ed by three great mountain ranges, the two that, as it were, formed the frame of our pass, called Mus dawan, and a third, no smaller, that, as it were, forms the continuation of the mountain on the left. Between these two you see a large glacier, Togra-sunung mus, and from here a new water channel, partly covered by ice, leads to the Togra-su, which is also imprisoned by ice for the greater part of its length. The scenery is unusually magnificent and beautiful. Here the mountains are covered with grass, unlike those we saw S of the glacier. Wherever the faded grass projects, it gives the mountains dull, warm shades which, combined with tall dark-green firs growing along the upward slopes, relieve the whiteness of the snow in a delightful manner. The gorge, in which the Togra-su roars, is very narrow, so that the mountains with their steep slopes still seem of immense height. The gorge is very stony and rugged. When the road goes along one of the slopes, it is very narrow and covered with ice in some places. A false step would be fatal, and as the slope is covered with snow, it is almost unbelievable that the horses avoid making one. Lower down, at the bottom of the gorge, the snow is so deep that, if a horse takes a step off the trodden path, the snow comes up above its belly and it has great difficulty in climbing back. Earlier in the winter men and beasts are lost in the drifts, if they get off the road in the darkness. Here the mountains are called Togra-sunung tagh and retain this name until we reach a gorge Barsakalmesnung agze on the right with a huge glacier. The gorge bears this name, because the Barsakalmes tagh is supposed to be beyond it, i.e., the mountain we had on our right under the name of Davan bashi tagh during the ascent to the glacier and which is then called by the former name which means »the mountain from which no one returns). Here the Togra-su has a tributary. The mountains are now called Khan Jailiknung tagh and immediately after crossing the stony bed of the river Barsakelmesnung agze by a very bad bridge, we caught sight of a fire twinkling at the foot of the
)192(
IIIF Color HighRes
