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| 0211 |
Innermost Asia : vol.2 |
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by a tower, probably built of clay. The opposite slightly lower end bears a platform, measuring
about 24 by 10 feet, built of alternate layers of stamped clay and brushwood about 6 or 8 inches
thick, with a thin stratum of reeds above the latter. This recalled the method of construction of
which I had seen examples among the ruins of Lou-lan, in towers and foundations of Stūpas, and
in circumvallations. The whole wore a distinctly ancient appearance, suggesting the remains of
a watch-station or of a rallying-place for a small settlement.⁵
In order to visit an inscribed rock of which I had heard reports, I then proceeded down the
defile. For a mile or so we passed fields on the right bank of the stream which had been roughly
prepared for cultivation. For another mile we met patches of ground on both banks which were
clearly cultivable but were overrun by luxuriant scrub ; elms, willows, and wild poplars grew in
profusion among it. Lower down, the defile became very confined, between precipitous spurs of
rock jutting out from either side, but still afforded good grazing at different points. At one of these,
known as Inkur-otak, an almost vertical cliff, several hundreds of feet high, rises immediately
above the left bank of the stream. Its foot for a distance of about 20 yards is covered with a
miscellaneous assortment of shallow rock sgraffiti, roughly executed, representing horses, camels,
ibex, deer, and in a few places figures of men. Interspersed with these are Cakras, tridents,
Svastikas, an eight-petalled lotus, and some figures apparently meant for mystical diagrams.
It was getting too dark for an attempt to secure a photograph ; but I could see that the sgraffiti
high up looked much weathered and old, and those lower down more recent. That local worship
of some kind attaches to the spot was shown by a flag which a Mongol visitor had set up near it.
The gorges furrowing the Shindī-tāgh on either side looked extremely rugged and confined, and
reminded me of forbidding ravines in Hunza or Chitrāl. The defile cut by the Shindī stream was
said lower down to become impracticable for camels. The precipitous scarps of all these gorges
and the absence of detritus bear striking evidence to the power which water erosion has asserted
in this outermost range also of the western Kuruk-tāgh.
After arranging for the dispatch of fresh instructions to Lāl Singh, who was continuing his
triangulation under difficulties amongst the much broken ranges to the north-west, I left Shindī
on the following morning, March 1st, in order to gain the course of the Kuruk-daryā half-way
between the sites of Lou-lan and Ying-p'an. In order to secure water while on the way to this
destination I was obliged to proceed first to the route connecting Singer with Ying-p'an, and after
striking it at Azghan-bulak to follow it down to Toghrak-bulak. The march to the first-named
place was long and monotonous, but served to bring out well the typical character of all these
latitudinal valleys or rather peneplains of the central Kuruk-tāgh. It led all the way along the
northern foot of the hill chain that stretches from above Shindī eastwards, the relative height of
its flat-topped ridges gradually sinking as it approaches the Ala-tāgh near Azghan-bulak. The
ground, at first covered with fine alluvium supporting scrub and a few elms by the side of dry
flood beds, changed into a stony Sai as the almost imperceptible watershed towards the drainage
area of Nanchan-bulak drew nearer. Some miles before this was reached there cropped up along
the axis of the wide valley on our left a series of low broken ridges, which continued with interrup-
tions all the way to Azghan-bulak. They clearly represent the last remnants of a completely
decayed range parallel to and intermediate between that of the Ala-tāgh on the south and the
Mohur-shan on the north. A conspicuous peak in the latter rising to over 8,400 feet showed
through the dust haze raised by the persistent west wind, and relieved the monotony of the desert
landscape. No spring or well is to be found on this ground before reaching Azghan-bulak ; but
tamarisk growth and some elms appeared farther east where dry Nullahs coming from the Mohur-
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698
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