a snag of rock sticking up here and there on our left as we descended. There was a greater quantity of snow on the north side, but from the base of the great gathering-basin it decreased again pretty rapidly. In the lower • part of the great Mulde-like glen the bottom consisted of finely divided material and its slopes are seamed by a multitude of radiating mountain-torrents, which converge to form the stream of the Sandschu pass. The snow there, having melted, had given rise to a veritable clayey quagmire, in which even the sure-footed yaks kept stumbling.
After that the glen inclines towards the north-west and west-north-west, and at the same time the descent grows less steep, as well as drier, and the road con-
Hain, ,journey in Central Asia. IV. 55
IIIF Color HighRes
