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0317 History of the Expedition in Asia, 1927-1935 : vol.1
History of the Expedition in Asia, 1927-1935 : vol.1 / Page 317 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000210
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narrow and picturesque valley. Here, in the evening, the horses received their usual half way meal of maize. The tract was completely sterile. A discarded telegraph pole, however, provided us with fuel, and we got water from a couple of snow-drifts lying in a crevice. Over the fire we cooked pease soup and made tea, which cheered our drooping spirits.

As we advanced, the valley became narrower; and at nine o'clock that evening we drove over a pass, according to the barometer 1,16o meters above sea-level. If this was correct it meant that we had climbed nine hundred meters from Ch'ichio-ching-tze during the twenty hours since setting out from there. We camped late at night, in the little hamlet Hsi-yen-chih, surrounded by the wild cliffs of the T'ien-shan.

In the afternoon of February 13th we continued our journey towards the setting sun, with wild mountain scenery on either side, stopping the following morning in T'u-tun-tze to rest the horses. We were now well out of the T'ien-shan range. On over open ground we went, till we reached the little fortress Chiqtam. According to the barometer we had descended 50o meters over this stretch.

PICHAN

Outside the village of Chiqtam the carts suddenly sank to the axles in an ice-covered canal that had overflowed its banks. One of the carts stuck so fast that it took eight horses to get it free again.

Red sandstone hills rise around the depression where in the village Bir-bulaq ( »One Spring ») three Mohammedan families cultivate wheat, maize and melons. We passed a mazar or holy grave, and presently also the ruins of a watch-tower. Farther on we noticed that we were approaching a town. A large caravan was coming towards us, loaded with cotton for Kuei-hua. We saw also carts and little donkey-caravans, and against the sinking sun were outlined the silhouettes of gardens and tall poplars. We were drawing near to Pichan's oasis. The road now entered an avenue of willows, poplars and mulberry-trees, horsemen and peasants on foot began to emerge from the clouds of dust, and on either side of the road were rattling along a bazaar-street, partly covered with straw mats and lined with booths and tea-houses, merchants and customers. A bridge led us over a deep canal, on the yonder side of which was a cemetery. And finally came another bazaar-street, in which was also the inn where we were to stop. ADIL AHUN asked for a rest-day, as we had lost one horse and needed four fresh ones.

Pichan has four gates and a main street between the northern and the southern one . Three hundred families are said to inhabit the town, a great part of them Chinese and Tungans. The inhabitants of the surrounding countryside are almost exclusively Turkis. Here in the town reside a burgomaster and three officers, but no other officials.

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