Thomas Thomson - Western Himalaya And Tibet: A Narrative Of A Journey Through The Mountains Of Northern India, During The Years 1847-8

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ISKARDO.
From the South.

Pl. I.
J. W. del. W. L. Walton, Lithog. Printed by Hullmandel & Walton.

WESTERN HIMALAYA
AND
TIBET;

A NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY THROUGH THE
MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN INDIA,
DURING THE YEARS 1847-8.

BY
THOMAS THOMSON, M.D., F.L.S.,
ASSISTANT SURGEON BENGAL ARMY.

LONDON:
REEVE AND CO., HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

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1852.

PRINTED BY
JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, LITTLE QUEEN STREET,
LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.

PREFACE.

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On the termination of my journey in Tibet, I submitted to the Indian Government a detailed report of my observations in that country. It was my original intention to request the permission of the Court of Directors to publish this report in the form in which it was drawn up; but after my return to England, this plan was, at the suggestion of friends, abandoned for that now followed.

At the time of my appointment to the Tibet Mission, my attention had not been specially directed to the Himalaya, but I have since had many opportunities of studying that chain of mountains. My first definite impressions of Himalayan geography were received from my fellow-travellers, Major Cunningham and Captain Henry Strachey. The latter gentleman had just completed one of the most adventurous journeys ever made in the Himalaya; and Major Cunningham's knowledge of the geography of Northern India is so accurate and extensive, that the delay in the publication of his map, although caused by the devotion of his leisure time to other branches of research, is a subject of deep regret to all who know its value. More recently I have had the good fortune to travel in the Eastern Himalaya with Dr. Hooker, and it was a source of great gratification to me, when we met, to find that in studying these mountains at opposite extremities of the chain, the results at which we had arrived were almost identical.

My botanical collections, which were very extensive, have as yet been only roughly assorted, and the names of plants given in the present work are chiefly derived from a careful comparison of specimens with the Hookerian Herbarium at Kew,a collection which, as is well known to Botanists, both from its extent and from the liberality with which it is thrown open to students of that science, occupies in this country the place of a national collection.

The heights of places given in the work have been derived from very various sources. Those in the earlier part are chiefly from the extremely accurate observations of the Gerards; for others I have to thank my fellow-travellers; but the greater number are calculated from my own observations of the boiling-point of water, and do not therefore pretend to great accuracy. Still the thermometer which I used (by Dollond) was a very good one, and comparisons with barometric observations, or with known heights, have given such results as satisfy me that at considerable elevations it may be depended upon to within three or four hundred feet as an extreme error.

The orthography of oriental proper names is a question of great difficulty, and grave objections may be urged against any system which has been proposed. If each European nation represents the sound of the vowels and variable consonants after the mode which prevails in its own language, then proper names must be translated, as it were, when rendered from one of these languages into another; whereas, if the mode of spelling the names remain fixed, then the value of the letters must be different in the majority of the languages from that which usually prevails. For purely popular purposes the former method would probably be the most judicious; and the English language has peculiar facilities for rendering oriental sounds, in consequence of its possessing the open sound of u, as in but, which is wanting in other European languages, though so common in Arabic, Persian, and Hindee, and all cognate tongues.

A uniform mode of spelling, however, has so many advantages, that I have been induced to give it a preference; but it will be seen that in a few instances, where the popular mode of spelling has become familiar, and as it were a portion of the English language, as in the words Punjab, Jumna, Sutlej, Kussowlee, and a few others, I have not had courage to carry out the rule.

For the plates which accompany the work I have to thank Mr. Winterbottom, who very kindly permitted me to select from a series of sketches those which I thought most suitable. This was not an easy task; but in the two views of the neighbourhood of Iskardo I found so faithful a representation of the extremely rugged scenery of the Tibetan mountains, contrasted with the level plain of Iskardo, and the lacustrine strata of the neighbourhood, that no more desirable illustrations for a journey in Tibet could be conceived. The little vignette, too, though it does not represent any part of the country through which I travelled, is precisely similar to many ravines in Rondu, and serves to show that the Gilgit valley is quite the same in general appearance with that district. I was more particularly desirous of introducing this sketch, from the very faithful representation it contains of the alluvial platforms which skirt the streams in every part of Tibet.

The map is founded principally upon Mr. Arrowsmith's large map, and his name is its best guarantee. The districts round the Pangong lake are taken from a sketch given to me by Captain H. Strachey, and the whole of the eastern part has been revised by him. A great part of the course of the Shayuk has been laid in by Mr. Arrowsmith from my own rough survey, while the little-known district between Jamu and Zanskar, which I was not competent to survey, has been rendered as nearly as possible from the notes which I had made of the length and direction of my marches.

The sketch of the district between Nubra and the Karakoram pass, which will, I hope, be found useful as an illustration of that part of my journey, has been prepared for me by Dr. Hooker, from a rough draft of my survey, assisted by verbal explanations.

In conclusion, I have to add, that for the correction of the press, during which process many asperities by which the manuscript was disfigured have disappeared, I have to thank my kind friends, Dr. and Mrs. Hooker.

CONTENTS.

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CHAPTER I.

Page

Appointment to a Mission about to proceed to TibetLeave Firozpur for SimlaApproach to the MountainsAppearance of Himalaya from Plains of IndiaKalkaAscent to KussowleeVegetation of Plainward FaceOrigin of Kussowlee RidgeClimate and Vegetation of KussowleeAspect of inner rangesRoad from Kussowlee to SimlaSabathuCross Gambar RiverHaripurTropical Vegetation of Basin of GambarSteep Ascent to Simlaits extent and situationits VegetationOak-forestPinesFlora of Spring Monthsof Rainy SeasonView from Peak of JakoStructure of Mountain Ranges

CHAPTER II.

Leave SimlaMahasu RidgePine ForestSummit of MahasuVegetation of Northern SlopeFaguTheogMattianaCultivated ValleyNagkandaAscent of HattuForest of Pine and OakVegetation of SummitView from top of MountainPlainward slopes bare of forest, while those facing the interior are well woodedCultivation at 9500 feetDescent from Nagkanda towards SutlejDamp shady Ravine densely woodedKotgarhCultivationRapid DescentChange of ClimateTropical VegetationRampurSwing-bridgeDiurnal fluctuations in level of RiverGaoraSerahanTrandaWestern boundary of Kunawar

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