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Updated: July 31, 2024
The Tibetan view, from its novelty, extent, and singularity, demands the first notice: the Cholamoo lake lay 1500 feet below me, at the bottom of a rapid and rocky descent; it was a blue sheet of water, three or four miles from north to south, and one and a half broad, hemmed in by rounded spurs from Kinchinjhow on one side, and from Donkia on the other: the Lachen flowed from its northern extremity, and turning westward, entered a broad barren valley, bounded on the north by red stony mountains, called Bhomtso, which I saw from Kongra Lama, and ascended with Dr.
Rounding one rocky spur, my pony stumbled, and pitched me forward: fortunately I lighted on the path. A sudden bend in the valley opened a superb view to the north, of the full front of Kinchinjhow, extending for four or five miles east and west; its perpendicular sides studded with the immense icicles, which are said to have obtained for it the name of "jhow," the "bearded" Kinchin.
Having sent the coolies forward, with instructions to halt and camp on this side of the Kongra Lama pass, we followed them, taking the route by Palung, and thence over the hills to the Lachen, to the east of which we descended, and further up its valley joined the advanced party in a rocky glen, called Sitong, an advantageous camping ground, from being sheltered by rocks which ward off the keen blasts: its elevation is 15,370 feet above the sea, and the magnificent west cliff of Kinchinjhow towers over it not a mile distant, bearing due east, and subtending an angle of 24.3 degrees.
The upper part of Kinchinjhow is composed of bold ice-capped cliffs of gneiss; but the long spurs that stretch northwards from it are of quartz, conglomerates, slates, and earthy red clays, forming the rounded terraced hills I had seen from Donkia pass. Between these spurs were narrow valleys, at whose mouths stupendous blocks of gneiss rest on rocks of a much later geological formation.
On the 20th of September I ascended to the great Donkia glaciers, east of Momay; the valley is much longer than that leading to the Kinchinjhow glacier, and at 16,000 or 17,000 feet elevation, containing four marshes or lakes, alternating with as many transverse moraines that have dammed the river.
Due south, across the sandy valley of the Lachen, Kinchinjhow reared its long wall of glaciers and rugged precipices, 22,000 feet high, and under its cliffs lay the lake to which we had walked in the morning: beyond Kongra Lama were the Thlonok mountains, where I had spent the month of June, with Kinchinjunga in the distance.
It had been last used at the hot springs of the Kinchinjhow glacier; and the poor lad was so concerned at his mishap, that he came to me soon afterwards, with his blanket on his back, and a few handfuls of rice in a bag, to make his salaam before setting out to search for it.
Top of Kongra Lama Tibet frontier Elevation View Vegetation Descent to Tungu Tungu-choo Ponies Kinchinjhow and Changokhang mountains Palung plains Tibetans Dogs Dingcbam province of Tibet Inhabitants Dresses Women's ornaments Blackening faces Coral Tents Elevation of Palung Lama Shawl-wool goats Shearing Siberian plants Height of glaciers, and perpetual snow Geology Plants, and wild animals Marmots Insects Birds Choongtam Lama Religious exercises Tibetan hospitality Delphinium Perpetual snow Temperature at Tungu Return to Tallum Samdong To Lamteng Houses Fall of Barometer Cicadas Lime deposit Landslips Arrival at Choongtam Cobra Rageu Heat of Climate Velocity and volume of rivers measured Leave for Lachoong valley Keadom General features of valley Lachoong village Tunkra mountain Moraines Cultivation Lachoong Phipun Lama ceremonies beside a sick-bed.
Still higher in the heavens, long black V-shaped trains of wild geese cleave the air, shooting over the glacier-crowned top of Kinchinjhow, and winging their flight in one day, perhaps, from the Yaru to the Ganges, over 500 miles of space, and through 22,000 feet of elevation.
From Donkia top again, the mountains sweep round to the westward, rising into fingered peaks of extraordinary magnificence; and thence still running west dip to 18,500 feet, forming the Donkia pass, and rise again as the great mural mass of Kinchinjhow.
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