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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

31Q   ARPA-TALAK AND SUGETLIK.   8i

Richik- Tong, and farther to Boramsal and the valley of Chef or Cliuv which is a right tributary of the Raskan-darya. From Chef a direct road leads to Kargalik across a difficult pass in the same range as the one of Aria-lalak; it can be traversed only on foot or with yaks. The journey to the mouth of the Chep valley is three days long; passing Kichik -Tong. From Kuruk-langar to the confluence of the Taghdunnhash-darya there is no road and no inhabited valleys. At the end of May the highwater comes, and the river remains high for three months. Hard wind is never experienced, as the place is protected by mountains on all sides. A saint's tomb at Kuruk-lang-ar is called Ulug-masar.

On September 24th we travelled up the valley of Aria-talak and camped

after 13.8 km., at Sugeílik where the altitude is 2,974 m. or 961 m. above Kuruklangar; the rise is 1:14.4. The ascent is regular, though sensible. The road is more comfortable than in the Tong valley, as there is less gravel and more soft ground. Tokai or forest is more rare, the valley winds in all directions; in its middle there is a little brook.

From the left side, or south, enters the valley Ghar-masar, where the crystalline

rock stands in 74° S. 35° W. A broad part of the valley is called Kara-sai, and east of it a masar has the curious name of Panja-baskan or »the five fingers pressed (to the ground)». Here all Mohammedan travellers touch the ground with their right hand. From the left comes the valley of Katie; at its mouth is a village of the same name. Üshmuk is a widening, and Toftusgan is the next. By the right tributary Kadas, a road goes to the pass Dukan-unkur in a western ramification of the range of Aria-talak. The pass can be used only on foot or with yaks, and its road leads to a tributary of Raskan-darya. Sultan Sarik Ala-nzasar is a saint's

tomb on a rock to our right, and opposite it is a northern tributary called Kurunluk.

A little above this place one valley is formed by two valleys; the one from the N. E. called Shuras, without a road, the other from the S. W. Aria-talak (or Arpa-tailak), coming directly from the pass. The latter is comparatively broad and has a good deal of barley under cultivation. Kitlekh is a tributary from the right with a village and fields. We camped at the village Sugellik, where the green schist fell 63° S. 3o° W.

At Sugellik is a new junction of two valleys; the one from the N. E. is Sugetlik, the one from the S. E. is Arj5a-talak. On September 2 5th we travelled up

the latter. At Sugetlik the altitude was 2,974 m. The pass is 3,834 m. high, the ascent, therefore, 86o m. in a distance of 7.8 km., or as 1 :9. The direction is S. E. On the eastern side we had 15.8 km. S. E., E. N. E. and N. N. E. to Unkurluk, where the altitude was 2,393 m. ; here the fall is 1,441 m. and the rate 1 : 1 1. These figures show that the ranges of the Kashgar System are rather accentuated.

The valley up to the pass is narrow but comfortable. Leaving it we ascend softly rounded slopes with very good grass. The slopes falling to the north were

I I. IX.