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I90 ADVENTURES IN ^TIBET.
sky-blue silk. It was the airiest aquarell in diluted colours,
everything ethereal, transparent, like a fata morgana, or a
half-remembered dream. The water of the lake was a
lovely ultramarine blue, except close to the boat, where it
was emerald green.
The lake appeared to extend east and west to an infinite
distance, and it was more than six miles broad, so that from
its surface we had a splendid panoramic view of the sur-
rounding mountains. Kutchuk was rowing with steady,
powerful strokes, yet we seemed to get no nearer to the
object we were making for. The gurgling of the water
round the oar was the only sound that broke the all-per-
vading silence of this Tibetan Dead Sea, the surface of
which lies at an altitude of 15,635 feet above the level of
the sea.
The water was so salt that the drops which trickled into
the boat set like stearine, and when the moisture had eva-
porated it left a thin, chalky-white bee-hive shaped mass,
which speedily collapsed. The oar-blades were as white as
if they had been painted ; our hands were white and
rough, Qur clothes splashed all over with white spray, and
the interior of the boat looked as if she had been employed
for transporting flour.
In the morning we had seen the caravan skirting the
western shore, but as the distance increased we lost sight
of them. Upon approaching the southern shore, I began
to keep a sharp lookout for them with the glass, but failed
to find any sign of them anywhere.
Towards evening the hills before us began to stand out
more distinctly, but the lake became as it were clouded
over, and we heard a distant roaring, which we at first took
for a river entering the lake. It was, however, a gale of
wind setting in, and soon the lake began to run pretty high.
Thereupon we hoisted sail, and very soon covered the rest
of the distance.
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