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| 0166 |
Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1 |
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the east the plains could be seen far away to the green tracts
under irrigation round Yangi-Hissar, Opal, and Tashmalik.
A light haze of dust that hung over the plain on the pale-blue
horizon was all that suggested to the mind the great desert
beyond. Immediately before me was a maze of bare rocky
ridges. The eye revelled in the bright and wonderfully varied
tints which they exhibited. From bluish grey to terra-cotta
every shade of colour glistened in the full sunlight. It was a
view which will long live in my memory for its vastness and
fascinating variety. For a couple of hours it remained before
my eyes as I crossed in succession the Talantik, Sarvai-Bel,
and Topalu-Bel Passes. The valleys between them were not
deep, and progress was easy. Then at last there was a decided
descent into the Kizil Jilga ("the Red Valley"), not inappro-
priately so-called from the reddish-brown hills that enclose it.
A six miles' march in the dry bed of the stream that in the
spring drains the nullah, brought us at last back again to the
bank of the Gez River. It was flowing here over a bed of
rubble nearly a mile broad, divided into numerous channels,
but as rapid as above.
Only for 1½ miles was there a way along the river-bank.
Then a precipitous spur of conglomerate, which is washed at
its foot by the current of the river, intervenes, and we had to
wend our way again into a tortuous gorge. It felt hot in its
still air, though the thermometer in the shade showed only
83° F. At the end of the gorge there was an extremely steep
ascent at an angle of over 30°, where the ponies even with-
out their loads had difficulty to scramble up. After crossing
this—the Shagildik Dawan—there was once more a descent
to the main valley. But our way there was soon blocked by
a fresh spur, and instead of emerging on the level plain for
which, I confess, I was by this time longing, a last great
detour into the wild barren waste of conglomerate hills had to
be made. One after the other of the ponies that had come
all the way from Karakul broke down, and I was heartily glad
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