Innermost Asia : vol.1 / Page 99 (Color Image)

0099	Innermost Asia : vol.1

Section II.—THROUGH YĀSĪN TO THE DARKŌT PASS

Ghizar, now separately administered by a 'Governor' of Khushwaqt descent, lay at a distance Head of
from my route. But of the Kho tract I was able to see something on my way from the Sheobat Batres-gāh
pass to Yāsīn proper. The descent from the former took us on August 23rd over ground clearly valley.
marked as the bed of a former glacier and past steep slopes of rock debris to the high grazing ground
known as Kuterao-ferao. Next day, a couple of miles lower down, we struck at Mayurai the
Batres-gāh valley. Here an area of carefully levelled ground, not less than half a mile square,
attested former cultivation at an elevation of over 10,000 feet. The Batres-gāh valley looked
comparatively open. A track practicable for laden animals ascends the valley south-eastwards to
the Suj-galī pass leading to Nyachūt in Darēl, and this is the route by which Fa-hsien and his
Chinese fellow pilgrims probably proceeded to Ta-li-lo and the Indus. For our own journey
to Yāsīn two marches down the Batres-gāh Nullah to its mouth and then another along the Gilgit
river to Gūpis would have offered the easiest route. But in order to save a day I chose the short
cut that was reported to lead above Gafar-bōdo to a pass giving direct access to the head of the
Gūpis Nullah due north.

The mountains to the south of the Gilgit river have in these parts not yet been adequately Pass above
surveyed. So it was scarcely surprising that this unexplored pass proved almost impossible for Gafar-bōdo.
our porters. For fully eight hours we scrambled over huge masses of rock debris and boulders
(Fig. 32), the worst I ever encountered in this region, relics of an ancient glacier, before we reached
the narrow rock gully forming the pass at an elevation of just under 16,000 feet. The entire
absence of glacier mud or other soft soil over all this ground seemed a clear indication of the dryness
of the climate on this side of the Indus watershed, far advanced denudation resulting from it.
On the steep north slope of the pass névé-beds were still found, the last remnant of what must
have been, within a relatively recent period, a glacier of some size. Nightfall obliged us to camp
amidst old moraines at an elevation well over 15,000 feet.

The following day's march led down to Gūpis through a steep and gradually narrowing Descent to
valley. In its upper portion it was of interest to observe a succession of ancient terminal moraines Gūpis.
marking at intervals the points to which the glacier had advanced at different geological periods.
Stretches of sloping meadow land used for grazing separated these steep falls of rock debris, the
lowest of them being met with some nine miles below our camping-place. Below the junction with
the Bāshkar-gāh branch, which descends from the south-west and still holds an active glacier,
the valley contracts into an extremely narrow gorge flanked on either side by rocky precipices.
These cliffs, which at their base showed in places clear marks of glacier 'grinding', appeared to
rise to a height of 3,000 feet or more above the cañon-like bed of the stream. Their name Upaiyōt,
interpreted to mean in Shīṇā 'higher than birds can fly', suggests some local legend similar to
that which accounts for the origin of the ancient name Paropanisus (Avestic Upairi-çaēna) borne
by the Hindukush main range north of Kābul. A very steep spur jutting out above the main
valley near Gūpis and known as Ishkērbal was pointed out as a natural place of refuge resorted
to in old times.

August 24th, spent at the village of Gūpis, was our first day of halt since leaving Kashmīr. Halt at
We took advantage of it for work of many kinds, in which we were assisted by the presence of the Gūpis Fort.
small garrison of Imperial Service troops holding Gūpis Fort. This effectively guards both the
mouth of the Yāsīn valley opening on the opposite side of the river and the route that leads to
Mastūj and Chitrāl. It was of direct historical interest to find this testimony to the strategic
importance of the point under present, as under past, conditions; for, as mentioned above, it is
G

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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Citation Information

OCR Text

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books