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| 0262 |
Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1 |
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crowning them at intervals. When we had climbed the crest
of the nearest plateau the whole of the great snowy range
towards Ladak and the westernmost border of Tibet lay spread
out before us. Over the whole chain towered the great Kuen-
luen Peak already referred to, with its glaciers now clearly
visible. The Un-bashi ("head of Ten") of Buya, an
uncouth looking hillman or 'Taghlik,' knew the peak only
by the name of 'Muz-tagh' ("the Ice-mountain"). Apart
from the glittering wall of snow and ice in the far south, there
was nothing to be seen before us but the yellowish slopes of the
plateaus that mark where transverse ridges must once have risen.
The extremes of temperature, and possibly the excessive dry-
ness of the climate, with the consequent absence of vegetation,
may partly account for the extraordinary disintegration of the
soil. In colour and outlines the near view reminded me of the
hill ranges that are seen when passing along the Egyptian
coast of the Gulf of Suez. The plateaus are separated by
broad depressions in which tiny streams of saltish water try to
make their way towards the Yurung-kash. Except when the
snow melts on the distant mountains eastwards, there is no
moisture to fill these ravines.
Thus we marched for about ten miles to the south-west,
glad that the ground offered no difficulty to the tired ponies.
From a high ridge that crowns the last plateau southwards, I
sighted the broad and partly cultivated valley of Pisha, and on
its other side the ridge that still separated us from Karanghu-
tagh, the last inhabited valley at the northern foot of the
Kuen-luen, our immediate goal. At 5 p.m. I arrived at
Kul-döbe, the main hamlet of the Pisha Valley, where two
dozen or so of Taghliks were assembled to welcome me.
There seemed little in their speech or manners to distinguish
them from the people of Khotan. But their sheepskin coats
and hard weather-beaten faces indicated the difference of the
climatic conditions. Many among them had never seen the
plains. Harsh and bare of all graces are their surroundings.
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