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The heart of a continent : vol.1 |
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Chinese post, emerged on to the great central plain of Turke-
stan again near Artysh. From here I saw one of those sights
which almost strike one dumb at first—a line of snowy peaks
apparently suspended in mid-air. They were the Pamir
Mountains, but they were so distant, and the lower atmosphere
was so laden with dust, that their base was hidden, and only
their snowy summits were visible. One of these was over
twenty-five thousand feet high, and another twenty-two thou-
sand, while the spot where I stood was only four thousand ;
so their height appeared enormous and greater still on account
of this wonderful appearance of being separated from earth.
Here, indeed, was a landmark of progress. More than a
thousand miles back I had first sighted the end of the Tian-
shan Mountains from the desert. I had surmounted their
terminal spurs, and then travelled week after week along their
base, their summits constantly appearing away on my right
hand. Now at last arose in front of me the barrier which was
to mark the point where I should turn off left and south to
India. It was a worthy termination of that vast plain, for
the greater part desert, which stretches away from the borders
of Manchuria to the buttress range of the Pamirs.
That evening we reached Artysh. Everything here looked
thriving and prosperous. The fruit season was at its height,
and all along the road, at any little garden, the most delicious
grapes and melons could be obtained. Nor was there now
any difficulty with the people, and they were always ready
to allow us to rest for a time in their gardens or put us up
for the night. I noticed a very large canal, which struck me
as being an unusually fine work for the people of the country
to undertake, and was informed that it had been made by
Yakoob Beg. His intention had been to water a large desert
tract beyond, but he had not lived to complete his task, and only
a comparatively small piece of country is now irrigated by it.
But it is a standing mark of his large ideas for the improvement
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