National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

BY TONG BACK TO KASHGAR.

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snow-covered from the snow-fall the day before. Over such ground we finally reached the easy pass, on the soft saddle of which only one little knoll of solid rock cropped out; crystalline schist in 76° S. 38° W. The view is interesting in both directions. To the west we see the mighty snow-covered range we crossed in

Kandahar-davan; to the east several ranges are visible, lower and more diffuse the farther away they are situated, and finally disappearing in greyish-yellow haze. The slopes to the east are like those to the west, though quite dry and without snow. There was a very rich vegetation of 7uniierus (archa), both on the slopes and in the valley. A part of the slope is called Dobe-davan, and lower down we

pass a nearly level place with good grass, called Al yeilak. Yangi-yeilak is situated to our left high on the top of a mountain group, visited only by wild goats. Gudereyeri is a village of a few huts and fields.

At Igis-arik-karaul there is a little square walled fort, a village and some trees. Here the large tributary Agach yeilak enters from the right, leading only to grazing grounds. Our road enters a narrow passage of the valley; the ground is partly gravel, partly grass; a little brook meanders between the mountains.

Kisil-kor is a valley from the right with a road to the pass of Ogrtrn-davan, on the other side of which it continues to the large villages of Chuan and Kargalik. At Kisil-kor the black schist stood in 5 6° S. 40° E. Bóche is a right tributary without a road. At the village of Vaslala the valley becomes much broader. Kichik yar, from the right, has a road to the pass Kichik-arl on the eastern side of which is a grazing-ground called Bóghe. From the latter a road goes to Damsir. At Un-

kurluk we camped.

At Unkurluk only barley is grown ; the corn was now threshed with oxen. Wheat is rarely grown in this region; maize only farther down. As a rule the fields are sown only every second year. The spring was said to be the rainy season, though much precipitation falls in winter. The snow is generally one foot deep. The brook freezes hard. The inhabitants move in winter to their villages lower down. The prevailing wind during the cold season comes from the east. The brook is swollen during one month in summer. The inhabitants are Turki, with the exception

of two Tajik families at Igis-arik-karaul. Aria-lalak-davan therefore is an ethnological boundary. The Turki language is pronounced in a softer way than in Kash-

gar. Unkurluk, e. g., is pronounced as Unguiluk. From the pass and downwards

the valley is called Asboi. Lower down it is called Üch-bäldir, and joins the Var-

kand-darya.

The earthquake was strongly felt, but no houses were damaged. Water in pans on the fire splashed over from the effect of the shock.

We were approaching lower regions and on September 2 6th descended 686 m. during a march of 21.2 km. to Damsir, where the height was only 1,707 m. ; the