1852.] A Journey through Sikim. 499 



any descent, we came upon a grassy plateau two miles long, the east 

 end of which slopes to the south and drains into the Lachen, but it 

 bore no marks of water-ways. 



In the centre was a small Lake, the edges of which were then fro- 

 zen, and this was the depository of all the remaining waters of the 

 plateau, for there was no slope or outlet to the west. An examina- 

 tion of this small plateau gave me the first satisfactory explanation 

 of the constant assertion of the Thibetans, that in travelling over the 

 more level portions of their country " there are no streams of water" 

 The annual fall of rain and snow is represented as being exceedingly 

 small in the aggregate, and never to be at all heavy, while the evapo- 

 ration is very rapid.* This with a sandy soil, and the existence of 

 numerous depressions forming shallow Lakes, will account for the dis- 

 posal of much of the Thibetan waters, and for the extreme difficulty 

 of ascertaining the situation of streams, but except in the mountains, 

 in which the valleys are said to be very narrow and to contain perma- 

 nent water-courses, I believe there are no constantly running streams 

 at all in Thibet. I can speak in this respect to the plateau extending 

 north-west from the smaller one noted above, to the Kambajong range 

 of hills, and which is certainly ten miles square. There is not a drop 

 of running water in the whole of it. There is a water-course with a 

 general north-west direction, which I went along from its origin for 

 six miles ; but it was perfectly dry, and tlje slope was quite trivial. 

 The drainage from this plateau is to the north-west, and goes, I 

 believe, into a feeder of the Arun — a Nipal river. This plateau of 

 Cholamoo and Geree is bounded on the east by a broad flat spur from 

 Donkiah, which terminates the Lachen valley to the east, to the north 

 and north-east by the Kambajong range of mountains, and to the 

 south by the hill of Bhomtso, and the smaller plateaux lying to 

 the north of the rocky range which bounds the valley of the Lachen. 

 Probable elevation of the plateau 17,500 feet; it is composed of 

 yellowish sand and stone, pasture very scanty indeed. Antelopes and 

 Kiang seen on it, and I fell in with a flock of four hundred very fine 

 large sheep. They were hornless, generally black, or brown faced, 

 and were tended by one man only without a dog. He walked slowly 

 in the middle, keeping up a sort of grunting noise to the flock which 



* The Wet Bulb Ther. stood 22° degrees below the temperature of the air. 



