CHAPTER I.
THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE GEZ-DARYA, 1894.
Three times I have travelled from Fergana to Kashgar. My first journey took place in December 1890 from Osh via Terek-davan, which was crossed on December 5th, Irkeshlam, Ulugchat, Kanjugan, Ming-yol and finally Kashgar. The second journey began on February 2 3rd, 1894 from Margelan and proceeded across the Pass of Tengis-bai, the Alai valley, Trans-Alai, the Great Kara-kul, Pamirskiy Post, Mus-tagli-ala and Gez-darya to Kashgar. The third time I again began from Osh, on July 3 r st, 1899 and took the road of Gulcha, Taldik-davan, Tongóurun or Taun-murun-davan which is the water-parting between the western and eastern Kisil-su, and finally the ordinary road by Irkeshtam to Kashgar.
As we, in this connection, are only concerned with such roads as have possibly been used by Chinese travellers of older times I will not describe these three roads, so much the less as this has already been done in my personal narratives. I will only stop for a moment at the last part of the second road, the one of Gez-darya, from which I have a few short annotations not before published.
From April 2 7th to May i st or in five days I accomplished the journey from Bulung-kul to Kashgar which is r 4o km. in length, giving 28 km. a day as an average. Unfortunately I travelled through the Gez valley under as unfavourable circumstances as possible. Studying the glaciers at the west side of the Mus-lagh-ata, I was attacked by a very violent iritis which made any kind of work impossible and compelled me to hasten to Kashgar. Half blind and with a bandage on my eyes I took the Gez-darya road which was the shortest. Of course it was impossible to make a map of the route.
The best orographical and morphological description of this region I have seen, is that of Dr. ARVED SCHULTZ.' Of his five names of places in the valley, Gez, Kuruk, Atschik, 7ul-tugai and Ui-tag, I only heard three, viz, Gez, Kuruk and Ui-lagh. Of course there are many other names, though, by reason of my illness, I only noted a few of them.
I Landeskundliche Forschungen im Pamir. Hamburg 1916, p. i i 2 et seq.
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