PANGONG: A GLACIAL LAKE 



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near shore. Dark, rtigged mountains, 

 ■especially in the eastern part, spring 

 steeply from smiling blue bays to a 

 height of 1,000 or 2,000 feet (Fig, i, ^), 

 and then, at gentler angles, rise 3,000 

 to 4,000 feet more to a chain of peaks, 

 20,000 feet high, snow-capped and full 

 of glacier tongues (Fig. 2), Verdure 

 alone is needed to make Pangong rival, 

 or even excel, the most famous lakes 

 ■of Italy or Switzerland. 



In early May, at the time of my visit, 

 the snow had disappeared up to a 

 height of 16,000 feet, and two inches 

 which fell at the level of the lake May 6 

 melted rapidly. The minimum night 

 temperature ranged from 21° to 29° F. 

 The mornings were sunny and warm, 

 but every afternoon between one and 

 three o 'clock a strong west or north- 

 west wind arose, chilly and disagree- 

 able, and sometimes accompanied by 

 squalls of sleet. The scanty bushes 

 and still rarer willow trees had not 

 "begun to bud, and the few hardy 

 Buddhists of Tibetan stock (Fig. 3) 

 inhabiting the western shores of the 

 lake were just beginning to sow barley, 

 the only crop which will ripen. Sown 

 in the frosts and snow of May, it is 

 reaped in the frosts and snow of Sep- 

 tember. At the lake level, 14,000 feet, 

 the barley usually ripens, but at Pho- 

 brang, a few hundred feet higher, six 

 miles north of the west end of the lake, 

 the crop often fails, and the upper 



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