492 KAMI, OR KUMUL 



herds, small areas for cultivators, and — most important 

 of all — the entire water-supply on which depends the 

 existence of the oases on the plains below. 



The combination of physical and climatic conditions 

 comprised within the dominions of the Khanate of Kumul 

 renders it a complete, self-supporting, and independent 

 region. There exists every variety of scenery, tempera- 

 ture, fauna and flora. There are dry deserts below, 

 granite ranges above, mountain torrents, pine forests, 

 alpine pastures, snow-fields and glaciers. There are rice 

 fields and vegetable gardens ; luscious fruits, such as 

 melons, grapes, and apricots from the plains, and apples 

 and pears from the hills ; there are corn-lands and fine 

 sheep pastures. From cool glaciers one can look down 

 on to dusty plains at a distance of only a long day's 

 march ; and the haunts of such mountain-loving fauna 

 as ibex, wild-sheep, and snow-cock margin closely on 

 those of gazelle and wild-horses ! The region is one of 

 peculiar extremes even for Central Asia, where, as Curzon 

 has remarked, "nature seems to revel in striking the 

 extreme chords upon her miraculous and inexhaustible 

 gamut of sound." 



It was the Karlik Tagh that was the real object of 

 our visit, for, although we traversed some 3,000 miles of 

 country in Dzungaria both by plain and mountain, this 

 portion alone offered the chance of making additions to 

 geographical knowledge. The region between the Altai 

 and Tian Shan had been fairly well mapped ; new ground 

 alone remained on the south-eastern border-ranges — 

 the Bogdo-ola, Barkul, and Karlik Tagh. To speak of 

 this region as being a part of Dzungaria is incorrect, 

 for the watershed of these ranges forms the boundary 

 between that country and Chinese Turkestan; but, in 



