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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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about twenty miles in length. A stagnant lake called Tûz, and Sussik Kill (salt, putrid lake) lies near the western end. The water of it was described to me as being salt to the taste. Abdûl Mejid noticed this lake as at the first stage from Khargôshi, which agrees with the account given to us. To the east of the Sussik Kû1 a fresh water stream rises and flows into the Yeshil Kû1 lower down in the Alichôr, from which another issues and falls into the Mûrghâb, below its junction with the Aksû.

The Kâshghari army that fled with the Khojas in the last centurÿAefore the Chinese,) when they gained possession of Eastern Tûrkistân, assed up the Alichôr Pâmir in their` i$ g) t to Badakshâ.n. They were overtaken near the Yeshil kûl, and are said to have driven their women and children, mounted on camels and horses, into the lake to meet their death by drowning, rather than allow them to fall into the hands of the Chinese. The Kirghiz have a legend that the sounds of lamentation, and of people and animals in terrifying alarm at threatened death, are often heard to come out of the lake.

I have already mentioned the Siriz Pâmir when speaking of the A'ktâsh valley. This Pâmir appears to be a continuation of the A'ktâsh valley, similarly as the Little Pâmir is, and as the Tâghdûngbâsh is of the Sirikol valley. It seems to run from Ak-bâlik in the east, to Bartang in the west. Bartang is the beginning of the inhabited and cultivated portion of Shighnan in that direction. It is described as abounding with fruit-bearing trees, and must therefore be much lower than Kila Panj, with a very different climate. It is easy to believe this, when the long course of the A'ksû, with its steady fall, is considered.

The Kirghiz spoke of the Rung (ibex) Kûla, large lake, about one day's journey from Albâlik, and situated in the Siriz Pâmir. This probably is the Rung Kû1 of Pâmir Khûrd, mentioned in Colonel Yule's Essay on the Geography of the Oxus, the A'ktâsh valley being thus regarded as the Little Pâmir, of which it is but the continuation, as I have already explained. By the Kirghiz accounts, the Great Kârakûl is four days, the Little Kârakûl three, the Rung Kill one, and the Yeshil Kû1 two and a half days' journey from Ak-bâlik. I estimate the day's journey in these accounts at fifteen miles. Abdul Mejid made seven marches from Khargôshi to the Great Kârakûl. Of these one probably was to the Alichôr, two down it to Ak-bâlik, and four up the Mûrghâb, by the road which is said to pass along its banks.

The animals of the Pâmirs are the ovis poli, ibex, brown bear, leopard, lynx, wolf, fox, marmot, and hare. These remain throughout the year. Wild fowl swarm on the lakes in summer. The wild yak is not known on or near the Pâmir.

We were not fortunate in pursuit of game. On the way over the Wakhân the snow lay too deep to permit of sport, and on the journey back our limited supplies would not admit of a halt for the purpose. The only ovis poli obtained was a female shot by Captain Trotter, on a long march of thirty-seven miles. The horns of the ovis poli and the ibex lie in great numbers at many places on the Pâmirs. These animals suffer heavily from the leopards and wolves, which prey almost entirely upon them. A murrain is also said to have made great havoc amongst both some years ago. The ibex are similar to the Himalayan species, and accordingly differ from those we saw in the Thian Shun range, which were of the black species, also found in the Kûen Lûen. I brought away a pair of ovis poli horns measuring sixty-five and a half inches in length round the curve, fifty-three inches in a straight line from tip to tip, and sixteen inches round the base. I purpose giving them to the National Museum of Natural History in London.

We experienced none of the usual symptoms of great height, headache and difficulty of respiration, on the Pâmirs, in the degree that native travellers have described. None of our camp followers and people suffered in any way beyond breathlessness when exertion was made. All were free from the pain of " dum" as it is called, with the exception of our mess khânsâmâh, who invariably became a victim anywhere at an elevation over 12,000 feet.

There was perfect health among our party throughout the journey. One of the Wakhis, who accompanied us with the supplies over the Great Pâmir, died suddenly on the last march to Âktâsh, and this was the only casualty, or sickness even, among the numbers of men who