We remained two days at Hanle, to effect a change of porters, a matter which cannot be accomplished in a hurry in an almost uninhabited country, without unnecessary hardships on individuals. There is no settled population except the monks or lamas; a few stone huts without roofs, which were scattered about the foot of the rock, having no tenants. To the east of the monastery, on the border of the plain, watered by an artificial channel brought with considerable labour from the river, we observed two or three small fields. The grain, which was barley, had been cut and carried away, so that harvest at Hanle was over. The view from the top of the monastery was extensive, as we overlooked the whole plain to the south, and the valley of the Hanle river on the east. The mountains were highest to the east, where a very lofty, steep, and irregular range, with a good deal of snow in some places, separated Hanle from the Indus. To the south and west, the mountains, though high, were rounded.
The rock on which the monastery is built is wholly igneous, but varies from a coarse-grained granite, rapidly decaying, to a dark-coloured greenstone, with large crystals scattered through it. Close to the foot of the hill, the clay-slate was in a few places visible, considerably altered by igneous action, as was to be expected from its proximity to the greenstone.
CHAPTER VI.
Descend Hanle river—Unsettled weather—Encamp on banks of Indus—Upper course of Indus—Pugha ravine—Forest of Myricaria-trees—Borax plain—Hot springs—Borax lakes of Eastern Tibet—Sulphur mine—Pulokanka Pass—Salt lake—Lacustrine clays with shells—Ancient water-mark—Rupchu—Tunglung Pass—Fall of snow—Alluvial conglomerate—Giah—Narrow ravine—Miru—Upshi—Indus valley—Marsilang—Richly cultivated plain of Chashut—Bridge over Indus—Le—Buddhist edifices.
On the 17th of September we left Hanle, en route to Le. Our road lay down the left bank of the river by which the waters of the lake-plain are discharged into the Indus. The valley through which it flowed was open and level, and its slope imperceptible. On the left lay a low range of hills, an irregular mass increasing much in width, as well as in height, as we proceeded northwards, the Hanle extremity being the termination where it slopes into the plain. On the right, a very lofty range, some of the peaks of which were certainly not less than 21,000 feet in elevation, ran parallel to our course, separating the open valley of the Hanle river from the Indus.
HANLE RIVER.
September, 1847.
The width of the valley varied from one to three miles. The stream was very winding, crossing from side to side, and often pressing the road close to the spurs of the range on the left. The range on this side was principally clay-slate, with occasional outbreaks of trap, which had in many places converted the stratified rock into a hard red or green jasper. From the immediate proximity of the igneous rock the stratified masses were very much contorted, and no regular dip was observable.
Saline efflorescence occurred everywhere in great quantity in the vicinity of the stream; as a consequence, Chenopodiaceous plants were more than usually abundant, and I collected at least three species of that family which I had not previously observed. The banks of the stream were everywhere bordered by a belt of green herbage, more or less broad, in which the usual species of Ranunculus, Gentiana, Pedicularis, Juncus, Cyperaceæ, and grasses were common. Glaux maritima also occurred abundantly. Two other European plants were found in the swamps along the course of the river, which were very interesting as a proof of the extremely European nature of the flora: these were Hippuris vulgaris and Limosella lacustris. Towards the end of the day's journey, Caragana versicolor (Dama) became very common, covering a large extent of surface, and growing to a much greater size than I had ever before seen, with an upright stem nearly six feet in height. I could scarcely persuade myself that the species was the same as the little depressed shrubs which grew on the passes further south. Two species of Myricaria, both of which I had seen in Piti, also reappeared during the day, so that we were evidently approaching a lower level and more genial climate.
Banks of alluvial conglomerate occurred on the sides of the valley, in the spaces between the projecting spurs of the range on the left hand, on the latter part of the day. The beds were distinctly stratified and very sandy, more or less full of rounded stones, and often passing into pure sand, which was interstratified with the coarser beds. The day was very cloudy and threatening, and a few drops of rain fell for the first time since the 29th of August, the weather during the whole of that interval having been brilliant and quite dry. We encamped eleven miles from Hanle, on a gravelly plain close to the river.
Dining the night the weather did not improve, but continued very cloudy, and on the morning of the 18th the mountains on the right side of the valley were covered with snow, down to within 1500 feet of the plain. The wind blew strongly from the northward, and the day, which was still very cloudy, was bitterly cold, and, to our feelings, extremely uncomfortable. We continued to follow the course of the Hanle river, passing over long gravel flats, which alternated with turfy saline meadows. Several low spurs from the mountains on the left, which projected far into the plain, making the river bend much to the right, were crossed as we proceeded. About ten miles from our morning's camp, we left the course of the river, which turned to the right and entered a rocky mountain gorge, while our road kept its northerly direction. An open valley led us to the crest of a low ridge of trap and slate, from which a very long stony monotonous valley descended to an extensive plain covered with fine mud and saline exudation, on which the only vegetation was a few tufts of Suæda and coarse grass. Crossing this plain, on which the dry clay was in many places deeply cracked and fissured, as if it had till within a short time been under water, or at least swampy, we encamped, at an elevation of 13,800 feet, on the banks of the Indus, here a muddy torpid stream, without any apparent current, about four feet deep and twenty or twenty-five feet wide. There was, however, another channel, separated from that on which we were encamped by a small island.