CHAP. iv.] OXUS SOURCE GLACIERS 63
some eight hundred feet up the mountain-side to the north gave me a splendid view of the valley through which the collected waters of the Ab-i-Panja flow down towards Bozai Gumbaz and Sarhad. The glaciers, too, from which they chiefly issue, were clearly in view An hour's work 'with the photo-theodolite enabled me to retain the whole of this impressive panorama. It left no doubt as to Lord Curzon
VIEW DOWN AB-I-PANJA VALLEY FROM NEAR WAKHJIR PASS.
being right in placing here the true source of the great river.
The high ranges which line the valley precluded a view further west towards Wakhan proper and Badakhshan. Yet it was a strange and joyful sensation to know that I stood at last at the eastern threshold of that distant region, including Bactria and the Upper Oxus Valley, which has had a special
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