502 THE KARLIK TAGH 



the houses were mere hovels, but we were entertained 

 by the friendly Kumuliks in their homely way, and 

 given the best that the village could offer. 



Their land scarcely extended for a mile down the 

 valley, which was half a mile wide ; but even this small 

 area was not all available for cultivation, the growing of 

 crops depending upon the amount of soil left amongst the 

 rocks and boulders. Every available spot was used, and 

 I strongly suspect the artificial making of fields within 

 range of the irrigation canals, by the laborious means of 

 bringing soil from the terraces above. This example shows 

 how closely the economic possibilities of Karlik Tagh 

 are put to the test by the Kumuliks and what amount 

 of labour is expended in order to sustain their simple 

 lives. The river, the main source of the water-supply of 

 Kumul, must bring a considerable flood at times, for it 

 was spanned by a good bridge. At the time of our visit 

 it was frozen over, but water was flowing under the two- 

 foot coating of ice. Two miles below the village it dis- 

 appeared altogether below the surface of the ground, and 

 three miles farther even the high river-terraces spread 

 out and lost themselves in the wide fan of the river-bed, 

 which farther still became scarcely discernible. 



Above the village rose the sandstone foot-hills of Karlik 

 Tagh. This outlying range of sandstone was perhaps 

 the most peculiar feature of this side of the mountains.^ 

 It extended as a barrier between the plain and the high- 

 lands all the way from Toruk to Khotun-tam, and con- 

 fined the Taghliks, or mountaineers, and their villages to 

 the secluded upper valleys which lay behind. Toruk, 

 for instance, was quite cut off from direct communication 

 with those numerous settlements of Taghliks which 



1 See diagram, p. 521. 



