APPROACH TO K UKA L UNG PASS. 123
whatever, except the large yellow flag which was hoisted daily during the few days of my visit, so that this Celestial fort may fitly be described as armed with a flag.
The valley at the mouth of which Bazar Dara is situated, well deserves the name of Dozok Dara (Difficult Valley), for it is stony and barren. The pass at its head, the Kukalung Pass, though 16,000 feet high, is not difficult when free from ice, but as we approached it we found the valley in some places not more than twenty-five feet wide, and encumbered with slippery and sloping ice. Here the animals fared very badly, especially the mules, which quite belied their reputation for sure-footedness, slipping and falling far oftener than any of the ponies. At Tapin Chat (14,300 feet) we halted for the night before crossing the pass, but there the altitude, the cold wind, and the absence of vegetation made the conditions too trying for the baggage animals. Hastening forward we reached Zad, the largest permanent encampment of Kirghiz in the Kulan Urgi valley, where we remained a few days, and then, having obtained some fresh yak, we set out to recross the pass, in order to connect the triangulation with that from Bazar Dara. Most of the men and all the mules and ponies were left at Zad to recuperate, while Dalbir Rai and I, with Dass the cook, and Changf ûnchuk who acted as interpreter, along with two Kirghiz who looked after three yak, re-ascended the slope towards the pass. The yak could endure the strain ; they are patient, plodding animals, not sensitive to cold, and, being ruminant, can without difficulty be without food for a few days.
The work of a surveyor at an altitude of 14,700 feet is not in itself attractive. It requires some resolution, when the thermometer is below zero F., to bear exposure during the greater part of the day to a strong freezing wind,
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