The following day we were cheered by bright sunshine,
which deprived the biting wind of much of its
sting ; the march was long and tiring, however, as the
débris from the valleys, carried along by the melting
snow, has spread across Soomjeling Plain, leaving
treacherous and boggy patches behind in which the
ponies sank to their hocks. We maintained a good
pace, nevertheless, traversing eighteen miles in the day
and arriving before dusk in time to have the satisfaction
of seeing before us in all its beauty our first goal,
Arport Tso.
CHAPTER VII
DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS
A rport Tso has an area of about fifty square miles,
the greatest length being from north to south; it is
irregular in shape, and the surface is broken by four
rocky islands, covered with vegetation. It is shallow,
but unlike many of the Tibetan lakes, does not appear
to be diminishing in size; the water at the northern
end has a slightly brackish flavour. There is no visible
outlet for the surplus water, and though we travelled
completely round it, were for a time at a loss to
understand why the surface neither rose nor fell;
Hargreaves, however, subsequently discovered that the
water escaped by an underground channel, about one
march distant to the east-north-east, bursting forth
with great violence, and forming a river of considerable
size and sufficient depth to prevent ponies wading
through.
On looking south across the glittering waters of
Arport Tso, one is at once struck by the bold and
unusual contrast of colour. The mountains are composed
of a coal-black soil, and the upper half of the range is
covered by a permanent snow-field; the black slopes,
moreover, are seamed by glaciers which descend to the
level of the lake.
We pitched our camp at a charming spot on the
western shore of the lake, fairly well sheltered from
the wind. Grass grew abundantly everywhere, and
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