54 CHINESE TURKESTAN 



small fort and a serai, both empty and rather dilapi- 

 dated. No trees or grass, nothing but rocks, with 

 a little boortza growing on them. We saw some 

 ibex close to, but nothing big enough to tempt us, 

 so we went after chikor and pigfeons instead. 



Next day we crossed the Muzart Pass, which is 

 indeed an icy one, though not high about 12,000 

 feet. Within half a mile we got on to the glacier, 

 the first part of which is steep and much broken up ; 

 steps had been cut in the ice and so the animals 

 managed it somehow, but it was a work of time and 

 difficulty. Even after getting fairly on to the top 

 of the glacier, crevasses are both numerous and deep, 

 so that the way is far from straight ; and it took 

 eight hours to cover a distance which is perhaps 

 five miles as the crow flies. In the middle a snow- 

 storm came on, which we could well have dispensed 

 with, though it was in perfect keeping with the 

 surroundings ; but luckily it did not last long. Here 

 we left the main glacier, which comes from the 

 north-east, and crossed a ridge of earth and rocks 

 where there were some stone huts. After this the 

 path was mostly over moraine from higher glaciers 

 on both sides, and ended in a very steep descent, at 

 the bottom of which we camped at 9,500 feet ; the 

 caravan took ten and a half hours to get there, 

 showing that in a hill country the actual distance 

 has but little to do with the length of the day's 

 march. 



