Feb.;28, 1859.] IN THE ALA-TU AND AC-TU MOUNTAINS. 141 



beheld the sun shining on the crags. They were fringed with 

 bushes and plants that were swinging about with the breeze more 

 than 1200 feet over our heads. Looking up at these from the dark 

 and dismal depth, their foliage appeared bathed in glorious light : 

 this, and the glowing sky above, almost made me fancy that I was 

 gazing from the shades of death into Elysium. From this point we 

 hurried onward, and the noise of the waterfall became deafening. 

 Presently we caught a glimpse of white vapour, and in a few 

 minutes we stood before a sheet of falling water, which came 

 bounding from a rocky ledge, 300 feet above us. It fell into a 

 deep basin, out of which it came seething as from a caldron. 



Looking upwards, the scene was sublime. Three successive falls 

 were visible, leaping from rock to rock, and flinging their white 

 spray into mid-air. The precipices have been worn by water into 

 pillars and columns, round which the spray and vapour curled in 

 wreaths as the wind wafted them upwards. In front of the middle 

 fall there stood an enormous mass of dark rocks, quite isolated, and 

 from sixty to seventy feet in height. The falling water strikes 

 upon the head of this, and is thrown off in innumerable jets, forming 

 a crystalline crown for the stony monarch of the chasm, while 

 thin sheets of water descend over his sides, clothing him with a 

 liquid garment, through which his gigantic form was indistinctly 

 visible. From behind this mass a cloud of vapour rises which 

 covers the rugged crags above as with a veil gently wafted by the 

 breeze. Still higher there were other falls, but invisible to us, and 

 unfortunately we could discover no part by which it was possible 

 to climb these tremendous precipices. 



Here was a fine study for a geologist, the rocks having been riven 

 asunder, and their formation exposed to the depth of 1500 feet. In 

 some places they are nearly perpendicular, in others overhanging 

 masses appear ready to crush the intruder. After retracing my 

 steps, the Kirghis led the way down the gorge. 



Our march was now by the side of a roaring torrent, over which 

 we were compelled to pass several times, which could only be 

 accomplished with great difficulty. On one side of the ravine dark, 

 frowning precipices rise up to a great height, from which prodigious 

 buttresses jut out, crowned with huge pinnacles. Facing these are 

 deep recesses in the cliffs, clearly indicating that these enormous 

 masses have been torn asunder by some colossal power. After 

 leaving the waterfall, a walk of an hour brought us to a wider part 

 of the chasm, less abrupt on one side. Farther down I perceived 

 the rocks rose from the edge of the torrent, without a ledge on 

 which to set our feet. To proceed onward down the ravine was 



