CHAPTER IV. 



On the Pamirs. 



Three miles out of Pasu I crossed the mighty Batur 

 glacier, one that completely fills the nullah in which it is 

 situated and by its advance threatens to block up the 

 Kanjut Valley. Year by year it creeps steadily onward, 

 nothing being capable of stemming its irresistible march. The 

 crossing took some considerable time, the surface being much 

 broken and hummocky, with here and there crevasses of a for- 

 bidding nature. The towering heights enclosing the valley on 

 either side are in keeping with its erstwhile reputation for 

 brigandage. 



A man I met in the village of Khaibar told me of the stirring 

 times they enjoyed in the days when raiding of caravans in 

 Chinese territory was the leading pursuit. On one occasion he 

 accompanied a party bent on waylaying a rich caravan, the 

 raiders returning laden with booty and several thousand head of 

 cattle and sheep, with a numerous band of slaves, who were 

 disposed of to the Chinese at high prices. 



Beyond the Batur glacier is a fair path along the valley, in 

 places one being able to canter and make up for lost time. At 

 Khaibar I camped in a field below the village, at the mouth of a 

 grand gorge, the sides rising precipitously from the water's edge. 

 Here all movement is a matter of the utmost difficulty, but 

 in places the dark and narrow gorge widens, forming small 

 stretches occupied by Kanjuti villages. The aspect of these 

 gorges is sombre and majestic, impressing one with a feeling of 

 awe, and compelling the admiration of my Garhwali orderly, who 

 remarked that even the mountains of his very mountainous land 



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