THE SOURCE OF THE SACRED RIVER--A DEPARTURE
We started off in beautiful weather, not a cloud hanging over the
summits of Kubi-gangri. We followed the left bank of the Kubi-tsangpo,
and rode along the foot of the huge moraines, which here rise fully 470
feet above the valley bottom, and which were formerly thrown up on the
left or western side of the gigantic glacier, whence proceeded all the
glacier tongues now remaining only in short lengths. The morainic
character is plainly recognizable, sometimes in curved ridges and walls
falling steeply on both sides, sometimes in rounded hillocks rising one
above another. The surface is often covered with fine pebbles, grass,
and lovely alpine flowers trying to make the most of the short summer.
Here and there a landslip has taken place, and then it can be seen that
the rock shows no trace of stratification. Occasionally we pass granite
boulders, but they are small, the largest not more than 280 cubic feet.
On the valley bottom are swamps with rank grass, and wild-geese are
enjoying the summer in the ponds. We twice met with fresh spoor of small
herds of wild yaks which had moved off to the right bank of the
Kubi-tsangpo. The horses' hoofs splashed in the swampy ground, seldom
varied by small patches of boulder clay.
Numerous rivulets descend from the moraines. They are fed by the melting
snowfields, and therefore, in contrast to the glacier brooks, are
crystal clear. They have eroded deep valleys in the moraines, and one of
them has deposited a great dejection cone at the mouth, over which the
brook falls in ten channels, carrying 106 cubic feet of water. A very
considerable proportion of the upper Brahmaputra's water is derived from
melted snow. Rivulets rushed and spurted all about in the rubbish, and
all came from the snowfields, which struggled in vain against the heat
of the spring sun.
Now we have right in front of us the immense glacier which descends from
an extensive firn basin on the western foot of the Mukchung-simo
massive. Between its terminal moraines and the older moraines we have
skirted, a rather voluminous stream has eroded its valley. Its water is
tolerably clear and green, so that it proceeds from snowfields. A little
below the terminal moraine it unites with the numerous arms of the muddy
glacier stream, of which the largest is the one which flows nearest to
the foot of the Mukchung massive. Even 200 yards below the confluence
the green water can be clearly distinguished from the brown, but
afterwards the cold currents intermingle. Where the river, still divided
into a number of meandering arms, turns past camp 201 to the north-east,
it receives considerable additions from the glaciers lying further east,
and thus the Kubi-tsangpo is formed.
Then we ride up, zigzagging among boulders and pebble beds, over ridges,
banks, and erosion furrows, over brooks and treacherous bog, over grass
and clumps of brushwood, to a commanding point of view on the top of the
old moraine (16,453 feet). Before us is a chaos of huge, precipitous,
fissured, black, bare rocks, summits, pyramids, columns, domes, and
ridges, moraines, tongues of ice, snow and firn fields--a scene hard to
beat for wild grandeur.
Here we made a halt, and I drew the panorama while the horses grazed on
the slopes. The largest glacier, which comes from the Kubi-gangri
proper, is entirely below us, and we have a bird's-eye view of it. It is
fed by three different firn-fields, and has two distinct medial
moraines, which here and there rise into ridges where the ice has been
thrust aside. The right lateral moraine is well defined, and is still
partially covered with snow. The left is broad in its upper part but
narrow below, where the green stream washes its base. Up above, a
glacier from the west runs into the main glacier, and where the two
join the side glacier is thrown up into a mighty wall, which merges into
the left lateral moraine of the other. All the bottom of the glacier
front is buried in rubbish, and the ice peeps out only here and there.
Here are several small sheets of water, some of an intensely blue
colour, others brown, with finely pulverized matter, showing that they
are connected with the water of the ground moraine. Two of these small
pools have vertical sides of blue ice like entrances to marvellous fairy
grottos. A series of marginal crevasses are still partly covered with
snow. The terminal moraine is a chaos of mounds, pebbles, and boulders,
with patches of snow on the shady side. In a hollow between these
hillocks flows the middle glacier stream, after passing two pools. The
terminal moraine does not increase in size, for its material is slowly
disintegrated and washed away by the stream, which winds in several arms
over the even bed of the valley bottom just below in the most capricious
curves.
An excursion over the surface of the glacier would not be difficult when
one was once up on it. There are many dangerous crevasses concealed
under the snow which may be avoided by keeping to the rubbish heaps of
the medial moraines. The mass of the Kubi-gangri, which from our point
of view lies farthest to the right, to the west-north-west, is called
Gave-ting; from it descends the great side glacier.
The front of the main glacier, where the largest of all the glacier
streams of the Kubi-gangri rises, is the actual source of the
Brahmaputra. The other streams which enter it south-east of camp 201 are
smaller and shorter. We could not get to them, for the horses sank too
deep in the sand and mud of the main stream.
On our return we made a halt at the place where the principal branch of
the Kubi-tsangpo comes out from under the ice, and I found that the
source of the Brahmaputra lies at an altitude of 15,958 feet above
sea-level. I must leave details for the scientific report of this
journey, which will be published in due time.
On July 14 it seemed very hot in my tent, for even at seven o'clock in
the morning the temperature was 45.1°; in the night there had been
nearly 14½ degrees of frost. The sky was perfectly clear, and therefore
I could not refrain from seeking another point of view to investigate
the beautiful glaciers of the Kubi-gangri.
After arranging with Tsering that he should meet us in the valley of the
Dongdong river, we rode up the banks and ridges of the old moraine,
through its hollows and over its terraces of barren soil, which was now
soft and treacherous from the melting of the snow, past pools of clear,
green water, and to the highest point of its ridge, where there was
nothing to hide the view.
I first took nine photographs, forming a consecutive series. Then a
cloak was thrown over the stand to make a shelter against the strong
wind, and in this sentry-box I sat for nearly four hours drawing a
panorama which embraced the whole horizon. Meanwhile my companions lay
down and snored, and I was glad to sit alone face to face with these
royal mountain giants. The whole architecture is fantastically wild, and
the only law which is strictly observed is that each glacier is confined
between two huge black crests of rock.
[Illustration: 242. PANORAMA OF KUBI-GANGRI AND THE LANGTA-CHEN GLACIER,
WITH THE SOURCE OF THE BRAHMAPUTRA (FROM A HEIGHT OF 16,453 FEET, JULY
13, 1907).
Sketch by the Author.]
In order to give the reader a notion of the scene I here reproduce a
part of the panorama embracing the Kubi-gangri (Illust. 242). To the
south, 27° E., is a tetrahedral peak, which our guide called
Ngoma-dingding. To the south, 11° E., rises another summit, of almost
precisely the same form, which is called Absi. On the east of it lies
the Ngoma-dingding glacier, and on the west the Absi glacier. West of
this stands the lumpy Mukchung-simo group, with its culminating point
lying south, 24° W. The northern side resembles a stable with straight
short stalls, each containing a small hanging glacier. To the south-west
rise two sharp pinnacles, and in the south, 57° W., a couple of
dome-shaped summits consisting only of ice and snow; they belong to the
Langta-chen massive, and their firns feed to a great extent the glacier
in the front of which the Brahmaputra takes its rise. So the glacier may
be called the Langta-chen. To the south, 70° W., 88° W., and north, 83°
W., rise the summits of the Gave-ting group. To the north, 55° W.,
three peaks of the Dongdong appear, from which one of the sources of the
Brahmaputra takes its rise, quite insignificant compared to the
Kubi-tsangpo.
Towards the north-east the sharply defined valley of the Kubi-tsangpo
runs downwards, and in the distance are seen the mountains of
Chang-tang, pyramidal peaks of singular uniformity, and crowded together
in great numbers, which form a finely jagged horizon, and in consequence
of the great distance merge into the pink tint of the insignificant
snowfields. The Trans-Himalaya seems on this side to widen out and
become flatter than in the east.
It was late when we rode down the steep path to the camp on the
Dongdong. And now we had to hurry westwards and make as many discoveries
and collect as much information as possible on forbidden paths, in spite
of the Mandarins and the Devashung.
On July 15 we left our former route to the right and directed our steps
northwards over intricate moraines, seeing the snowy peaks of Dongdong
and Chema-yundung still more clearly from the pass Kargan-la. On the
16th the sky was overcast, a couple of hail showers fell, and the hills
around us changed to white. We rode north-westwards past two small
lakes, and again fell in with solid rock--green and black schist. From
the Tugri-la we had a fine view over a world of mountains, the names of
which I have no time to record. We crossed another saddle, Sen-kamba-la,
to reach the broad open valley of the Chema-yundung river, which
descends from a very extensive glacier in the south belonging to the
Chema-yundung-pu massive. Here were several nomad tents, and seven tents
inhabited by pilgrims from Bongba stood on a rise. They were on their
way with kith and kin to Kang-rinpoche to make the pilgrimage round the
holy mountain. Most of the pilgrims from the far east take this southern
route and return over the Marium-la.
July 17. It was very hot in the saddle with a temperature of 50° and
quite calm air. The brown puppy was very tired of travelling, and drops
fell from her hanging tongue, but she could not leave the antelopes and
hares in peace. She darted after them full speed, but never caught them,
and came back to me disappointed, but began again the useless pursuit.
The Ronggak-chu is an affluent of the Chema, and comes from the
north-west. We left the little double lake Kuru-chok in the south. To
the west-south-west is the place where the Chema-yundung receives the
Angsi-chu, the most westerly of all the headwaters of the Brahmaputra.
In the valley of the Tynchung we encamped beside some accommodating
nomads, who quickly procured me fresh yaks, for the three musketeers
turned back here to Shamsang, after doing their work well. The whole
excursion to the sources of the Brahmaputra had cost 110 rupees, and it
was well worth more. The natives said that ten robbers had recently made
the neighbourhood unsafe, but immediately it was reported that a
European caravan was approaching Tynchung, they had entirely
disappeared, and therefore we were regarded as deliverers, and the
people could not do too much for us. A Hindu merchant from Almora was
camping here, buying sheep's wool and salt from the nomads, and selling
them frieze rugs and textiles from Agra and Amritsar.
Next day we crossed the Marnyak-la (17,395 feet) and had the Angsi-chu
immediately below us, and on the 19th we left the river behind and
followed its small tributary, the Loang-gonga, up to its source at the
very low pass Tamlung or Tag-la, which is nothing more than a rise in an
open longitudinal valley. But this pass is exceedingly important, for it
is the watershed between the Brahmaputra and Manasarowar. Its height is
17,382 feet. To the south is spread out a succession of snowy peaks, and
to the west-south-west is seen Gurla Mandatta or Memo-nani, a majestic
and imposing group which belongs to the same Himalayan range as
Kubi-gangri. The pass is situated among old moraines, where is the
little insignificant lake Tamlung-tso, from which the Loang-gonga flows
out. At some distance to the south is seen the low watershed between the
Angsi-chu and the Gang-lung, a stream that comes from a massive of the
same name, and, as the Tage-tsangpo, falls into Manasarowar. The very
latest maps of western Tibet give a very incorrect representation of
this country, which has never been visited by a European before. Instead
of a clearly marked meridional range we found an open, hilly,
longitudinal valley with the watershed running among its moraines. Here
we took leave of the Brahmaputra, after passing half a year in its basin
since crossing the Sela-la. We encamped at a place where the Gang-lung
river breaks through a rampart of moraines, forming foaming cascades.
During the following day's journey it flows through granitic moraines,
drift sand, and morasses, and becomes a considerable stream, receiving
numerous affluents from the south. A caravan of 50 yaks, and eight men
from Purang, armed with guns, and clad in blue with fur-lined cloaks,
were on the way to the fair in Gyanima. In the district Tagramoche,
where we bivouacked, were many nomads and beggars with staves and
bundles on the way to the holy mountain. We also met six merchants from
Ladak, who were carrying dried peaches for sale on 45 asses. They had
left home a month and a half previously.
On July 21 we rode down the Tage-bup valley among savage cliffs. On its
bottom flows the Tage-tsangpo, changing its colour from light green over
sandy ground to bluish-purple over dark detritus. Langchen-kamba is a
small side-valley on the right, from which robbers are wont to sally
forth against defenceless travellers. Just below the valley a spring
bubbles forth with crystal-clear water at a temperature of 38°. It is
considered holy, and is marked by a pole bedecked with rags and
streamers like a scare-crow. This spring is also called Langchen-kamba.
A little farther down the spring Chakko stands on a steep slope on the
right bank, and its water (40.3°) is collected in a round pit 3 feet
deep. A wall is erected about it, covered with flat stones, on which
figures of Buddha and holy texts are carved. Leaves from the holy
scriptures are thrust between the stones of the wall, and streamers and
rags fly from a pole. Through the water, clear as a mirror, could be
seen blue and red beads, two inferior turquoises, some shells, and
other trash, thrown in as offerings by pious pilgrims. The water is
supposed to have miraculous powers. Murmuring prayers, our guide filled
a wooden bowl with water and poured it over the head and mane of his
horse to protect it from wolves. With the same object he tied a rag from
the pole on to his horse's forelock. He drank himself a good draught to
render him invulnerable to the bullets of robbers. If a sheep or other
animal is ill it is only necessary to sprinkle it with the holy water to
make it well again. When a traveller or pilgrim stands at the well and
pours water with both hands over his head, it guards him against falling
into the hands of footpads, and from other misfortunes. And if he sits
and meditates, drinks, and washes his head, hands, and legs, and has
sufficient faith, then he finds gold coins and precious stones at the
bottom of the well. The sick man who bathes his whole body in the
miraculous water becomes strong again. It is a Lourdes in miniature.
While my men were engaged in their ablutions I sat at the edge of the
well and listened to the mystical music of the fluttering
prayer-streamers, and found this fascinating Tibet more enigmatical at
every step.
Then we rode over the Tage-tsangpo, where its valley opens into the flat
basin of Manasarowar--a new chapter in the chronicles of our journey.
Again Gurla Mandatta showed itself in all its glory, and in the
north-west Kang-rinpoche or Kailas, the holy mountain, like a great
_chhorten_ on a lama's grave, rose above the jagged ridge which forms
the horizon in that direction. On seeing it all our men suddenly jumped
out of their saddles and threw themselves down with their foreheads on
the ground. Only Rabsang, a confirmed heathen, remained seated on his
horse, and was afterwards well scolded by Tsering.
[Illustration: 243, 244, 245. THE MOUNTAINS AT THE SOURCE OF THE
BRAHMAPUTRA.]
We are now out on open hilly ground, and see a glimpse of the holy lake
Tso-mavang or Manasarowar. We encamp by a small lake called Tso-nyak,
whither come Islam Ahun and Shukkur Ali, sent by Guffaru, who is become
uneasy at our long absence. We send them back again to Tokchen with
orders to Guffaru to proceed to the monastery Serolung-gompa on the
holy lake, where we will meet him.
On July 22 we rode over the Tage-tsangpo, which here carried 291 cubic
feet of water, where Rabsang got a thorough wetting in consequence of
his horse coming a cropper among the boulders in the bed. Tsering said
that he deserved a dip because he had not saluted Kang-rinpoche. Camp
210 was set up in the broad valley Namarding, where a clear brook flows
to the Tage-tsangpo. The wind blew strongly, and the Tibetans said that
the waves on Tso-mavang were as high and dark as nomad tents. Should we
venture in our little canvas boat on the lake, exposed to all the winds?
It must be very rough before I consented to give up the trip, for the
lake had long been the subject of my dreams.
Next morning Tundup Sonam appeared with the news that the Gova of
Tokchen would not let his yaks on hire for the journey to Serolung. I
had therefore to ride to Tokchen by a road over the pass Karbu-la, and
down the river Samo-tsangpo; it is full of fish, but we were asked not
to disturb them, for they came up from the holy lake. We were all
together again in Tokchen, and I found the Gova a decent fellow, who
welcomed me with a large _kadakh_ and a bowl of _tsamba_.
Now an hour of parting was come, for I sent from Tokchen thirteen of my
men home to Ladak. I had several reasons for this. I did not need so
many men in western Tibet; twelve were enough, and a small, light
caravan accomplishes more and does not excite so much notice. The men
were to travel along the great highway to Gartok under the experienced
leadership of Guffaru, and there deposit all the baggage I could spare
with the British agent, Thakur Jai Chand. I also sent to him a letter
packet of three hundred pages to my parents, beside other
correspondence. Of particular importance was a letter to Colonel Dunlop
Smith, in which I asked for 6000 rupees, provisions, books, revolvers
and ammunition, and things suitable for presents, such as gold and
silver watches, as well as all the letters which must have accumulated
at the Viceregal Lodge.
On the first evening, when I called together all the twenty-five men and
told them my decision to send away thirteen, and asked which of them
wished to go home, no one answered. They declared that they would follow
me until I was tired of Tibet. Then I picked out thirteen and retained
the best twelve men. Among these was Tashi, who with Tundup Sonam had
accomplished the adventurous journey to Shigatse. But when he saw that I
was in earnest about the dividing of the caravan, he begged me to let
him go home, so he was exchanged for another man.
We stayed here two days to put everything in order. After the baggage
was re-arranged I had only four boxes left, and the rest were to be
carried away by Guffaru. Robert sat in my tent like a money-changer and
piled up sovereigns and rupees in small heaps, the pay, gratuities, and
travelling expenses of the men who were going home. Our treasury was
relieved of 2118 rupees all at once. The important correspondence was
enclosed in a case, which Guffaru carried in his belt. The men with him
were allowed to keep two of our five guns. Late in the evening Guffaru
came to my tent to receive his last instructions. Honest old Guffaru, he
had in the autumn of his life performed wonders in the winter in
Chang-tang, always composed and contented, always doing his duty in the
smallest particular. Now he sat, with the tears falling on to his white
beard, and thanked me for all I had done for him during the past year. I
bade him weep no more, but rejoice that the hard time was over for him,
and that he could return safe and sound to his people with 400 rupees in
his purse. When we left Leh he was as poor as a church mouse, and now he
was a rich man for his position, and he had not needed his shroud. I
told him that I should miss him very much, but that I could not entrust
the valuable baggage and important letters to any other hands but his.
When I came out of my tent early on the morning of the 26th the 13 yaks
were laden and the thirteen men were ready to march off with their
Tibetan guides. I thanked them for their faithfulness and patience
during the time when they were exposed to so many dangers in my
service, begged them to remember that they were responsible for the
caravan on the way home, and told them that they must obey Guffaru, and
that their character would suffer if they did not bear with one another
on the way. If they were as conscientious on this journey as in my
service, it would be well for them in the future, and perhaps our paths
might cross again.
Then old Guffaru came forward, and fell on his knees before me, weeping
loudly, and all the others in turn followed his example amid sobs and
tears; I clapped them all on the shoulder and hoped that this bitter
hour would soon be over. Then they took leave of their comrades, who,
deeply moved, sent greetings to their parents, wives, and children in
Ladak, and they marched off on foot, as they had travelled so many
hundred miles, silent, drooping, and downcast, and soon disappeared
behind the hills.