Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / Page 403 (Color Image)

0403	Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2

of deliciously limpid water. Here at an elevation of over
7000 feet it was still spring, and the bright green of the
foliage and young crops had an exquisite offset in the brick-
red and purple tints of the low and barren ridges encircling
the oasis on all sides. Above those to the south-west and
south, which I took for offshoots of the high To-lai-shan
range farther east, the whole of the snowy main chain
showed in overpowering grandeur (Fig. 218). It was,
no doubt, the contrast between the fertile open valley and
the towering array of white peaks in the background which
helped to recall so vividly my beloved Kashmir.

In the largest of the several walled villages or 'P'u-tzu'
(Fig. 221), as we got to know them, a big temple offered
comfortable, if dim, quarters (Fig. 219). The magistrate
of Yü-mên-hsien, on which Ch'ang-ma depended, had been
duly advised of our passage, and had sent up a petty official
with some soldiers to receive us. There was no want of
attention; but when I insisted on arrangements for guides
and transport to take us through the mountains, to the
Chia-yü-kuan gate of the 'Great Wall' all knowledge of
such a route was stoutly denied. That the Chinese of
these parts have no love for the mountains I had learned
long before; and when I offered to act as guide myself, the
want of ponies or mules which would be needed for any
really rough track presented a formidable obstacle. It cost
great exertions to secure even camels; and in order not
to allow the opposition to the route I had planned to
gather strength, I thought it advisable to set out with
them at once on the afternoon of July 13th, however
unwilling my caravan seemed to leave the flesh-pots of
Ch'ang-ma.

I managed to move it that evening to the right bank of
the Su-lo Ho, which flowed here as a vehement mountain
river in a steeply cut bed some twenty yards wide. The
quantity of water carried down was great, as we could see
when looking down upon the tumultuous turbid rush from
the solid cantilever bridge which spanned the river. But
how much greater the river must have been during earlier
periods, I could judge from the old bed still well defined
across which we moved for fully a mile before reaching the

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Citation Information

OCR Text

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books