite pure and good. The stream, which was perhaps twenty feet wide, was usually rather deep. Dense masses of aquatic weeds, chiefly species of Zannichellia and Potamogeton, grew in the water, and along the margins their dead stems, mixed with mud, formed immense banks, scarcely strong enough to bear the weig

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of the rarefaction of the air, but only on account of the diminution of temperature which usually accompanies increased elevation. The trees of Myricaria, it must be observed, came abruptly to an end with the ravine, none occurring on the open plain. We cannot suppose that the trifling increased elevation caused their disappearance; it seems probable that the narrow walls of the gorge, by concentrating the heat, prevented its escape, and that, therefore, the temperature was m

crystals of garnet, and crumbling rapidly to decay. On the surface of the plain lay many scattered boulders of a peculiar kind of granite, evidently transported from a considerable distance along the stream

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bly pure state by digging, the superficial layer, which contains a little mixture of other saline matters, being rejected. There is at pres

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accords with that of the Pugha valley. Mr. Saunders[13] describes (from hearsay) the borax lake north of Jigatzi as twenty miles in circumference, and says that the borax is dug from its margins, the deeper and more central parts producing common salt. From the account of Mr. Blane[14], who describes, from the information of the natives, the borax district north of Lucknow, and, therefore, in the more western part of the course of the Sanpu, it would appear that the lake there contains boracic acid, and that the borax is artificially prepared by saturating

esent three stages of one and the same phenomenon. The boracic acid lake may, by the gradual influx of soda, be gradually converted into borax, which, from its gre

is way to Piti. As we knew that the Indus route would be surveyed by Captain Strachey, who was desirous of following the course of the river as far as practicable, we preferred the more mountainous road, and, therefore, on leaving our encampment at Pugha, on the morning of

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ittle widened by art, roughly circular, and less than three feet in diameter at the mouth. One of these caverns continued a long way inwards, nearly horizontally, but it contracted considerably in diameter, and was so dark that we could not penetrate far. The rock was principally gypsum, interstratified with very friable mica

rous odour. Unfortunately, we had not anticipated the necessity for observing the temperature, which was

valley became gently sloping and gravelly, the little stream being often hidden under the pebbles. Large boulders of the same granite which we had observed the day before, were scattered over the surface. The vegetation in this valley was extremely scanty, a few scattered tufts of Dama, and some shrubby Artemisi?, were occasionally seen, but the herbaceous vegetat

angular. A walk of three miles brought us to the crest of the pass, which was nearly level and grassy for about a mile; its elevation was about 16,500 feet. The pass (Pulokanka La) is a very deep depression in the axis of the chain, which runs parallel to the left bank of the Indus, separating the waters tributary to that river fr

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annel for itself among boulders. On descending, we turned gradually to the right, and a lake by degrees came in view, towards the southern extremity of which the road advanced over undulating hills of fine clay, ful

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ganized beings. Here, however, shells were in prodigious abundance, and as the species was a large one, they were very conspicuous. The clay formation was horizontally stratified, and quite impalpable. The uppermost beds were at least a hundred f

ly Chenopodiace?; a species of Su?da, with cylindrical fleshy leaves, was especially abundant, growing in the soft mud close to the banks of the lake. A Blysmus, several grasses, and Ranunculus Cymbalaria were also common along the banks of the lake. No shells could be seen in the water. The surrounding hills were not very lofty, but often rose abruptly several hundred feet, and were in

wide valley, rising gently towards the north, lay beyond this level plain; but our road, passing across the end of the lake, ascended another valley, which ran in a north-west direction from its north-west corner. The slope of this valley was very gentle. It was bounded by low undulating or rocky hills, on which, where the surface was suitable, the same remarkable water-mark could be traced continuously, and

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rge mollusca of which the shelly coverings still remain in such vast abundance in the clay. As it was at the very edge of the lacustrine clay formation that the shells were so abundant, while the masses of clay in the vicinity of our encampment of the 25th, at the north-east extremity of the lake, were without any, it would appear that the species was quite littoral, while in the more central parts fine mud was deposited, without shells. The outlet was indicated to me by Major Cunningham, who in a pr

s plain we passed into another open valley, up which we ascended in a northerly direction for five or six miles, encamping where the mountains on both sides began to close in a circle. Throughout the day we had been gradually but very gently ascending, and the height of our encampment was probably about 16,500 feet. We were about two miles from the Tunglung pass, a depression in the range parallel to the Indus, the same ridge which we had crossed before descending

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reason to suppose that we have in this part of the chain an intersection of two mountain masses of different ages, to which cause the distinguished geographer is disposed to assign those aggregations of mountains which he has so designated. There is, however, as indicated by the origin of so many considerable streams in a confined area, an extensive

rmed by Major Cunningham) being the only exceptions. The district, however, is much frequented by a nomade population of shepherds, who, living in tents, move about with their flocks as the abundance of food or

cold in our tents was very severe. About 10 P.M. it began to snow slightly, and at daybreak on the 26th the ground was covered with snow to a depth of between two and three inches. As we had a prospect of arriving in milder regions by diminishing our elevation during the day, we hastened our departure as much as possible. A mile and a half of level ground brought us directly under the pass, the ascent to which was at last very stee

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the summit, at perhaps 2000 feet lower level, snow ceased to lie on the ground, but it continued to fall lightly till the afternoon. Large rounded tufts of an Alsinaceous plant were common on the upper part of the desce

g thick masses, worn into pinnacles and fantastic shapes, like the similar deposits above Sungnam in Kunawar. This was particularly conspicuous

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ception, and willingly agreed to halt a day in order to give time for arrangements, for a change of porters, and a rest to our servants and guides. Giah will be recollected, by those acquainted with Moorcroft's travels, as the place where he entered the Tibetan country, and where he was for some time kept in considerable uncertainty

ll. The gumpa, or monastery, as in Moorcroft's time, crowns a rocky hill on the right bank of the Giah stream, while the town, or more properly village, on the left bank, is built on the steep alluvial banks high above the stream. There was a considerable extent of cultivation round the village, barley and

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n miles each, brought us to the banks of the Indus at a village called Upshi. For the first mile after leaving Giah, the valley was somewhat open, with steep banks of alluvial conglomerate; it then contracted rather suddenly into a narrow ravine, with steep rocky walls, composed of highly inclined strata of conglomerate and sandston

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o be crossed not less than four or five times in as many miles, on small wooden bridges of rough planks. A very beautiful Labiate shrub, a species of Perowskia, with bright blue flowers, which I afterwards found very abundant in the Indus valley from 12,000 to 8000 feet, was here met with for the first time. Close to its junction with the

various in size and composition, jasper rock, granite, and quartz being all seen. The sandstone which accompanied the conglomerate varied much in colour, various shades of red, brown, and green being predominant. It was also extremely hard. These strata, which were highly inclined, often nearly vertical, were in general well marked, in consequence of the beds of hard sandstone and conglomerate being t

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assed till we reached Marsilang, at which we encamped after a journey of about ten miles. Here there was very extensive cultivation on the surface of the platform, on both sides of a deep ravine, cut in the alluvium by a considerable stream, which descended from the west. The plantations of willow and poplar were very luxuriant. The willows were planted in rows, and were frequently pollarded, their twigs being in great demand for baskets and other useful purposes in so treeless a country. When allowed to grow their full size, they spread much, and attain a length of upwards of thirty feet. The cultivated willows of Tibet are mo

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n a platform of alluvium; but after a few miles we reached another village, with extensive cultivation, and on the latter part of the day's journey passed through a succession of villages separated by gradually shorter intervals of unprofitable and barren land. These cultivated tracts were everywhere well irrigated; indeed, every spot,

ey all combined into one large and deep canal, by which the superfluous waters were conveyed to the Indus. Crossing this canal, we reached the river, which we crossed by a bridge twenty-five paces in length. A few houses, and a small patch of cultivation, lay on the right bank of the river, immediately beyond the bridge, but no extent of fertile country; low spurs of rocky hills descending from the north, close down upon the Indus. After crossing the bridge we turned up a wide and gravelly valley between two of these ridg

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00 feet above its level, or about 11,800 feet above the sea. The town occupies the slope, and surrounds the base of a low spur, on the left or east side of the valley, while the centre and right side are occupied by extensive tracts of cultivation, the fields rising in terraces

been, it was said, destroyed at the time of the Sikh invasion. The governor of Ladak, a deputy of Maharaja Gulab Singh, the ruler of Kashmir, to whom the rule of Ladak has devolved as a dependency of the latter country

d nearly six feet high, the intervals between which are filled up with stones and rubbish, and the whole covered with a sloping roof, which rises at a gentle angle to the central ridge, midway between the two walls. On the roof are laid large slabs of slate, every one of which is covered with Tibetan letters, or more rarely with a rude drawing of a temple. The words on these stones are (I believe, invariably) a repetition of the mystical Buddhist prayer, from one of the words of which these curious, and apparently useless, erections take their name. The Mane seems one of the most indispensable accompaniments of a Tibetan village, an

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part of the male population adopt a monastic life, particularly abundant. Long rows of these, consisting of twenty or more urns of various sizes, may often be seen in conspicuous places above the villages, forming, from

sary for me to dwell upon it at any length. Throughout the whole of Western Tibet, the monasteries are very poor, in comparison with those in the neighbourhood of Lassa, of which we read such gorgeous descriptions; all their wealth in silver and gold having been plundered by the Sikhs, during t

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r himself a house of stone, but he found it necessary to bring lime from Nubra, a distance of nearly forty miles, none being procurable so near in the valley of the Indus. The timber used in the construction of the houses is all poplar or willow, both of which are found to last a very lon

ite, which decays with great rapidity, and contains many irregular nodules of an iron grey colour, much finer in the grain than the rest. The width of the fertile plain of Chashut, over which I made the last two marches down the I