A Denizen of Hioh i\sia. 



dies in the slightest heat. The yak is a member of the genus 

 ox, his pecuharities being long hair on the body and shoulders 

 and a big tuft of hair on the tail. He is indigenous to Tibet 

 and the Pamir region of Central Asia, where the high altitudes 

 are eminently suitable to his constitution. He carries his head 

 downward, almost touching the ground, and this has given rise 

 to the belief amongst the Kirghiz that he is still searching for a 

 long-lost brother. 



The cold on the Pamirs is extreme, at times assuming a 

 rigour that renders life there the reverse of pleasant, whilst 

 there is usually a wind resembling such a hurricane as one 

 encounters off Cape Horn in December. Here it is indeed a case 

 of the survival of the fittest, for only the strongest constitutions 

 can resist the Arctic severity of the long winter months. But 

 centuries of wandering on these wind-swept uplands have inured 

 the hardy nomads to all the vagaries of the Pamir climate, though 

 their lives must be anything but cheerful amidst such rigorous 

 surroundings. 



From the summit of the Mintaka I pushed on with Piroz 

 Zaman, as I had information from the Chinese side that the Beg, the 

 official in charge of the Taghdumbash Pamir, would meet me in the 

 valley below, with yaks for transport. We slid and toboganned 

 down for some two hours, and then three miles further along 

 the valley found the Beg, accompanied by sundry others, 

 waiting to greet me. They were a wild-looking set, all Kirghiz, 

 muffled up in huge sheep-skins matted with the dirt of ages. 

 The head man hailed from Tashkurghan, the headquarters 

 of the Amban who rules over the Sarikol district and where 

 there is a small garrison of Chinese troops. They had brought 

 with them several yaks and two camels, in relief of the Hunza 

 coolies who would now return to the Kanjut side. 



After I had taken a photograph of this motley crowd a 

 move was made down the valley where a yurt had been 

 pitched. Here tea, served in a Chinese bowl, was passed round 

 and duly sampled, the ceremony being led off by myself, 



63 



