THE KIREI OF THE ALTAI 373 



watershed and camped on a snow-patch below, near 

 which juniper and birch-scrub gave us fuel/ 



The crossing of the Urkhogaitu Pass led us down to 

 the head-waters of the Kran River, which finds its way 

 eventually into the Irtish, and so on to the Ob River 

 and the Arctic Ocean. In the course of two days' j ourney 

 our caravan descended from the cold, rocky crest of the 

 Altai, over grassy hills and through pleasantly forested 

 valleys, to the lowest altitude we had experienced for 

 many months. From the nomads'-land of breezy pla- 

 teaux and wind-swept pastures we descended to forests, 

 steep-sided valleys, and rushing rivers, and, still lower 

 down, to irrigated lands, fields of ripe corn — already 

 half harvested — and to settled conditions of life. 



The scenery in the Kran Valley was gorgeous during 

 the pageant of autumn : the larch trees were golden, and 

 the birches and poplars had turned cinnamon-yellow and 

 wine-red. We now had before us a new phase in 

 our journey, namely, across a country apart from, and 

 possessing little in common with, the rest of Central 

 Asia. On reaching the mouth of the mountain-locked, 

 portion of the Kran Valley, our eyes suddenly gained a 

 view of endless plains which lay spread out before us. 

 Dropping, by an easy descent, to the foot of the range, 

 we passed on towards this new land which stretched in 

 featureless expanse to a far horizon, and, arriving at 

 Sharasume, halted there in order to arrange our future 

 movements. 



1 The Urkhogaitu, or Urmogaitu, is the only pass used as a trade- 

 route between Northern Mongoha and Dzungaria. It is only open, how- 

 ever, for a short season. At the beginning of June, Major George Pereira 

 had considerable difficulty in crossing it, but reported several caravans 

 as having accomphshed the passage at the end of that month. By the 

 middle of October the pass is again closed. 



