58 Report on Trans- Himalayan Explorations, <Sr. [Xo. 1, 



the 2nd Pundit found to be 1 3, 1 00 feet. The next day the Zaskari 

 reached Loh-niantang, where the Loh Gyalbo (or Eaja) lives in a 

 stone fortlet, near a small town of some 200 houses, surrounded by a 

 great deal of cultivation. 



From Loh-mantang three days' easy march landed the Zaskari at 

 Muktinath. On the route he passed a large village called Asrang, 

 where the Gyalbo has a house, and at every three or four miles he 

 saw a group of a few houses, mostly to the west of his road, but he 

 met with no tents south of the Himalayan watershed. 



Muktinath (or Lohchumik) stands in an open spot, with 4 vil- 

 lages of about 50 houses each, lying a mile to the south of the shrine. 



The Zaskari has given some farther routes which are new and 

 will no doubt prove useful hereafter. The route given above is 

 more especially interesting, as giving another line across the Him- 

 alayas : it makes the crest very much as given in the map with 

 the first report of the P u n d i t 's explorations, and shows how very 

 far behind, or north of the great peaks, the Himalayan watershed 

 actually lies, and what a great breadth the highest parts of the 

 range cover. 



Another explorer was employed to the east, who made a route- 

 survey of 1,190 miles in length, advancing by one route 640 miles 

 and returning by another 550 miles in length. 



A small portion of this man's route was quite new, as he ma- 

 naged to penetrate behind or north of the great Mount Everest 

 peak. His progress in that direction was checked by the obduracy 

 of the Lhasa officials on the Tingri-maidan. As far as it goes 

 this portion of the route is, however, interesting, insomuch as it 

 gives another determination of the Himalayan watershed, and 

 throws a little more light on that part of the mountains which lies 

 behind or north of the great peaks, seen from the Hindustan side. 



The remainder of the route is in a great part new ; but some of 

 the former explorations went over portions of the same ground, 

 and the positions of several places have been entered on pub- 

 lished maps from various information, though hitherto without 

 any regular connection. These new routes will supply the neces- 

 sary connection, and when combined with former explorations, will 

 add much towards the elucidation of the Eastern Himalayas. 

 A map will be prepared on this basis, but no reference can for 



