National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Kichik-Tong, and farther to Boramsal and the valley of Chep or Chup which is
a right tributary of the Raskan-darya. From Chep a direct road leads to Karga-
lik across a difficult pass in the same range as the one of Arpa-talak; it can be
traversed only on foot or with yaks. The journey to the mouth of the Chep valley
is three days long; passing Kichik-Tong. From Kuruk-langar to the confluence
of the Taghdumbash-darya there is no road and no inhabited valleys. At the end
of May the highwater comes, and the river remains high for three months. Hard
wind is never experienced, as the place is protected by mountains on all sides. A saint's
tomb at Kuruk-langar is called Ulug-masar.

On September 24th we travelled up the valley of Arpa-talak and camped
after 13.8 km., at Sugetlik where the altitude is 2,974 m. or 961 m. above Kuruk-
langar; the rise is 1:14.4. The ascent is regular, though sensible. The road is
more comfortable than in the Tong valley, as there is less gravel and more soft
ground. Tokai or forest is more rare, the valley winds in all directions; in its middle
there is a little brook.

From the left side, or south, enters the valley Ghar-masar, where the crystalline
rock stands in 74° S. 35° W. A broad part of the valley is called Kara-sai, and
east of it a masar has the curious name of Panja-baskan or »the five fingers pressed
(to the ground)». Here all Mohammedan travellers touch the ground with their
right hand. From the left comes the valley of Katle; at its mouth is a village of
the same name. Ushmuk is a widening, and Topusgan is the next. By the right
tributary Kadas, a road goes to the pass Dukan-unkur in a western ramification
of the range of Arpa-talak. The pass can be used only on foot or with yaks, and
its road leads to a tributary of Raskan-darya. Sultan Sarik Ata-masar is a saint's
tomb on a rock to our right, and opposite it is a northern tributary called Kurunluk.
A little above this place one valley is formed by two valleys; the one from the N. E.
called Shuras, without a road, the other from the S. W. Arpa-talak (or Arpa-tailak),
coming directly from the pass. The latter is comparatively broad and has a good deal of
barley under cultivation. Kittlekh is a tributary from the right with a village and fields.
We camped at the village Sugetlik, where the green schist fell 63° S. 30° W.

At Sugetlik is a new junction of two valleys; the one from the N. E. is Su-
getlik, the one from the S. E. is Arpa-talak. On September 25th we travelled up
the latter. At Sugetlik the altitude was 2,974 m. The pass is 3,834 m. high, the
ascent, therefore, 860 m. in a distance of 7.8 km., or as 1:9. The direction is S. E.
On the eastern side we had 15.8 km. S. E., E. N. E. and N. N. E. to Unkurluk, where
the altitude was 2,393 m.; here the fall is 1,441 m. and the rate 1:11. These
figures show that the ranges of the Kashgar System are rather accentuated.

The valley up to the pass is narrow but comfortable. Leaving it we ascend
softly rounded slopes with very good grass. The slopes falling to the north were
II. IX.