A Desperate Resolve. 



with it no change in the situation I began to think we should 

 never succeed in crossing at all. 



The only alternative route was a track leading up the moun- 

 tain side and along a perpendicular wall of bare rock, five hundred 

 feet above the river. It was an exceedingly difficult path, a 

 matter of hanging on and playing the part of a chamois. I 

 mustered every available man in the place, and divided all the 

 kit into small portions for the coolies, who then started, 

 picking their way along the cliff, hauling each other up with 

 ropes, and passing things along, a hazardous work lasting till 

 2 o'clock. The look of this uncanny place did not favourably 

 impress me, so preferring to run the risk of a watery grave rather 

 than a five hundred foot drop, I mounted a fiery mustang and, 

 accompanied by one volunteer, plunged into the foaming current, 

 and was instantly swept down stream. 



It was a great struggle, but my Bucephalus exerted all the 

 energy he possessed, and though we constantly cannoned into 

 rocks and boulders, and the water rushed like an express train, 

 we attained the opposite side amidst the shouts of the villagers, 

 who confidently expected us to be completely carried away. 

 There were still three fords to do, which we managed alright. 

 Fortunately I found fresh yaks on this side and at once 

 engaged them to accompany me as far as the valley of the 

 Asgar Sai. 



Leaving the main stream of the Kulan Urgu, I moved up a 

 narrow stony ravine leading off from the right bank to the foot 

 of the Kara Dawan, or Black Pass. My plan of campaign was 

 to work over into the Asgar Sai and down to Yarkand, and in 

 order to do this it would be necessary to cross two more passes, 

 the Kara Dawan and the Sundal. From the Kulan Urgu to the 

 foot of the first-named pass we moved through precipitous defiles 

 and over ground strewn with detritus and particles of rock cast 

 down from the frowning heights above. The gorge through 

 which the track passed was strikingly impressive. A mile or so 

 up the nullah we turned north again into a side ravine, whose 



115 I 2 



