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Innermost Asia : vol.1 |
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Wakhān, and that the plentiful ornamental wood-carving in his panelled ' Aiwān ' was of a dis-
tinctly Persian style.⁶ᵃ
A move of some three miles northward across a boulder-strewn plain, no doubt once the bottom Approach
of an ancient glacier basin, brought us to the entrance of the narrow gorge by which the stream to foot of
from the glaciers adjoining the Darkōt pass has cut its way through a transverse ridge. This Darkōt
ridge, which the route crosses, is known as ' Darband ', from old walls intended to form a chiusa. pass.
It was from the crest of this ridge, at an elevation of about 10,000 feet, that the ice-covered depres-
sion in the range forming the Darkōt pass, 15,380 feet above the sea (Fig. 44), first came into
view from the south. Both to the west and east of it glaciers, of far greater size than that below
the pass, descend from peaks towering to heights well above 20,000 feet. The abundant moisture
assured by the vicinity of the streams that drain all these ice-clad slopes favours vegetation. I was
therefore not surprised to find that besides pasture and numerous birch-trees, terraced fields culti-
vated by the Darkōt people extend above those streams to an elevation of about 11,000 feet. Our
march that day was continued past these fields of Gakushi and up the broad but steep spur which
gives access to the pass, until at an elevation of about 12,300 feet we encamped on the last level
bit of ground, known as Khamba. The smiling alpine landscape spreading to the south struck
me by its contrast with the great wastes of ice and rock that I remembered so well on the north
side of the pass from my ascent to it seven years before.
It was the desire to see the scene of Kao Hsien-chih's great exploit that had then induced me Darkōt pass
to visit the Darkōt pass in spite of the early season, bad weather, and an exceptional winter snow- revisited.
fall.⁷ It was the thought of it, too, that now invested the actual crossing of the pass with special
interest for me. It was effected on August 29th, with all the advantages of the late summer season
and ample arrangements for transport. All the same it served to impress me again with the serious-
ness of the natural obstacles presented by the glaciers of the Darkōt. I realized more than ever
that the Chinese general's passage in A. D. 747 with a relatively large force, already severely tried
by their march across the whole width of the Pāmīrs, deserves to rank, as a great military achieve-
ment, side by side with the most famous alpine feats of leaders such as Hannibal or Napoleon,
if it does not surpass them. I have discussed elsewhere this remarkable exploit in full detail,⁸
and have shown how closely the topographical features of the Darkōt pass agree with the exact
account of this expedition which Kao Hsien-chih's biography in the T'ang Annals has preserved
for us. I need therefore only record here such of the observations made on my renewed visit to
the Darkōt as will help to supplement my previous description of the pass.
The track above our camping-place, Khamba, ascended very steeply along bare rocky slopes, Rock en-
but when free of snow it was practicable for laden animals. After about a mile it passed at an graving
elevation of about 13,100 feet the large inscribed boulder of which I had first heard at Yāsin below
(Fig. 46). It lies a few yards above the track, and its top, sloping at an angle of about 45°, presents Darkōt
an almost flat surface measuring approximately five feet by four. The stone appeared to be a pass.
dark-grained granite ; the surface on the exposed top has weathered to an almost black appearance.
This surface shows in its middle portion and engraved to a depth of about one-fifth of an inch
the outlines of what manifestly is meant to represent a Stūpa, and by its side to the right five rows
of Tibetan characters, two in each for the most part manifestly coeval with the Stūpa. In
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684
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