358 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS IN 1890. 



back from Lhassa. They then made eastward 

 by a new route, and it was only at Tchang-cha 

 that they rejoined the main route formerly fol- 

 lowed by the French missionaries. 



From Tchang-cha [says M. Bonvalot] we went to 

 Batang, and by Li-Tang to Ta-Tsien-Lou, where we 

 fell in with some compatriots. Altogether we have 

 traveled about 1,500 miles in an unknown region, 

 nearly halt' of the way without a guide. It is true 

 that we have had a terrible winter, the quicksilver 

 freezing, and we have been assailed by terrible storms 

 which took our breath away, which blinded us, and 

 whicli made it still more trying to walk at so great an 

 altitude. We can still hear in our ears the howling 

 of the wind which blew from the west, and we can 

 feel in fancy the sand being dashed up against our 

 hoods. Such were the conditions under which we 

 had to seek our way ; at times we could not distin- 

 guish a man ten yards in front of us ; sometimes we 

 could not even open our eyes ; so it is not surprising 

 if we lost some of our men and cattle and were in a 

 constant state of apprehension. The only combusti- 

 ble we had was the droppings of the wild yaks, and 

 no water. For a period of two months we made our 

 tea with ice, which was generally dirty and mixed 

 with sand and earth, so that a bit of pure ice was 

 a great treat, and we tilled our bags with it whenever 

 the opportunity offered. For we marched more or 

 less at haphazard, and had to take a provision of ice 

 and yak's droppings enough to last several days. Aft- 

 er a long day's march we often had to wait hours 

 and hours for our tea, as the yaks' droppings argol, 

 as Father Hue calls it would not burn properly. 



Our beasts of burden camels and horses alike 

 were decimated, or, to speak more accurately, every 

 one died of fatigue, thirst, and hunger. The snow 

 was swept off by the wind, and the animals had 

 nothing to drink. Upon the other hand, we had not 

 enough combustible or lime to melt the ice for them, 

 even when we happened to be near a frozen pool. 

 Twice we had hot springs close to our camp, and the 

 horses which slaked their thirst at them died on the 

 following day from overdrinking themselves. One 

 of the camel drivers, robust as ne seemed, died of 

 what is known as the mountain complaint, his face 

 being tumefied, after bleeding a good deal at the 

 nose. Two days before reaching lake Tengri-Jsor we 

 buried a second camp follower, whose toes were froz- 

 en off, and who died one night while the wolves 

 were howling around our bivouac. It was time that 

 we should get back among our fellow-men, for most 

 of us could not have gone another week. After some 

 long negotiations with the authorities of Lhassa, we 

 obtained what horses and yaks we required and made 

 eastward, keeping to the north of the high road from 

 Lhassa to Batang. 



We lived up on the table-land of Tibet, amid a 

 chaos of mountains ; and we traversed numberless 

 passes so high that one seemed to be mounting up to 

 heaven, there being one chain after another, with 

 summit overtopping summit. Below, in the plain, 

 were white surfaces which might have been taken for 

 lakes, and which were merely salt or frozen pools, 

 over which we made short cuts, or else vast sheets of 

 water lashed by a westerly wind, and so salt that even 

 a polar cold could not congeal them. The only in- 

 habitants of these deserts were herds of antelopes, 

 vast troops of yaks, a few crows, and native birds. 

 Some days we saw nothing, not even the crows, 

 which follow the caravans as a shark does a ship, the 

 solitude beinw almost overwhelming, so that after a 

 few days of it our men were on the lookout for some 

 human form, just as the shipwrecked men look for a 

 sail upon the ocean. They were in high glee when 

 they thought that they could see a horseman, a pe- 

 destrian, or a horse even, but when these proved to 

 be optical delusions they became gloomier than ever. 



Two brothers, MM. Grum-Grijmailo, in a jour- 

 ney of exploration to the eastern Thian-Shan, 



discovered near the head-waters of the Khorgos 

 a great mountain with six peaks, called Doess- 

 meghene-ora. Its greatest height they estimate 

 at about 6,000 metres or 19,680 feet. According 

 to their observations, the northern side of the 

 mountains is very incorrectly laid down on the 

 best maps. The pass Kiityka does not exist ; the 

 Mengete Pass leads from the basin of the Kash 

 into that of the Shusta, whence the road turns 

 not northward, but to the southeast, joins the 

 road coming from the winter pass Ulan-ussu up 

 to the pass of the Keldyn, and then leads to the 

 Julius, or Sullus. To the north is the great 

 mountain spoken of above, Doess-meghene-ora. 

 The view of its six peaks from one of the sum- 

 mits of the Manas mountains is sublime. They 

 can not be seen from the Kash or the Julius, 

 being hidden by the Keldyn mountains. The 

 masses of snow are astonishing, but the glaciers 

 are inconsiderable, owing to the steepness of the 

 walls of the mountains. Along Atshal-Urumt- 

 shi the Thian-Shan forms an inaccessible wall, 

 crowned with almost uninterrupted masses of 

 snow. The expedition visited some coal mines, 

 and there were ravines, sending from clefts and 

 openings a vapor or smoke with the peculiar 

 odor of stone coal and everywhere incrustations 

 and crystals of sulphur. Nearly all the rivers 

 of the Thian-Shan carry gold, which is taken also 

 from all old channels of the rivers, but not from 

 other deposits or veins of quartz. These mount- 

 ains are rich in large vertebrates, but much 

 poorer than the Pamir in birds and insects. 



The Karambar Sar, or Gazkul lake, in the 

 Hindu-Kush, has been supposed to have two 

 outlets, one flowing to the Yarkhun or Mastaj 

 valley, the other to the Gilgit river. It is now 

 found by M. Dauvergne, a French manufacturer 

 residing in Cashmere, that there are two inde- 

 pendent lakes separated by a low-water divide. 

 From the smaller, half a mile long, flows the 

 Yarkhun, and from the Karambar Sar, a mile and 

 a half long, farther east, issues the Karambar or 

 Ashkaman, a tributary of the Gilgit. 



Other changes in the map of Asia caused by 

 recent explorations and surveys are the straight- 

 ening of the course of the Sangpo, the giving it 

 a more southeasterly direction, and assigning to 

 it much of the supposed drainage of the Zyul 

 Chu. It is also found that the Mugodjar mount- 

 ains are a continuation of the Ural, although 

 separated from them by a depression six miles 

 in breadth. Their highest point is Mount Airuk, 

 1,970 feet high. 



Much new information has come from the 

 journey of Otto Herz by sleigh across Siberia in 

 1888-'90, under the direction of the Russian 

 Government. Near Vilynisk Mr. Herz made 

 some important discoveries. Minerals of great 

 rarity and value and precious stones which had 

 never before been found in the region turned up 

 on all sides in large quantities. Opals of excep- 

 tional beauty were also found in the immediate 

 vicinity of the river. The explorations in the 

 Vilyui country were exceedingly laborious. Often 

 impenetrable masses of underbrush and tangled 

 saplings completely blocked the way, so that a 

 halt had to be called while a company of natives 

 hewed a narrow path for the rest of the party. 

 Most of the country thus examined had not been 

 trodden by a European since the explorations 





