CHINESE FRONTIER.
August, 1847.
On reaching the small streamlet which forms the frontier of the Chinese dominions, we found, as indeed we expected, that there was no intention of permitting us to proceed by the direct road to Hanle; and all arguments to induce a compliance with our wish proving ineffectual, we agreed to take the route up the Piti river by Dankar, and were then permitted to proceed about a mile, to the village of Kyuri, where we encamped for the day. I have now no doubt that if we had resolutely advanced, no serious opposition to our progress would have been made; but our instructions were so precise that we should not have been justified in using the smallest degree of force, or incurring any risk of a collision.
To reach Kyuri[9], we crossed the Zungsam river by a very remarkable natural bridge, composed of an enormous block of granite, which has in some way been placed across the stream, at a spot where it is much contracted in width, flowing in a deep rocky fissure from fifteen to twenty-five feet in width, evidently of great depth. At this point a considerable number of boulders of large size are piled on both banks, of which the one that spans the channel is eighty-five feet in length and probably not less than forty in width and twenty in depth; it is placed obliquely across the stream, its left or southern extremity being lower, and inclined at so considerable an angle that the passage is one of some difficulty for horses and loaded cattle, though for men, with ordinary care, it is quite easy. The higher end is so much elevated above the surface on which it rests, that a rudely constructed stair of stones is necessary to enable travellers to descend.
KYURI.
August, 1847.
Our encamping ground at Kyuri was on a gently sloping barren plain, seven or eight hundred feet above the valley of the Zungsam, and was reached by a short steep ascent from the bridge. There was no cultivation; but about a mile to the east, a long sloping tract of alluvium interposed between the mountains and the river was covered with green fields, though it had only two houses and not a single tree. Alluvium abounded in every direction, forming steep sloping banks, often much worn away by running water, and occasionally from two to three hundred feet in thickness. The plain on which we were encamped was also of recent origin; it consisted of a fine clay, curiously worn into cliffs and narrow ridges. A few layers of fine sand were included in the clay, and by a careful search I found three or four small fresh-water shells in the clay, belonging to at least two species—one a Lymnæa, the other a Planorbis. The shells were, however, very scarce, and all found near one spot, nor did any other portion of the deposit seem fossiliferous. The clay was in front of and below our encampment, and was covered by coarse alluvial conglomerate.
THE ROAD REJOINS THE PITI VALLEY.
August, 1847.
The road up the valley of the Parang river being tabooed to us by the jealousy of the Chinese Government, it became necessary to make a very considerable détour, no practicable road being known in the mountains north of Piti, between that which we were thus prevented from following, and the Parang pass, to reach which we had to make five or six marches up the Piti river before turning to the north. On leaving Kyuri, on the 30th of August, we ascended gently on a bare gravelly hill for several hundred feet, and then proceeded for two miles to the westward, along the steep side of the mountain. The road was rocky and very barren, the caper and an Astragalus being almost the only plants seen. We then descended rapidly, so as to reach the bank of the Piti river, at the place where it makes its great bend and assumes a southerly direction. Here it is joined by the Giu (Gumdo of Jacquemont), a considerable stream, which has its source in the lofty and inaccessible range to the north. This torrent had excavated a deep channel in the alluvial beds, which were composed of alternations of coarse incoherent conglomerate and fine clay. In this ravine, which sheltered them from the bleak winds of the more exposed slopes, I found a luxuriant growth of shrubs; of which the commonest forms were the rose, ash, Colutea, Rhamnus, Myricaria, Capparis, Ephedra, and Artemisiæ. As soon as the stream was passed, a steep ascent commenced, but the luxuriant vegetation at once disappeared, and the road was as barren, dusty, and stony as usual. We ascended only to descend again, and encamped on a small level spot forty or fifty feet above the Piti river, destitute of cultivation or inhabitants, but known to the people of the district by the name of Huling.
On our next day's journey, the country at first presented the same general character. The mountains along the road were lofty and rugged, and sloped steeply to the river. A mass of alluvial deposit generally rested on their bases, and the road lay at no great distance above the river, rising a few hundred feet to pass over the spurs, and again descending on their western sides. The steep slopes were in several places covered with an incrustation of hard angular breccia, with a calcareous matrix, the origin of which I conceive to have been the same as that of the breccia noticed in the vicinity of Sungnam. Across the river there was a considerable tract of level ground, covered with cultivation surrounding a small village, with a few poplar and willow trees; but the left bank, on which we travelled, was entirely barren. Nearly opposite this village, the bank of the river becoming steep and precipitous, we ascended about a thousand feet, and continued at that elevation till the difficulty was passed, after which we returned to the river-side. At this elevation two or three springs broke out on the steep face of the hill, and, trickling down among the rocks below, promoted the growth of a few willows and rose-bushes, and a small thicket of Hippophaë. Round the springs the ground was covered with a slight saline exudation.
LARI.
August, 1847.
The village of Lari, at which we encamped, is elevated 11,200 feet. It occupies a large extent of alluvial surface, sloping at a very small angle from the base of the mountains to the river, at a place where a stream issued from among the mountains. The cultivated lands are extensive, but very bare of trees when compared with the villages in Kunawar, or even in Hangarang. One apricot-tree only could be seen in the village lands, but there were still a few willows and poplars. The flora of the cultivated tracts had not altered. The little Iris, first seen at Chango, was very common, and the gentians, Potentillæ, Astragali, and other small plants, were the same as had been common since crossing the Hangarang pass; the season, however, was so far advanced, that much of the luxuriant vegetation had withered away. The crops of wheat and barley were quite ripe, and had been partly cut; but a few fields of millet were still green.