GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS AND EXPLORATIONS. 153 



though not so highly educated as Kishen Singh, and a good deal older, 

 displayed the most unswerving fidelity throughout their wanderings. 



A -k and two companions left Darjeeling on the 24th April 



1878, and proceeding as Captain Turner did in 1783 by way of the 

 Jelep La pass and the Chumbi valley, he passed through Giangtse 

 and the Yamdok-tso lake, which he described as shaped like a horse- 

 shoe. The Sanpo was crossed by the famous suspension bridge 

 north of the lake, and on the 5th September 1878 the party arrived 

 at Lhasa and replenished their merchandise. During his stay there 



A k employed his time in learning the Mongolian language and 



in collecting a large amount of information regarding the city, the 

 people, and their customs. It was not till the 17th September 1879 



that A k was enabled to join a caravan proceeding to Mongolia. 



The party consisted of 105 persons, 60 of whom were Mongolian of 



both sexes and the rest Tibetans, including A k's party of six. 



Great care had to be exercised to avoid the roaming bands of armed 

 and mounted robbers, sometimes 300 strong, which infest Northern 

 Tibet, and this necessitated the adoption of a more westerly route 

 than the regular line of march to Sining. At the Ma-chu river, one 

 of the tributaries of the Upper Yangtse-kiang, a caravan proceeding 

 to Lhasa was met, but it was subsequently turned back by snow, and 



A k's party fell in with it again on descending from the Angir- 



takshia or Kuen Lun mountains! into the Naicki valley. The last 

 part of the journey had proved very severe, and several of the beasts 

 of burden had succumbed. The Naichi valley is several thousand feet 

 lower, and is covered with rich pasturage, which affords sustenance 

 to large herds of ponies, thick-tailed sheep, Bactrian came is and 

 goats. It forms part of the Tsaidam depression, the drainage of 

 which appears to have a genera] westerly flow, but no outlet into 

 the Lob basin.* The Mongolian nomad inhabitants proved to be 

 very hospitable, and they invited the members of the caravan to 

 lodge with them. At Thingkali the caravan was attacked by 200 

 mounted robbers ; a battle ensued, and after a somewhat desultory 

 firing the robbers fell upon the party with swords and spears, so 



A k and his friends fled with only their arms and instruments. 



At Hoiduthara the party were very kindly treated by a Tibetan 

 of Giangtse, and remained with him three months. They then 



* This I infer from the heights on the late General Prshevalsky's map. 

 f An exhaustive memoir, by Captain Gr. Kollm, on the Kuen Lun range will be found 

 in the Zeitschrift of the Berlin Geographical Society (Band XXVI., 1891, No. 3). 



