Hayward mistook as belonging to the main Mustagh Range, but which, in fact, in no way approach to the height and magnificence of these mountains, and really belong to the Aghil Range, which is separated from the Mustagh Mountains by the valley of the Oprang River.
The wind was blowing with such violence on the summit of the pass that I found it impossible, after trying for three-quarters of an hour, to obtain the height by boiling-point of the thermometer. It has, however, been fixed by Hayward at seventeen thousand and ninety-two feet. Descending from the pass through a narrow rocky gorge, towards evening we reached the valley of the Yarkand River, and halted at an open strip of jungle known as Kirghiz Jangal. The valley is here a mile or more broad ; the bottom is mostly covered with pebbles, with the stream running in many channels over it. The mountain-sides are steep, rocky precipices, and no grass or wood is seen, except at a few spots along the bed of the river.
On September 5 we made a short march of eleven miles to Kulanuldi, a camping-ground called by this name on account of a kulan, or wild ass, having once been found dead there. The weather at this time was delightful, very clear and right, neither too hot nor too cold just perfection for travelling. The route, too, was easy and level, leading down the broad pebbly bed of the Yarkand River. The snowy peaks of the Kuenlun Mountains rose up to a height of twenty-one thousand feet to the north, but the real summit of the Aghil Range to the south could only be seen occasionally in peeps up narrow ravines. Far down the valley of the Yarkand River to the westward could be seen a very prominent knot of peaks, the height of which was approximately fixed by Hayward at twenty-three thousand feet.
On the following day we made an early start in order to make up for our short march the day before and advanced
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