420 DZUNGARIA 



free, open plains, led them irresistibly onwards to the 

 very gates of Europe ! 



A peculiar feature of travel in Central Asia is the 

 sudden manner in which a new country opens up before 

 the traveller. Through gaining the summit of a small 

 pass, or the rounding of some, it may be, insignificant 

 shoulder, he may come within view of an immense 

 stretch of country never seen nor even guessed at 

 by him before. Such a view was obtained as we left 

 the Dzungarian Gate and climbed the foot-hills of the 

 wind-worn granite range situated to the north-west of 

 Ebi Nor. Over the lake, and appearing to rise out of 

 it, the chain of the Tian Shan — the great mountain - 

 system of Central Asia — was spread out in long array, 

 its snow-clad summits stretching unbroken across the 

 whole width of the horizon. All this had been com- 

 pletely hidden from us up to this moment, and this 

 sudden introduction gave us a clearer understanding 

 of the vastness of Central Asia. 



We now followed an easy route across the lower 

 portion of the Borotala Valley, over the Kanjik Range 

 by a nine-thousand foot pass, into the basin of Sairam 

 Nor and joined the Chinese Imperial High-road at the 

 wayside station of Santai, which connects the towns of 

 Dzungaria with the Hi Valley. Once on the road we 

 made fair pace and reached Kulja on November 14th, 

 nineteen days after leaving Chuguchak. 



Kulja and the IH Valley are too well known to need 

 description. They are outside the regions we had under- 

 taken to study ; in fact, we were only induced to visit 

 this locality by the opportunities it gave us for recon- 

 structing our caravan, for despatching our collections 



