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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books
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The heart of a continent : vol.1 |
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and spots like this, which included about a hundred and fifty
acres of arable land, were cultivated. The district is known as
Raskam, which, I was told, is a corruption of Rást-kán (a
true mine), a name which was probably given it on account of
the existence of mineral deposits there. Both on this journey
and another which I made down this valley in 1889, I found
the remains of old smelting furnaces in several places, and
was informed that copper was the mineral extracted. In the
Bazardarra valley, on the right bank of the Yarkand River,
there are said to be traces of gold. The Kanjuti raids were
the cause of the country becoming depopulated, and now that
these have been effectually stopped by the British Government,
we may expect to see Raskam, in future years, again spring
into life.
One march below Karash-tarim the valley narrowed con-
siderably, and high cliffs constantly approached the river,
making it necessary for us to cross and recross it frequently.
At length it became confined in a gorge, called the Khoja
Mohamed gorge, and was here shut in between cliffs of
enormous height and nearly perpendicular. Through this
gorge the river rushed with great force, and, as it was quite
unfordable, we were brought to a standstill. We unloaded
the ponies, and every man of us set to work to make a road
round the base of the cliff by throwing rocks and boulders
into the river, and so building up a way. By the next morning
we had succeeded in making a narrow pathway round the
cliff. The loads were first carried over this ; then the ponies
were carefully led along, till at last the whole party was
safely conveyed to the other side of this formidable obstacle.
A short distance below this, on the left bank of the
Yarkand River, we struck a tributary named the Surakwat,
up which led the route to the Mustagh Pass, so we here left
the valley of the Yarkand River. For a few hundred yards
above the junction the Surakwat flows through a very narrow
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