326 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



high mountain ledges, then across the Kizyl- 

 Kurt mountains, and through the Archat defile 

 to the pass over the Archat mountains (10,300 

 feet), which leads to the Alai steppe. On the 

 other side the road was crossed by the Kizyl-Su 

 River (two-thirds of a mile in width). The 

 plain was covered with feather-grass and a 

 grass called kipete, which is excellent fodder. 

 They crossed the trans- Alai range by the Kizyl- 

 Yart pass (11,700 feet). They visited the 

 Kara-Kul lake, 43 miles distant from the foot 

 of the mountains ; it consists of two bodies of 

 water connected by a narrow channel, and has 

 a length of 22 versts and a width transversely 

 through the connecting strait of 17 versts ; it 

 contains many islands and promontories ; the 

 water is cool, with a bitter taste. There is no 

 outlet ; rain seldom falls, yet there is a singular 

 rise in the water about once a week. Colonel 

 Kostenko set out from this lake for the Riang- 

 Kul lake in the Sari-Kul district toward Kash- 

 gar, journeying by the Ala-Baital defile, and 

 along the Uzbel-Su to the Uzbel pass (12,500 

 feet), from which, to the eastward, a range of 

 towering mountains closes the view, whose 

 summits appeared to be 25,000 or 26,000 feet 

 high; this is, undoubtedly, the range seen by 

 Hayward and mentioned by Yule. It lay about 

 53 miles beyond the Uzbel pass and 40 miles 

 nearer than Kashgar. Humboldt also affirmed 

 the existence of a meridional range, which he 

 called the Bolor mountains, east of the Pamir, 

 but later travelers have denied its existence. 

 He was not able to reach the Sari-Kul on 

 account of the failure of his provisions. The 

 Pamir is limited on the north by the trans- Alai 

 mountains, which have the appearance of a 

 grand, white-crested wall. The land beyond, 

 which is very elevated, rises toward a central 

 point, and is crossed in all directions by moun- 

 tain ranges, some snow-capped and some not, 

 and none of them rising much above the adja- 

 cent plains and valleys, which are very narrow, 

 and run in all directions. The whole region is 

 barren, with only small patches of succulent 

 grass along the edges of the mountain streams. 

 The ground in the Pamir is covered in spots 

 with a glistening coat of magnesium. Traces 

 of many wild animals were observed, but the 

 arlchara (Ocis Poll), which, a few years ago, 

 was very plentiful, seems to have become ex- 

 tinct, though the ground was everywhere cov- 

 ered with the huge horns of these animals. 

 The tracks observed were those of horses, goats, 

 wolves, and deer. Eagles, kites, and red- 

 beaked crows were among the birds met with. 

 The Pamir is frequented by pastoral nomads. 

 The climate is excessively severe and the at- 

 mosphere oppressively rare, even in summer ; 

 in this season the days are exceedingly hot, but 

 the nights frosty. Exploring the Tuz-Altyn 

 Daria, the curious phenomenon was observed 

 that its head-stream splits and forms the source 

 also of another river flowing in an opposite 

 direction. This other stream is called the 

 Tero-Agar, and flows into the Muk-Su, a con- 



siderable river. The mountains by which this 

 stream passes are covered with snow over two- 

 thirds of their height. Whether the Kyzil-Su 

 or the Muk-Su is the more considerable of the 

 two confluents which form the Surkhab, he was 

 unable to determine. 



Captain Kurapatkin left Osch (Ferghanah) on 

 the last of July, 1876, intending to cross to 

 Kashgar by the Terek-Davan (12,000 feet), but 

 was attacked and wounded by the Kara Kir- 

 ghiz near Gulcha, and was obliged to return to 

 Osch. Starting again on the 19th of October, 

 he passed the Terek-Davan, and, arriving in 

 Kashgar, he was arrested, but was again set at 

 liberty after three days. He followed the 

 course of the Kashgar-Daria as far as Aksu. 

 The country is cultivated within 70 kilometres 

 of Kashgar. In the large villages of Faizabad, 

 Hanarik, and Artush, an excellent cloth, called 

 matta, is manufactured, which is exported to 

 the amount of 1,000,000 rubles yearly. The 

 Kashgar-Daria is bordered on both sides by 

 forests of a kind of poplar ( Populus ditersi- 

 folia), 13 or 14 feet high, and growing thick 

 together. Tamarisks are also plentiful. The 

 soil is everywhere impregnated with salt. He 

 passed through a rocky and sandy desert to 

 arrive at Kurla, a town of considerable impor- 

 tance, which is not down on any of the maps, 

 although Karashar, an insignificant village, is 

 marked on all the maps. Kashgar was for- 

 merly called Altishar, or the land of six towns, 

 and now, since the taking of Kurla, bears the 

 name of Djitishar, or the land of seven towns, 

 which are Kashgar, Yarkand, Khoten, Aksu, 

 Utsh-Turf an, Kutsha, and Kurla. The country 

 is fertile, but exhausted by the recent wars. 

 The people are a mixed race of Utgurs, Turks, 

 Arabs, and Chinese, grafted on an Eranian 

 stock. The Eranian type is noticeable at Kho- 

 ten, Yarkand, and Kashgar, but is completely 

 lost in Aksu, Kutsha, and Kurla ; in Sari-Kul 

 are found, among the Galchas, many blondes 

 with blue eyes. 



Colonel Prjevalsky has visited Lob -Nor, 

 passing through the valley of the Tekes, and 

 crossing the Tian-Shan to Kurla, by a defile 

 nearly opposite the town. He was kept under 

 arrest here for 11 days. The country is full 

 of the poplars seen by Kurapatkin, and men- 

 tioned above, on each side of the Tarim. He 

 met with a village of icthyophagists, of Kal- 

 muk origin, who called themselves Lob-Nortsi, 

 south of Lake Lob. The lake he describes as 

 an immense marsh, covered and surrounded 

 with reeds, with spots of open water here and 

 there in the middle. The desert has the same 

 character around the lake as along the valley. 

 He killed a tiger near the lake, and hunted the 

 wild camel. About 120 miles south of Lob- 

 Nor was a range which is called the Altyn- 

 Tag ; it rises to a height of over 10,000 Rus- 

 sian feet, and seems to be formed by the out- 

 lying spurs of an important central chain which 

 was not visible. The camels were killed in this 

 region ; they were of about the same height 



