THE VALLEY AND PASS OF KARA-SU. 55
the valley of Raskan-darya. The first day's march is said to be easy, but then one comes to a steep, deep-cut gorge full of gravel, blocks and water foaming with rage. This road is very rarely used, and my Kirgizes had not travelled it. In the background to the E. S. E. a mighty snow-covered range is seen, the same that forces the road to make a curve to the right or south.
At the southern side of the pass was living rock in knolls rounded by weathering and destruction. It was a fine-grained crystalline schist in 53° S. 35° E. Amongst the gravel we found a light reddish specimen resembling feldspar; at other places, just below and west of the pass the schist lay in i 2° W. S. W. and 26° N. N. E. It is strongly folded. In the bed of the river there were also stones and blocks of granite.
The view from the Uj5yang Pass was occasionally hidden by snow drifts; however, to the N. N. W., in the direction of the Taghdurnbash Pamir, one' got the impression of a very extensive plateau-land crossed by mountain ranges. To the east the view is hidden by high rocky ranges, in which the erosion has given rise to the most accentuated forms and vertical lines.
On August 8th I made a visit to the Kara-su valley and camped at an altitude of 4,315 m. The distance is 9 km. and the direction north, N. E. and east. About halfway a little pass is crossed, on the northern side of which there is an arena-shaped valley with excellent grazing-grounds where large flocks of sheep were grazing. The place is called Turuk. The same crystalline rock as before stood here in 73° S. Thence the road goes down to the k Ezra-su, which now carried only a few cub. dm. of perfectly limpid water in a deep-cut furrow. The ground consisted of a layer of mould two feet thick pierced by innumerable roots and forming, as it were, a grass-topped carpet on the gravel.
The valley is broad, with snowy crests on both sides. In the background to the east snow-covered mountains are also seen. There is a path leading to a threshold in the upper reaches of the Kara-su valley. It may only be used by men on foot, and therefore only hunters take this road. On the other side there is a jilga going to Raskan-darya. In this region the passes are called bel, not davan. At the bel of Kara-su there are only rudimentary glaciers. In the valley there are several aufs, or 13 tents in all.
Some additional information was given here. The Kirgizes and Tajiks were said to live in enmity toward one another which chiefly is caused by the difference in race and religion; the Kirgizes belonging to the Sunna, the Tajiks to the Shia, sect. As nomads they live under exactly the same conditions, but there is a great difference in the fact that the Tajiks as a rule pass the winter in stone or mud houses in villages, as Marian, Däfíar and Tash-kurgan, and only pass the summer in tents in the higher valleys. They are, therefore, only half nomads. Their flocks of yaks, sheep, and goats, on the other hand, always graze in the valleys and are watched by shepherds.
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