OVER THE ARA-TAGH AND THE KALTA-ALAGHAN. 47
but a good two days' journey from its northern foot; in fact it hardly seems to belong to the range proper, but rather to a rounded swelling immediately south of it. In other words the Tschimen-tagh appears scarcely to possess any southern slope at all, but is entirely buried under the soft material of the Kajir valley. The altitude of Camp No. XII was 4185 m., or only 84 m. lower than the principal pass of the Tschimen-tagh.
July 24th. The stream in the Kajir valley carried a volume of 2 to 3 cub.m. in the second, and the fall seemed to be steeper than is usual in these great latitudinal valleys. From the south this valley was joined, in the neighbourhood of our camp, by several side-glens, though only two of them, both running towards the north-west, were at that time traversed by running streams. At the same place the principal valley extends to the N. 64° W. Thence too we perceived to the N. 47° W. in the Tschimen-tagh a lofty snowy peak surrounded by several others of minor elevation. It is there, on the northern slope, that the Korumluk-saj is said to originate.
At first the ascent was very slight, but gradually the steepness increased, the ground at the same time undulating gently. The surface consisted of soft, fine soil and produced some grass. At length we reached the foot of the mountain. Here we passed the narrow ravine of Ungur-tschap with a brook. The name is derived from a small grotto (ungur) in the schists on the left-hand side of the ravine, in which hunters sometimes spend the night. The brook that came down this glen carried a volume of about I/5 cub.m. in the second, and the water was beautifully fresh. Nothing but an insignificant spur of the mountains separates this ravine from the glen of Ak-tschoka. It was by the last-named glen that we climbed up to the pass of the Ara-tagh, Ak-tschoka-aj-tuse, a flat and easy bel or col at an altitude of 4373 m. From its summit we commanded a fine view of the next conspicuous feature in this highland region, namely the culminating range of the Kalta-alaghan, with its host of lofty snow-capped peaks. But below it and on the nearer side there is another latitudinal valley, parallel with the one which we had just climbed up out of, and known as Kalta-alaghaning-kajiri. Farther west the two valleys unite, for the Ara-tagh dwindles in height until it disappears not very far away. In this way the united valley, having passed the western extremity of the Ara-tagh, has the Tschimentagh on the north and the Kalta-alaghan on the south, and finally it enters the Tschimen valley. From the pass in the Ara-tagh we had therefore a splendid view of the Tschimen-tagh. In the east it is surmounted by several dominating snowy peaks. So long as we were down in the latitudinal valley the gentle crest, with the pass that serves as the water-divide, had screened the craggy bluffs of the Tschimentagh from our sight; but from the pass of the Ara-tagh we now saw them standing out sharply and distinctly.
On the other side the pass of the Ara-tagh descends towards the south-west, and is shut in by considerable heights, and lower down, after it has been joined by a number of side-glens, it becomes converted into a deep gorge, bordered by terraces of gravel-and-shingle.
In the Ara-tagh again the southern face is shorter and less steep than the northern face, though the difference is far less accentuated than in the Tschimen-
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