TEN DAYS ON THE ICE OF NGANGTSE-TSO
From the Christmas camp we travelled southwards over two passes, of
which the second, called Laen-la, forms a watershed between the
Dubok-tso and the Ngangtse-tso. The great lake itself we do not see yet,
but a distant bluish background of mountain chain which rises from the
southern shore of the lake. A yak was lost; he was not exhausted, but
his fore-hoof had split so that he had become lame. When once he had
laid himself down no power on earth could induce him to get up again;
tugging at the rope, which was passed through his nasal cartilage,
availed nothing. We therefore left him behind, and gave him to the
natives nearest to our camp. Several yaks and the surviving veterans
from Leh were in need of a thorough rest, so we decided to remain a
fortnight at the great lake. It was certainly risky to linger so long at
one place in Naktsang, where I had met with such determined opposition
in the year 1901, for we should give the authorities time to make their
preparations. But we must rest; we had no choice.
After a night temperature of -24.20° we marched down the longitudinal
valley to a point immediately above the place where the valley emerges
into the lake-plain, and bivouacked near a group of tents containing six
households. The whole country is corroded with mouse holes, and
sometimes they lie in stages one above another. If one reckoned in the
central parts of Tibet only one field-mouse to the square yard, the
resulting total would be marvellous. At camp No. 97, for instance, it
was impossible to lay down my bed without covering several holes, and I
was awaked in the morning by the mice, which were making a noise and
squeaking beneath my bed, and wondering why they could not get out of
their house door.
The nomads of the district were friendly disposed, and sold us sheep,
butter, and milk. They said that the high road to Shigatse skirted the
east side of the lake; another to the west of the Ngangtse-tso was much
longer and more difficult. The highway to Lhasa runs eastwards through
Shanza-dzong. Thus far it had been followed by Nain Sing, whose route we
crossed here; for from the Marku-tso, a small lagoon on the north shore,
the road he took passes to the west-north-west. Many nomad communities
winter on the extensive plains of the lake shore, especially on the
south side. The nomads never travel over the lake, the most direct and
quickest way, for they mistrust the ice, and our last guide would on no
account accompany us over the lake, but warned us of the thin ice. His
statements seemed to me more probable when he said that the lake was
salt, that the water was not fit for drinking, and that there were
neither fish nor plants in it.
The long period of rest must be utilized somehow. It had, moreover, been
one of the aims proposed in the original scheme of my journey, to
investigate the country round the central lakes discovered in 1874 by
Nain Sing, and to execute soundings in several of them. If the ice held
firm we could go over the lake, and sound through holes. Two men were
therefore sent out to examine the ice: 100 paces from the bank the ice
was 11 inches thick, at 200 paces 10¼ inches, and even at 300 paces
10 inches; so I determined to commence at the nearest point to our
headquarters.
Robert and Muhamed Isa were to remain behind to watch over our animals
and attend to them. It might, indeed, be risky to split up our caravan
just at this time, but I could not remain idle for a whole fortnight.
There was everything we needed at the headquarters--nomads, pasturage,
water, and fuel; the place seemed to be of some importance, for a round
_mani_ stood in the valley, and Robert found on a ridge a _samkang_, a
hermit's cave, with a small stone wall in front of it. There the lama
Togldan was wont to dwell in summer, earning his bread from the
neighbouring nomads by murmuring formulæ to conjure evil spirits, and
offering up prayers for the prosperity of their flocks. We had an hour
and a half's journey to the northern shore, and there innumerable
camping-places indicate summer visits of nomads. There the tents are
situated among excellent pasture lands, exposed to the noonday sun, with
the great lake, often agitated by boisterous storms, in front of them.
We got ready provisions for ten days for myself and half a dozen
Ladakis. Two live sheep were taken. The men were to take Robert's small
tent, but I intended to sleep under a half of the boat, which was to be
pushed over the ice as a sledge, laden with all the baggage, bed, furs,
and instruments. The boat would also be a source of safety should we at
any time venture on to too thin ice. The white puppy was to go with us
to keep me company. During my absence Robert occupied my tent, where the
barograph and the thermograph ticked on my boxes.
On the afternoon of December 29 I rode down to the Ngangtse-tso, where
camp No. 98 was pitched on a lagoon under the shelter of a shore
embankment. Towards the east-south-east the country is open as far as
the sight can carry; the eastern shore of the lake is scarcely
perceptible, the western not at all; in the south-west snow mountains
rise up, which, I said to myself, must be Nain Sing's "Targot Lha Snowy
Peaks." Rabsang was my valet, Bulu my cook; they arranged my improvised
hut, and the building material consisted of half of the boat, the stand
of my photographic camera, and a frieze rug. For dinner I was given leg
of mutton, sour milk, bread, orange marmalade, and tea; and then I
smoked an Indian cheroot and gazed at the lake, which was to be
thoroughly investigated during the succeeding days.
The 30th of December, a Sunday, began brightly with 45.2 degrees of
frost. Puppy had kept my feet warm. It was rather tight work washing and
dressing in my den, but when at last I was ready, I could enjoy the
fire, the sight of the sun and of the great lake. The baggage was
quickly packed, and the boat was dragged on to the ice and kept in
equilibrium by two runners, while six men pushed it forward. But the ice
gave us much trouble. The salt separated out on freezing had collected
on the surface like dry potato flour, sometimes forming continuous
sheets, sometimes swept up into banks, ridges, and drifts, in which the
runners and keel stuck fast. However, in spite of it, we worked our way
on in a direction 9° east of south, where I had selected a small dark
cliff on the south shore as a landmark. The first hole was cut out; the
ice was 8½ inches thick, and the depth of the lake, reckoned from the
edge of the ice, only 13 feet.
After we had wandered on for some time we held a council; I saw that we
could not go on as we were. We took off the runners and put together
three simple sledges, on each of which a third of the baggage was tied.
And in this way we struggled on a short distance farther, while I went
on foot. At the next hole the depth was 18.7 feet; probably we were on
one of those extraordinarily shallow salt lakes, such as I had often met
with in north-eastern Tibet. Again we held a consultation; our sledges
made such slow progress that we should never get over the lake at all,
far less traverse it several times. When two of the baggage sledges,
which had lingered far behind, came up, I sent a message to Robert to
send me more men and all the pieces of old boxes that were in the
caravan.
[Illustration: 91, 92, 93. ON THE NGANGTSE-TSO.]
Meanwhile we took off the two zinc runners, which were screwed into the
gunwale and into which the mast thwart was fitted. They were then
fastened as sledge cheeks to two benches bound together; to the sides of
this singular vehicle two long poles were attached, meeting at an angle,
through which the towing-rope was slung. A Caucasian _burkha_, which I
had bought at Trebizond, was laid in several folds on the benches. For
the sounding apparatus, the field-glass and other articles, we stretched
a hammock between the poles. When the structure was complete it
astonished us; for we had only to give this newly devised sledge a push
and off it ran a good way by itself. Now the boat was contemptuously
discarded, and when Rabsang with the towing-rope over his shoulder
hurried off southwards over the ice unaided, the boat soon diminished to
a black speck and disappeared. The others had orders to follow the track
of the runners at their leisure; they would soon get help when the other
men came (Illustrations 91, 92, 93).
Wrapped in my large sheepskin I sat cross-legged on the sledge, which
glided merrily over the ice by the hour together, while Rabsang had no
need to over-exert himself. The sledge cut through the salt ridges as
though they were nothing, and bumped with a pleasant rumbling noise over
the places where the ice was lumpy; it jumped over cracks and fissures,
where the edges of the ice shone green, and clear as glass, and on
smooth patches shot noiselessly forward, so that its point reached
Rabsang's heels if he did not jump on one side just when the line became
slack.
It was really not dangerous on the ice, which was nowhere less than 7
inches thick. So the Tibetans' dread of drowning was exaggerated. But
they have always the greatest respect for the spirits inhabiting the
lakes, and would rather go all round a lake than cross it, mistrusting
the winter repose of the raging storm-beaten waves.
Many singular effects of congelation may be observed, which change their
forms in various parts. Sometimes they are innumerable vertical figures
in perfectly clear dark ice; seen from the side they have the form of
oak leaves, but looked at from above they resemble stars with four arms
thin as paper. At other places you find blocks of white porous ice
embedded in clear ice, the result of a storm which has broken up the
first ice-sheet of early winter, whereafter the blocks are enclosed in
new ice on the final freezing over. Water is squeezed out through long
narrow cracks, and is congealed into screens sometimes a yard in height,
forming fantastic sheets and domes, and edges and points often as sharp
as a knife. Rabsang has only to give them a kick to clear a passage for
the sledge, but these thin ice-fences are very misleading, and render it
difficult to estimate distances.
We sounded in eight holes, and the greatest depth was only 32 feet. The
bottom consists of dark clay mud. It took a good quarter of an hour to
cut out a hole in the ice with axes and crowbars. As soon as the last
blow drove through the bottom of the ice, clear, cold, dark green water
welled up and filled the cavity, and then the sounding weight was let
down by its rope.
The first line of soundings had occupied far too long a time, chiefly
owing to the interruptions and repeated rearrangement of the baggage at
starting, and we were still far from the nearest shore when the sun set
in clouds of red and gold. But the full moon shone in the heavens, the
rocky promontory was sharp and clearly perceptible, and we made all
haste we could. The ice was uncomfortably lumpy, so that I had to
traverse long stretches on foot. Cold, white, and desolate the ice
mantle of the lake extended on all sides; all was silent and quiet, only
the crunching sound of our own footsteps could be heard. If nomads had
pitched their tents on the shore we were approaching they would be much
perplexed by the black specks moving out on the lake. But no fire
illumined the night and no wolves howled. In the darkness we could, of
course, gain no notion of how much further we had to go. At the last
hole the promontory had not appeared much larger. And so we marched
onwards until Rabsang suddenly came to a halt with the information that
we were only a few hundred paces from dry land.
There we left the sledge and advanced to the outlying mountains, where
several fallen blocks of stone lay at the foot. Under one of them we sat
down to wait. Then Rabsang collected as much fuel as he could in the
dark. We must light a signal fire to guide the others. At length they
tramped up, Tashi, Ishe, Bulu, and Islam Ahun, all heavily laden, for
they had preferred to leave the sledges behind and carry the baggage.
Two hours later some dark points were noticed out on the ice; it was the
reinforcement, and now I had ten men with me. They had seen from the
lake fires at four places; we were therefore surrounded by nomads on all
sides, but we had no need of them, so we did not trouble ourselves about
them.
Profiting by experience, we made the most practical arrangements
possible for our next day's wanderings. Islam Ahun was to return to
headquarters, collecting all the things we had dropped on our way, and
was to see that the boat was fetched. Rabsang and Tashi drew my sledge,
the others carried the baggage. At first they followed a road along the
shore before taking to the ice and making for the goal for the day, in
the north-west. We keep them in sight all day. They march in Indian
file, trotting, swaying, and singing, and sometimes sitting down for a
rest. Then they use the firmly tied bundles as back-rests. But they
cannot get up again without help; it is very easy for six of them, but
the seventh, that is, the one who has to get up first, finds it more
difficult. He rolls over on to his stomach, wriggles up with the help of
a stick, and when he has at length accomplished the feat, he helps the
others to get on their feet.
The ice was excellent, far better than on the first traverse. Also the
salt was less abundant, owing to the westerly storms which sweep it
eastwards. For long distances the ice lay pure and smooth in front of
us, and had a dark green colour. I did not know what to make of it when
we tramped over the dark patches. Were there warm springs at the bottom
which prevented the lake from freezing over in parts? But we soon became
accustomed to the sight, the ice was firm and at least 6½ inches thick,
while the greatest depth amounted to 31¾ feet. I sat like a statue of
Buddha cross-legged on my toy sledge, smoked, took observations, made
notes, and rejoiced that I could keep New Year's Eve on the ice of
Ngangtse-tso. About mid-day a south-westerly wind arose, and I had to
ride backwards so as not to get frozen. A lead running north and south
puzzled us greatly. It was 5 feet broad, and ran in either direction as
far as the eye could reach; open water lapped between the margins of
ice. Probably it had come into existence during a storm, when the whole
ice-sheet was slightly disturbed towards the east, and had left behind
it a yawning channel. After a long search we found a place where fresh
ice was being formed below. Using the sledge as a bridge we crossed over
dry-footed. How the others got over the difficulty I do not know, but
they were not afraid of wetting their feet.
We went ashore rather early, at a place where 19 horses were grazing on
the wide plain and a youth was watching 500 sheep. He scampered off in a
hurry when he saw us coming, and I was not surprised that he was afraid
when he saw ten great fellows stealing like ghosts over a lake that had
never been trodden by human foot. The Ladakis sat round a large fire,
sang, and blew their flutes, and the moonlight poured down a cold,
peaceful flood of light over the unknown strand where a party of
wandering strangers were passing a single night of their lives. It was
the last night of the year 1906, and the camp was our hundredth.
A splendid New Year's morning in 1907! With joyful hopes for the new
year and its work I began the third line of soundings in a direction
south, 19° E., towards a dark spur lying between two valleys where
ice-clumps glistened in the sun. The spur seemed to fall steeply to the
lake and the distance seemed tremendous, but it was an illusion: the low
plain extending from the foot of the mountains to the lake could not be
seen from the ice. We had to cross the fissure of the day before, but it
had frozen over in the night. But water stood in many other fissures and
spurted up as we passed over. This day our porters kept up with us, and
their songs resounded far and wide over the ice-fields. At every new
hole they settled down and awaited the result of the sounding with
genuine interest. Singular men, always cheerful and contented, never
down-hearted and complaining, taking everything as it comes, and calm
and composed in all kinds of wind and weather.
Puppy has had enough of running over the ice, suffers from cold feet,
jumps on the sledge as soon as it comes to a halt, but has a decided
objection to riding.
A conical summit to the south of camp No. 99 dominates the whole lake
like a lighthouse. Nain Sing, who touched the north shore of the
Ngangtse-tso, has drawn the outline of the lake on the whole correctly,
but has made the south-western part too broad. There also the sheet of
water narrows down to a point, and the whole has the form of a
half-moon. The mountains, which the Pundit has inserted in his map on
the south side of the lake, are very erroneously portrayed, and no
wonder--for he saw them only from a great distance, and could not
possibly, in these circumstances, obtain any proper notion of their
configuration. It is just as hard to form an idea of a lake by viewing
it from the shore; this is possible only from a pass or a crest.
We wondered whether we could reach the southern shore before twilight,
for the distance seemed still enormous. About noon the wind began to
blow strongly, whirled up white clouds of dry salt, swept them along the
ice, and obscured our view. Sitting on the sledge I was exposed to its
full onslaught, and had to be careful not to open my mouth. Here and
there the ice rose in undulations, as though it had been formed in a
high sea; the ice-waves also have a steep slope towards east-north-east,
the way of the wind. In the troughs between them the salt-dust driven by
the wind collects, and lends to the ice-field a curious appearance like
watered silk. All the eastern half of the lake is concealed by the rocky
promontories near which our camp, No. 99, is pitched. We penetrate more
deeply into the southern bay. Yaks graze on the slopes, and towards
evening are driven down by a man. To the south also we catch sight of
tents, yaks, and groups of kiangs. From our low point of view they seem
to be moving in the midst of the lake; the acuteness of the angle of
elevation deceives us. At the last sounding-hole the axe and crow-bar
bored deeper and deeper into the ice without breaking through. Not till
a depth of 17¼ inches was reached did the water burst violently up,
full of the usual small red crustaceæ--the salinity of the lake cannot
therefore be very great. Somewhat further the ice was found to lie
directly on the clayey bottom without a layer of water beneath it. Then
we came to the sterile shore, and were glad that we were this day
independent of vegetation. We found fuel and obtained water by melting
lumps of ice. The greatest depth on this line was 30.8 feet, or a little
less than on the others.
We had another boisterous storm towards evening. The lake ice, only a
couple of yards distant, vanished completely from sight, and the
dung-gatherers suddenly emerged from the mist when they were only a few
steps from the fire. I could not understand how they found their way in
such a thick atmosphere. They erected a shelter from the wind with the
sledge and three sacks of fuel, and sat behind it by their fire, the
flickering flames almost singeing their faces. The group was exceedingly
picturesque in the dark night and the struggling moon-beams. And how it
blew! I could scarcely keep my feet when I read the thermometer, and my
cap flew in all directions. In the night the men slept huddled up
together in the shelter of the tent.
The temperature on January 2 was -8°. To-day the fourth line had to be
executed; it was short, it is true--barely five hours, but trying. We
had to march south-westwards, straight in the teeth of the wind.
Moreover, the ice proved rough and heavy, doubtless in consequence of
the slight depth of the lake. The maximum depth was 10.6 feet. In my
diary, this day is described as one of the worst, if not absolutely the
worst, day of the whole journey. But we always think that what is
present is the worst, forgetting the horrors of the past. The storm
drove the salt before it in thick clouds, which scoured the ice with a
swishing sound and dashed into my face. When I ordered my two "towing
horses" to keep the direction, a quantity of salt flew into my mouth,
and I had the greater difficulty in getting rid of the disagreeable
taste that the powder also made its way into my nose. My eyes became
red, watered, and ached. My hands, from constant contact with the
sounding-line for several days, were encrusted with salt, and the skin
cracked so deeply that the blood ran. Sometimes my hands turned blue,
were stiff, and lost all feeling, so that it was only with the greatest
difficulty that I managed, holding the pen in the fist like a chisel, to
jot down the results of the soundings, the times, and distances; other
notes were not to be thought of. Rabsang and Tashi at all events kept
themselves warm, for they had to put forth all their strength to drag
the sledge against the storm. Where the ice was smooth they could not
get firm foothold, slipped and fell; once Tashi was thrown into my lap,
capsized by the gale. Often the wind was so strong that sledge, and team
were driven backwards, and the men could only stop themselves by sitting
down and planting their feet against a ridge of salt. I became so
benumbed and helpless that I could not rise, and had to remain sitting
while the holes were hacked out. But at one hole, which was broken in a
field of ice as smooth as a mirror, the wind seized the sledge and
myself and carried us in a dizzy race over the lake like an ice-yacht. I
tried to put on the drag with my feet, but I had no power in them, and
my boots of soft felt glided lightly and jauntily over the ice mirror
without reducing the speed in the least. The runners were too short, and
the sledge revolved in a circle, but still it moved onwards, and if the
ice had been all smooth, the storm would have blown me back in a few
minutes all across the lake to camp No. 98. Then my vehicle fortunately
tilted over in a fissure, I was thrown out, shot a little way farther
over the ice, and landed on a salt ridge. Rabsang hurried sliding after
me, picked up me and the sledge, and drew me back to the hole unharmed
(Illustration 94).
Our appearance was enough to frighten one another. We looked like
swollen disinterred corpses, dried in the sun and daubed with white oil
paint. Faces, hands, and clothes were white with salt. I could not wear
my sheepskin again; it was stiff, had given way at the seams, and had to
be thrown away with other clothes.
We had not yet covered half the distance. The men exerted themselves as
though they had to struggle through water 3 feet deep. Oftentimes I
could not see through the clouds of salt, and nothing was visible of the
ice beneath the sledge; it seemed as though we stood still while a
foaming white flood poured down on us ready to swallow us up. I wondered
whether we should ever reach the shore alive. There was very little life
in me when we at length landed. The sledge was anchored to prevent the
storm carrying it away, and then we climbed five terrace banks, one
after another, to seek shelter behind the wall of a sheepfold erected
on the sixth. Fortunately we found dry yak dung there in great
abundance, and soon had a roaring fire, at which I had to sit a good
hour before my limbs became at all supple again.
From camp No. 102 to the southern extremity of the lake the distance
measured 3260 paces. There large herds were feeding, and six tents were
set up at the mouth of the valley. About five o'clock the storm ceased
as suddenly as it had sprung up, and it became strangely calm. When I
took the meteorological observations at nine o'clock all my men were
lying in a row, with their heads against the wall, their foreheads on
the ground, and their legs drawn up, and as close to one another as
sardines in a tin. They slept well; that I could tell from the tunes
their nasal organs emitted.
There were shells of freshwater molluscs on the strand, and a quantity
of goose feathers in a bank formed of decaying algæ. At present the
water of the lake is not fit to drink, but the Ngangtse-tso was a
freshwater lake formerly, that is, when it still discharged into one of
its neighbours.
Wearied by our exertions on the previous day we slept till late, and
then started off in a north-easterly direction towards the red porphyry
mountains which jut out into the lake to the west of camp No. 99. We had
no storm, but a brisk wind, and when it blew at our backs we glided like
oil over the ice. I had a pole to steer with.
[Illustration: 94. IN A SNOWSTORM ON THE ICE OF THE NGANGTSE-TSO.]
Beyond the promontory we encamped in a deep hollow to obtain shelter
from the wind. A shepherd was feeding his sheep on a slope and tried to
make his escape, but Rabsang overtook him. He thought we were robbers.
He had nothing to sell, for he was in the service of another man. But
Rabsang requested him to bring his master to us. Meanwhile the others
had arrived, except Ishe, who had fallen ill, and was left lying in the
middle of the lake. Two of his comrades fetched him in the evening. All
were tired out, and begged that they might make a short march on January
4, and that suited us well, for the shepherd's master came and sold us a
sheep, butter, sour milk, and a bag of tobacco. It was high time, for
the provisions were almost consumed. The tobacco was quite a godsend
to the men, for latterly they had been reduced to smoking yak dung! The
old man gave much interesting information about the Ngangtse-tso, and
told us that there were then fifty to sixty tents pitched in the valleys
of the southern shore. So far all was well, but the day was not yet
ended.