Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/200

178 whilst the others were only just able to surmount the pass.

The descent from the pass was even more gradual than the ascent. It continued for fifteen miles, and terminated at the stream called Nomokhun, flowing in a gorge of which the height above the sea was 11,300 feet. And this was the lowest elevation in the whole of our route across Northern Tibet. Beyond the Nomokhun the ground gradually rises to another range, the Shuga (Chouga), lying parallel with the Burkhan Buddha and terminating as abruptly on the west, where it abuts on the Tsaidam plains. This range is somewhat longer than the preceding. It commences with the Urundushi mountains on the east, where the Shuga-gol also rises. This stream is 280 feet wide where we