Western Himalaya and Tibet / A Narrative of a Journey Through the Mountains of Northern India During the Years 1847-8

by Thomas Thomson

PASSAGE OF SHAYUK RIVER.
July, 1848.

The village of Diskit is almost exactly opposite the place where the Nubra river joins the Shayuk from the northward. In October, 1847, I had crossed the Shayuk five or six miles above Karsar, and descended along its right bank, but during the hot months this route is not practicable, as there are no bridges, and the river is too deep to be forded anywhere except just at its junction with that of Nubra, where the wide gravelly plain of the Shayuk expands to its greatest diameter, and the river is divided into numerous branches.

The greater part of the 26th of July was occupied by the passage of the Shayuk, which was both tedious and difficult, the river being now nearly at its greatest height. The first branch was nearly two miles from Diskit, the intervening gravelly plain being partly swampy, with a few bushes of Hippophaë, Tamarix, and Myricaria. There were four large branches to be crossed, besides several of smaller size. Nearly a mile of sand separated the last large branch from the remainder, and the ford was a most intricate one, each branch being crossed obliquely and at a different point from the adjacent ones. The united breadth of all the streams could not, I think, have been less than half a mile. The velocity of the water was so great, that though the depth nowhere, I think, exceeded three and a half feet, and was more usually about two and a half, people on foot appeared to have the utmost difficulty in retaining their footing, and the loaded men had to be supported by one or two without loads on each side. In the more difficult parts, two men placed themselves on each side of my horse's head, to guide him in the proper road, and two more at each stirrup to give him support in case of need. When in the centre of the current, where, from the necessity of keeping my eye on the horse's motions, I had to look at the water, I found it impossible to avoid a feeling of giddiness, and an impression that horse and rider were being hurried upwards with extreme velocity in a direction contrary to the stream. These very rapid portions, however, were never more than ten or twenty yards broad; the remainder was more moderate and shallower.

LYAKJUNG.
July, 1848.

After safely effecting the passage with all my party and baggage, I proceeded about a mile over loose sand, and encamped at the village of Lyakjung, situated at the border of the low plain of the river, at the point of union of the two valleys. The Shayuk valley is visible from this place as far as the large village of Hundar, about ten miles, the river running throughout that distance through a wide gravelly plain, but with high rocky mountains on both sides.

VALLEY OF NUBRA.
July, 1848.

From the 27th of July till the 9th of August, I remained in the valley of Nubra, the necessary preparations for my further journey, which was to be entirely through an uninhabited country, requiring considerable time. During this interval, I moved from place to place in the valley, which is well inhabited and rather pretty. The river is in the hot months very large and rapid, and has its origin, no doubt, in the great snowy mountains to the north. I crossed it twice a little above the town of Chirasa, and found its current quite as strong as that of the Shayuk, and in many places as deep, but its breadth was considerably less. In one of the channels, a lad, carrying a light bundle, was carried away by the stream, and rolled over repeatedly in the water, after being separated from his load, before he was picked up by a number of men who hastened to his assistance. The difficulty of crossing was much increased by numerous quicksands, which made it necessary to proceed by a tortuous path, and which were evidently very liable to shift, as the guides proceeded very cautiously, and more than once abandoned a ford on finding the footing insecure.

The general appearance of the valley of Nubra is very agreeable, and superior to that of any other part of Tibet at the same elevation. The villages are well wooded, with orchards of apricot-trees, and with poplars and willows, which are either planted in rows, or scattered irregularly in meadows on the skirts of the cultivated lands: the willows, when not pollarded, attain a large size, and afford an ample shade. The fields are carefully enclosed with walls, or hedges of Hippophaë, or with a fence of the dead branches of that plant. Green and shady lanes, bordered by high Hippophaë hedges, full of Clematis and rose-bushes, lead through the village lands. The crops are chiefly wheat and barley, with a few fields of millet (Panicum miliaceum), buckwheat, and rape. There is also much pasture, particularly along the little streams, and in fields near the river, which are often swampy.

The beauty of the cultivated tracts is much enhanced by the utter sterility of the drier parts of the plain, which are either gravelly or stony, and utterly barren, except that occasionally from some peculiarity of soil or position there is a considerable extent of clayey soil not low enough to be swampy, but not remote from water, covered with short turf much encrusted with soda. These grassy plains are more common in the upper part of the district, and are perhaps connected with springs containing carbonate of soda in solution[23].

VEGETATION OF NUBRA.
August, 1848.