| THE GIIAS-KÖL ANI) TO THE DOUBLE GORGE IN THE AKATO-TAGH. 277 sometimes for short distances it runs to the south-south-east. At length it widens out and loses entirely its character of a gorge. The slow ascent had ultimately carried us so far up that the relative altitudes were quite insignificant, and we appeared to be riding merely amongst low hills. Every now and again we came across a solitary scrubby köuruk, causing us to wonder how these plants manage to subsist, seeing that they are so seldom watered. Occasionally too we saw the dry, withered stalks of teresken, but these had been brought down by the torrents from higher regions. Every now and again the bottom of the glen contained gravel, though otherwise it still continued to be covered with clay. To the east of our route we now perceived a reddish ridge, the main crest of the Akato-tagh; and to the west also there were rather imposing spurs of the same range. Thus the country was now more open, the view not being impeded by any near mountains. Here we pitched Camp CII at an altitude of 3345 nh | | | |
| Fig. 2I2. VIEW FROM THE AKATO GLEN. We discovered the first hard rock in the vicinity of this camp. It consisted of a variety resembling argillaceous schist and had a distinct dip of 54° towards the S. 3o° W. In places it appeared to be in a transitional stadium, verging towards the condition of the all-prevalent softer clay, for when struck with the hammer it crumbled to dust. The impression I derived was that the entire range is undergoing a process of disintegration, crumbling all away to sheer dust and clay. In some of the steep walls of the main glen we perceived certain grey bands showing up very distinctly; those that I was able to reach consisted of coarse sand. The detritus in the bottom of the glen, though it was not only thin but rare, consisted of grey granite, diorite or diabase, porphyry, quartzite, and so forth. In fact the entire architecture and shape of this part of the Akato-tagh is, as the foregoing account | | | |
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