Innermost Asia : vol.2 / 403 ページ（カラー画像）

0403	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

Section V.—FROM KARA-TEGĪN TO BOKHĀRA

Heavy rain obliged us to halt on October 6th near the Amlakdār's dilapidated head-quarters Crossing of
at Lājirkh (6,800 feet elevation). But fortunately the weather cleared and in spite of fresh snow Gardan-i-
on the mountains allowed us next day to cross the Gardan-i-kaftar pass (about 12,200 feet) and by kaftar.
a march of close on 30 miles to reach the Karashura river, which drains the great elevated valley
of Tupchak. This and the pass which gives access to it from the side of the Khingāb have been
carefully described by Mr. Rickmers, who made Tupchak his base for prolonged alpine explora-
tions.¹ Hence the briefest reference will suffice to the Pāmīr-like character of this country and the
imposing series of high peaks and fine glaciers (Fig. 447) that adjoin it on the south and south-east.

From our camping ground, known to the Kirghiz as Kulike (about 9,000 feet), an easy ascent Ranges
on the morning of October 8th brought us to the saddle of Khush-kulak, forming a low depression above
in the great range that stretches all along the valley of the Surkh-āb and borders Kara-tegīn on Surkh-āb
the south. From a knoll above the east side of the saddle a magnificent panoramic view extended valley.
from the snowy range of Peter the Great in the west past the great Alai chain to the glacier-girt
peaks above Tupchak. The small section of the photographic panorama here taken which Fig. 361
reproduces shows the ranges overlooking the uppermost portion of Kara-tegin and far away on
the right the great ice wall of the peaks above Sēl-dara and Muk-su which we first sighted from
the Tars-agar pass. It was a satisfaction to feel that two months' instructive wanderings across
the Pāmīrs and the high valleys by the uppermost Oxus had brought me back again to that ' Valley
of the Kōmēdoi ' and the line of the ancient silk trade route which I had wished to follow.

From the northern rim of the Khush-kulak plateau the descent led over broad spurs and terraces, Descent
affording rich summer grazing but already under snow in their upper portions, down into the open into
valley of the Surkh-āb. Passing fertile slopes where adequate rain and snow-fall permit of cultiva- Surkh-āb
tion without irrigation, I noticed that harvesting at elevations from about 8,000 feet downwards valley.
was just proceeding. This, taken in connexion with the fact that the crops in Wakhān at heights of
over 10,000 feet had been cut more than a month earlier, aptly illustrated the effect of far moister
climatic conditions. At Oital (about 6,100 feet elevation), the first village reached at the valley
bottom, I found myself once again among Turkī-speaking people. The comfortable villages of these
settled Kirghiz, extending all the way down the valley from Kara-muk to Kala-i-lab-i-āb, with
their closely clustering houses, fine orchards, and arbours, strikingly recalled submontane villages
of Chinese Turkestān. From the first I gained the impression that the fertility and abundance of
arable land, combined with the easy access to rich grazing grounds, must have attracted to Kara-
tegīn invaders of Turkish race long before the last wave brought the present Kirghiz there.

The two long marches which carried me from Kānish-bēg, our first halting-place in Kara- Resources
tegīn, down to Gharm, afforded ample opportunity for realizing the plentiful agricultural resources of Kara-
of the valley and the facilities these must have afforded for the trade which once had passed through tegīn.
it. Whether on large alluvial fans or on fertile expanses by the left bank of the river, ample irriga-
tion is assured by the numerous streams that descend from the snows and glaciers of the Peter
the Great range. On the right bank, where the snows of the Zarafshān mountains are more distant
and the supply of water for irrigation less easily secured, cultivation dependent on rainfall only
was seen to extend over terraced fields to heights of 1,200 feet or more above the river. From
Kala-i-lab-i-āb downwards, where the Surkh-āb is joined by the stream descending from the Lauli-
kharwī pass, the 'thalweg' displayed such spacious ease as to bring back memories of Swāt. The
local estimate which put the number of villages on the left bank at 80 and that of households at

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