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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

EXCURSION TO EASTERN PAMIR, SUMMER 1894.

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Task-kurg-an. They are paid in wheat. From Bulak-bashi to Yang-i-hisar are six karauls: Bulak-bashi, Pas-rabal, Chil-gumbes, Kashka-su-Bashi, Tokai-bash2 and Igis yar. At each place are three watchmen or karanlchis.

The next day, July 4th, we made a short march of only 6 km. to the mouth

m. • the ascent is   m. and the rate

of Kara-jilga where the altitude is 4,175   453

I : 13. The brook was now very small and its water quite clear. Only a half kilometer up the valley we passed the aul of Oiman consisting of six tents. At Oimanag-si, a little tributary from the south, 5 tents were pitched. The valley is broad, its ground undulated, and the ascent was sensible. Through the openings of southern tributaries we see the snow-covered ranges called Kara,ilganing-Bashi. The southern tributary, at the mouth of which we camped, was here called Kichik-kara-jilga. I made a short excursion up in this valley, the floor of which has a steep ascent and very good grass, where yaks were grazing. The marmots are numerous. The brook increased in the afternoon and became muddy. The mountains on both sides have soft, rounded forms and are covered with débris; only the snowy crest is of

solid rock.

At our camp of Kara-jilga there is much snow in the winter, more than z or 3 of a meter. It snows even in the summer, but only at night, and the snow disappears in the day. There is not much rain. West and W. S. W. wind is prevailing, especially in the spring and autumn. The Kesek Kirgizes of the place only stay two months; when the permanent snow falls they wander down to Toilebulung. The road from Yangi-hisar to Tagarma has one of its difficult passages here during the winter, but is always in use.

On July 5th we travelled 19 km. west and S. W. to Kala - kok- moinak, where the altitude is 4,738 m. ; it is an ascent of 563 m. or as I: 34. From the pass we had 2 3 km. S. W., W. S. W. and N. W. to our camp Shärnäft in Tag-arma at an altitude of 3,236 m. , or a descent of no less than 1,502 m. at a rate of I : 15.

The minimum had been below zero, and thin ice covered the pools. The valley becomes broader and more open. Small patches of eternal snow are seen at both sides on the highest crests. From the north enters the Salik-jilga and from the south the Yukarke-kara jilga or the »Upper Black Valley». The latter has snow-covered mountains in the background and a little clear brook which, as all tributaries here, has cut its furrow down through the soft yellow clay filling the floors of the valleys. Only the beds are full of gravel and blocks. The grass is very good. In these higher regions the brooks have their maximum at noon and

decrease towards evening.

The width of the main valley increases, the mountains at the sides become relatively lower and more rounded, those to the south being ramifications from the