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0063 Southern Tibet : vol.9
Southern Tibet : vol.9 / Page 63 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000263
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THE TAGHARMA PLAIN.   4'

From Ulug-rabat to Tagharma my Kirgizes calculated 130 tents, 40 of which were situated at Kara-su, Kayinde and Gäjek. From Muchi to Bulung-kul the inhabitants belonged to the Naiman tribe; the subjects of Togdasin Bek were mostly Kara-tell. The Kirgizes of Gäjek were Sari - teït and those of Tagharma partly Sari-teït, partly Kesek.

The next day, July 26th, our journey continued 36 km. S. E. and south to Tash-kurgan, descending from 3,499 to 3,152 M. or 347 m. which is as i : 104. It should, however, be noticed that from the junction of the Kara-su and Taghdumbash Rivers the ground rises to the south.

One road goes down through the valley of Gäjek at the side of which high erosion terraces rise, and where also blocks are seen occasionally; old moraines also prove that the action of the glaciers has reached so far down. Just below the aul the glacier brook of Aftab-urui and its valley join the main valley. The glaciers of Aftab-urui are situated between those of Kok-sel and Shevar-agil. To our right, in the Sarikol Mountains the transverse valley of Shilbile opens; it has no road and no practicable pass.

Our valley finally opens out into the Tagharma plain which slopes towards the S. E. To our right or S. W. is the mighty Sarikol Range with its snow-covered peaks and crests and its many transverse valleys. At the base of its rocky sides are large screes of detritus gradually falling towards the plain. We are following the very edge of the gravelly ramifications from the Sarikol mountains. Kara-su, as the joint river from the Ulug-rabat-lavan is called, turns to the east, south and S. E. Now, early in the morning, the river was small, only a few cubic meters, but it increased in volume in the course of the day and after receiving several affluents from all the valleys which are directed to the Tagkarma plain.

To the right we have the mouth of the valley Berdesht with its brooks. By this valley a road goes to the plateauland of Pamir in the west, crossing a pass in the Sarikol Range. Then follows the little valley Kichik-Shilbile with yeilaks but no road and no pass, Kong-us-tube with yeilaks and a peak in the background, Sari-lash (= Sarik-lash) with a brook, and Gellang-kol with a more considerable brook; all situated in the Sarikol Range.

To our left we have extensive grazing-grounds. The following names were given: Kok-yer with an aul of five tents; Serala, a little fort with Chinese garrison on the left side of Kara-su; Daulet with a karaul and some Tajik tents. At a greater distance to the left is Besh-kurgan with a Chinese garrison. Sometimes Tajik huts are seen, built of sun-bricks. Barley and wheat are grown, and the fields are irrigated from Sari-task and Gellang-kol. Only the Tajiks cultivate the fields. Shosh-davan farther S. E. may be regarded as an ethnological boundary between the Kirgizes and the Tajiks. The boundary is, however, not an absolute one, for, as we have seen,

6. IX.