Western Himalaya and Tibet Part 26

Metamorphic rocks.]

[Sidenote: KARDONG.

_July, 1848._]

[Sidenote: ALLUVIAL PLATFORMS.

_July, 1848._]

On the 21st I proceeded to Karsar, a village on the bank of the Shayuk river, distant about nine miles. A few hundred feet above the village of Kardong the alluvial boulder clay had begun to occur in the valley, and around the village, which occupied the end of a lateral ravine, it was already very thick. From Kardong to the Shayuk this alluvium continued in great quant.i.ty, forming elevated platforms, sloping very gently from the mountains, and faced by steep, often quite perpendicular cliffs. Where lateral ravines joined the main valley the alluvium was deeply excavated by the little streams which traversed them, and the road descended abruptly by steep and curiously winding paths down the cliffs of clay, and among piles of boulders, to re-ascend to the platform beyond the stream. Such a ravine, of great depth, occurred just below Kardong. After crossing it the road lay over the surface of the clay platform, which was nearly level, and consequently at an increasing height above the bottom of the Kardong valley, which rapidly diminished in elevation. This platform was extremely barren, and quite devoid of water. Here and there isolated rocky ma.s.ses rose up through the alluvium. The rock was peculiar, being very hard, and, as it were, porphyritic, with a black, basaltic-looking matrix, quite h.o.m.ogeneous, in which numerous white specks were diffused. In hand specimens and boulders, and even on a near view of the hills, this rock appeared quite an igneous rock, but when an extensive section was exposed, it could be seen to be distinctly stratified.

[Sidenote: KARSAR.

_July, 1848._]

When within a short distance of the Shayuk valley, though still high above it, the road turned to the left, and, leaving the alluvial platform, proceeded among rugged rocky hills, in a direction parallel to that river, at the same time descending somewhat rapidly to a platform of modern lacustrine clay and conglomerate, which filled up the whole of a deep recess in the mountains facing the Shayuk, to a thickness of at least 1000 feet. The village of Karsar, at which I encamped, lies in a deep ravine, excavated out of the clay formation by a considerable stream, on both sides of which, for nearly a mile, there is a belt of cultivation, very narrow where the stream issues from the mountains, but gradually widening as it descends. Owing to the sheltered situation, from the great height of the cliffs of clay on both sides, the crops were exceedingly luxuriant, and fruit-trees were plentiful, princ.i.p.ally apples and apricots. Some very fine walnut-trees also occurred.

From the same cause the herbaceous vegetation was particularly rich, and I met with many species which were new to me. The banks of the stream, from the point where it issued from among the mountains, were everywhere bordered by large bushes of _Myricaria elegans_, now adorned with ma.s.ses of sweet-scented rose-coloured flowers. In the lower part of the village-lands there were shady plantations of poplar and willow, which seemed to be occasionally irrigated, in order that they might produce a rich natural pasture. In these groves _Euphrasia officinalis_, species of _Gentiana_, _Ranunculus_, _Potentilla_, and _Carum_ grew most luxuriantly; a tall but very small-flowered _Pedicularis_ was also very common. No less than three species of _Orchideae_ occurred, a family which more than any other dislikes dryness: these were _Orchis latifolia_, an _Epipactis_, and an _Herminium_. Many of the weeds of the cultivated fields were also new and interesting: a _Hypecoum_, an _Elsholtzia_, and some species of _Polygonum_, were those I particularly noted.

[Sidenote: LACUSTRINE DEPOSIT.

_July, 1848._]

The lacustrine formation of Karsar consists mostly of very pure white clay, horizontally stratified; but at the lower end of the ravine, where it is about to expand into the open plain of the Shayuk, a tolerably solid but still very friable sandstone, the strata of which were also quite horizontal, occurred under the clay. I saw no fossils, but when the clay is examined with care, they will probably be occasionally detected. At all events, as this clay formation is at least a thousand feet thick, if we take into consideration the open nature of the whole valley of Nubra, there can be no doubt that it must have been deposited from the same waters with the very similar clay which I found at Tertse, in lower Nubra, in October, 1847, and that it is therefore lacustrine. If this be admitted, it seems impossible to escape from the conclusion, that the deposits in the Kardong valley, (of which I have given an imaginary section in page 398,) though different in appearance, belong to the same lake. Now, these attain an elevation of 13,500 feet and upwards, as they commence above Kardong: the level of the surface of the Nubra lake can therefore hardly have been less than 14,000 feet; so that it must have extended up the Tanktse valley, almost as far as the low pa.s.s by which that district is separated from the Pangong lake.

[Sidenote: DISKIT.

_July, 1848._]

From Karsar, I marched on the 25th of July, down the valley of the Shayuk, to Diskit. The earlier part of the road, after ascending abruptly out of the Karsar ravine, lay over the clay platform, which was perfectly flat; but after about four miles, it descended nearly to the level of the river, whose wide gravelly plain now extended on the south side to the very foot of the mountains, the lacustrine beds having been entirely removed. The plain was traversed by several small streamlets, apparently derived in a great measure from the river, the water of which seemed to sink among the gravel and sand of its bed, and to spring up again at a distance from the main channel. One of these streams ran at the extreme edge of the plain, close under the cliffs, which here rose almost precipitously to a great height. Its banks were very saline, and in the neighbourhood of Diskit a great part of the plain was encrusted with soda.

The cultivated lands of the village, which is of considerable size, lie on a sloping bank, rising rather steeply out of the plain. Many apricot-trees grow among the houses, some of which were large enough to afford a shade under which a tent could be pitched. The vegetation was in general the same as at Karsar, but a white-flowered _Allium_ was new, as well as a species of _Chloris_, which was abundant in the pastures. A very small _Cyperus_, which grew in the water-courses, appeared to be a dwarf state of a species common in the plains of India, and, with the _Chloris_, which is a tropical gra.s.s, was interesting as an indication of the considerable heat of the summer climate in the valley of the Shayuk, notwithstanding its great elevation.

[Sidenote: Pa.s.sAGE OF SHAYUK RIVER.

_July, 1848._]

The village of Diskit is almost exactly opposite the place where the Nubra river joins the Shayuk from the northward. In October, 1847, I had crossed the Shayuk five or six miles above Karsar, and descended along its right bank, but during the hot months this route is not practicable, as there are no bridges, and the river is too deep to be forded anywhere except just at its junction with that of Nubra, where the wide gravelly plain of the Shayuk expands to its greatest diameter, and the river is divided into numerous branches.

The greater part of the 26th of July was occupied by the pa.s.sage of the Shayuk, which was both tedious and difficult, the river being now nearly at its greatest height. The first branch was nearly two miles from Diskit, the intervening gravelly plain being partly swampy, with a few bushes of _Hippophae_, _Tamarix_, and _Myricaria_. There were four large branches to be crossed, besides several of smaller size.

Nearly a mile of sand separated the last large branch from the remainder, and the ford was a most intricate one, each branch being crossed obliquely and at a different point from the adjacent ones. The united breadth of all the streams could not, I think, have been less than half a mile. The velocity of the water was so great, that though the depth nowhere, I think, exceeded three and a half feet, and was more usually about two and a half, people on foot appeared to have the utmost difficulty in retaining their footing, and the loaded men had to be supported by one or two without loads on each side. In the more difficult parts, two men placed themselves on each side of my horse's head, to guide him in the proper road, and two more at each stirrup to give him support in case of need. When in the centre of the current, where, from the necessity of keeping my eye on the horse's motions, I had to look at the water, I found it impossible to avoid a feeling of giddiness, and an impression that horse and rider were being hurried upwards with extreme velocity in a direction contrary to the stream.

These very rapid portions, however, were never more than ten or twenty yards broad; the remainder was more moderate and shallower.

[Sidenote: LYAKJUNG.

_July, 1848._]

After safely effecting the pa.s.sage with all my party and baggage, I proceeded about a mile over loose sand, and encamped at the village of Lyakjung, situated at the border of the low plain of the river, at the point of union of the two valleys. The Shayuk valley is visible from this place as far as the large village of Hundar, about ten miles, the river running throughout that distance through a wide gravelly plain, but with high rocky mountains on both sides.

[Sidenote: VALLEY OF NUBRA.

_July, 1848._]

From the 27th of July till the 9th of August, I remained in the valley of Nubra, the necessary preparations for my further journey, which was to be entirely through an uninhabited country, requiring considerable time. During this interval, I moved from place to place in the valley, which is well inhabited and rather pretty. The river is in the hot months very large and rapid, and has its origin, no doubt, in the great snowy mountains to the north. I crossed it twice a little above the town of Chirasa, and found its current quite as strong as that of the Shayuk, and in many places as deep, but its breadth was considerably less. In one of the channels, a lad, carrying a light bundle, was carried away by the stream, and rolled over repeatedly in the water, after being separated from his load, before he was picked up by a number of men who hastened to his a.s.sistance. The difficulty of crossing was much increased by numerous quicksands, which made it necessary to proceed by a tortuous path, and which were evidently very liable to s.h.i.+ft, as the guides proceeded very cautiously, and more than once abandoned a ford on finding the footing insecure.

The general appearance of the valley of Nubra is very agreeable, and superior to that of any other part of Tibet at the same elevation. The villages are well wooded, with orchards of apricot-trees, and with poplars and willows, which are either planted in rows, or scattered irregularly in meadows on the skirts of the cultivated lands: the willows, when not pollarded, attain a large size, and afford an ample shade. The fields are carefully enclosed with walls, or hedges of _Hippophae_, or with a fence of the dead branches of that plant. Green and shady lanes, bordered by high _Hippophae_ hedges, full of _Clematis_ and rose-bushes, lead through the village lands. The crops are chiefly wheat and barley, with a few fields of millet (_Panic.u.m miliaceum_), buckwheat, and rape. There is also much pasture, particularly along the little streams, and in fields near the river, which are often swampy.

The beauty of the cultivated tracts is much enhanced by the utter sterility of the drier parts of the plain, which are either gravelly or stony, and utterly barren, except that occasionally from some peculiarity of soil or position there is a considerable extent of clayey soil not low enough to be swampy, but not remote from water, covered with short turf much encrusted with soda. These gra.s.sy plains are more common in the upper part of the district, and are perhaps connected with springs containing carbonate of soda in solution[23].

[Sidenote: VEGETATION OF NUBRA.

_August, 1848._]

Except from the more advanced period of the season, the flora of Nubra differed but little from that of Le. Species of _Artemisia_, _l.a.b.i.atae_, and _Chenopodiaceae_, were now in full flower on the more desert and stony tracts, in which a shrubby _Lycium_ (which is not found on the Indus) was also common. _Chenopodiaceae_ had become extremely plentiful, and belonged to many different genera: shrubby species of _Eurotia_ and _Caroxylon_ were common, but the greater number were herbaceous, and belonged to the genera _Chenopodium_, _Ambrina_, _Salsola_, _Echinopsilon_, and Corispermum. A species of thistle grew on barren soil, particularly where the ground was saline; on the salt soil, _Glaux_, a little _Crucifera_, and a _Polygonum_ were the most abundant plants. _Mulgedium Tataric.u.m_, a _Galium_ (very like _G. Aparine_), and a scandent species of _Vincetoxic.u.m_, were frequent in hedges; and species of _Mentha_, _Erodium_, _Epilobium_, _Lepidium_, and _Matthiola_, all common plants at Le, being now in full flower, attracted notice more than at an earlier period. A very tall species of gra.s.s (_Melica?_) in large and elegant tufts, often six feet high, was one of the most ornamental plants in the valley; while as uncommon forms I may enumerate a p.r.i.c.kly _Sophora_, _Orobanche_, _Parietaria_, and in ponds a little _Utricularia_, closely resembling a European species.

A small-leaved elm, which is common near Tagar, is apparently wild,--at least it is not acknowledged by the inhabitants as a cultivated tree. I have not observed this tree elsewhere in Tibet, but Mr. Vigne mentions that he met with an elm in the mountains between s.h.i.+gar and Khapalu. It appears to be the same with a species common in the forests of the lower valleys of Kashmir.

[Sidenote: HOT SPRINGS.

_August, 1848._]

About a mile from the large village of Panamik are the hot springs formerly visited by Moorcroft. They are two in number, and spring from the rocky mountain-side, about a hundred yards from the edge of the plain. The temperature of the water in the spring which I tried was 1705. It was faintly sulphurous both in taste and smell, but not perceptibly saline, and deposited a thick calcareous incrustation on everything within its reach.

To the south of Panamik the rocks of Nubra are chiefly black slate, but transported blocks of granite are everywhere common, and at that village the latter rock descends to the level of the river, and continues to form the whole ma.s.s of the mountains on the left side of the valley as far as I continued along it. On the right side there were indications of stratification on the steep sides of the mountains, and, from the colour, the rock there appeared to be partly granite and partly metamorphic slate.

FOOTNOTES:

[20] Travels, vol. ii. p. 11.

[21] Written, I believe, _Snurla_, as Le is written _Sle_, and Nimo, _Snimo_, the initial letter being in all three mute. Many similar instances might be given, silent initial letters occurring very commonly in the written language of Tibet. It admits of much doubt whether the best mode of spelling be according to the p.r.o.nunciation, or as the words are written: I have preferred the former, as less likely to mislead.

[22] I do not know whether or not to attribute to this plant a remarkable disease which, on my return down the Indus in September, I found in the village of Saspola. At least thirty people in that village, of all ages from a full-grown man to an infant, and of both s.e.xes indifferently, had been attacked with paralysis within the last two years. The palsy was confined to the lower extremities, and differed much in degree. The sufferers were in other respects the most healthy and good-looking portion of the inhabitants. The people themselves were quite at a loss to a.s.sign a cause for this extraordinary affection, and, except in some article of diet, I was unable to think of any.

[23] This view has been suggested to me by Dr. R. D. Thomson, who has paid much attention to the chemical contents of springs, and is at present engaged in examining the saline matters which I brought with me from Tibet.

CHAPTER XIV.

Start for Karakoram -- Steep ascent out of Nubra valley -- Meet a party of Merchants from Yarkand -- View from summit of pa.s.s -- Rapid torrent -- Large glacier -- Steep moraines -- Alpine vegetation -- Numerous glaciers -- Lakes -- Glacier on crest of Sa.s.sar pa.s.s -- Sa.s.sar -- Cross Shayuk river -- Murgai -- Limestone rocks -- Ascend Murgai Valley to 16,800 feet -- Singular limestone formation -- Open plain above 17,000 feet -- Re-cross Shayuk river -- Karakoram pa.s.s -- Return to Sa.s.sar -- Glaciers of Sa.s.sar -- Return to Le -- Start for Kashmir -- Lamayura -- Phatu pa.s.s -- Kanji river -- Namika pa.s.s -- Molbil Pashkyum -- Kargil -- Dras -- Zoji pa.s.s -- Kashmir -- Lah.o.r.e -- Completion of journey.

Having at last completed the preparations necessary for a journey of twenty days through uninhabited regions, I started on the 9th of August from the village of Taksha. My first day's journey lay up the Nubra valley, which continued wide, though the alluvial platforms were dest.i.tute of cultivation, and quite barren. In several places (always opposite to ravines) they were covered with enormous boulders, which had all the appearance of having been brought to the position they occupied by glaciers. Two small villages were seen, both on the west bank of the river. Four miles from Taksha I crossed, by a good wooden bridge, a large stream which descended from the mountains on my right hand through an exceedingly rocky gorge. After seven miles and a half, I found that I had reached the point at which the road followed by the merchants in travelling from Le to Yarkand leaves the valley of Nubra. It was too late in the day to attempt the ascent of the ridge to the right; I therefore encamped in a grove of willows, which formed a belt along the margin of a stream whose bed was now quite dry, its scanty supply of water having been diverted into an artificial channel for the irrigation of a couple of fields of indifferent barley not far off.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SKETCH MAP of Route from =NUBRA TO KARAKORAM=.

_by Dr. T. Thomson._]

In the valley of Nubra, beyond this encamping ground, which is known by the name of Changlung, there are, I believe, only three small villages, the most distant of which appeared to be not more than five or six miles off. In the direction of the valley, which was still north-north-west, very lofty mountains were visible at no great distance, all with snowy tops, and generally with heavy snow-beds and glaciers in their hollows; and according to the statement of my guides, the river at the distance of less than two days' journey issues from beneath a glacier, by which all pa.s.sage is stopped[24].

[Sidenote: ASCENT OUT OF NUBRA VALLEY.

_August, 1848._]

On the 10th of August I started at daybreak, immediately commencing the ascent of the mountain range which enclosed the valley on the east. The mountain was exceedingly steep, indeed almost precipitous, and the road proceeded in a zigzag direction over bare granite rock, with scarce a vestige of vegetation. During the ascent I had a good view of the valley, and of the mountain range which bounded it on the south-west; large patches of snow lay on its peaks, and here and there I saw a small glacier in its ravines. The upper part of the valleys by which these mountains were furrowed had a very moderate slope, but from about 14,000 feet down to the bottom they were extremely abrupt.

[Sidenote: YARKAND MERCHANTS.

_August, 1848._]

After about 3500 feet of extremely laborious climbing, I arrived at a small level plain, perhaps two hundred yards long and forty or fifty wide, evidently much frequented as a resting-place by travellers, a small pool of water being the inducement. I here met a party of merchants on their way from Yarkand to Le. Their goods were conveyed by ponies, apparently much exhausted by their long journey through desert country. I had noticed, on the way up the mountain, that the road was lined by numerous skeletons and scattered bones of horses; I had also seen one or two of the same animals recently dead, and the appearance of these loaded ponies enabled me to understand the cause of the great mortality. Many of the unfortunate animals appeared scarcely to have strength to accomplish the few miles of descent which still intervened between them and plenty of food. The main reliance of the merchants for the support of their horses is on corn carried with them, to which there must be a limit, otherwise they would carry nothing but their own food.