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Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 |
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also mule-trunks 'full of silver,'—and one of his men too, I
knew I had reason for relief.
On August 15th we marched up a broad barren valley
amidst mountain formations of slate and sandstone, strik-
ingly different from those passed through in the gorges
below, and then crossed the watershed by an easy pass
some 16,500 feet high to a wonderfully wide and barren
plateau. From a steep ridge above the pass which I
climbed with Lal Singh, I enjoyed a glorious view both of
the towering range behind us and the great wall of snowy
mountains which flanks the Yurung-kash River sources.
It was a grand panorama, but it was hard to photograph
it with an icy gale from the north benumbing one's fingers.
It was, no doubt, the continuation of a big Buran which
was scouring the desert plains; but the accompanying dust-
clouds could not pass over the great mountain wall rising
to peaks well over 21,000 feet, and the view kept delight-
fully clear.
A ten miles' descent over gentle slopes of absolutely
barren gravel brought us to a group of small lakelets with
fresh water, where we camped, the icy gale pursuing us all
the way. All round them the ground bore plain indica-
tions of being the dried-up bed of a lake once much larger
than the present Seghiz-köl basin to the east. It was
curious to observe here the same wind-eroded clay ridges
and banks which are so characteristic of the Su-lo Ho's
terminal basin; but their height rarely rose above ten feet,
the direction of the eroded banks running generally east to
west. The elevation was close on 15,000 feet.
Very few of the donkeys had managed to come in that
night, and as the minimum temperature fell to twenty
degrees below freezing-point, I felt doubly glad when
the following morning broke deliciously still and sunny.
Fringing the lake shore in patches there was a very coarse
sort of grass, yellowish in colour, and appropriately known
as 'Sarigh-ot' to the Keriya hunters who alone visit these
parts. So when the poor hard-tried donkeys had
straggled in during the forenoon, I could enjoy the sight
of them peacefully browsing on these hardy tufts, or else
lying lazily stretched out in the sun, which at mid-day
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