1870.] Report on Trans-Himalayan Explorations, fyc. 57 



lie was able to give a very intelligible though rough route between 

 the two points, which agrees very fairly with the positions assigned 

 to them by the 1st and 2nd Pundits. 



"When this Zaskari found that he would not be allowed to go to 

 Lhasa, he told the Ladak merchant that an agent of the Chief 

 Pundit had gone on ahead, to whom he was to have delivered some 

 goods, and requested that he would see that they were delivered to 

 the agent : the merchant promised to do this and took charge of the 

 packages. The Zaskari then put his own baggage on a couple of 

 sheep and started off south. Though early in December he was able 

 to cross the Brahmaputra river on the ice, which was then strong 

 enough to bear laden yaks. The first day he reached the Likche 

 monastery, where he found two men from Lohba in the Mustang 

 district, north of Muktinath. These men had gone beyond, to the 

 north - of Tadum, for salt and were returning with it. The Zaskari 

 managed to make their acquaintance, and on hearing that he was a 

 Bisahiri (or man of Koonoo) going to worship at Muktinath, they 

 agreed to take him with them. Their salt was laden on about sixty 

 yaks, each carrying from 1£ to 2 maunds (120 to 160 lbs) . The two 

 men were able to manage this large number of yaks as the road was 

 a good one. 



Prom Likche they ascended gradually over a great plain or pla- 

 teau, with plenty of grass and scrub ; the latter making good fuel 

 even when green. Three easy marches took them over this plain 

 and landed them at Lohtod, four or five miles beyond or south of 

 the Himalayan watershed. The plain had a few small knolls on it, 

 but was otherwise flat or undulating. The ascent, even up to the 

 watershed, was very slight indeed. Prom the pass, which the man 

 hardly thought worthy of calling a pass, there was a slight descent 

 or four or five miles. He got a good view of Lohtod, a village of 

 sixty houses surrounded by a number of scattered houses, which he 

 thought might make a total of several hundreds : the houses were all 

 built of sun-dried bricks. He noticed a great many fields, and 

 found that they cultivated barley, buckwheat, mustard, radishes, and 

 a small proportion of wheat, all indicating a moderate altitude, 

 though the only trees visible were two or three poor willows. This 

 is confirmed by the easy slope of the ground to Muktinath, which 



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