A
one of the most prominent features of the Chumbi
Valley. There are in it over 70,000 cubic feet of stone
above the level of the débris over which the road goes,
and on which the Chinese post has been built.*
The name of this rock must have been given years
ago. When this granite is newly exposed to the air
Ta-karpo. The great “ White Rock ” of the Chumbi Valley.
it is of a vivid, crystalline whiteness. Such granite is
not, perhaps, to be found elsewhere in the world. For
not only is it incomparable in colour, but its hardness
almost defies dynamite ; the explosion of the charge
* The use by the Tibetans of the stored warmth of the sun in these vast blocks of
stone is quite intentional. The vegetation immediately surrounding this great rock
showed the stimulating power of the accumulated heat, slowly surrendered all the frosty
night by the fallen monster. T o this may also be due the constant use by wayfarers of
the natural shelters formed by hollows under projecting rocks.
