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0556 Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1
Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 / Page 556 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000196
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3. Tam (height 8,790 feet), 162 miles.—Up course of Sirigkya river, through a gradually narrowing valley which winds between high and bare hills of schistose slate. River crossed repeatedly en route on a stony bed. Banks fringed with bushes and patches of pasture grass. At 11 miles pass the Chtichti glen to the left; a narrow defile which conducts over the Chichi ridge to Shahidula, and is taken as an alternative route when the river is unfordable during the summer floods. At Um two houses on a small flat leave habitation behind.

  1.  Gachga, 10 miles.—Up narrow winding valley, and cross river repeatedly as in last stage.
    No cultivation or habitation. Kirghiz camps in glens and hollows in the vicinity.

  2. Kichik Karakoram, 14 miles.—Up by a rapid rise through a widening and branching defile to foot of Sanjû Dawân, a sharp ridge of mica slate 16,650 feet high. Then up a steep zigzag, through a narrow and rough gap, and down another on opposite side into a very narrow, deep, rough gorge descending to Kichik Karakoram ; a narrow strip of turf on a trickling stream between lofty vertical cliffs. No fuel nor pasture.

  3. Pilla.tâghâch, 112 miles.—Descend narrow, winding, dismal gorge over masses of landslip rock, down course of rivulet for four miles. Then enter valley of Karâkâsh river at Mirza Abâbakar camp ground at a cluster of graves on the river bank. Then follow up stream six miles by a very rough road, fording river twice en route to Pillâtâghâch camp ground on a limited flat of brushwood and pasture on the river bank. Valley very narrow ; hills high and bare.

  4. Shahidula Khoja (height 11,780 feet), 15 miles.—Up stream by rough road in winding valley, with brushwood and forage along river course ; their patches interrupted by projecting moraine banks. At four miles cross Kilyân stream from the right to Korghân, a solitary mud castle at foot of a rock abutting on the river bank. At five miles on cross 'lbghra stream from the right, then cross Karakâsh river three times en route to the Fort of Shahidula Khoja, garrison 30 men ; frontier post of Kashghar at the junction of the Kizil jangal glen with Karâkâsh valley. Fuel and forage here, and Kirghiz camps around.

1;i. Sugat (height 12,970 feet), 8 miles.—Up course of Karâkâsh river four miles. Then up course of the Sugat river to the right four miles, and, crossing several times, camp 011 turfy flat on right bank. Hills on left bank steep down to the river; on right bank rolling away in wide slopes to high mountains ; everywhere bare schistose slate, and trap. Vegetation confined to river course.

  1.  Chibra, 21 miles.—Rise out of river channel and pass across wide slopes of hill to a narrow defile coming down from the left. Then up its course between bare banks of shale through a tortuous channel to foot of Sugat Pass, 17,600 feet high. Ascend by a steep path, and follow a gradual slope six miles down to camp ground at Chibra. No vegetation here. Water very scanty. Snow on Pass from September to April as on Sâ.njii Pass.

  2.  Aktâgh (height 15,590 feet), 10 miles.—Over an elevated, arid, stony plateau, perfectly desert, by a path skirting banks of shale to the right. Breathing oppressed on this march. At ten miles turn slowly to right and slope down to Aktâgh camping ground on a patch of turf in the wide, shallow, shingly bed of its stream. The whole region a bleak, desolate, and inhospitable waste. From this down stream is the Yangi Diwan and Kugiar route to Yârkand.

  3.  Brangsa Karakoram, 28 miles.—Up a wide, shallow,shingly drainage bed gradually ascending between low banks of shale that roll away in wide sweeps to the mountain tops. Vegetation most scanty in herbal tufts. A few antelopes met with. At half-way pass camp ground of Wahabjilga, where the Aktâgh stream flows through a cutting in slate rocks. Then continue over the drainage bed to the Brangsa camp ground at the entrance of a narrow defile. No fuel and no forage in all this region. This Brangsa is also called Balti Brangsa.