230 OVER THE KARA-KASH RANGES [CHAP. xIV.
The nearest to us were those. at the head of the Nissa Valley below a prominent cone, for which subsequent triangulation showed a height of 23,070 feet. But bigger still looked the ice-streams that descend in a huge amphitheatre above the valley of Karanghu-tagh. Further to the south-west and west the steep crags of the Chankul and other neighbouring peaks shut off a distant view. They were all glittering with fresh
KUEN-LUEN RANGE, WITH GLACIERS OF NISSA VALLEY, SEEN FROM BHINJAK.
snow, probably from that fall which we had witnessed at Issikbulak ; but the beds of snow filling the ravines of the Iskuram valley enclosed by these peaks looked old, more like incipient glaciers.
The sky was the brightest azure, and its colour only heightened the effect of the dazzling glacier panorama southwards. Though it was midday and the actinic power of the sun's rays considerable, the temperature in the shade
IIIF Color HighRes
