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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

THE VALLEY WEST OF THE VAKJIR PASS.

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weight of the ice-mass. Farther W. S. W. there is quite a series of small glaciers ending high above the valley, and sending their brooks to the main river. This is, according to Lord CURZON, the real source of the Amu-darya, a view that is no doubt correct.'

Most of the small glaciers have large end-moraines. A little farther on the

river flows in a deep-cut, sharply eroded bed, its depth being some 3o m. The solid rock is granite in 87° W. Tributaries enter also from the north. The first one we passed had quite yellow water, and a deep-cut bed with living rock at its right side, viz., black schist in 86° N. W. This tributary was a wild foaming watercourse, not quite easy to cross. At its bank was a stone-cairn; its name was Taskköpriu, indicating the existence of a bridge once upon a time. The next tributary from the left, coming from a large valley with a great glacier in the background, had black water, which did not get mixed with the grey water of the main river until some 40o meters farther on.

Our road goes high above the main river on its right or north side, where several tributaries in gravelly valleys and deep-cut beds are crossed. At an altitude

Bit   of i oo or 150 m. above the present valley one sees a sharply drawn line in the
rocks, marking an old stand of the valley. The erosion of the tributaries seems to be stronger towards the side which is nearest the main valley, i. e. the right side of those coming from the south, and the left side of those from the north.

During a short stretch the main bed is broad and open, and here the river flows in several arms. But soon it again becomes as narrow as a gorge. On its sides the soft rounded slopes of the valley gradually rise to the screes and rocks of the mountains bounding it to the north and south. The relief is more wild and grand here than on the Taghdumbash side of the pass.

From the left another large tributary, Divane-sii, comes, originating from a big glacier, at the side of which a magnificent pyramidal peak is seen covered with

fc      snow and ice. The main valley broadens out, as does the river bed between its
erosion terraces. On a meadow between softly rounded hills we pitched our camp. The living rock was black schist with veins or layers of quartzite.

G7      The next day, August 16th, we continued down the valley to the west and
N. W., and finally N. E. up to Chakmaktin-kul. The distance was 39 km. in all. We began from 4,123 m. and ended at the lake for which I found 4,114 m. From Bozai-gombaz to Ak-tash, Colonel BYSTRÖM has entered upon the map of my journey published in the atlas to this work, the altitudes which are to be found on the English map published in 1896 under the title: Map of the country on both sides of the Boundary Line drawn by the joint Commission for delimiting the Russian and

I Vide supra. Vol. II, p. 208 et seq.