March 17, 19 10] 



NATURE 



81 



Messrs. George and Jobling ; both these machines possess 

 interesting features in the matter of control. There are 

 also monoplanes by the Star Engineering Co., Ltd., of 

 Wolverhampton, and by Handley Page, Ltd., of London. 



It is quite impossible to deal adequately with all the 

 points of interest in the exhibition. That its success is 

 assured, and that its effects will be far-reaching, are 

 «videnced by the large numbers of visitors, most of whom 

 appeared to be keenly interested and full of inquiries. 



EXPLORATIONS IN THE GLACIER TRIBU- 

 TARIES OF THE SHAYOK RIVER, KASHMIR 



TERRITORY. 

 TN the Times of December 21, 1909, reference was made 

 ■*■ to certain discoveries by a party consisting of Dr. E. G. 

 Longstaff, Dr. A. Neve, and Lieut. A. M. Slingsby in the 

 Kashmir Himalaya. The Geographical Journal of Novem- 

 ber, 1909, also had an article, based upon an account of the 

 tour, written by Dr. Neve in the Times of India of Septem- 

 ber 4. A few remarks concerning the addition to Hima- 

 layan geography referred to in these communications may 

 Le of interest. 



The topography of this part of Baltistan requires 

 <;xplanation ; if the atlas sheets are examined, it will be 

 seen how very few trigonometrical points are to be found 

 east of longitude 77°. They are much fewer than in the 

 portion of Baltistan I had to survey on the Lower Shayok 

 and Indus, and the branches of the Shigar tributary- of the 

 latter river. The difficulties of penetrating into these out- 

 of-the-way valleys were very great, and it was almost a 

 superhuman task for Mr. Ryall and other assistants to 

 produce, in the limited time given them, a better or more 

 accurate idea of its geographical features. Very few of the 

 glaciers were followed up, or can be followed up, so their 

 sources were merely sketched in by eye from a distance. 

 Very many tributaries are inaccessible, either from their 

 rocky, wall-like sides, or the stream being too deep and 

 rapid to ford, there being no bridges, or the means of making 

 them. Thus the topography can only be classed as rough 

 reconnaissance. The Saichar valley and its glacier was not 

 ascended far, if at all, and even the distance and size Mr. 

 Ryall assigned to it some twelve miles N.W. from Saichar 

 would in nature appear to be its total length ; it probably 

 has a bend, and if straight a distant ice fall, or a local 

 nar.'-owing might give the appearance of a w-atershed. I 

 have not heard of Mr. Ryall for very many years ; if he is 

 still living he would be able to tell us whether he ascended 

 the glacier to any distance. His field book, if it is to be 

 found, would give much information as to where he went. 

 There would be his boiling-point observations, and the 

 notes he made in it. 



There can be no absolute accuracy in the topography 

 at the head of the Kondus Valley, south-east of Snowv 

 Peak K. This valley, I would point out, is well worthy 

 of further exploration, because it is possible some high 

 point on its eastern side could be reached from which a 

 view would be obtained of the higher portion of the newly- 

 discovered Terim Glacier and the snowy range which 

 bounds it on the north-eastward. Concerning the Terim 

 Glacier extension of the Saichar, the discovery alters the 

 position of the main range, which may be taken as fairlv 

 well laid down up to lat. 25° 30', long. 77° 30'. North o'f 

 lat. 35° 30' up to about lat. 35° 45' and long. 77° has 

 certainly to be mapped. This is some forty-five to iiftv 

 miles in length, and lies fifteen miles or more further to 

 the north and eastward. It is to be hoped that Colonel 

 Long, the present Survej-or-General of India, will see his 

 way to depute one or two of his best officers to extend the 

 triangulation, fix more points, and accurately lay down 

 this corner on a plane table — an attractive, delightful 

 summer's work for someone. 



That very high peaks in this corner, lying to the east 

 of K2 and Gusherbrum, escaped the view of the triangula- 

 tors when they were observing at the principal stations of 

 the Indus River and Changchenmo series is not surprising. 

 The high mass between the head of the Nubra River and 

 the Shayok. 20,000 to 22,000 feet, would hide much. From 

 trigonometrical stations east of Leh. the same portion of 

 the main water parting is shut out by another lofty mass 

 22,000 to 2:;, 000 feet, dominating the Shayok Valley on its 

 northern side. 



NO. 2107, VOL. 83] 



The Shayok series was a very short one, the stations of 

 observation did not extend to lat. 35°, and from the two 

 highest stations, Ajanliung, 19,903 feet, and Telthep, 19,705 

 feet, overlooking and south of the Shayok Valley, peaks at 

 the head of the Saichar Glacier would not be visible 

 owing to the intervening mountain masses. 



A point of interest is the great length of the Terim 

 Glacier, estimated at forty-four miles, next its position 

 and direction, in connection with the trend of the ranges 

 in Ladak and the mountain area both to the eastward 

 and westward. This great glacier, as described, would 

 appear to occupy a blank on the map, and, like a piece 

 of a puzzle, exactly where it might be expected to fit in. 

 This the topography at the head of the Saichar Glacier 

 and the line of the main water parting did not previously 

 indicate on the atlas sheet. 



A valuable compilation was published in 1907, viz. " A 

 Sketch of the Geography and Geology of the Himalaya 

 Mountains and Thibet," by Colonel S. G. Burrard, R.E-, 

 F.R.S., superintendent Trigonometrical Survey, and H. H- 

 Hayden, superintendent Geological Survey of India. In 

 1883 — presidential address. Geographical Section, British 

 .Association — I made an attempt to bring the remarkable 

 parallelism of the mountain ranges into some sort of 

 systematic sequence from the plains up to the loftiest parts 

 of the Himalayan chain. Correctness in detail was not 

 to be expected over such an extended area, yet it is some 

 satisfaction to find the general principle underlying my 

 plans and sections has been accepted by officers of the 

 Trigonometrical and Geological Surveys. My Shayok Kailas 

 range they call the Kailas ; for my Mustakh axis, which 

 I considered one of the most important, they adopt that of 

 Karakoram ; but I am now inclined to think, from what 

 Dr. Longstaff reports, that yet another well-marked elevated 

 range is indicated by an extension of Younghusband's 

 .\ghils, on the northern side of the Oprang Valley, continued 

 to Longstaflf's new peak, 27,610 feet, about Tong. 77° and 

 lat. 35° 30' (vide Geographical Journal, January, 1910, p. 

 65). I am doubtful if this assigned position is correct, for 

 on the atlas sheet it is close to the head of the glacier 

 called Sherpi Gang, in the Kondus Valley. The position 

 long. 77° 20' and lat. 35° 40' given in the Times of India 

 would appear to fit in best with the general account. The 

 Karakoram pass and watershed lie some forty miles t» 

 the north-east of the Saichar Glacier, and must therefore 

 fall on a still more northern axis of elevation, running' 

 in the direction of the Lingzhithang plain, and quite distinct 

 from my Mustakh one. 



From Leh the direction of the Ladak axis or range 

 is indisputably to the south-east, and it leaves the 

 Pangkong Lake and Rudok well to the north, but the 

 west and east wrinkling exhibited in the ranges much 

 further to the north has not been so definitely established 

 owing to the absence at many points of geological data to 

 link them up ; this is particularly the case with the 

 Karakoram pass and the country- north of the Changchenmo 

 range. 



The topography of this area leads me to notice what is 

 written in the above-mentioned work by Colonel Burrard 

 and Dr. Hayden, part ii., p. 100 : — " Even the great 

 Karakoram peaks themselves seem to follow two align- 

 ments. The Masherbrum peaks and peak 63 or K12 

 (table V. of part i.) surmount a ridge parallel to that on 

 which the peaks of K2 and Gusherbrum stand, and at a 

 distance of ten miles from it." This feature can thus be 

 explained. 



The Masherbrum ridge westward from K6, 2^,119 feet, 

 the peak which the Duke of the .Abruzzi ascended to 24,583 

 fppt last summer, represents, together with the Mustakh 

 P->ss granite axis, one main broad line of elevation. The 

 Baltoro Vallev occupies the trough scoured by its glacier 

 along the strike and junction of the stratified rocks of the 

 Masherbrum side, which originally lay up against the 

 granite, and may very possibly have been once continuous 

 over it. The southern Masherbrum ridge is, in fact, only 

 a secondary feature, the result of denudation. 



I cannot say for certain what K2 is composed of — probably 

 not granite, more likely of the metamorphic and stratified 

 series coming in on the north of the axis. This may be 

 exnlained in more detail. 



The stratified rocks, schists and slates, limestones and 

 sandstones, a series of enormous thickness, compcsing the 



