238 SUGHEIT. 



river. And it was no joke traversing this rough stony 

 ground shoeless. I resolved to penetrate some distance 

 further, to a point giving a long view up the valley. 

 There I halted the party, and sent on Subhan and Moosa 

 to search for sign, and Tar-gness in another direction ; 

 deciding, if they found fresh sign, to send for camp things. 

 The two former returned on the opposite side of the river, 

 and beckoned me. I rode Mooktoo across, noticing 

 pleasure beaming on their faces. They had discovered 

 one fresh track of a well-grown male, and thought they 

 had found tracks of the lot seen by the merchant ; so I 

 sent back Kamal for the traps, and after a bit started off 

 on the trail. This we ran some six miles ; and as it did 

 not lead to others, and a long distance visible presented 

 nothing, we pulled up in despair, and I announced my 

 opinion to be that it was useless to try further in that 

 direction, the yak, which had the previous year crowded 

 this locality, having certainly found other feeding grounds. 

 To this all assented ; and it was decided to move back, 

 meet the coolies, then halt for the night, and move on to 

 standing camp in the morning ; and thence make a fresh 

 start in the opposite direction, which will lead to the 

 grounds where Nassir Khan and his followers told us 

 they saw yak in hundreds. Moosa had deferred leading 

 us there, because, when tending horses two years back in 

 this valley, the yak pastured here in herds, and fed 

 mingling daily with his horses. This the tracks abounding 

 verified. 



Back we went. And, no way discouraged by this fail- 

 ure, I trudged on ahead, and selected a snug turfy retreat, 

 amid thick overhanging bushes, for our bivouac ; and then 

 discussed our prospects and projects with my retainers. 

 Yarkand, and the possibility of recovering poor Schlagent- 

 weit's effects his papers useless to the barbarians amongst 



