ASIA (locneU Hnioeraitg ffithrarg CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 Date Due ®^^ fi t'uur*^- DS 785.S21T5 """'""" '"""^ Tibet and the Tibetans / 3 1924 023 224 680 TIBET AND THE TIBETANS '<:XyW^f<- BY GRAHAM SANDBERG ATTTHOR OF "HANDBOOK OF COLLOQUIAL TIBETAN," "THE EXPLORATION OF TIBET : ITS HISTORY AND PABTIOULAKS," ETC., ETC. PUBLISHED UNDER THE GENERAL LITERATURE COMMITTEE LONDON : SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C. BRIGHTON : 129, nokth street. New York : E. 8. GORHAM. 1906 ■\\l1)'^i^ PREFACE. In the following pages have been epitomized the results of many years of personal investigation into Tibetan mysteries. The unique physical features^ the geology, the botany, the zoology of the country, also the characteristics, occupations, religion, and literature of the in- habitants, are the subjects mainly treated of. Much of the matter included here had been put in type before the conclusion of the recent political Mission to Tibet. However, few new facts concerning Tibet were revealed by this Mission. It is, moreover, a testimony to the fulness of the information brought back in previous years by the secret native agents of the Transfrontier Survey, that our own de- scription of Lhasa in these pages (derived mainly from the private reports of these agents) tallies in most particulars with the accounts of the city as now described by the English visitors of 1904. Only, the native explorers in question seem on the whole to have been a little more exact in their narratives than the English visitors. GRAHAM SANDBERG. London : \ January, 1905. J Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023224680 NOTE. When death overtook Mr. Sandberg, this book was almost ready, for publication. The bulk o£ the work — 280 pages — had already been revised in proof by him ; and had he been spared for a few weeks longer, he would have seen his book go forth into the world as another testimony to the ripe scholarship that he had strenuously gathered through years of toil. Unhappily it was not to be. In March of this year he was taken away, and his book was denied the finishing touches of the master's hand. At the request of Mrs. Sandberg, I have accordingly revised the remaining sheets and added a list of con- tents. The career that was thus cut short was one of singular devotion to learning and religion. In 1870 Samuel Louis Graham Sandberg graduated at Trinity College, Dublin. Called to the Bar in 1874, he practised for some years on the Northern Circuit, while at the same time eagerly carrying on literary studies. His sympathies were extra- ordinarily wide, interesting him alike in science, natural history, litera- ture, and philology. In 1879 he took orders, and in 1886 he entered upon a chaplaincy in India. Here, as chaplain at Dinapur, Dacca, Jhansi, Cuttack, Subathu, Darjeeling, Barraekpore, and St. John's, Calcutta, he was able to give full scope to his manifold interests, and speedily attained to acknowledged authority. In particular the as- sociations of Darjeeling inspired him to the study in which his life's work culminated — the language, literature, ajid natural history of Tibet. In the Nineteenth Century of 1889 appeared his first published work on Tibet, soon followed by other articles in various magazines. In 1888 his linguistic studies bore fruit in a Manual of the Sikkim Bhutia Language, of which a second edition appeared in 1895 ; and in 1894 he published a most useful Handbook of Colloquial Tibetan. An Itinerary of the Route from Sikhim to Lhasa appeared in 1901. At that time he began his heaviest task, supervising the publication of Sarat Chandra Das's Tibetan Dictionary j but even this labour could not exhaust his energies, for in 1904 appeared his Exploration of Tibet, and he was busied with the preparation of the present work. VI But now his health, always delicate, gave way entirely. In June 1904 he was seized with tubercular laryngitis, and in March of this year, after sore suffering, the strenuous and noble life came to an end. Manibus date lilia plenis. L. D. BARNETT. London : August, 1905. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. At the Threshold. Frontier scenery, p. 1 — The view beyond the barriers, p. 4 — The way into Tibet, p. 6. CHAPTER II. Tibet in its General Aspects. General elevation, p. 11 — The highest country on earth, p. 12 — Pour classes of territory, p. 13 — T'ang districts, p. 13 — Doh districts, p. 16 — Winter aspect of T'ang and Dok, p. 17 — Rong districts, p, 18 — Gang districts, p 18. CHAPTER III. Climate and Mbteokology. Climate in general, p. 21 — The water-supply of the great rivers, p. 22 — The, seasons in Tibet : Spring conditions, p. 24 — Vast range of temperature, p. 25 — ^The summer season, p. 26— Autumn and winter, p. 30 — Climate of Lhasa, p. 32 — The snow-line in Tibet, p, 33 — The wind, p. 35. CHAPTER IV. The Salt and Fresh-water Lakes. Tibetan lakes in general, p. 38 — The highest lake in the world, p. 40 — Sex of lakes, p. 40 — The salt lake district, p. 41 — The North-Western Bower series, p. ,44 — The Manasarowar lakes, p. 48 — Lang-gak, p. 62 — Ma-pang, p. 53— Yamdok Ts'o, p. 56— Koko Nor, 69— Nam Ts'o Chhyidmo, p. 65. CHAPTER V. Hot-Spkings oe Tibet. CHAPTER VI. The Geeai Rivbe, of Tibet. The river's name, p. 74 — Source of the Tsangpo, p. 74 — From the source to conjunction with the Ohhorta Tsangpo, p. 76 — From the Chhorta Tsang- po to Shigatse, p. 79 — From Shigatse to Tset'ang, p. 81— From Tset'ang to Gyalla Seng-dong, p. 83— From Gyalla Seng-dong to Sadiya in Assam, p. 86— The Dihang and Eastern Brahmaputra, p. 87 — The Brahmaputra- Irawadi controversy, p. 90 — Concluding remarks, p. 94. Viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. Monasteries and Nunnekjes. Their distribution, p. 96-Historic origins, p. 96— ArcHtecture and internal arrangement, p. 98— Sources of revenue, p. 100— Grades of religious houses, p. 101— Img, p. 101— Ohhoide, p. 10^— Td' -is' cmg, p. 102— Gompa, p. 103— -4m Gompa, Tsunpo, Jomo-ling, p. 104— P'm&, p. 104— Modem sects in Tibet, p. 106— Sar-ma, Ge-luh-pa, p. 105— Nying-ma, p. 106— Galden or Ganden Ling, p. 107— Sera Ling, p. 108— Daipung Ohhoide, p. 109— The four Lings of Lhasa, p. Ill— Tashilhumpo Monastery, p. 112— Tho-ling Gompa, p. 114— Sakya Ling, p. 115— Sam-ye Ling, p. 116— Sam-ding Monastery, p. 117. CHAPTER VIII. Inmates op Monasteries : their Grades, Discipline, and Occupation. Trapa, p. 121.— Ge-nyen, p. 12S—Ge-fsul, p. 124— Ge-Zorajf, p. 124- Ge-she, p. 126- Discipline and morality, p. 126— Lamas of the higher ranks, p. 127 — Incarnate lamas, p, 128, CHAPTER IX, The Inhabitants in General. Residents in Central Tibet, p. 138— The Dokpa or nomadic people, p. 143— The tribes north and north-east of Lhasa, p. 148 — The Horpa or north- ern robber tribes, p, 148 — The Gya-de tribes or Khyung-po-pa, p. 151 — The people of Kong-po, p. 153 — Khama and the Khampas, p. 154 — The Abors or Abars, p. 158 — The Miri tribes, p. 161 — The Mishmis, p. 163 — The natives of Ladak, p. 164. CHAPTER X, Lhasa : the Capital oe Tibet. Situation and general aspect, p. 168 — The inner and enclosed city, p. 171 — The Cho-khang Square, p. 172 — Lhasa merchants, p. 173 — DweUing houses, p. 174 — Denizens and visitors, p. 176 — Buddhist cathedral of Lhasa, p, 178 — The Dalai Lama's home, p. 180. — The city monasteries, p. 180 — Ramochhe temple, p. 182 — Wang-to-shingkha market, p. 183 — The Ragya-pa or scavenger beggars, p. 186 — The corpse-yards of Lhasa, p. 187 — ^Water-supply and canals, p. 188 — Council Chamber and Palace of Justice, p. 189 — The prisons of Lhasa, p. 190. CHAPTER XI. The Mythology op Tibetan Buddhism. General character, p. 195 — Buddhas and Bodhisattwas, p. 197 — The Maitreya cult, p. 199— Bodhisattwas, p. 200— The Dhyani Buddhas, p. 201— Dewa- chan, the heaven of W6-pak-me', p. 203 — Dhyani Sattwas, p. 204 — The CONTENTS. IX Dhyani Sattwa Ohenraisi, protector o£ Tibet, p. 206— Deified Saints, p. 207— Gods and goddesses, p. 209— The Mother Goddess, p. 210— Pal- dan Lha-mo, p. 211— Tamdiu: the god with the horse's neck, p. 212 — Dorje P'agmo, the Sow Goddess, p. 212— Gods of the soil, p. 213. CHAPTER XII. The Tanthas and Tanteik Eites. General features, p. 215— What the Tantras are, p. 216— The Kalachakra cult, p. 218 — Aspects and emanations, p. 221— The S'akti forms, p. 224— Concomitants of Tantrik rites, p. 226— Mantras and Dharani, p. 228— Specimen contents of book of Tantrik treatises, p. 230. OHAPTEE XIII. The Poet Milaeaspa. OHAPTEE XIY. The Peactice op Magic and Soeceet in Tibet. Buddhist thaumaturgy, p. 273— Practical sorcerers, p, 274— Philosophical ascetics, p. 276— The scheme of meditation, p. 278. CHAPTEE XV. Mammalia op Tibet. Profusion of mammalia, p. 282 — Possible explanations, p. 284^Unique na- ture of species, p. 286 — Varying elevations over which they are distri- buted, p. 287 — Especial characteristics of B. and S.E. Tibet, p. 289— "Moupin" (i.e., Nang-ohhen Sbring-wa), p. 290 — Pashm or down of most Tibetan mammals, p. 291 — A suggested list of Tibetan mammals, p 291 — Quadrumana, p. 292 — Pelidas, Viverridss, Oanidffi, p. 293 — Mustelidse, p. 294 — Ursidse, Tupaiidse, Erinacidas, p. 295 — Talpidse, Soricid», Bovidaa, Ovidffi, p. 296 — Capridse, p. 297— Cervidse, Cameli- das, p. 298 — Equidse, Suidse, Soiuridee, p. 299 — Lagomyidee, Leporidae, p. 300 — Muridae, Hystrioidae, p. 301 — Manidse, p. 302 — The Yak: nomen- clature, geographical range, p. 302 — Physical characteristics, p. 303 — Habits, p. 306 — Uses of the domestic Yak, p. 306 — Wolves ; nomencla- ture, p. 307— Geographical range, p. 308— r/ie Mush Deer: physical characteristics, p. 308 — Musk, p. 309. OHAPTEE XV. The Floea op Tibet. General distribution, p. 312 — Flora of Northern Tibet, p. 316— Southern Belt of Tibet, p. 324— Agriculture, p. 327— Crops, p, 328— Khams and Eastern Tibet, p. 330. OHAPTEE I. AT THE THRESHOLD. Nature by her own arrangements seems to have decreed that Tibet should be the last country to be brought under the domain of modern civilization, therein completely siding with the opinion of those who actually hold the land. Intruders have not only to reckon with the policy of the Tibetan authorities which prohibits entrance to all stran- gers; but they have also to get the better of the physical defences which beset the portals of the forbidden regions on every quarter. Monstrous walls of mountain, stupendous glaciers and snow-fieldsj unbridged rivers, valleys of surpassing sterility, aid the inhospitable inhabitants in shutting out the traveller. Mountainous as the country is within its own confines, it is enclosed on the borders by ranges as a rule much loftier and more bulky than those inside. Along tlie southern frontier, from long. 78° to long. 98°, stretch the massive ranges, chain within chain, of the Indian Himalayas. Turning up to the north we find on the western side the ganglion of moun- tains which, as a continuation of the Himalayas, spread themselves out in Kashmir, Ladak, and Nubra. Higher up and still forming the western boundary, there run in from the west the buttress-ends of the mighty Karakorams with Kg, Gusherbrum, Masherbrum, and the other giant summits which have been made in recent years so familiar to us by the graphic writing and vivid pictures of Sir W.M. Conway. Barriers equally gigantic in size (save in a few places where the lowness of the bounding range does not mean accessibility because of the terrible wild- erness of sand and ice behind) are disposed along the northern limits. There, on the north, Tibet is shut in, as we pass from west to east, by the Kuen Liin, the Akka Tag, and Altan Tag ranges in succession. In the Tsaidam and Koko Nor region is placed a north-eastern series of moun- tains which have proved less impregnable than the defences in other quar- ters. Through the easy defiles here and by way of the Hoang Ho, many adventurous spirits haye penetrated. Nevertheless, the various parallel 1 •Z AT THE THRESHOLD. lines of the Nan Shan^ the European names of which bestowed by Russian travellers read rather grotesquely, make a very substantial boundary in this direction. Crossing the Hoang Ho and turning due soutl), we have in the mysterious Amdo country the numerous minor mountain ranges which separate, very indefinitely, the various petty states which own allegiance according to fancy, some to Tibet, and some to Chinn.. While, further south, the eastern confines have, to guard them, not merely row behind row of rocky battlements, but also the mighty rivers running three and four abreast which pass from north to south and out into the world beyond. Such are the boundaries of Tibet on cursory view. They shall be examined in detail later on. As may be imagined, the tremendous portals of this mystic realm form, at every point, vestibules worthy of the marvels to be disclosed beyond. Mountains, individually of colossal proportions, stand in troops upon the threshold of the Forbidden Land, guarding as it were the Passes to be found at intervals all round, and which Passes offer the sole means of access within. Labyrinthine and dangerous are the p.ith- ways which lead to these strange entrances into the country. There is great similarity in the appearances about you on whichever side you approach ; except perhaps coming from the north by Charlik over the Akka Tag, as did Bonvalot and the Littledales. But take one of the more ordinary routes, by way of Sikkim, to some Pass into Tibet from the south. First, you surmount by zigzag path up, over, and down, the lower outer ridges of the Himalayas : then, through deep valleys strewn with enormous boulders, gradually ascend- ing; then, darkly penetrating along the bottom of a profound gorge. So you go, ever striving to veer northwards ; for northwards lies your goal. Next, up and up and up again, keeping perhaps to a string-course ledge which rounds the shoulders of the giant hills and creeps onwards along the sheer face of precipitous cliff and chasm rent asunder. The mountains are everywhere about you. They tower above your head and clusters of peaks are revealed at the upper end of the valleys which open in so many directions; while the great brawny breasts of others lie far away with the mists rolling upon them. As you take your course along the back of some lower ridge, you notice that it is flanked with spurs which advance to meet similar projections from an- other ridge parallel to yours but loftier. They do not meet ; but there and in between the protrudiug piers, in the depths below you, the trees are seen packed close together, an ocean of the darkest greens and russets. About you and above you are the great pines, Abies Wehhiana and P«»?<« exceka j but down there are the maples and rhododendrons AT THE THRHSHOLD. 3 and chestnuts and evergreen oaks peculiar to the Himalnyas, withhereand there a quaint tree-fern. Thu trees clothe completely the lower limbs o£ the mountainSj and then ascend in seried flounces far up the skirts of the greater heights ; each different species of pine visibly keeping to its own proper zone of altitude. And you know that in the remotest bot- tom — hidden by those weird throngs of trunk and leafy-crown — there winds a secret stream brought direct from snow-field and glacier ; and, presently perhaps, an opening in the deep-down forest allows you a gleam and a flash from the tumbling waters. As you near the frontier of Tibet, the ravines-ful of trees gradually disappear. The valleys soon become wider and very desolate, strewn with large stones and blocks of rock; whilst yon procession of huge boulders marks the moraine of a glacier which some centuries ago tra- velled slowly downwards. The mountains, meanwhile, take a vaster scale, quite different from the view they presented at a distance, forbid- ding and fearful to look upon. Such shattered fantastic monsters they seem, holding themselves up to heaven in boundless defiance of harmony in size. Then, in the fissures channelled on their great faces are perceived the swollen glaciers bulging forth. Spurs and protuberances of rock are connected by causeways of pure ice and the causeways bank up fields of lately-fallen snow. These ice-bridges, which often span deep gorges, allowing you to cross where otherwise it would be impassable, are styled by the Tibetan traveller Lhd-i Sampa "bridges of the gods." In these regions, mists and storms sweep up very swiftly and sud- denly. As the coming night lets fall its shadows about you the sleet and hail slant down in blinding showers and eye-sight is no longer of any guidance. Your only escapefrom utter bewilderment and the deathly cold is to creep to the southern lea of some rock which has been absorb- ing the sun's warmth throngli the day ; and to wedge your form in there, embedded in blankets. Darkness dyes the twilight black. The storm increases ; and hark, those sounds of falling rocky masses! The mountains are speaking to one another. These uncouth giants have a hoarse and monstrous lan- guage of their own. In this way and amidst such scenes, the traveller can approach to the confines of the Forbidden Land. Saddles of rock sunk between higher summits give access to the country beyond, and precarious paths lead up to all such depressions in the guarding ranges. These are the famous Passes which admit you into Tibet. At the head or culminat- ing point of the Pass is invariably to be seen a cairn of stones artifi- cially reared by native travellers. And there your Tibetan guides give 4 AT THE THRESHOLD. vent to ttieir feelings of relief at the ascent surmounted and of awe at the presence of the mystic spirits which guard the left-hand side of every Pass-top. Scattering two or three handfuls of their precious tsampa or parched barley-meal, tliey cry: likd sollo, Ihd sollo ! Lhd gyallo, Ihdgyallo I Hail, hail, to the gods ! Victory, victory to the gods ! THE VIEW BEYOND THE BARRIERS. But what is to be seen beyond those bounding ranges? The verge of the mysterious country gained, does anything new, do any of its re- ported marvels, as yet greet the sight? Naturally in a mountainous jumble such as that which fences in Tibet one would hardly expect much view from a Pass-summit, even though the summit lies cradled in the line along which the mountains reach their climax of height. Nevertheless the prospect from many of these gate-ways into the land beyond is something of a panorama — and from certain points a remarkably striking and extensive one, too. Now, many European adventurers have actually travelled in the country itself; whereas formerly few could do more than wistfully gaze into regions whence they were irrevocably shut out from penetrat- ing. However, whether he may be fortunate enough to go further or not, no man of the least degree of sentimental susceptibility can ever put away from his memory the recollection of his first glimpse into the Great Beyond. The features of the view are always, moreover, sufficiently distinctive to lie drawn upon the brain as an ineffaceable mental landscape. Let us listen to a few of those explorers who have recorded their impressions of their first view into Tibet. Sir Joseph Hooker, in 1849, having journeyed through Sikkim reached the summit of the Dongkhya La, "the frozen yak pass,'' the cairn on which stands at a height of 18,100 feet above the level of the sea; and he thus describes the view: — The most remarkable features of this landscape were its enormous eleva- tion and its colours and contrast to the black, rugged, and snowy Himalaya of Sikkim. All the mountains between Donkia Pass and the Arun river were of a yellowish-red colour, rising and falling in long undulations like dunes and perfectly bare of perpetual snow or glaciers. Eocks everywhere broke out on their flanks and often along their tops; but the general contour of the whole, immense area was very open and undulating. Still further northwards, the miountains were rugged, often rising into peaks which from the angles I took cannot be below 24,000 feet and are probably higher. The most lofty moun- tains were on the range north of Nepal, not less than 120 miles' distant .... AT THE TIIRESHOLB. 5 .... Cholamoo lake lay in abroad soantily-grassed sandy and stony valley; snow-beds, rooks and glaciers dipped abruptly towards its bead, and on its west bank a lofty brick-red spur sloped upwards from it, conspicuously cut into terraces for several bundred feet above its waters Tbe monarch of mountains (Kincbenjunga) looked quite small and low from, this point, and it was difficult to believe it was more tban 10,000 feet more lofty than my present position. I repeatedly looked from it to the high Tibetan mountains in the extreme N.-W. distance ; and I was more than ever struck with the apparently immense distance and consequent altitude of the latter — I put, however, no reliance on such estimates. To the south the eye wandered down the valley of the Lachoong South-east the stupendous snowy amphitheatre of Donkia was a magnificent spectacle. I had been given to understand that from Donkia Pass the whole country of Tibet sloped away in descending steppes to the Yam river and was more or less of a plain ; and, could I have trusted my eyes only, I should have con- firmed this assertion so far as the slope was concerned, when, however, "the levelled theodolite was directed to the distance, the reverse was the case. Unsnowed and thus, apparently, low mountains touched the horizon line of the telescope ; which proves that, if only 37 miles off, they must, from the dip of the horizon, have been at least 1,000 feet higher than the observer's . position. General Macintyre, V.C, who was permitted to cross the Niti Pass from Garhwal into Tibet early in June, gives a striking descrip- tion of the appearance of the country just over the border at that time of year before the new vegetation has begun to show. This part of Tibet is the southern portion of the Guge district of Ngari Khorsum, due north of the great glaciers in the Niti and Milam valleys of the Himalayas. He writes: — A strange weird-looking land, to all appearance a desert, stretching far and wide before us towards distant ranges of barren undulating mountains, tinted with every shade of red, yellow, purple, and blue, rising tier beyond tier, and culminating in snow-clad ridges and peaks — all their features looking mar- vellously distinct through the clear rare atmosphere. Broad table-lands, averr aging about 16,000 feet above the sea-level, bare, brown, and monotonous, sloping gradually down from the foot of the great snowy chain of the Hima- layas behind us, and intersected by huge ravines growing deeper and wider as they all trend northwards towards the river Sutlej flowing hidden among their mighty labyrinths far away below us. The solemn waste diversified here and there by low arid hills of a brick-red hue. In the dark sapphire- blue firmament, a blazing sun shedding a cheerless dazzling glare on all around us. Not a sound but the wailing of the wind to break the dead de- pressing silence, save perhaps the croak of a big raven or the snorting of a troop of hiang (wild asses), as the startled animals stand for a few seconds to gaze at the intruders ere they wheel simultaneously about and gallop madly away over the rolling wind-swept slopes of shingle and sun-baked earth. Here in small flocks, few and far between, roains the ponderous-horned Ovis ever watchful and wary. A wolf may be occasionally- detected slinking- 6 AT THE THRESHOLD. stealthily ofB. Sometimes a shy hare starts from the cover of a scrubby tussock of the stunted herbage that is sparsely scattered over the stony soil; or a grey marmot may be seen sitting erect on some sandy knoll, disturbing nature's silent repose with its shrill chirping whistle ere it vanishes into its burrow hard by. Even the Tibetan hamlets, which very rarely occur in these dreary wilds, have a decayed and forlorn look that is quite in keeping with their desolate dream-like surroundings. Such were my general impressions of the country we were now in, THE WAY INTO TIBET. The country has been approached with a view to gain entrance from, every point of the compass. In some regions access is compara- tively speaking easy; at other points the natural difficulties are so en- hanced by accumulations of snow and ice that the way is open only during a limited period of the year; but in no quarter of the extensive border-line of this great territory is communication from without an absolute impossibility. Although this secluded Til)etan world lies ap- parently so blockaded by physical biirriers — so fast^bound by mountain and glacier and violent winds — it isj nevertheless, a fact that all round the frontier there is constant intercourse of some kind going on with the countries outside except perhaps in the depth of winter. "With China this intercourse is in many districts abundant and con- tinuous. So, too, is the traffic between Tibet and Mongolia on the north- east. Communication from the north — from Yarkand, Dzungaria, and from Central Asia generally, although not considerable, is yet carried on regularly, at stated times, by caravans and small parties and does not appear to be restricted by either political or fiscal conditions. The admission of traffic into Tibet from the west and south seems to be governed by regulations more or less complicated. Native traders coming into the country from Ladak and from the petty states in the Western and South- Western Himalayas are only allowed entrance during the period from April to October each year. A Tibetan official has to journey to most of the important Passes on the Ladak, Lahoul, and Kumaon frontier early in the spring to inspect each one and to de- clare whether or not it shall be regarded as open that season. Some years smallpox or other severe sickness prevails in certain of the valleys of the Western Himalayas, such as tlie Byans, the Milam, or the Mana valley; and then the particular Pass leading out of such valley into Tibet is said to be sealed or shut for that year by the official and no traffic allowed to come over. Furthermore, even the native denizens of every state actually touch- ing Tibet are not all allowed general access during the period when the Passes are free. The inhabitants of certain bordering districts are AT THE THRESHOLD. 7 suffered to proceed to only one or two trading centres within the For- bidden Land. Thus the Lahulis and Kulu folk may carry merchan- dise to such centres in the west of Ngari Khorsum as Gart^ok and Totling but no further into the interior. The dwellers of most of the valleys of Garhwal and Kumaon are limited to Gya-nyima^ Dongpo, and Tsa-parang. On ttie other hand the Bashahri and Kunuwari people, living adjacent to these last, have by prescription freedom to go any- where in Tibet and to penetrate even to Lhdsa and Eastern Tibet. So, likewise, in the case of the frontier states further east. The Assamese may not trade direct with the Tibetan provincesj but all traffic must be carried on through the natives of the Tawang Raj who receive merchandise either at Tawang itself or bring it up from Assam vi& Odalguri. The Bhutan people appear to have secured unrestricted intercourse between themselves and the north, but at the same time heavy customs duties and personal bribes are extorted by certain officials of Bhutan itself from every single packman or pilgrim of their own land who passes into Tibet. The many rival jurisdictions in Bhutan offer frequent opportunities for this kind of exaction. Between Nepal and Tibet there is considerable liberty of eommunicationj but Kirong and Dingri are tliought critical points for traders to get through unmolested or unmulcted by the semi-authorised levellers of black mail. Nepali subjects are not permitted openly to enter Tibet by Takla-khar on the Kumaon border. The Indian Government has been at much trouble to secure a cer- tain degree of mercantile traffic between India and Tibet by way of Sikkim. The natives of Sikkim have for many generations enjoyed the fullest rights of entry beyond the frontier; but Hindu and Bengali traders have usually fallen under the same ban which excludes Euro- peans. However, now, after considerable negotiation, a station named Ydtung, situated within Tibetan territory in the Chhumbi valley, has been opened as a centre of traffic; and Hindus and even Englishmen may proceed there for trading purposes without let or hindrance, even though the place is technically in the sacred land itself. The customs officer placed there by the Chinese Government happens to be an Englishman, but even he may not pass the barrier wall Tibet-wards. Many Tibetan pedlars undertake trips into India in the autumn and winter months. A certain number may be observed in the Calcutta bazars every Christmas-time. Some are from Bhutan only; but a few come even from Lhasa. But all which we have said, so far, concerns but little the actual pathways over the Tibetan border-line. Moreover, when we have de- tailed and pointed them cut as we wish to do, that information will S JT THE THRESHOLD. hardly have made easier the passage thither for us Europeans who are so rigidly prohibited from entrance. Lonely the- Pass may seem; beset by cascades of stones and beds of snow; of unbreathable altitude; far away on either side from village or ontpost; nevertheless, when any English traveller has set his mind on making his way thither and quietly slipping over into some unfre- quented corner of the territory, somehow by magic the news of his in- tentions is wafted over the mountains and sure enough a party of dirty- faced Tibetans will reach the Pass before him. Then will follow the usual result. First bluster and threats from the headman of the party; next entreaties and miserable appeals as to the fate awaiting them all if the traveller persists in pushing on into the country. Finally the latter becoming moved to magnanimity and contenting himself witli a stroll on the northern face of the Pass just to say he has been iu Tibet, retraces his steps hardly knowing why he has so readily yielded. Some- times, when eager determination over-rides the remonstrances of the Tibetan official, and the young adventurer refuses to turn back, an emeute is raised among the nearest inhabitants and the traveller is seriously maltreated. That was the consequence when a young lieu- tenant, in 1896, made his way beyond Takla-khar in Purang, regard- less of official protestations. Three hundred natives assembled and " stoned him. There are, however, several vulnerable bits in the cordon encircling these fascinating regions where peaceful entry into the land may be ac- complished and where many days' march into the heart of the territory could be stolen before information of the intruder's presence became known. The entire length of the northern frontier-line of Tibet, we believe, remains practically unguarded. So distant from any settled district or even from any temporary pasturage of nomadic tribes are the Passes over the (so-called) Kuen Liin, Akka Tag, and Altan Tag ranges, that no watch is kept by the Tibetan Government anywhere near that region. Much the same might be said of the north-east boundary round about Koko Nor. There, however, as a Chinese Amban is specially sta- tioned at Sining in order to watch Chinese interests in the neighbourhood, tliere is some risk of interference. Nevertheless, as the stream of traders of all sorts and conditions is unceasing through Sining, Lanchou-f n, Tankar, and other adjacent towns, the likelihood of recognition or hind- rance is small. Moreover, the Koko Nor districts and Tsaidam, which lie beyond Sining, are admittedly open to foreigners and are every year visited by Russian and other European travellers. To pass fur- ther to the south-west, across the Burhan Beta range and into the Di Chhu region, without exciting suspicion, is. therefore comparatively AT THE THRESHOLD. 9 a simple matter. It was in this fashion and by this route that Hue and Gabet, Przhevalsky, Rockhill, and Kozlov gained an easy entrance into Tibet. Of necessity the great factor in any successful incursion by these unwatched doorways is the possession of ample funds wherewith to pro- cure supplies of food, baggage, animals, and servants. The way into Tibet by the passes over the Akka Tag and Kvien Liin ranges which in- volves previous lengthy journeys through Asiatic Russia and Chinese Turkistan is practically closed to all European explorers save the very rich. The parties of Mons. Bonvalot and of Mr. St. George Little- dale who successfully tapped Tibet through these savage and unpeopled wilds were provided with unlimited means for purchasing resources of every kind. Thus Mr. Littledale was in a position to buy at Khoten and Cherehen, previous to attempting the passage of the Akka Tag, 120 mules, ponies, and asses, as well as to hire 130 more, besides carts, tents, and enormous consignments of food. He bought, he tells us, at these the last towns passed before entering the desert tracts along the northern frontier of Tibet, "25,000 lbs. of Indian corn for the animals and six months' provisions for ourselves and men." By the Sining, Koko Nor, and Di Chhu route, such resources and such an outlay are not certainly indispensable; and persons with slender means able to push their way and travel under the stress of hardships, might with circumspection and with good fortune find their way far into untraversed districts of East Tibet. Mr. Rockhill, without ex- cessive expenditure, has indeed broken far into these tracts. If Chhamdo be evaded, however, something might be done by such undaunted spirits to unravel tlie mystery of the upper waters of the Salwin and the Mekhoug rivers, the sources of which still continue absolutely unelucidated — in spite of the wild speculations and assevera- tions of Prince Henry of Orleans, and, later, of Messrs. Kozlov and Ladyghin. Another pathway of access to the country left unprotected is the difficult detour by way of Leh, the Changchenmo valley, the south- east corner of Lingzhi T'ang, and over the Lanak La, into the districts along the 34th parallel of latitude. This was the track of ingress adopted by Captain Bowen with Dr. Thorold and Atma Ram, and, subsequently, successfully followed by Messrs. Wellby and Malcolm, and by Major Deasy. Admission further south viA Tangtse and east- wards along the Pangkong Lake is generally out of the question, although the route this way into Central Tibet is physically the easiest of any save that through Sikkim. The Dokpa shepherds around the eastern end of the Pangkong Lake are ever on the alert to give 2 10 AT THE THRESHOLD. information of approaching travellers; and a messenger despatched from Noh into Rudok at once arouses the Jougpon of that fortress and his retainers. Finally, one of the most feasible entrances to the south-western districts is, after all, the old route from Almora by the valleys of the Alakananda and the Dauli and so into the pen k country east of the Milam glacier region ; whence one of the Purang Passes, preferably the Lipu Lek La or the Mangshang La, gives ready access info the tracts south of lakes Map'ang and Lang-gak. It is near here that tlie defensive station of Takla-Khar in Purang is located, however; and unless the out-look kept there is either eluded or beguiled, admission is not to be gained, the people of the place being hostile and turbulent to a degree greater than is common with Tibetan folk. Travellers of note have, in several instances, succeeded in entering the country by this way for the past 100 years. Mooreroft was the first to try it, on his journey to the lakes in 1813; Henry Straehey following in his tracks in 1846, Richard Straehey in 1848, and Dr. Thomson a few years later. This route was, furthermore, the path of access chosen by Mr. Ryall in 1877, and by Mr. H. Savage Landor in 1896. CHAPTER II. TIBET IN ITS GENERAL ASPECTS. We must at once dispel from our minds the usual idea that Tibet itself is one vast table-land, remarkable only for lofty altitude through- out. Great undulating plains are a feature in certain parts, as we shall presently see; but even these desolate expanses are, at short inter- vals, crossed by long ranges of mountains, carrying peaks which often in height nearly equal the average of the summits of the Himalayas. Doubtless the immense elevation of the general level of the whole coun- try detracts from the apparent height of Tibetan mountains; but, with an actual attitude of 34 to 26 thousand feet above the level of the sea, these ranges of peaks are thus frequently 10,000 feet and more above the level even of such elevated plains and valleys as exist in Tibet. In- terlocking lines of lofty mountains; mighty rivers; extensive plains, sometimes undulating and fertile, sometimes rugged and of awe-strik- ing sterility and desolation; together with many districts broken up in- to networks of ravine and gorge — all these features are comprised in the physical conformation of this uplifted land. Unquestionably the leading characteristic is the great elevation of the entire territory. However, this elevation varies markedly. The average height of the surface varies with the latitude and not longitudi- nally. This seems to be a general rule governing the altitude through- out, but more uniformly so in that portion of Tibet lying westof longitude 92°. The rule is that there is substantially one level or superficial plane, independent of the traversing mountain ranges, running mostly in zones or belts which maintain an uniform altitude along the same latitude. The greatest height of the general superficies of Tibeb is found in a broad band from west to east occupying the northern tracts, and again in a narrow belt from west to east running adjacent to the southern frontier. Between these elevated areas, and also following in the main this latitude, there occurs a long depression which is in fact the valley or basinof the Yeru Tsangpo — the great arterial water-way of Tibet. Along 12 TIBET IN ITS GENERAL ASPECTS. the latitude of the main course of this river — in parts not more than 90 miles north of the line of our Indian border — the plane of elevation sinks to an average of 11,150 feet above sea-level; and this depression of eleva- tion continues along the same latitude (29° to 29° 80'), even where further east the river leaves this parallel for its northward bend. The northern tracts of this territory, which, from the steppe-like character of the more western parts, are known as the Jang-t'ang ("Plains of the North"), or simply as the Chang or Jhang, attain the loftiest general altitude. That portion skirting the base of the Kuen Liin Mountains is uniformly lower than the desolate plains stretching from west to east, some 50 miles further south. Here, keeping to the parallel of latitude of 35° N., the Jang-t'ang reaches its highest level, one of over 1 7,000 feet above the sea. In the Lingzhi T'ang, in this lati- tude, near the Karakorums, the altitude is 17,300 feet; and 700 miles further east (longitude 89° E.) we find the plains and a lake in exactly the same latitude with a reported altitude of 17,400 feet, said to have been accurately measured. Again, take another test case. Captain Bower gives his altitude at "Camp 30" as 16,907 feet. We find his latitude then was 32° 45' N. and his longitude circa 85° 15' E. Now, after three months'" time, he is again in that very same latitude but much further to the east, namely, 88° 40', yet his altitude is practically the same, namely, at "Camp 71," 16,838 feet. Further south of this paral- lel, the average elevation of the Jang-t'ang decreases considerably; and the regions of Tibet lying between the 31st and 32° 30' parallels must be placed at an approximate altitude of 16,000 feet. Further south again, as we have seen, the level is much lower. East of the 92nd meridian, however, our rule of latitudinal zones of elevation fails so far as the more northern districts are concerned. In or about that meridian, a decided drop in height occurs, the average altitude of the general plane of the country to the east being 13,500 to 14,200 feet in all latitudes N. of 30° and S. of 36°. Further to the north-east the decrease in elevation is still more marked; so that in the Tsaidam plains, west of Koko Nor, and beyond the Tibetan confines, 8,000 to 9,000 feet is the usual height. So again, in those parts of Tibet far to the south-east, there is likewise a fall, the descent being much greater and the valley-level between Zayul and Bat'ang being ordinarily under 8,000 feet. Indeed, the deep valleys in Zayul itself, bordering on the ranges which wall off Burmah, have mostly an altitude under 6,000 feet. THE HIGHEST COUNTRY ON EARTH. Taken generally, the claim of Tibet to be deemed the loftiest coun- try in the world cannot fail to be admitted. The great northern tracts TIBET IN ITS GENERAL ASPECTS. 13 for hundreds of miles, as we have seeiij average an elevation of from 15,000 to 17,300 feet. Its very valleys in the main territory scale 11,000 feet. Its people live and breathe and dance and sing and pray in towns and villages which rarely stand lower than 12,000 feet. The monasteries sheltering large communities of men or women are, by choice, erected on picturesque ledges at an elevation as high as the sum- mit of Mont Blanc. Shigatse, second city in Tibet and a great commer- cial mart, lias been built 12,250 feet above the sea; and Lhasd, the capital, is laid out on an alluvial plain 11,600 feet above the same level. Derge, the Tibetan Birmingham with a population of 6,000, stands at 12,700 feet; and Chhamdo, with 11,000 inhabitants, scales 11,500 feet. And all this only concerns the general superficies of the country; for, in the regions where it has been flung up into peaks and mountain ranges, 25,000 feet is reckoned in this land no extraordinary' elevation ; whilst the Passes daily surmounted by man and beast scale anything up to 19,800 feet. Yet, in contrast to these immensities, we have one town in the south-east corner of Tibet, Shikha, capital of the Zayul valley, pitched at only 4,650 feet. FOUR CLASSES OF TERRITORY. More or less, it is mountainous everywhere in Tibet ; even the great plains, of which so much has been written, being traversed at intervals by mountain chains complex though not lofty. Nevertheless the ter- ritory is not of one character throughout. Both climate and configura- tion vary in the difEerent zones included within these regions. Speak- ing generally, Tibetans classify their country as divisible into four sorts. They discriminate the T'ang districts, the Bok districts, the Bong districts, and the Gang districts ; and this classification will be found a very convenient one. T'ANG DISTRICTS, The T'ang coimtry is the region of the plateaus or steppes, those parts already alluded to under the specific name of Jangt^ang, and re- stricted almost exclusively to the north, and more especially character- istic of the western half of the northern tracts. Rising to the sum- mit of a low ridge, you suddenly look athwart an immense plain which begins perhaps a few hundred feet below you and stretches without a break, generally a distance of 15 or 16 miles to a bounding range of hills, but sometimes uninterrupted to the horizon in a clear sweep of 30 or 40 miles. And this must be taken as the real feature of the country. We have not level desert plains as in Russia or Mongolia; Tibetan plains are more in the nature of wide shallow valleys running up on either side 14 TIBET IN ITS GENERAL ASPECTS. to bounding ridges. Moreover, tlie run at riglit angles to that which we have termed the sides is usually a slope up to some higher level where lies a T'angoi similar configuration but at a greater general elevation. Many of these plateaus are bare and desolate to a degree hardly realisable. Undulating slightly, the whole surface seems strewn with flaky fragments of brown calcareous biscuit — mud-hardened and splint- ered by frost and by burning sun. In places the ground may be brown and white in alternate patches, according as the whitish clay, which in western regions is the foundation soil of the whole, is exposed or is overlaid with caked loam and stones. Where the T'ang has any decided slope, in the lower levels are generally found shallow lakes, usually in- tensely saline, and with sodas and salts lying, a dirty white frilling, along the margin. Certain plains, especially the great tracts extending from west to east to the north of latitude 33° and between longitude 82° E and the mountainous country north of Lhasa, are distinctly salt deserts, holding huge reservoirs of saline waters where the drainage of the land has been massed into swamps and lakes. Large areas, moreover, dry and waterless, are perfectly snow-white, being completely covered with saltpetre. This is the case throughout vast tracts directly east of Ru- dok.^ Much of this elevated region in the N.-W. comprises sheer iirid flats nearly devoid of vegetation. A few scrubby bushes occur here and there, but very little pasture, and that only in the dips where water has been lying. However, south of latitude 33° N, and east of the 82nd meridian, the T'ang country assumes a very different aspect. Although the broad open valleys continue, they are now covered everywhere with verdure, and though the average altitude may be taken as 15,000 feet, the coarse thick-growing grass affords sustenance to troops of wild asses and deer, as well as to the tame flocks of the Khampasand Cliangpas — the only denizens of the Jang-t'ang proper. This pasturage is most luxuriant in a broad belt, some 40 miles from north to south, which stretches to the east, running between latitude 32° and 33°. Here, also, dandelion, hawkweeds, and wild rhubarb, are met with. North of the lake-district of those parallels, the lands seem dry and saline but yield much grass. In places the plains are covered with 1 "During the last three marohea to Dak-korkor no water of any kind was met with, and the party were forced to carry a supply in skins. In this arid part of the country the soil was of a dazzling white, a peculiarity which extended as far as the Fuudit could see. The Pundit was informed that five days' march to the north there was a large district called Juug Phaiya-Pooyu, and that throughout its whole extent the earth was of the same white kind as that they were crossing over, so White indeed as to cause people to suffer as if from snow-blindness."— rP«»cJit^' Bepocis for 1869.) TIBET IN ITS GENERAL ASPECTS. 15 congealed lava^ and slabs of pure salt stand in piles j but, in certain dis- tricts much further to the north-east, extensive savannahs of lierbage occur. Beyond the abundant grass up there, little else seems to grow; no crops will seed, andafewbushesof "cameFs thorn," tamarisk, Caragana furze, and Euroiia are tlie only shrubs, and these are very rarely seen. Herds of wild animals of large graminivorous species, whicli feed here in the summer, supply manure for each season's growth as well as dung- fuel (argots) to nomads and travellers. East of the meridian of Namts'o Chhyidmo {i.e. TengriNor), the Tang country narrows up to the north, lying as a belt of some 150 miles along the base of the Akka Tag mountains and reaching as far to the east as the 9Gth meridian. Here the grass-land is reported to be still more fertile, and the animal life even more profuse than in the west. Frequent mountain ranges (such as the Kokoshili) and many river-feeders, however, bring these eastern regions, in most respects, out from the Tang category into another class.' DOK DISTRICTS. The great upland pasture-grounds form the next feature in Tibetan cosmogony, and these are known as the BoJc lands. These lie chiefly in Southern Tibet; but not exclusively so. In some respects they resem- ble the moors and heaths of Scotland and Yorkshire ; but, perhaps, a closer analogy might be found in the tundras of Siberia. Bogs and swamps and gullies, with much broken country running up into shaggy ridges, also moss-covered knolls with a soft black peatty soil, are charac- teristic qualities. Low-growing barberry, Myricaria, and furze, are in places intermingled with wiry herbage. i5ut all these lands lie lifted up on the backs of mighty mountains, or are entrenched amid huge crad- ling hills which protrude spurs and forking buttresses into each basin of moor or fen. Very wild and weird are these dark moors. But excellent pastures indeed are all the Dok tracts — less frequented by large game, save Ovis Amman and wild asses, because given up to the herds of tame yak and sheep owned, patriarch-like, by the Dok-pa or semi-nomad inha- bitants. Doubtless, there is infinite variety under the general characteristics of regions of this and other kinds in Tibet. In this Dok country you may find yourself at one time hemmed in by peak-crowned slopes as at home in North Cornwall; whence, coming forth, you have the narrow val- 1 The T'ang country in a measure re-appears in the South in a portion of territory known as Ding-tsam abutting on the north of Eastern Nepal and Sikkim. These tracts have a mean elevation of over 15,000 feet, are shrubless, but with plenty of coarse fescue grass, and are characterised by the same broad flat valleys separated by ridges of rounded hills which belong to the Jang-t'ang country of the north. 16 TIBET IN ITS GENERAL ASPECTS. leys merged into absolute plains, descending gently down to the bed of some great river which has cut deep below the g-eneral level ; the plains there, on either side, being broken up into narrow spurs separated by ravines. Here, again, is another glimpse of Dok scenery south of Yam- (lok lake, from the narrative of U.G. in the Survey Report : — The pass was difficult and the ascent was rough and trying, passing along snow-covered slopes, flanked by deep gorges ; but, after a descent on the southern slopes of the pass of about 2,000 feet, we reached a beautiful flat country which gently sloped up to the foot of mountains, carpeted with ex- quisite verdure and lovely flowers, with bushes of different shrubs. At the head of the lake is the monastery of Tong-tso Padma-ling, looking from which to the south-east the view embraced the crystal surface of the thrice holy lake flanked by a range of billowy mountains overtopped in the distance by the lofty snows of Kulha Kangri. The Kulha Kangri, with their snow clad peaks standing in most picturesque array, resemble (to compare great things with small) the Buddhist prayer offerings called Torma. To the north is the dome- like peak called Kulhai Cham, "the wife of Kulha ;" on -her sides stand exalted the sublime peaks of Ohenresi, Chhiyagshi, Lonohhen Lhat'oi Gar ("the hoary headed premier G-ar "), Namgyal and others. After visiting a celebrated cave, consecrated to Guru Pema, and surrounded on three sides by glaciers, we started to the south-east over this elevated plateau to flnd our way back into the Lhobrak Valley. So pleasing an aspect of nature as this plain presented at an ele- vation of nearly 1 5,000 feet is no uncommon sight in Tibet The time of U.G/s visit was early in September, when, in these realms of snow, vegetation has attained the climax of maturation. It should not be supposed that the whole Dok country is peopled by nomads. Small towns of stone-houses are to be found in most parts, especially in the lower valleys where the altitude descends to 13,000 feet. Here, too, on the valley-cliffs junipers and small fir grow, with willows and poplars below near the rivee-side. In Dok-de (to the far N.E. of Lhasa, from 150 to 200 miles' distant) the country developes into really fine and pleasing scenery.^ This part includes Tsog-de, through 1 After A. K's exploration, the whole of these tracts north-east of Lhasa were, by the unfounded theory of the gentleman who made the details public, included as parts of the Jang-t'ang. That Mr. Hennessey's view was erroneona is certain. The only ground for classing this portion of the country with the great salt plains to the west in the same latitude, seems to have been the supposition that the lofty ele- vation of the west in this parallel was continued here in the eastern regions. How- ever, the many mountain ranges, which are of great intricacy, and the character of the pastures on the table-lands, as well as the lower altitude, sufficiently distinguish suoli districts from the T'ang country west and due north of Namts'o Chhyidmo. Moreover, the very names given in a native geographical work, "Dzamhuling Gyal- shes," of Dok-yul and Dok-de, identify the tracts oa Pole (lit; abrog) or upland pastures; whilst in the account of A. K. himself the denizens are designated Dobpa or " herdsmen." TIBET IN ITS GENERAL ASPECTS. 1 7 which vuns the upper waters of the Gryama-ngiil Chhu. Here are wide valleys in which cultivation is carried on, with villages nestling on the spurs and in nooks high up the steep slopes, and monasteries perched in places inaccessible apparently to anything wanting wings. Moreover, the rounded knolls of the T'ang mountains are replaced by bold crags and sharp snow-capped peaks. Fine rivers, feeders to the Sok Chhu, are seen at short intervals, all flowing southwards. This is the kind of country from Nag-chhu-kha, N.E. of Lhasa, to Chhamdo with inter- vals of bare upland moors.^ WINTER ASPECT OF T'ANG AND DOK. The prevailing tints of the loftier parts of Tibet, that is of the greater portion of the whole territory, are red, purple, yellow and brown. Where streams and swamps occur the bright emerald green growth of grass and herb produces a wondrous contrast. But only for four months is the natural colouring of the land seen. In winter-time the appearance of both the T'ang and the Doh coun- try is very difEerent. The early falls of snow in October soon alter the face of the landscape to one of utter desolation. After frost has suc- ceeded frost, and the bitter hurricanes have swept up the snow to be re- frozen hard as rock in fantastic monuments, nothing save a few antelopes, hares, and foxes, which " flee like shadows," remain to witness to the moving life once there. But we had forgotten, these are not the sole survivors. Large numbers of yak and wild asses still roam about ; and many may be seen perched on inaccessible crags rooting out herbage from deep beneath the snow. Still all is silent and death-like. The Dok herdsmen have retired to stone-huts in the sheltered valleys; the Golok robbers from the east, 'who scour the Jangt'ang, have retreated to tlie lower plains of Amdo and the small towns on the Chinese borders. One of the most distinctive accessories of the 'Vang country in Western Tibet, north of lat. 33°, is the many great sheets of water, all saline, but some more intensely so than others. It is a noteworthy fact that in the depth of winter with the night temperature even 45" below zero, lakes holding more than saturated solutions of salts never freeze. These liquid pools and swamps upon the ice-bound plains are all the more startling to behold, when rivers of the strongest current lie hard-by con- l As to the chief localities of the Dok lands, we should enumerate : (1) the region of Lake Map'ang and the greater portion of the Province of Dok-t'ol, border- ing the north-east of Ngari Khorsum j (2) the country south and south-east of Lake Tam-dok, including the tracts round Tigu Ts'o and P'o-mo Jhang-t'ang Ts'o ; (3) the Tast stretch of territory north-east of Lhasa and north of the Gyalmo Ngul Chhu known as Dok-Tul and Dok-De. The last mentioned is by far the most extensive Doi region in Tibet, reaching as it does northwards to the Dungbura Range. 18 TIBET IN ITS GENERAL ASPECTS. gealed and motionless, and even a goodly number of the geysers of hot water, so common near lakes in Tibet, have been frozen into tall white columns. As M. Bonvalot remarks, the power of ejection of these fountains of boiling water is not sufficient to cope with the frost. Upon the mosses and crags of the Bok territory, the snow in January lies in mighty sheets of many feet in thickness; while in the lava- strewn plains of the verge of the Jangt'ang, due north of Namts'o Chhyidmo, there seems to be less of snow. There flats and rocks and the recurrent mountain ranges belonging to the Tibetan steppes are not clothed in white, but are completely plated with pure ice, as though rolled up in glossy armour which had somehow been put on when liquid, and which thus holds them so tightly as to appear contorted and quilted. RONG DISTRICTS. Certain parts of the country are much cut up with deep ravines and rocky gorges, between the high clifEs of which rattle rapid affluents of the larger rivers. These narrow valleys mostly contain considerable raised beds of alluvial soil, especially where any conjunction of streams occurs. On the ledges of such ravines numerous hamlets and gompas ai'e built everywhere; and the denizens industriously cultivate the strips of alluvial accumulation. Much artificial ground, derived from the river, is contrived, as well, on hollowed recesses in the cliff-sides. In- deed, these ravine or Rong districts are favourite spots for villages. One recommendation is the abundant water close at hand, another is the richness and softness of such soil as exists ; and a third advantage seems to be the general low altitude of the districts where this con- formation is found. One of the chief Rong districts, that one which lies between Shigatse and Lake Yamdok, is a perfect net-work of defiles, but literally swarms with villages and monastic establishments. GANG DISTRICTS. This conformation of country is peculiar to Khams the great pro- vince of Eastern Tibet. Khams holds both Rong and Gang districts, but the latter class is its speciality. In some respects this style tallies with the Bok lands further west, and indeed here it replaces them; only the morose and desolate aspects of the other are here absent, and moor- land is replaced by downs. Moreover the whole elevation is much lower, and consequently vegetation richer and more varied. Still we are in the uplands, the Tibetan word Gang having that bearing. Captain Gill, who viewed Tibetan scenery from the east in Septem- berj just over the frontier of Szechuen, gives this glowing picture : — On passing the crest of Ohah-toh-shan, the great upland country is at TIBET IN ITS GENERAL ASPECTS. 19 once entered. Standing on the summit of the pass, stretched below was a fine valley, closed in on both sides by gently-sloping round-topped hills, all covered with splendid grass. The richness of the pasture was something as- tonishing ; the ground was yellow with buttercups and the air laden with the perfume of wild-flowers of every description. Wild currents and gooseberries, barberries, a sort of yew, with many other shrubs, grew in profusion. By the side of a little tent some Tibetans were lying about ; their fierce dogs tied up to pegs in the ground, and great herds of sheep and cattle grazing round them. The sheep are taken in vast flocks once a year from Lit'ang to Ta-chien. lu, and thence to Chheng-tu for sale. Near Chhamdoj in the north of Khams, the landscape is of the Gang character, this quality succeeding to the Bok features further N.-W. and West. It is of La-gang, a little west of Chhamdo, that Captain Bower is speaking when we read this entry in his diary :— Through the most lovely country over which it has ever been my lot to travel. The path ran through a forest one or two hundred feet above the river, with here and there open grassy patches with trees scattered about. Each bend in the river disclosed to view a panorama of surpassing beauty. In no part of Kashmir does the beauty of the scenary excel that of this part of Tibet. Game is plentiful, but shooting is forbidden in all the country having any connection with the monastery of Eiuchi. Such scenery is not of the description one would expect to meet with at an elevation of 1^,500 feet. But it is only so in Tibet. South of Chhamdo, the country presently heeomes rugged and sterile, and it is only in the main river valley that the smiling aspect of nature is maintained. It is so, too, in the important Derge king- dom of Khams, 150 miles north-east of Chhamdo. At this height all is forbidding and unproductive save in the great river-tracks. Mr. Rockhill thus pictures the change from the Bong country of the Grye- kiindo district to the Gang country further south, as Derge is entered by way of the Dengo valley. We preserve in our quotation the writer's orthography of names : — The face of the country remained as we had seen it north of Jyekundo bare and blfeak; in some rocky nooks a few stunted juniper trees, but no shrub or flower, no singing-bird or anything to relieve the awful stillness and dreariness of the scene. After a miserable night during which sleet had fallen continually, we were off again by daylight ; and entering the Dren-kou valley, which leads down to the Dre Oh'u, the scenery changed as if by magic. A brook flowed down the glen, its banks covered with soft green grass powdered over with little white and pink flowers. On the mountain sides grew juniper and pine trees, and by the roadside were wild plum, gooseberry, honey-suckle, and other shrubs, the fragrance of their blossoms filling the air. From cavities in the tufa rock pended creepers and ferns from which the water fell in crys- tal drops; and we heard the cuckoo's cry echoing across the valley , ao tIBET IN ITS GENEBAL ASPECTS. About two miles below Lori we came once more on the Dr^ Oh'u, and the scenery grew even finer as we wound along the steep mountains sides, some 500 feet above the blue river which went dashing by in eddying and seething masses in its narrow bed. The mountains rose several thousand feet on either hand, those on the left bank reaching to above the snow-line and stretch- ing as far as the eye could reach along the river's sinuous course. Lamaseries and villages, around which were little patches of cultivation, were numerous on either side of the river ; and great droves of yak were grazing around the white tents of parties of tea traders, whose goods were piled up under white cotton awnings to protect them from the frequent showers of rain. Of course, in discriminating the characteristics of the different classes of country, it is impossible to do more than generalise as to the leading features. Indeed, in Tibet, as in every land, we often find the qualities of each class blended, so that it would be hard to distinguish to which class the district should be assigned. It is enough, however, to shew how various is the character of this territory, and yet how to , some extent it admits of systematic apportionment. Moreover, as we have said, our classification is that of native Tibetan writers. There are said to be six Gang districts in the topographical sense, namely ; Mabja Zabmo, Ts'a-wa, Pompo, Mar Khams, Minyag, and Yarmo. These are sometimes separated from the province of Khams, and the whole is designated Gang. CHAPTER III. CLIMATE AND METEOROLOGY. One might reasonably look for eccentricities in the climatology of Tibet. An extensive territory with a plane of elevation so exceptionally lofty and yet so near to the tropics necessarily presents conditions un- paralleled elsewhere on this globe. To put the matter more strikingly we have there in fact some 600,000 square miles of the earth's surface raised in general altitude from 13,500 to 17,500 feet above the level of the sea, traversed by numerous mountain-ranges varying from 19,000 to 26,000 feet, yet situated only from 5j to 14 degrees north of the Tropic of Cancer. Accordingly, the meteorology of such a country may well be unique. Moreover, the circumstances of the climate are still further complicated by the rim of lofty mountains enclosing the territory on three sides, those on the south cutting it off by their ex- cessive height almost completely from the moist currents of the ocean. Probably, also, the great spinal column of plateau and dislocated moun- tain range, forming the main watershed of so many river basins, stretching from Aksai Chin to Zayul, produces further eccentricities. Now, the altitude of this enormous country would lead us to expect terrific cold and its exclusion from the atmospherical effects of the ocean great dryness. And that is so in the larger half of the territory. We have in fact in those parts an Arctic climate, deprived to a consider- able extent of that accessory in the shape of constant freshly-falling snow which in the Arctic regions does much to temper the severity of the cold. Deficiency of moisture causes the snow-fall in most parts to be exceedingly small. In the south-eastern districts adjoining Chinese territory, certainly, where the southern barrier is much lower than else- where, immense quantities of snow are deposited every year, much of it above the line of perpetual snow, much more below it, and which on melting adds materially to the volume of the three great rivers that quit Tibet in the S.-E. corner. However, on the valleyed plateaus of the N.-W., S,-W. and North- 22 CLIMATE AND METMOBOLOGT. Central regions, heavy falls of either snow or rain, though indeed oc- casionally occurring, are rare. In those parts, extreme dryness is the leading feature. Only the round-topped ridges of very high mountain ranges, such as the Aling Gang-ri and T'a-chhab Gang-ri, each scaling over 23,000 feet in altitude, receive any regular annual increment to their hoary load; and that is generally not a considerable dole. More- over, the height of the snow-line in Tibet causes the small lodgments on the hill-sides and open valleys to vanish with the return of summer. Nevertheless, the sweeping assertions often made concerning the utterly arid nature of the Tibetan climate need distinct qualification. Because at Leh in Ladak under \\ inches is the annual rain-fall, it has been too hastily assamed, on the theory of similarity of hydrometric position, that the greater portion of Tibet receives no more. Now, though this may be the case in the extreme western tracts, there is actual proof that the deficiency in most other parts of Tibet is not in any way so great. The concurrent testimony of all traders who visit Dar- jeeling from Sbigatse is that in that part of Tsang the rains of July and August are very heavy ; while, in winter, at least 8 inches of snow fall five or six times every season. Again, even in the great salt-lake district, so far north as between the 32nd and 34th parallels of latitude, and so far west as between the 84tli and 87th meridians, we have the strongest evidence of a considerable down-fall. Captain Bower and Dr. Thorold traversed this portion of their route (where the elevation aver- ages 16,000 feet) from July 25th to September 4th, 1891 ; when, out of the 42 days therein comprised they record heavy storms with drenching rain on 19 days ; and the implication from Captain Bower's narrative is that it was wet on other days also. It is interesting to note that these storms seemed to come mainly from the S. and S.-W. direction. Again, Captain Wellby, travelling in the districts due N. of Lhasa in 1896, noted in August only 11 fine days, rain or snow falling on 18 out of the 31 days with several severe storms. Even in the far N.-W of Tibet, supposed to be so arid, snow fell on 4 days in the first week of June. In July 1896 rain or snow fell on 10 days or nights in N.-W. Tibet. But we shall return to the subject later. Furthermore, in connection with this question, we may mention the way in which native Tibetan authors constantly describe their country as " the White Land ; " while their speech is styled by the poets Gangs-chhen-hyi Shad " the language of the great snows." THE WATER-SUPPLY OF THE GREAT SIVEES. How comes it — it might be asked — that Tibet is the grand home of so many mighty rivers ? Their sources lie in the very heart of this CLIMATE AND METEOROLOGY. 23 land where the benison of the heavens is not lavishly showered down. Whence, therefore, do the fountains draw the great supplies necesssary to feed the early reaches of all the water- thoroughfares of India and South-eastern Asia? Well, it is possible to make reasonable elucidation of the apparent inconsistency. It is, after all, no great mystery. The truth seems to be that the climate of Tibet has not always in the past been the same as it is now ; and that the results and productions of that different climate are by no means yet dissipated in that country, but survive as stupendous legacies — diminishing slowly it may be as time progresses, yet still effective in the present benefits they confer. Let us extract a passage from Sir J. D. Hooker in one of the notes to his Himalayan Journals: "Were the snow-level in Dingcharn as low as it is in Sikkim, the whole of Tibet from Donkia almost to the Yaru Tsanpu river would be everywhere intersected by glaciers and other impassable barriers of snow and ice, for a breadth of 50 miles ; and the country would liave no parallel for amount of snow beyond the Polar circles. It is impossible to conjecture what would have been the effects on the climate of Northern India and Central Asia under these conditions. When, however, we reflect upon the evidences of glacial phenomenon that abound in all the Himalayan valleys at and above 9,000 feet elevation, it is difflcult to avoid the conclusion that such a state of things once existed, and at a comparatively very recent period." In addition, we find Captain (now Colonel) H. H. Godwin-Austen remarking in 1 868 of the evident decrease in size of the Pangkong lake in Western Tibet : " The only deduction to make from such com- paratively recent changes is, that the level of its waters has been alter- nating with moist and dry periods of time, the slow process of which may be even now going on almost imperceptible to man ; the water of the Pangkong depending as it does mainly on the winter snow and the country passing through a period of diminishing falls— query: may not the snowfall in this part of the Himalayas be much less now than formerly ? " The explanation, then, takes this form. At the present day all the loftier mountain-ranges in Tibet are well stocked with enormous pro- trudent glaciers ; and in concavities in elevated summits lie snow-fields, maj"- be, several hundred feet thick. Moreover, the moraines in valleys and the signs of glacial action in the basal ravines assure us that, large as the glaciers still are, their bulk lias been formerly exceedingly larger. The modern snow-fall and rain-fall at their current annual rate could in no wise bring about such accumulations. It is most probable, there- fore, that the climate, so far as these discharges are concerned, has in 24 CLIMATE AND METEOROLOGY. later centuries undergone radical change, and the present fall of these is infinitely less in quantity than in by-gone times. However, so huge were these glaciers and other reservoirs of congealed water that, long as they have been furnishing the main demands of the great outflou'- ing rivers, they are still large enough to maintain an adequate supply to them for an indefinite period to come. Nevertheless, the marked diminution in the size of numerous lakes in Tibet, as noticed by various travellers, which lakes depend to a large extent on glacial feeding, affords evidence that the drainage into them is not so copious as formerly. A certain falling-ofE in the supply is therefore betokened. Although a theory such as the foregoing is worthy of all credence, one point likewise must have due weight. We would re-assert our belief that, while the falls of rain and snow in the west and north are insig- nificant, yet in Central Tibet the amount of these has been greatly under-estimated. And it is through the region where a fair quantity of both occur that the Yeru Tsangpo and at least two other of the great out-flowing rivers pass in a great portion of their respective courses. Again, everywhere in Tibet, the annual renewal of neve to counter- balance in some degree glacial waste on the higher mountains, is an ap- preciable factor even now-a-days. Some fresh snow — though only a moderate quantity — is still added yearly to snow-field and peak and does not melt. Comparatively scanty moisture reaches Tibet in modern times; and if this were only rain, we allow that the contribution might be hardly worth counting, as being nearly all lost by percolation into the thirsty soil. But, as on the lofty ranges, it comes in the form of snow and hail, on the contrary every atom is preserved and goes to in- crease those stores which replenish glaciers, and through glaciers — in due process — the resultant rivers. In ways such as these we can readily account for the vast body of water brought from Tibet by the rivers which greet us in the plains of India and China ; and yet not be surprised to learn that the amount of snow and rain falling in that hidden land is certainly, by itself, totally inadequate to produce such an out-flow. THE SEASONS IN TIBET. Let us follow the round of the seasons to gain some idea of the Tibetan climate in western and central districts. SPRING CONDITIONS. Starting with spring, we shall find that season slow to show itself, especially in northern and western regions. The end of April arrives before the snow fallen in the winter — little though it may be — ClIMAW AND MUTEOBOLOGY. 25 begins to roelt; the outer crust is so hard and frozen. Even the great rivers, ice-bound to a considerable depth, are not unfettered before April has commenced ; and every night tliere is a temperature below- freezing point, in the moderately elevated tracts, right up to the end of June. Indeed, in the salt-lake district, on what is called the high plateau of Tibet, where the altitude ranges from 15,300 to 16,500 feet, the average minimum temperature in August is 28° Fahr., and in July ^-i^'S. So that we may say that in those regions the thermometer registers below freezing-point every night throughout summer, and therefore throughout the year. Nevertheless the poor Tibetan, so hardly pressed by his inhospit- able climate, endeavours in the earliest days of spring to turn over the iron soil and to sow his sixty-day barley. He cannot, as is the custom in the Tsaidam, begin his labours so early as March Isfc. Even where no snow is lying on the ground, the frost holds it too tightly and the manure is too hard where it has been often laid ready through the win- ter on the surface. At the end of March, l.owever, the plough must be used and the soil prepared. Snow is still lying in many fields, and the contrivance to get rid of it is curious. During summer and autumn in general the people collect earth and store it in their houses in large quantities. In the spring, when they fancy no further snow is likely to fall, and when that already there has begun to melt and cake the sun's rays, they spread the soft earth over it, and that has the effect of melting the snow underneath. Sometimes snow falls again and again after this process, and occasionally even three and four layers of earth have to be used before the field is ready. In April all seed is sown ; and early in May, so much care do they take, the green shoots are above-ground every- vvhere up ta 14,000 feet. VAST RANGE OF TEMPERATDBE, The air during April, May, and early June in Tsang, Ui, and all Central Tibet, is so wonderfully clear and pure^as a rule so free from the subtlest spiculae of moisture — that during the day the heat of the direct rays of the sun is intense. When a traveller is protected by the north-thrown shadows of rocky heights he may feel, even at mid-day, chilled to the bones; but he rounds some corner and then, exposed to the unchecked glare, he is instantly in dread of sun-stroke. Captain Wellby, when in lat. 35° N., long. 82° E. in June, at an altitude of nearly 16,000 feet, speaks of the heat on a lake-side as insupportable, the thermometer in the open registering 105°. Even out of the direct rays of the sun,^ the temperature of the air, in the middle of the day, at great 4 26 CLIMATE AND METEOROLOGY. heights is often considerable. We observe it noted by Captain Wellby that on June 22nd at an altitude of 1 7^300 feet the thermometer inside his tent rose to 78°. But the sun, which at 2 p.m. shone down with a force of 125° in the open, once sunk to the horizon, the bitterest cold can follow in the height of summer. On July lOth in North Central Tibet the reading at night was 6" Fahr. ; on August 18th in lat. 35° 10' long. 92° 12' E., the minimum at night-time shewed 16° Fahr., the altitude being 15,700 feet above the sea. However, there are at night great variations of temperature. Travelling at an average elevation of 16,000 feet, Captain Wellby records 33° as the warmest night temperature in June and 40° as the maximum of the nights of August. In Lhasa and even in Shigatse the evenings of summer up to 8 or 9 p.m., are generally most pleasnntly warm. In travelling after sundown those pathways skirting beat-absorbing rocks often yield the balmiest of atmospheres far into the night. Just at daybreak seems to be the time of greatest cold during the 24 hours. The difference between the shade temperature at 3 p.m., and that in a tent in the same place at 3 to 4 a.m., is often nearly if not quite 60° degrees in the early part of May at ordinary elevations. On July 10th 1896, in North Central Tibet, 54° was registered by day in the shade, but in the succeeding night the temperature sank to 6°. A quotation from Captain Wellby's diary must conclude our remarks upon this point. He and Mr. Malcolm were camping in June in the lake- district of N. N.-W. Tibet (lat. 35° 12' N., long. 82° E.) at an altitude of some 16,000 feet: "Bathing in the lake itself, although the lake was partly frozen over with ice, the water was quite enjoyable, and we could remain splashing about in it for half-an-hour, and afterwards bask naked in the sun A climate like this at such a height struck us as truly marvellous. After seventeen degrees of frost by night, we found ourselves basking in the open in a temperature of 106°, shewing a variation of ninety degrees in the 24 hours. At 7 p.m., again, the thermometer registered as much as 48° Fahr We were ofE before 5 o'clock, with a keen morning air in our faces, but after a couple of hours the heat became so unbearable that we would fain have halted." Again, on July 18th, the same latitude, but a good way further east: " At 7-30 p.m., at a height of over 16,000 feet, the temperature was 40° Fahr., and during the night there were nineteen degrees of frost." THE SUMMER SEASON. The temperature and hygrometric conditions are of great interest during the months of June, July, and August. As to the first, let a CLIMATE AND METEOROLOGY. 37 few readings of the Fahrenheit thermometer in shade be extracted from various sources for each month : June. Average minimum temperature, N.-W. Tibet, at 14,000-16,000 feet ... ... ... 25° Lowest minimum, N.-W. Tibet, at circa 16,000 feet (Captain Bower) ... .... ... 18 Lowest minimum, N. N-W. Tibet, as measured in 1896 by Captain Wellby . ... ... 7° Lowest minimum at Batang (at 8,150 feet) ... 27"' Average minimum at 12,000 feet in North Sikkim 33°"S Average temperature at noon in Eastern Tibet, 12,000-13,000 feet ... ... ... 60° Highest maximum temperature, N.-W. Tibet, at circa 16,000 feet (June 29tli) ... ... 73°-5 Average maximum temperature at Lhisa (11,600 feet) ... ... ... ... 72° Highest maximum at Lhasa during June ... 77° 4 Average maximum in Tsaidam plains (9,000 feet) ... 71° Temperature in Tsaidam, June 4th 1880, at 6 a.m. ... 42°'9 Temperature in Lhasa, June 8th 1879, at 6 A.M. ... 65°"4 Temperature in Tsaidam, June 4th 1880, at 3 p.m. 69°'7 Temperature in Lhasa, June 5th 1879, at 3 p.m. ... 72°'4 Temperature at Mariam La, Purang, June 11th 1866,8 p.m. ' ... ... ... ... 43° Temperature at base Mt. Kailas, Manasarowar, June 17th, 6 a.m. ... ... ... ... 53°-5 July. Average minimum, N.-W. Tibet, at circa 17,400 feet 24°'6 Average minimum, North Cental Tibet, in 1896 (alt. 16,600-17,000) ... ... ... • ... 21° Lowest minimum, N.-W. Tibet at 17,560 feet (July 4th)... ... ... ... ... 17° Lowest minimum, same district, registered by Cap- tain Wellby ... ... ... ... 6° Average minimum at 12,000 feet in North Sikkim 38° Average maximum at Lhasa (11,600 feet) ... 71°'3 Highest maximum at Lhasa during July ... 77°'4 Temperature in Lhasa, July 12th 1879, at 6 A.M. ... 61°-4 Temperature in Lhasa, July 12th 1879, at 3 p.m. ... 74°-4 In Ngari Khorsum at 16,000 feet, July 30th, 1884, at noon: ... ... ... ... 57°"6 August. Average minimum, North-Central Tibet, at circa 16,000 feet ... ... ... ... 28° Average minimum, North-Central Tibet, in 1896 (Captain Wellby) ... ... ... 34° ^8 CLIMATE AND METMOROLOGY. Lowest minimum, North-Oentral Tibet, at 16,800 feet (August 18tli) ... ... ,.. 19° Lowest minimum, same district, in 1896 (same day of month) ... ... ... ... 18° Highest minimum, ditto, at 16,000 feet '(August 10th) ... ... ... ... 35° Average maximum at Lhdsa (11,600 feet) ... '64°'4 Highest maximum at Lhasa during August ... 70° In shelter on Pass-top, near Gart'ok, West Tibet, 19,400 feet, in August at 9 a.m. ... ... 37" In shelter on Pass-top, near Gart'ok, West Tibet, 19,220 feet at 9 A.M. ... ... ... «° In shelter on Pass-top, near Gart'ok, West 'Tibet, 17,660 feet at 9 P.M. ... ... ... 49°-25 In shelter on Pass-top, above Upper Indus, W. T., 18,750 feet at 3 P.M. ... ... ... S3° At Toling Gompa, Upper Sutlej, 12,280 feet, August 5th, 4 p.m. ... ... ' ... ... 69° On high plateau. West Tibet, 15,200 feet, August nth, 5 P.M. ... ... ... ... 67°-5 T'ok Jalung gold-field, 16,330 feet, August 29th, 3 p.m. 56° „ „ „ „ „ August 27th, 7 A.M. 41° As to the falls of rain and snow in summer-time, it must be noted tliat the monsoon-season of India makes itself felt to a certain appreci- able extent throughout Tibet. In Central districts rain-showers occur on very many days in July and August, the monsoon effects not reachr ing the North-western Central region until about July 20th. Prom the middle of June to the end of August, in the provinces of Tsang and Ui, including Yarlung, Yamdok and Lhobrak, nearly every day the sky is cloudy and" frequently heavily overcast. In Western Tibet, rain falls in small quantities throughout July and August, but with a very moderate aggregate for the two months, probably 4 to 5 inches. Thus, Captain Godwin-Austen noted that, during the whole period of his wan- derings in the Pang-kong Lake country, from July &2nd 1863 to the middle of Augu'st, with a few solitary fine days, " the weather was miserably cold-^nothing but cloud, sleet, and rain." In the far north of "West Tibet, as on Lingzhi T'ang, it seems, however, to be much dryer and clearer with only three or four days rain in August. And now as to that phenomenon of Tibet, the not infrequent snow- storms in the height of summer. On the higher passes snow falls every year in July and August — no large amount, but often 4 or 5 inches in depth. It seldom lies longer than two or three days except in hollows and behind noirt-k-facing rocks, whare, if the height be over 16,000 feat — 'though that is 4,000 feat bslow the parpatonad liue-^it continues CLIMATE AND METEOROLOGY. 29 on to the winter. Occasionally, however, heavy snow comes down in Western Tibet in Julyj and remains for weeks upon regularly-used tracks. Thus on the road down on the Tibetan side of the Jhang La leading out of Ladak there is generally a considerable fall in the early days of July, and thus it lies two or three weeks in the full glare of the summer sun, a stretch of several miles' length. The Ts'omorang La between the valley of the upper waters of the Indus and the Tibetan gold-fields at T'ok Jalung is another locality for heavy falls in August which completely cover the Ts'omarang range from the ridge to the ibase, the latter part being under 16,000 feet^ while the summits do not tise higher than 18,750 feet. To us ttis seems so fascinating a subject — heavy snow falling in localities only ten or eleven degrees north of the tropics, in a latitude more southern than that of Greece or Sicily, in the months of July and August, that we would fain enlarge upon it. A few striking quotations from actual experience, however, will be more to the point. For in- stance, let a graphic word-picture from tlie hand of God win- Austen be introduced. Here it is. He was camping early in August in the Chang CLhen- mo valley on the bed of the Kyamgo Trag-kar stream; and he writes: — "It now began to snow hard, and we got under the lea of a low clifE ■and sat there until the coolies came up, when we pitched our tents with great difficulty^ for the pegs would not hold in the gravelly bed of the stream ; but by means of heavy boulder stones this was accomplished. It was a miserable evening, snow falling until sunset and lying on the top of the tents and in high dry spots. When the clouds broke at that hour, beautiful appeared the surrounding mountains with their white .coveringj and the fleecy clouds drifting up against their sides added greatly to their apparent height; the whole sufEused with a lovely rose joolour, .and the sun shining upon the wet surface of tbe many- tinted rocks brought out their hues brighter than ever,'' Cajptain Bower is not so descriptive in style ; but he records tersely a 'similar incident at an altitude circa 16,500 feet in North-Central Tibet^ dated August 16th : " Just as it became too dark to go on any feirther, a snow-squall struck us ; we soon had the tents pitched and a kettle filled with snow was on the fire. Dr. Thorold, however, had gone after some goa just before the snow set in, and had not rejoined the caravan, so I fired several shots and, guided by these, he managed to reach the camp." Moreover, Atma Ram, one of the Bower party, sacaitions in his notes that from July -25th to August 3rd their roMite in N-W . Tibet was (continually inteiTupted by repeated falls (o£ snow. 30 CLIMATE AND 3IETE0B0L0GY. AUTUMN AND WINTER. All crops throughout the Central districts are got in before the middle of September; the early grim or naked barley having to be cut in July at least. By the middle of September the frosts at night, even as low down as 12,000 feet, are too keen for the stability of anything in the form of seed or flower yet remaining. Early in October the first of the winter falls of snow occur, and these October descents seem pretty general throughout Tibet. In order to exhibit conclusively the generality and wide extension of the snow-fall in the early days of October, a few examples will prove useful. A.K., travelling in Yagra-tod, the valley just south of the Dang-la range, some 220 miles N. N.-E. of Lhasa, at an altitude of 14,800 feet, notes heavy snow on October 7th and 8th, 1879 ; and, when he had crossed the range, we read : " during the night 3 feet of snow fell." Again on the 15th and 16tli he was detained at one camp by continuous falls; and on tlie 17th he makes the entry : " Our day's march was almost entirely over snow." So, too. Captain Bower camp- ing with his party on the shores of Chargyut Ts'o experienced similar weather from the middle of September to the 4