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| 0349 |
Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 |
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very high and precipitous hill just above Changlung village. The road ascends by a zigzag and
rises rather more than 4,000 feet in a length of about five miles, the stiffest bit of ascent on
the whole journey to Yárkand. After reaching the top of the Karawal Pass (so called from
a karawal or outpost erected many years go at this spot to enable the Ladakhis to defend their
country from invasion from the north) the road descends into the Sáser stream and then passes
up it to the Sáser La, a pass over a mighty ridge covered with snow and glaciers which runs
down from the great mountain mass forming the eastern extremity of the so-called Kárákorum
Range and separates the waters of the Nubra* from those of the Shyok. This pass (17,820
feet) is one of the most difficult on the whole road, and is rarely, if ever, free from snow,
while the road passes through, over, and alongside of glaciers for many miles.† The road
from the top of the pass follows the bank of a stream which enters the Shyok River at Saser
Polu, a halting place on the winter road. The Shyok is here crossed with difficulty, as is
proved by the fact that two Ladakhis were drowned there when returning from laying out sup-
plies for our return journey.
The road now ascends a tributary stream on the left bank of the Shyok crosses a low pass,
and at Murghi Camp joins another stream which flows from the Dipsang plains into the
Shyok River. It was at this point, at a height of 15,200 feet, that the late Dr. Stoliczka
breathed his last, after having traversed the Kárákorum Pass and the perhaps still more
trying Dipsang plains which rise to an elevation of about 18,000 feet above the sea. The
intense cold of this bleak and dreary waste prevents this route from being adopted in winter,
during which season the caravans follow the Shyok River from Saser Polu up to Daulat
Beguldi (Turki for "Daulat Beg died," an appropriate name for so desolate a spot). This camp,
which is situated in the north-west corner of the Dipsang plain, marks the junction of the
winter and summer routes, which unite here, and cross the Kárákorum Pass 11 miles above the
camp, continuing together a distance of 40 miles further to Ak-tágh. The Kárákorum Pass,
though 18,550 feet above the sea, is by no means so formidable an obstacle as is generally sup-
posed. It is always free from glaciers, and in summer from snow. The ascent on both sides
is gentle, and the road good, so that, although it forms the water-shed between Hindústán and
Central Asia, it is less of an obstacle to the merchant than the Digar, the Khardung, the Saser
or the Sanju Passes. From it the road passes along the Kárákorum stream (one of the head-
waters of the Yárkand River) to Ak-tágh, traversing the comparatively open ground on the
west of the Karatágh‡ plain. At Ak-tágh the roads again diverge, the winter route con-
tinues down the Yárkand river, which is crossed 18 times between Ak-tágh and Kúlúnaldi,§ a
distance of 74 miles. At the latter place this road ascends the range that was called by Hay-
ward the western "Kuen Luen,"and crosses it by the Yangi-Diwan (or "New Pass," 16,000
feet) into the Tiznát River, which it follows for 41 miles to Chiklik. The road is here taken
over one of the northern spurs of the Kuen Luen by the "Tupa"‖ or Ak-Korum Pass (10,470
feet), whence it descends along the banks of a gently sloping stream to Kugiar, a considerable
village (containing 400 or 500 houses) on the borders of the plains of Eastern Turkestan, and
41 miles distant from Karghalik, a large town situated at the junction of the Zamistáni (viâ
Kugiar), and the Tabistáni (viâ Sánjú) routes. It was by the Kugiar road that the Mission
returned to India. The road had been closed for several years previously by order of the Yárkand
authorities owing to the risk to which travellers were exposed of being plundered and sold into
slavery by the wild Kanjud robbers (of Hanza and Nagar), who coming down from their
fastnesses to the north of Búnji and Gilgit used to render the whole valley of the Yárkand
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712
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714
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