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.
From the 27 th of July till the 9 th 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 samé elevation. The villages are well wooded, with
orchards of apricot-trees, and with poplars and willows,
which áre 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 Hippophaé, or with a fence of the
dead branches of that plant. Green and shady lanes,
bordered by high Hippophae 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 miliaceuni), 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
áre 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*.
Except from the more advanced period of the season,
* This view has been suggested to me by Dr. R. D. Thomson, who
has paid much attention to the chemical contents of springs, and is at
present engaged in examining the saline matters which 1 brought with
me from Tibet.