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morning, and from east in the afternoon. On entering a house one generally passes through the stables, containing two or three horses or cows, after which one traverses a long winding narrow passage, which leads to the centre of the house which is generally very small and dirty. In the centre is a fire-place, a kind of globe-shaped stove, about 21 feet in diameter, made of mud, and open in front for the passage of air and fire-wood. Above, is a hole in the timber roof for ventilation. The roof is dome-shaped, supported on cross-beams resting on timber uprights which surround the central fire-place, and help to support the side apartments which all open inwards towards the fire and to one another. Here the different members of the family reside. The larger portion of the house is given up to the females, who, somewhat bashful but good humoured, appear to have a very good idea of keeping the men of the household in decent subjection. The males all wear brown woollen chogas or cloaks of country make ; pubboes or boots of the same kind as are worn by the Ladâkhis ; loose trowsers of the same material as the coat; and a generally scanty cotton turban, the almost universal colour of which is blue and white. The women, who are not over good-looking, but are pleasant and matron-like, dress very much like the men, and have long plaits of hair falling down the side of their heads. There is no artificial modesty or attempt to conceal their faces. In .a cottage where we took refuge the females remained present the whole time we were there, and made some most excellent barley bread for us, kneading the flour into a cake which they plastered into the inner wall of the oven ; after frequent turning a capital result was secured. Their physiognomies are very divergent, most of them have Jewish noses, but one boy I saw with a most perfect Greek profile. They all age very early, and attri1ute their grey hairs to the poverty of the country. The men seem affectionately disposed towards the females, always handing them fruits, sweetmeats, or any little trifles we might happen to give them. They are all poor ; money and ornaments seem almost unknown, and hardly anything is seen in their houses that is not the produce of the country.
At Sarhadd the temperature of the water was 32°. At Ur I found it to be 40° while the stream was about 60 feet in width, one and a half feet in depth, with a velocity of two and a half miles an hour. Near Yûr we passed a large stream on the right, and another on the left bank. Throughout the valley there was much jungle wood, and some old coarse grass, but up to date (April 10th) we saw no signs of spring, neither trees budding, nor grass sprouting. The road throughout is very stony, but not otherwise bad. In many places the tributary streams have brought down immense quantities of stones and débris, which threaten to block up the main stream. This débris generally spreads in a fan-like shape, from where the tributary stream opens into the main valley, and causes the river to flow round the base of.the. fan, At Bfibâtangi, the valley, which from Sarhadd had varied from three miles to one mile in width, is confined by precipitous mountains to a breadth of about one-third of a mile. It soon opens again however, and shortly after leaving Sas (about 13 miles above Panjah) it enlarges considerably, and gradually opens into a considerable plain, being joined a few miles above Panjah by the valley containing the stream from Upper Pamir. Before the junction the Sarhadd stream passes for several miles through rather dense jungle composed of red and white willows.
On our march into Zang (near the junction of the streams) we crossed the river of the Great Pamir here about 30 feet wide, one foot deep, with a velocity of about three miles per hour. It was very considerably smaller than the river we had followed from Sarhadd. Where the streams meet the valley is about three and a half miles wide and almost entirely covered with jungle. It narrows gradually towards Panjah, where it has a breadth of two miles. The height of Panjah above the sea I found to be but little more than 9,000 feet. The vegetation in the valley was very backward, much thrown back doubtless by the violent winds which tear up and down with a bitterness difficult to imagine unless it has been felt. The grass was beginning to show signs of sprouting in the middle of April, and the cultivators were then commencing to turn up the soil preparatory to sowing. The Oxus River flows on the north side of the valley, and on its left bank is Panjah, between which and the mountain range to the south, a distance of nearly two miles, the ground is almost completely covered by fields, irrigated by a stream which issues from a large ravine on the south, and is derived from a large tayie22.. which entirely blocks up the valley in which it is situated,
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