国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

THE PASS OF HUNSERAB.

53 crossed. But the narrow valleys south of the passes are filled with gravel and water, and can be used only on foot during the summer.

August 4th we left the camp of Ulutör and returned north to the confluence of the Ulutör and Hunserab where the altitude was 4,388 m. The distance is only 6 km. The descent 461 m. and the rate i :13.

The next day I undertook with two Kirgizes an excursion to the pass of Hunserab. The distance from our camp was 7.4 km. due west, and the ascent up to the threshold 421 m. As the latter had an altitude of 4,809 m., the rate is, therefore, as i :17.6.

The Hunserab Pass proved to be one of the easiest and most comfortable I had so far crossed in the Pamirs. Between two mighty ranges with short snow-covered ramifications towards the valley and small glaciers between the ramifications, the broad, soft and grass-grown jilga of Hunserab gradually rises towards the threshold. Swampy ground is formed by small brooks from the sides. All the glaciers visible come to an end at an altitude above that of the pass; they are very small and their moraines insignificant. At the foot of the hills are screes and heaps of detritus, the rest of the country between the ranges having soft rounded forms. Hard rock is not within reach. A flock of 13 wild sheep fled into the valley Ak-sai coming in from the south and leading to small glaciers. The brook from the latter joins the brook from the pass, and where both meet there is a light grey plain of gravel, or a sai, surrounded by green hills.

The pass itself is more like a flat, green, somewhat convex plain with a very gradual ascent on both sides, where small pools of water stand. To the S. W. a deep-cut sharply modelled passage is seen between black rocky ranges covered with eternal snow. To begin with, the slope down to the Kanjuf side is also gradual, but becomes more and more steep and the road finally is very difficult as it proceeds in a narrow gorge filled with water. This valley is also called Hunserab. North and south of the pass, glaciers come down without reaching the pass itself. The northern one has a brook which just at the glacier front freezes into ice-sheets. On the pass there are some blocks of grey and greenish granite of the same kind as lower down was found in situ.

The valley leading to Kanjut is seen S. 6I° W.; three days journey lead to Gircha and six to the khan-ui or the residency of the late Safdar Ali Khan.

From the pass of Hunserab we returned by the same way as we had come down to our old camp in the lower part of the U.prang valley at 4,222 m. Just below the confluence of Hunserab and Ulutör the living rock was granite in 24° N. 30° E., though not quite clear. The granite forms two ridges between which there were several signs of nomads' visits and fireplaces of stone. This grazing-ground is called Yeryi (Ver-ui ?). Opposite this place, at the right side of the valley, there are two

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