160 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS AND EXPLORATIONS. 



water-shed of the central Himalayan chain* into the valley of the 

 Lhobra Sanpo river or upper Manas. Here he had struck into 

 the Indian hydrographical basin, and very soon he entered a well- 

 peopled and highly cultivated valley, resembling Sikkim, and said 

 to be the most fertile in Tibet. At Lhakhang-Jong, a little north of 

 the frontier, the Lama's goods were searched and his true character 

 as an explorer was revealed to the authorities, but by dint of judi- 

 cious bribes and his skill in meeting cross-questioning, he was 

 allowed to depart, his fair note book being alone destroyed. He 

 then made his way north-eastward, and passing through Chetang, on 

 the banks of the Sanpo, and the great Sam-ye monastery, probably 

 the most important in Tibet, he arrived at Lhasa, where he stayed 

 for a few days and had a friendly interview with the Nepalese agent. 

 He returned to India by way of the Yamdok-tso and Pho-mo-chang- 

 thang-tso lakes, and the Chumbi valley to Darjeeling, which he 

 reached on the 15th December 1883. 



The valley of the Arun river was traversed in 1880-81 by a Hindu 

 explorer, G. S. S., up to the water-shed between Nepal and Tibet. 

 Crossing the mountain range he advanced to the Tibetan village of 

 Karta, beyond which he was not allowed to go. He brought back 

 some new information respecting routes in Nepal, though his 

 observations were few and disconnected. 



During 1884—85 the designation of the Darjeeling party was 

 altered to that of the Himalaya party, and under the superintendence 

 of Colonel Tanner a variety of work was performed. The blocks for 

 tea cultivation in the Darjeeling hills were demarcated with perma- 

 nent pillars, progress was made Avith the demarcation of the Nepal 

 boundary, and triangulation over 550 square miles was executed in 

 the Simla Hill States. f The most important part of the operations, 

 however, consisted in the triangulation carried on in the following 

 localities, so as to extend our knowledge of the Himalayas, viz., [a) 

 on the Gandak river, (b) from stations of the North-East Longi- 

 tudinal Series in the plains facing Eastern and Central Nepal, (c) 

 in the terai along the Mechi river, and in the Daling hills from bases 



* See my article Himalaya Mountains in the "Imperial Gazetteer of India," for a 

 general view of the structure of the mass of the mountain range referred to. Colonel 

 Godwiu-Austeu also submitted an elaborate map and address on the same subject 

 before the British Association at Southport in 1883. See Proceedings, Royal 

 Geographical Society, 1883, p. 610, and 1884, p. 83. 

 t See also p. 99. 



