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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia, 1899-1902 : vol.4 |
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Citation Information
418
FROM LADAK TO EAST TURKESTAN.
The quantity of snow was still considerable, and, as in the case of the Sodschila and the Tschang-la, the greatest amount lay on the inner or Central Asian side of the pass, being there 1 I/2 to 2 m. deep. The road bore to the north and northwest, and it was with extreme slowness that we succeeded in making our way through the snow-drifts. The storm continued with unabated violence. It was clear we should not reach Barangtsa by evening, and so we were forced to encamp amongst the snow-drifts, at an altitude of 5485 m.
On 24th April the weather still continued unfavourable. It had snowed all night, and was snowing still next morning. The snow itself whirled in veritable clouds along the ground, so that our immediate surroundings were for the most part blotted out. It was only occasionally, that we caught faint glimpses of the flanks of the mountains, though we felt somehow that there were lofty mountains on both sides of us. At noon it lifted a little, but soon the storm burst again, the heavy clouds driving before a wearisome wind. This sort of weather is of course characteristic of these lofty uplands, even in the spring. Two hours after we had left camp the snow was still deep; but after that, although the slope is very gentle, it decreased rapidly in quantity. When we reached Barangtsa the ground was half bare, only the gullies and fissures being treacherously filled with snow. On the other side of Barangtsa there was but the very scantiest amount of snow; even in the hollows it was thin. The surface which we then rode upon was of first-rate character, partly fine gravel, partly hard sand and soft dust, so that the caravan was able to make more rapid progress than it had done anywhere since we left Dschimre.
The road follows the glen that runs north-east down to Barangtsa. At this place it was said that we should find a little grazing, although a short distance from the road. There too we hit upon a spring, which had given rise to large ice-sheets. After that the principal glen ran a little way off on our left, while we rode down a side-glen, broad and shallow, the bottom of which contained a good deal of ice on its tiny spring-fed rivulets. Then for a space we again followed the main glen, until we ascended its right terrace of red earth and so approached the spring of Baksum-bulak. The ice-sheets of this we then crossed a couple of times; thereupon we followed a plain, called Tschader-tasch, with one or two little free-standing buttes. Round about these lay innumerable skeletons of horses, together with some of camels. Amongst these it was easy to distinguish several different years. Some of them were
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During the time that the murderer was in Kaschgar and Aksu, Petrovskij, through his secret agents, was able to keep him under surveillance and could have seized him at any moment; but without the consent of the English minister in Peking he did not feel warranted in taking such a step. Several months must elapse before he could receive a reply, and when at length the minister's request did arrive for him to seize the prisoner at all costs, it was too late, the Afghan was already safe in his own country. Two years later Dod Muhamed, thinking that the affair was forgotten, returned to Samarcand. There however he was recognised, and on 8th March 1890 he was arrested by the Russian authorities and thrown into prison, where on 3oth March he hanged himself with his own girdle. It was said that Dod Muhamed was led to this evil deed through an old grudge which he bore to Dalgleish. A Hindu merchant had once consulted Dalgleish with regard to Dod Muhamed's affairs, whereupon Dalgleish told him, that the Afghan was anything but trustworthy. Upon learning this, the Hindu had refused to let Dod Muhamed have goods upon credit, and when the Afghan asked him for the grounds of his retusal, he told him what Dalgleish had said.
Dalgleish occupies an honoured place in the history of Central Asian discovery, and it is for this reason that I was unwilling to withhold what I have learnt as to his unhappy death.
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