occasion when our tame camels had not had water for eleven days,
they were saved by following the tracks of their wild relations.

IX

IN THE FORBIDDEN LAND (1901-2, 1906-8)

THE PLATEAU OF TIBET

South of Eastern Turkestan lies the huge upheaval of the earth's crust
which is called Tibet. Its other boundaries are: on the east, China
proper; on the south, Burma, Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal, and British India;
on the west, Kashmir and Ladak. Political boundaries, however, are of
little and only temporary importance. They seldom remain unchanged from
century to century, for from the earliest times a nation as it increased
in strength has always extended its domain at the expense of its
neighbours.

The earth's crust, on the other hand, remains unchanged--if we disregard
the continual work performed by rain and streams, weather and wind,
which tends to fill up the hollows with mud and sand, to cut the valleys
ever deeper, and to diminish the mountain masses by weathering. However
powerfully these forces may have acted, Tibet still remains the highest
mountain land of the world.

If you lay your left hand on a map of Tibet so that the part nearest the
wrist touches the Pamir, the flat of the hand covers the region of
central Tibet, where there is no drainage to the ocean, but where the
country falls instead into a number of isolated lake basins. Your thumb
will represent the Himalayas, the forefinger the Trans-Himalaya, the
middle finger the Karakorum, the third finger the Arka-tagh, and the
little finger the Kuen-lun. The highest mountain ranges of the world are
under your fingers; and also, as the longest finger is the middle of the
five, so the Karakorum is the central range of Tibetan mountains.

Now let a little stream of water fall on the back of your hand as you
hold it on a table with the fingers spread out. You will see that a tiny
quantity remains on the back of the hand, but that the greater part runs
away between the fingers. Thus it is in Tibet. The water poured on your
hand represents the rain of the south-west monsoon, which falls more
abundantly on the eastern part of the country than on the western. The
water which stays on the back of the hand represents the small scattered
salt lakes on the plateau country which has no drainage to the sea,
while the large quantity which runs off between your fingers represents
the large rivers which flow between the ranges.

[Illustration: TIBET.]

Of these