IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Across Asia : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
RECORDS OF THE JOURNEY
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The river contin ues its course to the SW, tightly enclosed by two steep mountain walls. The road winds fro m one bank to the other. The ground consists of nothing but stones of all sizes. The meagre grass ceases altogether. The trees continue close to the watercourse. After two miles th e gorge grows wider again. There are rather more trees, but no sign of grass. The gor e goes on, often in a S direction. At times it widens and forms a narrow, stony valley separ ated from the next open space by a narrow neck. There, are traces everywhere of the Kal muks' winter quarters. On the left there are a couple of gorges at a distance of two miles fro m each other, Tegneten Sala shevyr and Guriäng gol. A mile or two further on there is a th ird, Umnu Gyrin amna shevyr. The gorge, which had for some miles gone in a decid edly southern direction, now turned SW again and became distinctly wider for a considera ble distance. The trees formed groves which interfered with my mapping, but the ground was still as stony as before and the total absence of grass made the position troublesome. This comparatively broad valley is called Uom. In the W it seems at a distance of several miles to be bounded by projecting mountain ranges. Opposite a Kalmuk praying site at the foot of the mountains on the right a large gorge, Balganta gol, opens on the opposite bank. The gorge turns S and again grows narrower. The road creeps along galleries blasted in the mountain along its steep side, often high above the roaring river. A great deal of work has been done in making these galleries. We had to dismount frequently and lead our horses along the slippery rocks, but without this blasting it would have been impossible to advance.
A ride of about 3 1/2 miles in a S direction brought us to a spot, where two bridges had been thrown across the river of the same kind as the Kok-su bridge, but very decayed. The road divides here and runs on both sides of the river. Here we met a representative of the firm of Musabayeff in Qulja on his way to Yulduz with brick tea. This firm does most of the trade with the Torguts and has a turnover of about 30,000 roubles a year. Some heavy flint-locks were laden on one of the pack-horses. The Torguts buy them at 20 lan
e.
e crossed the river which had become considerably larger, possibly to some extent
g to the rain. At our last camp it was 45 feet wide and 0.45 m deep. Here it was
feet wide and the water came up to the horses' bellies. The bottom is stony. On the osite bank the road went on running high up the mountain sides, while ours ran mostly e to the river bed. My tent stands two miles further on in a grove between two gorges,
mbutin amyn on the right bank and Khuragin amyn on the left. Part of Musabayeff's
a caravan camped next to us. The Qarakesh, a lively Sart from Oschär, generously
resented me with 14 hard, small, wheaten loaves. They gave us great pleasure after eating
usks for two months. My poor skeletons of horses wandered about like shadows, unable
o find a blade of grass to appease their hunger.
This inhospitable gorge seems to be unending. We covered mile after mile and at every fresh turn walls of rock rose up and prevented our seeing more than a mile or so before us. Our exhausted and starving horses required more and more spurring to advance over this stony ground. All their hooves were tender, but my new horses from the Tekes and Yulduz
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July 3rd. Camp at Khuragin amyn.
July 4th. Camp at Tsagan Tungan.
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