Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 220 (Color Image)

0220	Among the Celestials : vol.1

182 AMONG THE CELESTIALS. [CHAP. VII.

We determined now to march on as hard as

we could till we got out of the country in-

habited by Kirghiz, and down into the plains

again, where the people were all Turkis. This

we succeeded in doing the same day. We

followed down a stream, and then, after passing

a small Chinese post, emerged on to the great

plain of Turkestan again near Artysh.

From here I saw one of those sights which

almost strike one dumb .at first —a line of snowy

peaks apparently suspended in mid-air. They

were the Pamir Mountains, but they were so

distant, and the lower atmosphere was so laden

with dust, that their base was hidden, and only

their snowy summits were visible. One of these

was over twenty-five thousand feet high, and

another twenty-two thousand, while the spot

where I stood was only four thousand ; so their

height appeared enormous and greater still on

account of this wonderful appearance of being

separated from earth.

H ere, indeed, was a landmark of progress.

More than a thousand miles back I had first

sighted the end of the Tian-shan Mountains

from the desert. I had surmounted their

terminal spurs, and then travelled week after

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