120 IN TIBET AND CHINESE TURKESTAN.
where there is a little cultivation, and a few spots of which Azgar and Kuktash are the more important, the whole valley is unfit for cultivation. A few hundred yards east of Azgar the valley is very narrow, but opens out a little near Surukwat, or Karaul, where there are small trees and a patch of good short grass. This spot, situated in a semicircular depression between the river and a series of cliffs almost all vertical, forms a convenient camping ground. A short distance beyond, the valley again resumes its gorge-like aspect. By far the widest portion of Raskam is at Chiung Jangle (Large Jungle), where the bottom of the valley contains low dense jungle but little grass.
The Mir of Hunza and the Kanjuts, as I was informed before leaving the Taghdumbash Pamir, laid claim to Raskam, with what justice I cannot say. The eagerness of the Kanjuts to be allowed to return to this barren land, and to resume the cultivation of its few cultivable patches was very remarkable. They believed that by means of irrigation fair crops could be raised, but when one thinks of the long distance from Hunza to Raskam, of the absence of facilities for communication, the miserable foot tracks, and the wide and rapid rivers to be crossed, it is only fair to assume that these brave and hardy men were influenced by a strong attachment to their ancient home.
The march from Surukwat to Bazar Dara, though only about ten miles, took a long time to accomplish owing to the necessity of fording the river repeatedly. The depth of the water, the strength of the current, and the stony nature of the bottom made it difficult for the mules and ponies to keep their footing. On December 5, 1897, there was -a margin of very thick and slippery ice extending for some yards from each bank. The man who, for the time, was acting as guide, and whose duty.
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