142 ATKINSON'S JOURNEY THROUGH PASSES [Feb. 28, 1859. 



impossible, and to climb the rocks before us appeared equally so ; 

 but the old man led on to a mass of debris — up tbis we clambered 

 to a ledge, by wbicb we gradually ascended to the base of some 

 perpendicular rocks rising to a great height. On reaching these, I 

 found some were torn from the precipices, and standing quite 

 isolated ; in other parts fissures were rent in their sides, and in one 

 of these we began to scale the towering cliffs. 



We had not ascended far when I had proof that the Kirghis was 

 on the right track, for some pieces of wood had been driven into 

 the beds of the rocks, by which to hold on in this perilous path. 

 Our progi'ess was slow and laborious ; as each new point was gained 

 •we scanned the crags above, to which it seemed almost impossible 

 to climb. At length we reached a grassy ledge about 500 feet 

 above the torrent, whence we could look down and see where the 

 water filled the whole breadth of the gorge. After resting a short 

 time we began toiling our way up in many a zigzag line, often 

 swinging ourselves past jutting rocks by the aid of bushes which 

 we found growing in the clefts. Having reached the base of 

 some rocks, which formed a complete bar to our farther progress, 

 our guide for a moment looked bewildered. He soon, however, 

 discovered that we had taken a wrong track, and quickly descended 

 about fifty feet, and found the right one. We joined him, and then 

 proceeded onward to the foot of some lofty slate crags of a deep red 

 colour, round which we had to creep along a narrow ledge with a per- 

 pendicular wall of rocks near 600 feet beneath us. Our little pack 

 and rifles were taken from our shoulders and pushed on before us ; and 

 after crawling in this way for about thirty yards, we turned round the 

 rocks and reached a grassy terrace twenty feet wide, greatly comforted 

 with the assurance that we had passed the worst part of the ascent. 



Looking down into the dark and yawning chasm with the 

 roaring torrent 1200 feet beneath tried the nerves severely. A 

 little farther down I perceived the chasm became a mere fissure — in 

 one place the upper rocks projecting so far, that a stone dropped from 

 their edge would have struck the opposite precipice before reaching 

 mid- way down. So little had the hand of time affected these masses, 

 that each projection would have fitted into the opposite recess. 

 After resting a short time to breathe, we began our last ascent with 

 fresh vigour. As we turned away, the precipices seemed to unite, 

 forming a most stupendous archway that would have been a fit 

 entrance to the regions of darkness. The path even now was suffi- 

 ciently abrupt : sometimes we had to climb the cliffs clinging to the 

 bushes, by the aid of which we reached the small terraces that led 

 us upwards. 



