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0349	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

of the Alichur Pāmīr. My day's halt at Kara-chim was utilized also for collecting anthropological
measurements from the Kirghiz there encamped (Fig. 365). These, together with all the other
anthropometrical materials secured on my journey north of the Oxus, have been fully discussed
by Mr. T. C. Joyce in Appendix C.ᵃ

On August 10th we retraced our way across the Kizil-dawān to the Kök-yār valley, and
followed this down to where it joins the great valley of the Kūdara river close to the
latter's sharp southward bend. The great glaciers on the Sēl-tāgh which feed this important river
had been sighted far away to the west on our march higher up. The route descended by the left
bank and brought us to thickets of willows and birch-trees at Kizil-tokai, about 10,500 feet above the
sea, where we halted. The feeling that we had left the Pāmīrs behind was borne out when next
morning, after advancing a couple of miles, we passed fine fields of barley cultivated by Tājiks
of Rōshān ; driven from the Murghāb or Bartang valley by the flooding of Sērēz they had reclaimed
old cultivation at this spot. As we descended farther by the left bank, mostly along large detritus
slopes (Fig. 368), we repeatedly encountered patches of cultivation amidst luxuriant vegetation
watered from small beds of snow.

Above the junction of the Tanimaz with the river coming from the Kök-ui-bēl we passed huge
shoots of debris and then crossed to the right bank. There we soon came upon marks of the wide-
spread destruction wrought by the great earthquake of 1911. The wide stretch of level ground
known as Palēz and formerly cultivated had been abandoned ; for the fall of the hill-side above had
blocked the canal which carried water to it. Within a mile and a half from the river crossing we
found the valley floor completely smothered under enormous masses of rock debris (Fig. 377),
which that cataclysm had thrown down from the slopes of the spur flanking the valley on the right.
They rose in wild confusion to 200 feet or more over what had been the plain of Palēz, and had
been propelled in places right across the valley to the opposite slope. The river had been blocked
for months by this huge barrage and progress over or past it was very difficult for about two miles
(Fig. 369). Lower down, the Kūdara valley had suffered less from the effects of the earthquake.

It thus became possible on August 12th to push on to the Bartang valley after a night spent
at the small Tājik hamlet of Pasōr, ensconced among luxuriant white poplars and willows at an
elevation of about 9,700 feet. The track, difficult in places for laden animals, kept close to the
river wherever the steep banks overhanging it left room, or else crossed high terraces. On one of
these the small village of Rukhj was passed ; its green fields presented a refreshing contrast to the
utterly bare slopes around. Farther on, the route led down the boulder-strewn bed of the river,
where frowning cliffs overlook it. Here, at a point appropriately known as Darband (Fig. 390),
a large rock once carried a watch-tower intended to defend the peaceful Iranian settlements of
Rōshān from Kirghiz raids. We then threaded the narrow mouth of the ravine, through which

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