Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / 711 ページ（カラー画像）

0711	Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2

0711

Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2

中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2

opened out panoramas more impressive and grand than
any I had so far seen. As my eyes ranged over that
amazing maze of ice-crowned spurs and deep-cut valleys
enclosed between the two great Kun-lun ranges and drained
by the Yurung-kash, it was an inspiriting thought that the
whole of this grim mountain world was unexplored ground,
and that in all probability human gaze had never rested so
long on it. Who among hunters or miners would climb such
high points always exposed to icy winds and beyond the
scantiest vegetation which this arid region affords? Every-
thing seemed on such a vast scale, and I wondered how many
months or summers it would take to explore all this wonder-
ful and forbidding Alpine world in detail. The long hours
we spent at our stations over work with theodolite, plane-
table, and camera were made most trying by the icy blasts
sweeping the crests of the ridges, and our fingers were
benumbed while handling the instruments.
The poor miners, too, whom we engaged to carry our in-
struments (Fig. 319) felt the exposure badly even while the
sun shone brightly, and the man whom I had to keep crouch-
ing between the legs of the camera stand, to steady it, while
the panoramic work slowly proceeded, had to be changed
every ten minutes or so to afford relief to his half-frozen
hands. But our reward was ample, and to the miners, too,
their well-paid exertions afforded a welcome change from
their wretched burrowing in dark pits. In the end I gained
their confidence sufficiently to obtain information about
certain gold-pits which were once worked at points lower
down by the precipitous banks of the Yurung-kash, and
also about a difficult route, long suspected by me, which led
to the latter right across the main range from the head-
waters of the Genju River. But we had neither time nor
supplies to waste over a descent down the valley, where the
river still in full flood would make any crossing impossible.
The Zailik mines, accessible only during a few summer
months, are now almost deserted, the total annual produc-
tion of gold raised with difficulty by the Amban's contractor
amounting to about 300 ounces. The small groups of
miners toiling in this gloomy gorge are practically all bond-
slaves of the contractor, who advances their supplies, clothing,

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国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト 『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

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国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
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