of importance. A very interesting fact was noticed,
lor when seen on December 1st, though the cold was
intense, the surface of the lake was only frozen for
100 yards or so from the edge, the centre being quite
clear and free from ice. This was all the more peculiar
and unexpected, after having found Griin-chu Tso, an
extremely salt lake, frozen over from shore to shore
to a depth of several inches. Two explanations are
possible : either the lake is of excessive depth, or else
it is fed by hot springs. That hot springs do exist
was proved beyond doubt, for Ryder and Wood found
one m the channel to the west, and others are reported
to exist at the foot of Kailas Peak.
We were enabled to solve an interesting geographical
problem, one which has puzzled scientists for many
years, and that was the question as to whether
Manasarowar finds an outlet for its surplus water or
not. To the west of the lake, and separating it from
Rakas Tal, is a narrow isthmus, and it was through
a channel at its northern end that the water was said
to run.
Captain H. Strachey, during the first week of
October 1846, traversed this strip of land. He was
then on his return journey, and declares that he came
upon a
large stream 100 feet wide and 3 feet deep, running rapidly from
east to west through a well-defined channel; this was the outlet of
Manasarowar.”
He then goes on to state that this stream, after winding
through the undulating ground of the isthmus for
perhaps four miles, falls into Rakas Tal. Coming from
such a reliable authority this should have been sufficient
proof, but some writers still doubted its existence, and
Mr. Savage Landor claims to have proved, a few years
ago, that no passage exists, and remarks, in the book of
his travels,
“ it was my good fortune to make quite sure from many points that,
as can be seen from the illustration reproduced in these pages, the
ridge between the Rakas and Manasarowar Lakes is continuous, and
no communication between the two lakes exists. With the exception
of a small depression about half way across, the ridge has an
average height of 1000 feet all along. . . . The lowest point in
this depression is over 300 feet above the level of the lake.”
This again seems clear enough, and in order to settle
this vexed question, Ryder, Wood, and Bailey made a
long round from Nak-luk-ru to Barkha, as a result of
which, Ryder reports in the Royal Geographical Journal
as follows :—
“ Skirting the lake, we rode across the low hills, which close in
on the western side, to look for the outlet, which Moorcroft had not
been able to find, which Strachey had found, and which Mr. Savage
Landor had claimed to have discovered did not exist. We struck the
channel a mile below the outlet, a small stream only partly frozen over;
this we followed up, and found that it did not flow from the lake, but
from a hot spring, at which we found and shot some mallard. We
then followed the dry nullah to the lake, and proved that Strachey
was, as was to he expected, quite correct. No water was flowing at
this time of the year, but the local Tibetans all agreed that for some
months in each year there was a flow during the rainy season and
the melting of the snows, i.e., about from June to September. As a
rise of about two feet in the level of the lake would cause water to
flow down the channel, this appears quite worthy of belief. The
length of the channel between the two lakes is about three miles.”
Personally, I neither visited the lake nor passed
along the ridge, which I could, however, see distinctly
from end to end, and I very much doubt whether the
highest point exceeds 300 feet. At the entrance of
the channel, and situated on a mass of rock, is a small
whitewashed monastery, occupied by four monks, and
other temples are to be found in sheltered spots near by.