Across the Roof of the World. 



conjures up imaginations of the Grand Trunk in India or the 

 great Continental chanssces. But no, it is not so at all. On 

 the contrary it is real Chinese and an example of the earliest 

 word in road construction. 



There is a telegraph line connecting Urumchi and Shikho 

 with Chuguchak, but it is an indifferent one. The poles are 

 of all heights and the wire is sometimes carried on the top 

 of them and anon lower down, the relative positions no 

 doubt depending on the amount of energy the constructors 

 felt capable of exerting at the time the wire was put up. Still, 

 the fact of it being there at all is something of which the Celestial 

 may justly be proud, for he cannot by the widest stretch of 

 imagination be considered an up-to-date creature. The wire is 

 very slack in places, so much so that one can easily touch it when 

 on horseback. Soon after leaving Yamatu I passed one of the 

 poles lying on the ground, it having been evidently uprooted 

 by the wind, with the result that the wire there was dangerously 

 taut, though no one seemed to object and it would probably 

 be spring before the Celestial operators worried their heads about 

 attending to its repair. No reasonable man would expect them 

 to turn out in such weather to raise a fallen pole ! 



As there was an hour or two of daylight when we reached 

 Yamatu I went on to another settlement called Thul, lo miles 

 further north, and was lucky enough to get quarters in the serai 

 in the shape of a small room boasting a stove. Giyani filled 

 the latter with wood and very nearly burnt me out, but I 

 nevertheless enjoyed it after the cheerless bivouacs of the past 

 few days. 



The morning of December 2nd dawned black and forbidding, 

 thick clouds rolling across the skies and giving every indication 

 of unsettled weather. At g o'clock I set out in a biting wind and 

 heavy snowstorm which, however, moderated a trifle towards noon. 

 On the way I passed the ruins of a village, the mud huts pre- 

 senting a dreary aspect with the roofs falling in and walls crumb- 

 ling, due to the ravages of time. No one knew the cause of its 



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