Innermost Asia : vol.2 / 209 ページ（カラー画像）

0209	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

reached a height of well over 10,000 feet. They are screened from the south by the peaks of Khangol
and Mohur-shan (the latter 8,412 feet by triangulation), and this helps to explain why Lāl Singh's
triangulation did not reach them. I have, however, little doubt that future exploration will prove
them to be the highest, not only in the central range, but in the whole of the Kuruk-tāgh region.
This belief is supported by the Chinese name which I heard from Muḥammad Bāqir's mouth as
Hsi-ta-shan, 'the western big mountain', but which might well be Hsüeh-ta-shan, 'the snowy big
mountain'; ³ for the snow I noticed lying in the higher gullies of the northern face would probably
remain there for months longer.

A mile or so beyond the point mentioned we emerged upon the edge of a wide peneplain gently
rising towards the south-west. As we moved up it along the flood-bed draining into the Chong-aghiz,
it was seen to be flanked on the east by a high spur of the Hsi-ta-shan and on the south-west by the
lesser massif of Sherzak. The former is known as Khangol and has given its name to the grazing
ground called Khangol-yailak, formerly much frequented by Mongols. There we pitched camp at
an elevation of about 5,100 feet. According to what Muḥammad Bāqir remembered to have heard
from his father, some forty Mongol families used to graze their herds and flocks here and elsewhere
around Hsi-ta-shan all through the year, before the troubles of the Muhammadan rebellion induced
them to seek safer ground in the T'ien-shan. Now rarely more than two or three Mongol 'tents'
visit this neighbourhood or the adjoining Sherzak-yailak, though coarse grass as well as groves of
elms were plentiful where we camped, and water was probably obtainable at no great depth in the
flood-bed. It was clearly not desiccation that was responsible for the abandonment of this grazing
ground.

After a cold night with a biting north wind and a minimum temperature of 24 degrees F. below
freezing-point, we moved next morning up the gradually narrowing peneplain to the south-west
to gain the pass by which camels could be taken to the head-waters of the Shindī river. We reached
it after a march of about six miles, having crossed on the way two low but steep rocky ridges
running parallel to the bold heights of Khangol, and offering a full view over the almost imper-
ceptible watershed towards the head of the Sherzak valley. The Sherzak-ghol drains towards the
Baghrash Lake to the north-west (Map No. 25. D. 1, 2), while the Bēsh-kara-choka-dawān, by which
we next crossed a narrow saddle of the Khangol spur, gives access to the head-waters of the Shindī
river draining to the head of the Kuruk-daryā bed and thus into the Lop basin. Thus this end of
the Chong-aghiz valley on the western flank of Hsi-ta-shan marks an important orographical point
where three main divides of the Kuruk-tāgh meet.

The aneroid indicated for the pass an elevation of about 5,800 feet, and by climbing over
a bad shale slope to the steep crest overlooking it from the north we obtained a distant view over the
Kharzak valley to the south and towards another rugged spur, known as Khangol-choka, descend-
ing from Hsi-ta-shan south-eastwards (Fig. 338). Disintegration and erosion appeared to have
advanced much farther on this side of the range than on the northern, while the growth of vegetation
in the valleys proved markedly poorer as we descended to the south-east. The winding stony
bed which had to be followed was difficult in places, and at a point about two miles below the pass
became so narrow that the camels could barely be passed through. Beyond, the valley widened
and the cañon cut by the now dry Kharzak stream could be avoided by keeping to an open stony

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