Western Himalaya and Tibet Part 12

Throughout the whole course of this very remarkable gorge by which we descended from Giah, the rock continued to be conglomerate, alternating with strata of sandstone and of a very friable slate. The conglomerate was extremely hard, and generally of a dark brown colour.

The matrix, which had often a semi-vitrified appearance, was not less hard than the enclosed stones, which were all rounded and very 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 thrown out in relief by the more rapid decay of the soft slates with which they alternated.

The dip was everywhere very variable, and several very distinct sections were displayed, where it was evident that the strata were curved and sinuated. The curves observed were convex below; the strike of the strata was nearly perpendicular to the general direction of the ravine, or from north-west to south-east.

[Sidenote: INDUS VALLEY.

_September, 1847._]

From Upshi, our course lay down the Indus valley in a direction west of north. The width of the Indus, which was a rapid stream, varied from thirty or forty to a hundred feet. Platforms of alluvium, almost level-topped, and often attaining a thickness of a hundred feet, were interposed between the river and the mountains, which, still composed of highly inclined strata of conglomerate and its a.s.sociated rocks, advanced in a succession of spurs towards the centre of the valley.

These platforms were quite bare of vegetation, a few tufts of a p.r.i.c.kly _Echinops_ being the only plant worthy of note which I observed. No villages were pa.s.sed 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 mostly European forms; _Salix fragilis_ and _S. alba_ are the most common. The poplars are of two sorts: one a spreading tree with large cordate leaves, which was first seen in Upper Kunawar, and is common in all the Tibetan villages, up to the highest limit of tree cultivation; it is quite identical with _Populus balsamifera_, which I cannot distinguish in the herbarium from _P. laurifolia_, of Ledebour. The other, which I had not before seen in Tibet, was a tall, erect, and slender tree, with much darker foliage and smaller leaves; it seems, so far as my specimens enable me to decide, to be the common black poplar (_P.

nigra_) of Europe.

[Sidenote: MARSILANG.

_September, 1847._]

At Marsilang the Indus is crossed by a good wooden bridge, thirty-four paces in length, which enables its inhabitants to communicate with the large villages and extensive cultivated tracts on the east bank of the river. As soon as we left the cultivated lands of Marsilang, on the morning of the 1st of October, we found ourselves again on 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 pa.s.sed 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, where irrigation was easy of execution, seemed to be under cultivation. Each village had its plantation of poplars and willows, not, however, so plentiful as at Marsilang. The grain had everywhere been cut and housed, the operations of harvest being seemingly quite at an end. The whole of this richly-cultivated district is called Chashut.

Our journey of the 2nd of October was for about six miles through an uninterrupted tract of cultivation, very little elevated above the level of the river, the alluvial platforms being here of inconsiderable thickness. The direction of the valley was also much more westerly, and the mountains on both sides had receded considerably from the river, leaving an open plain of five or six miles in width. Numerous irrigation channels intersected the fields, which gradually, as we proceeded, united one to another, till at last they all combined into one large and deep ca.n.a.l, by which the superfluous waters were conveyed to the Indus. Crossing this ca.n.a.l, 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 ridges, the course of which we followed, ascending very gradually among large boulders, strewed over the surface, for about three miles. We then turned abruptly to the left, through a narrow ravine in the low granitic hills by which the valley was on that side bounded. Emerging from this, we entered a quite similar and parallel valley, and obtained our first view of the town of Le, covering the top and slopes of a steep hill by which the valley was apparently terminated, about two miles beyond the point at which we entered it.

[Sidenote: LE.

_September, 1847._]

Le, the capital of the province of Ladak, and the most important place, and only town, of Western Tibet, is situated about three miles from the Indus, in the upper part of an open valley, which rises gradually as it recedes from the river, so that the town is rather more than 1200 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 one above another, and watered by little rills drawn from a stream which descends in the centre of the valley. The aspect of the town, which is very peculiar, is faithfully represented in the frontispiece to the second volume of Moorcroft's Travels, from a sketch by Mr. Trebeck.

In the neighbourhood of the town there are several small enclosures, planted with poplar and willow trees, in one of which we pitched our tents. These plantations were all young, a very fine garden of old trees having 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, resides in the town; but the detachment of troops, amounting to about 150 men, who form the military garrison of the place, occupy a small square fort on the west side of the valley, about a mile from the town of Le.

The peculiarities of the Buddhist religion, as practised in Tibet, which are everywhere conspicuous in all parts of Ladak, are especially remarkable in the capital. The princ.i.p.al monasteries in the neighbourhood of Le are at some distance from the town in the vicinity of villages both up and down the Indus; but religious edifices, of the many kinds which are everywhere so common in Tibet, are seen all round Le in great numbers. Along the road by which we approached the town, there is a very long building, of the kind called _Mane_, extending for more than half a mile. It consists of two parallel walls, twelve or fifteen feet apart, and 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 repet.i.tion 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, and they may occasionally be seen even in desert tracts; so that the amount of labour which has been expended in their construction must have been very great, some of the largest containing many millions of repet.i.tions of the words _Om Mane Padme Hom_. In the smaller villages they are often very inferior in size, sometimes not more than twenty or thirty feet in length, and three feet high. Every traveller has constant occasion to notice that in pa.s.sing these walls the Tibetans always leave them on the right hand, considering it both wrong and unlucky to do otherwise; those proceeding in contrary directions therefore take opposite sides.

[Sidenote: RELIGIOUS EDIFICES OF TIBET.

_September, 1847._]

Equally conspicuous in the environs of Le are the urn-like buildings, called Chokten or Chosten, which are, I believe, erected over the ashes of Lamas, or priests, and are, therefore, in a country where a third or fourth 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 the brilliant whitewash with which they are covered when new, very prominent objects. Many of those near Le are of large size, and ornamented with rude paintings of dragons and other mythological animals of uncouth form.

The religion of Tibet, from the remarkable nature of its inst.i.tutions and ceremonies, has of late years attracted much attention; but as, from the hurried nature of my journey, I had no opportunity of acquiring any information regarding it which has not already been made public, it is not necessary 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 La.s.sa, of which we read such gorgeous descriptions; all their wealth in silver and gold having been plundered by the Sikhs, during their short possession of the country as far east as Garu and Taklakhar. Still the number of Lamas does not seem to have much diminished, though they are more dependent upon the cultivation of the soil than in Eastern Tibet, where some of the monasteries are said to contain thousands of priests.

[Sidenote: LE.

_September, 1847._]

The town of Le is said to contain about 3000 inhabitants. Many of the houses are very high, the former residence of the king containing seven stories. They are usually built of unburnt brick, formed from the fine lacustrine clay of the neighbourhood. The Sikh Thannadar has lately built for 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 long time in the arid climate of Tibet. The beams are laid perhaps two feet apart, and covered sometimes with small planking, but more generally with brushwood, over which is laid a thick coating of clay, so as to form a flat roof, to which there is usually access by a small stair or ladder.

The mountain ranges which bound the valley in which the town of Le is situated, though not lofty, are very generally rocky and inaccessible.

They consist partly of distinctly stratified gneiss, but princ.i.p.ally of a fine white granite, 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 Indus, had prevented me from ascertaining the nature of the rocks on the mountains to the left, so that I cannot fix the exact point where the granitic eruption comes in contact with the slates and conglomerates of the Giah ravine.

FOOTNOTES:

[13] Turner's Tibet, p. 406.

[14] Phil. Tr. 1787, p. 297.

[15] I have made over all my specimens of the borax and other saline products of Tibet to Dr. R. D. Thomson, of Glasgow, who is at present engaged in examining them.

CHAPTER VII.

Departure from Le -- Sabu Valley -- Pa.s.s between Le and Nubra -- Snow -- Encamp at 15,500 feet -- Digar -- Valley of Shayuk -- Alluvium -- _Populus Euphratica_ -- Tsatti -- Nubra river -- District of Nubra -- Villages -- Irrigation -- Saline soil -- Isolated rocks -- Chirasa -- Panamik -- Lower Nubra -- Platforms of Alluvium -- Traces of a great flood -- Unmaru -- Kuru -- Great contraction of valley -- Mountain pa.s.s of Waris -- Boghdan ravine -- Chorbat -- Mahommedan population -- Villages -- Outburst of granite -- Siksa -- Khapalu -- Open plain of Khapalu -- Junction of Shayuk and Indus -- Nar -- Iskardo plain -- Description of Iskardo -- Aqueduct -- Fort -- Lacustrine clay formation -- Vegetation.

While we were at Le there was a good deal of unsettled weather, and two very slight falls of snow. On the 9th of October we had an opportunity of observing an eclipse of the sun, which was welcomed by the inhabitants of the town with a most discordant beating of drums, intended to frighten away the demons who had taken possession of the sun. After a week's halt, Major Cunningham and myself started in different directions; Major Cunningham following the course of the Indus, and proceeding by Dras to Kashmir, while I crossed the range of mountains to the north into the valley of the Shayuk, and descended along that river to its junction with the Indus. The mountain range which separates these two rivers barely rises into the region of perpetual snow, a very few peaks only retaining any snow throughout the year. It is therefore crossed by pa.s.ses at the head of each valley; but the pa.s.s nearest to Le having a small but very steep glacier on its northern face, is difficult and dangerous in autumn, after the snow has entirely melted from the surface of the ice. I was, therefore, recommended to cross into Nubra, by a pa.s.s a few miles further east, at the head of the valley of Sabu, which is separated from that in which the town of Le lies, by a steep ridge of granite hills.

[Sidenote: SABU VALLEY.

_October, 1847._]

I left Le on the morning of the 11th of October. The road to the Sabu valley enters the granite range close to the town, ascending a narrow stony valley in an easterly direction, and crossing by a short steep ascent a depression in the ridge, to descend into a narrow ravine which has a south-east course into the Sabu valley, up which the road led. The hills were very stony and bare, or covered with the large _Echinops_ of the Indus valley, of which the heads of fruit were falling to pieces. I encamped for the night in the valley of Sabu, which is very like that of Le, with pretty extensive cultivation, but few trees.

[Sidenote: LAZGUNG Pa.s.s.

_October, 1847._]

Next day I crossed the pa.s.s. The ascent was very long and fatiguing, and, from the lateness of the season, very uninteresting. A cold bleak wind blew from the north in strong gusts, and the sky was overcast with light clouds. The valley contracted into a rocky ravine before the road left it to ascend rapidly the steep mountain-sides, which were covered with ma.s.ses of boulders, heaped together in great confusion. The upper part of the ascent, which was very steep, was covered with snow, which lay on the loose stones of the crest to the depth of about a foot. It was late in the evening before I reached the top of the pa.s.s, the distance being much greater than I had been led to antic.i.p.ate. The elevation of the summit, by the observations of Captain Strachey, is about 18,300 feet.

On the north face of the pa.s.s snow lay thickly for two miles or rather more, and more scantily for a mile further. As evening had begun to close before I reached the summit, I hurried my descent as much as possible. Fortunately, a great part of my baggage porters were in advance, but it had been for some time quite dark before I reached a spot sufficiently free of snow to be suitable for an encampment. The night was intensely cold, the sky being clear; and next morning, at half-past six o'clock, the thermometer stood at 15. At the same time I found that water boiled at 184, indicating an elevation of upwards of 15,500 feet.

In the morning I made a short march to the village of Digar, which I ought to have reached the day before, had not the darkness prevented me. The distance was not more than four miles, and the descent about 2500 feet, Digar being rather more than 13,000 feet above the level of the sea. The general direction of the valley in which I was encamped was north-east, and it was surrounded on all sides by extremely rugged mountains, now much covered with snow, down to about 14,000 feet.

Throughout the descent, vast piles of boulders, heaped one on another, and forming steep banks, evidently moraines, occupied the flanks of the valley. The village of Digar, though small, and possessing only two small trees, had a considerable extent of cultivation, and seemed prosperous. It was situated on the left side of the valley, or rather on the slope of the mountains on that side opposite a lateral ravine, from which a stream of boulders had at one time descended. The centre of the valley was much lower, being excavated out of the alluvium which had once filled the whole.

[Sidenote: VALLEY OF SHAYUK.

_October, 1847._]

On the morning of the 14th of October, I descended to the valley of the Shayuk, making a march of fifteen miles to the village of Tsatti, on the right bank of that river. The road skirted the steep stony hills on the left side of the valley, parallel to the Digar stream, for about two miles, descending rapidly, but still high above the bottom of the dell. The Digar ravine, before reaching the Shayuk, joined a wider one which descends from the south-east, and the united valley has a nearly due north direction. As the road turned by degrees to the left, round a spur of the mountains, the Shayuk valley came in sight, 1500 feet below. It was of considerable width, and very stony, barren, and desolate. Mountains of black slate, very lofty and rugged, in many places too steep for snow to lie, were seen to the north-east, from among which the river appeared to issue into the more open tract immediately below.

The road did not descend at once to the level of the river, but, turning abruptly to the left, proceeded along a platform of alluvium, at least a thousand feet in thickness, for more than a mile, before it descended, which it did at last very abruptly down a steep sandy slope. The ma.s.s of alluvium was, in many places, almost pure sand, but in general many pebbles and boulders were mixed with it. Towards the river it presented scarped cliffs, in which its composition was well seen.

[Sidenote: POPULUS EUPHRATICA.

_October, 1847._]

The Shayuk, where I descended to it, flowed through a wide gravelly plain, varying in breadth from one to two miles, and quite dest.i.tute of vegetation. Rocky spurs of black slate and conglomerate, with many granite veins, projecting from the mountains on the south, occasionally narrowed the valley, while the recesses were generally filled with a ma.s.s of alluvium. The river was occasionally divided into several branches. In some of the recesses small trees of a peculiar species of poplar (_P. Euphratica_) were not uncommon, growing in pure sand. This tree is remarkable for its extended distribution. Originally discovered on the banks of the Euphrates, it has been found by Griffith, and more recently by Dr. Stocks and others, to be abundant on the banks of the Indus, in Sind and Multan.

It occurs also at intervals along the valley of the Indus, within the mountains, but appears to be far from common, and to confine itself to hot sandy places. In several parts of Nubra it is common enough, but only, so far as I have observed, on the south side of the Shayuk. This poplar is also remarkable for the very changeable shape of its leaves, which vary from broadly deltoid and coa.r.s.ely toothed, to narrow-linear and quite entire. The leaves of the full-grown tree are generally broad and much toothed, while young plants have very narrow leaves; the shoots of pollarded plants, which are common, the tree being much used for fuel, are also narrow.

After proceeding parallel to the river for six or seven miles, I crossed to the right bank. The stream was undivided, and about a hundred yards broad. It had a considerable velocity, and was about three feet deep in the centre. Its bed was full of large waterworn boulders and gravel, and the banks on both sides were, for a great distance from the river, of similar structure, and so little elevated above its surface, that a very slight rise of the water would have been sufficient to submerge them.

From the village of Tsatti, at which I encamped on the 14th of October, I followed the course of the Shayuk to its junction with a large stream descending from the north, which, from the name of the district in which the junction is situated, is commonly called the Nubra river. Thence I ascended the latter stream for about twenty miles, with the intention of making an attempt to penetrate to the north-east, across the mountains to the Nubra Chu of Vigne; but the lateness of the season, and especially the occurrence of several falls of snow, which extended down the mountain slopes almost as far as the plain, induced me to place reliance on the a.s.surances of the people of the valley, that the difficulties of the road would be quite insurmountable.

[Sidenote: DISTRICT OF NUBRA.

_October, 1847._]

The district of Nubra includes the whole course of the Shayuk river, from its great bend to the eastward of the point where I joined it below Digar, till it again contracts nine or ten miles below the village of Unmaru; and also the lower part of the valley of the Nubra river, as far up, indeed, as population and cultivation extend. The place of junction of the two rivers is elevated, according to my observation of the boiling-point of water, about 10,600 feet above the level of the sea. This may be considered as the mean elevation of the whole district; for the cultivated tracts nowhere rise to any height above the bed of the rivers, which have everywhere a very gentle and apparently uniform inclination.

[Sidenote: DESCRIPTION OF NUBRA.

_October, 1847._]