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0093 Explorations in Turkestan 1903 : vol.1
Explorations in Turkestan 1903 : vol.1 / Page 93 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000177
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THE ROUTE THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS.   69

flocks to summer pasture by bake Son Kul. The next day, July 8, we went on with the Kirghiz, crossing the Dongus-tau range at about io,000 feet elevation, reaching the lake about noon, and camping above 9,30o feet in one of the summer villages on its southern border, after an afternoon ride to a small glaciated valley. The gray yurts of many Kirghiz encampments were dotted around the lake, and near each camp the grassy meadows gave pasture to camels by the score, horses and cattle by the hundred, and sheep and goats by the thousand. On July 9 we forded the outlet of the lake at its southeastern corner, went northward along the plains on its eastern side, visited two glaciated valleys of the Kok-tal range in the afternoon and then had our view of the flat-topped Bural-bas-tau range to the southeast; we camped in another summer village for the night. On July io we crossed the Kum-ashu pass in the Kok-tal range and descended northward to the Tuluk Valley, camping again in a Kirghiz village. Having seen during the descent a large moraine in the Chalai range (fig. 49), north of the valley, we went up to it (fig. 5o) on the morning of July i i, and in the afternoon followed down the Tuluk-su, eastward to its junction with the Juvan-arik (so-called by a postmaster, but named Kara-khojur on the 40-verst map), and there stayed in the post station, Sari-bulak, on the road from Kashgar and Narinsk through the mountains to the open country of the north. On July i 2 we went northward through deep gorges in the Yukok-tau range down the Juvan-arik to its junction with the Kachkar River in the Kach-kar basin, south of the Alexander range, and rested at Serai Kara-gol over July 13. The river below the junction is the upper trunk stream of the Chu, which farther on escapes northward from the mountains and then flows far west to disappear on the plains ; but it is here called the Urta-Takoi. We followed it eastward on July 14 and camped on the plain that borders the western end of Issik Kul at an altitude of 5,300 feet.

On July 15 and i6 we made a detour south of the làke to see some glaciated valleys in the Terskei Ala-tau range, camping the first night at â small spring in the mountains, and the second night enjoying the comfort of an excellent yurt at a summer village in the upper valley of the Ula-khol, an affluent of the lake. On July 17 we returned to the west end of Issik Kul, where the rapid Chu makes a sharp bend from a northward to a westward course, and at the elbow gives out a small distributary, the Kute-maldi, which flows with sluggish current eastward to the lake. On July i8 we followed the post road eastward along the north side of the lake and spent Sunday, July 19, at Turaigir station. We still followed the post road eastward on July zo and 21, reaching the Russian village of Sazanovka. There Mr. Huntington left us on the morning of July 22, our head-man going with him, on the road around the east end of the lake, and thence southwest and south over the Tian Shan to Kashgar, as is duly set forth in his report. Mr. Brovtzine and I turned northward, hoping to cross the Kungei Ala-tau range by the Suttobulak pass on the direct way to Vyernyi. We spent the night of July 22 at a Kirghiz camp in a moraine basin, at about 8,000 feet altitude, but on July 23 were disappointed to find the valley head below the pass covered with deep snow. We attempted to beat a track for our horses (fig. 52), but gave it up on reaching the