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Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1 |
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that height, as my fingers soon felt in handling the delicate
instrument.
It was nearly three o'clock before our work was done, and I
was able to hurry down hill. I had noticed how distant the
valley of Karanghu-tagh was where we were to finish the day's
march, and the guides from Pisha had, with unwonted anima-
tion, dwelt on the badness of the track leading to it. After a
comparatively easy descent of two miles we reached the line
where the high plateau so far followed falls off towards the
Yurung-kash Valley in a series of precipitous ravines. The
one which the track follows at first looked exactly like the
gorges I had seen in Astor leading down to the Indus. High
rock-faces lined its sides, and the withering effects of atmo-
spheric influences seemed here less marked than on the ranges
passed northward. At an elevation of about 11,000 feet the
path crossed a rocky neck eastwards, and then led down
precipitously to the river flowing more than 3,000 feet below.
It was just getting dark as we began this trying part of the
descent, but even if it had been broad daylight it would have
been impossible to ride. The angle at which the path zigzags
down the precipitous cliff was so steep that the ponies could
be dragged forward only with difficulty. The loose stones that
cover the path increased the trouble, while the deep dust in
which they are embedded at times almost smothered us.
Never had I marched in such a dust-cloud as that which
enveloped us until, after an hour and a half's scramble, the
bottom of the valley was reached at the point where the
Yurung-kash is joined by the Kash stream flowing out from
the side valley of Karanghu-tagh.
It was perfectly dark when we crossed to the left bank of
the Yurung-kash by a rickety bridge consisting of three badly
joined beams laid over a chasm some 70 feet wide. The foam
of the river tossing deep down in the narrow bed of rocks
could be made out even in the darkness. In daylight, and in
a less tired condition, the crossing might have affected one's
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