56 CHINESE TURKESTAN 



about sport, so the next day we went on down the 

 valley, crossing from side to side by well-made 

 bridges ; the road was good, being made where 

 necessary. At one place the valley contracted till 

 it became a mere gorge, and here we had to climb a 

 precipitous cliff by a zigzag path supported by poles. 

 Luckily they were stronger than they looked, as the 

 result of their breaking would have been an im- 

 mediate and premature journey to the other " happy 

 hunting-grounds." The hills gradually decreased in 

 size, and we expected every corner to be the last, 

 looking eagerly forward to the first view of the 

 Tekkes Valley ; but not till Shatta was reached did 

 our speculations as to what it was like come to an 

 end. Then at last it lay before us a sea of grass- 

 covered plain stretching away thirty or forty miles 

 to the hills which form its northern boundary. 

 Further down, as we afterwards found, the valley 

 contracts in width and the plain becomes more and 

 more undulating, till at last it is a constant succes- 

 sion of grassy ridges, many of which are both steep 

 and high. 



We had heard many and various descriptions of 

 this country, and I had somehow got it into my 

 head that it would be very much like the jungles on 

 the Yarkand side ; so this open prairie-like expanse 

 of grass was a complete surprise to me. The Tekkes 

 J^iver was not visible, its course here being far out 

 from the hills. 



