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

by Thomas Thomson

DANKAR.
September, 1847.

We encamped at Dankar, after travelling ten miles. This place is the principal village of the Piti valley, and is 13,000 feet above the level of the sea. The valley of the Piti is here very wide, and divided into numerous channels, which are separated by low gravelly islands, the whole width of the river being not less than half a mile. Here the alluvium is very highly developed, lying in patches on the face of the steep hills. The village of Dankar, though 1000 feet above the river, occupies both sides of a steep ridge entirely composed of alluvium. Nor is this its utmost limit; for several hundred feet above the houses, similar alluvial masses occur. These beds are not, however, continuous from these great elevations, down to the level of the river: they rest, on the contrary, on the ancient rocks, which are here very steep, and the clay may be seen in isolated projecting masses, capping the most prominent ridges[11].

RANGRIG.
September, 1847.

The village of Dankar is built on arid barren soil, but the cultivated lands stretch from about the level of the village almost to the river, on a very steep slope. Thickets of Hippophaë were scattered among the cultivation, where the ground was swampy; and notwithstanding the great altitude, the exposure being favourable, the crops seemed good, and the wild plants were more luxuriant than usual. One of the new species observed was a pretty gentian (G. Moorcroftiana, Wall.), interesting as having been one of the few plants sent from the Tibetan country by the unfortunate traveller whose name it bears. It is also a common species in the valley of Dras, in which, perhaps, Mr. Moorcroft's specimens were collected, unless, indeed, they were obtained in Piti by Mr. Trebeck, during his journey to that valley from Ladak.

Leaving Dankar on the morning of the 3rd of September, we ascended the heights behind the village to the side of the main ridge behind, along which we proceeded without change of level. The mountain was almost precipitous, and extremely barren, but commanded a fine view of the open flat plain of the Piti river, descending from the north-west; and of the course of the Pin, a large tributary which descends from the south-west, at the source of which there is a pass, by which it is possible to descend upon the Sutlej at Wangtu. The mountain range interposed between the Sutlej and Piti valleys was, from the elevation at which we now stood, seen to great advantage. These mountains are, indeed, in the terse words of Jacquemont, "d'une affreuse stérilité;" yet, in their varied outline, massive forms, and snow-sprinkled summits, there is no doubt a degree of grandeur, which produces a powerful impression.

At about a mile and a half from Dankar, during which we had, with the ridge, gradually approached the river, the road began to descend, and we at last reached the bank of the river, close to which, and sometimes even on its gravelly bed, we continued for several miles. Where the banks were lowest, and the gravel was moist, there were thickets of low shrubs, Hippophaë, Myricaria, Ribes, and willow; elsewhere, the gravel was barren and unproductive. We encamped at Lara, a village nine miles from Dankar, at which there were only two poplar trees, and a very small extent of arable ground. The wheat was ripe and very luxuriant, the ears being large and well filled.

On the 4th of September, we continued our progress up the Piti valley, which had quite the same aspect as on the day before, encamping on the left bank of the river, opposite to the village of Rangrig, on a desert spot among limestone rocks, at an elevation of 12,300 feet. Here we had attained our furthest limit in a north-westerly direction, our road now turning to the right, and ascending a considerable valley towards the Parang pass, in a direction which promised much novelty and interest, as it had only been traversed by one traveller, the unfortunate Trebeck, who, in the year 1822, travelled from Le to Dankar by this route. The further course of the Piti river, which, as we learn from Moorcroft's travels, was visited in 1822 by Captain Mercer, was afterwards surveyed by Captain Broome. It communicates with Lahul, which is the upper part of the valley of the Chandrabhaga or Chenab river, by the Kulzum pass, a depression in that great branch of the trans-Sutlej Himalaya, by which the waters of the Sutlej and its tributaries on the east, are separated from those of the Chenab and Beas.

During our journey through the district of Piti, the weather had been almost uniformly dry and serene, though we were now in the very height of the Indian rainy season. The only exception occurred while we were encamped at Changar, on the lower part of the Parang river, about the 29th of August, when the sky was for two days very cloudy, and on one night it rained gently for nearly half an hour. The clouds were, however, high, and never dense, and the unsettled state of the atmosphere was of very short continuance. While it lasted, it was accompanied by violent wind, very irregular in direction.

SALINE INCRUSTATIONS.
September, 1847.

In every part of Piti we found the margins of springs, and the grassy turf which grew on low swampy spots along the river, covered with a saline incrustation, in the form of a dry efflorescence, which encrusted the blades of grass. It appeared to be confined to the vicinity of water, the barren rocky tracts being destitute of it. This saline matter, as elsewhere in Tibet, consists of sesquicarbonate of soda, and, as a consequence of the abundance of that alkali, soda-producing plants were common, especially Chenopodiaceæ, among which the common Salsola Kali was very abundant.