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
The direction of the road was now mainly E with slight deviations to the N or S. On the other side of the first mountain ridge a cultivated valley with a few villages opened up on the left, surrounded by mountains. A small river, which we crossed, flowed through it from NE to SW.
After 8o li Ehr-shih-cha-tzu with 6o-7o houses and at 88 li the village of Koukuza with ro houses in a valley between low, grassy hills in the N and S. The valley was about 21/2 miles wide and intersected by a tributary of the Ta ho, 20-30 feet wide. After go li Shyrynvan with 20 houses. Here the mountains withdrew from each other. A slightly ascending and rather stony sunken road led us up to a plain with fairly large mountains in a N—S and E—W direction about 20-30 li in the E. In the N and S it was bounded by hill-like long, low ridges. After roo li the village of Huchia youtzu. From this place the road dipped slightly, occasionally along a sunken road towards the mountains in the E. After i r o li the village of Kulishang with i oo houses, partly consisting of caves in the side of a ridge on the left. Gaolyan, millet, tchumiza, jumi, shuza, wheat, tchaumi and potatoes are grown. Average crop 6 fold. The fields are worked with rainwater. — 40 oxen, 6o horses and 20 donkeys. — Snow from the gth to the 3rd month, almost 5 inches in depth. Frequent W burans in spring. Rain from the 4th to the 8th month. A wheel-track leads from here to Ning yuan ting.
The ground during the r r o li of to-day's journey was very much like that we covered July r rth.
during the latter half of yesterday. No more high mountains, all the time we were surrounded Suchi village.
by low mountains or hills like mounds or ridges. The road either traversed a long and narrow
valley or it crossed another, but more in the nature of a plain, all, however, enclosed by
low grassy hills.
At first the course of the road was E towards a valley, about r /2 mile in width, at the
bottom of which a dry river bed wound. Low, grassy hills extended on both sides with
gentle slopes, the lower parts of which, as well as the bottom of the valley, were cultivated.
Several side-gorges opened up in the northern mountains, each one contributing a dry
river bed from the N or NNE. After r o li Latiouza with r o houses. The valley had grown
narrower and was not more than about 600 yards wide. The crop in the fields was meagre.
The soil was very sandy and stony. After II li Miao kou meng with 15 houses, after 17 li
Teitjajouza with 5o-6o. The ground grew stonier and stones of large size began to occur at
intervals. After 19 and 22 li the village of Shuimo with 15 houses in two small groups, 25
li Hle with 5-6 houses. Our course was now ESE. On the left we caught sight of small
groups of villages at the mouths of gorges some distance from the road. Higher up the
slope, on the right, a small clump of low trees here and there. An occasional group of cattle
or small flock of sheep was visible on the heights.
After 40 li we reached Taushu with 40 houses. Just beyond it we encountered a fairly
large grassy ridge going in a N—S direction that seemed to cut off the valley. A dry river bed
came out of a wide gorge in the S, another rather larger one from the NE. The road led up
towards the latter and we were soon in a valley, about 230 yards wide, between similar
grassy chains of hills. After 5o li Hungsapa with 30 houses. We now noticed a slight, but
717(
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