5i6 THE KARLIK TAGH 



Our first expedition was to the Little Koshmak Valley, 

 to which we were attracted by a fine rock-peak, capped 

 by a beautiful snow-cornice, that stood up alone — the 

 last summit of the range. The Little Koshmak intro- 

 duced us to the forests, every lateral valley with a north 

 aspect being covered with spruce ; higher up larch ^ crept 

 in, and finally predominated. 



A pleasant and unexpected surprise it was to find 

 forests of such luxuriance so near to the barren Gobi. 

 The remarkable beauty of these south-eastern spurs of 

 the Karlik Tagh, with their grassy tops, forested slopes, 

 and poplar-choked valleys, — with the immense views 

 that they afforded of the desert ranges beyond, — 

 attracted us as much as anything we had seen. The 

 forest extended down to about 7,000 ft. and grew as 

 high up as 9,000 ft. ; it was much influenced by aspect, 

 showing no signs of life on slopes that did not face 

 north. Thus it was that the Narin Valley, with its 

 bending course, held an exceptionally large area of 

 suitable ground, all of which was densely forested, 

 groups of larch and spruce clinging to every rock-girt 

 summit, and thickly crowding the more easy slopes. 

 Here we found traces of " maral," — the great stag of 



1 The presence of the larch {Larix sihirica) gave the first sure sign that 

 the conditions of the Karhk Tagh are not entirely those of the Tian Shan 

 system. Here was a northern tree, the southernmost range of whicli 

 we had already determined to be in the Barlik group and in the Mongolian 

 Altai ; yet this larch had extended its range southwards to the Karlik 

 Tagh and Barkul Range. Here it lived and thrived, growing to a height 

 of 40 ft. and 50 ft. with trunks from i ft. to 2 ft. in thickness. There was 

 no sign of degeneration ; the forest was a healthy one. The pines, on the 

 other hand, were of a variety peculiar to the Tian Shan Mountains [Abies 

 schrenkiana) ; these grew to a height of between 30 and 40 ft. Thus, 

 the forests of Karlik Tagh were composed of two varieties, one peculiar 

 to the Tian Shan and the other to a more northern zone ; this proved 

 that the flora of the Karlik Tagh had affinities with that of the Altai. 



